Top Story: The Imperial Compromise: Popular president Revan Kensei strikes a deal with major ultranationalist organization.
by Isaki Kurenai

[Image: 28hzxc1.jpg]

President Kensei met with CRGFE leader Hojo Shishio to reign in the ultranationalists of Frost with regards to the increasing tensions between the Imperial Union and Frost Ultranationalists. The president agreed to formally assist the Republicans politically and display a show of force. The CRGFE agreed to assist the Empire in restricting the movement of ultranationalists, and limiting their actions to non-violent protest within the Empire.

Following the agreement, the Kensei administration mobilized the 31st and 98th Imperial Strike Forces to the territories of the Imperial Union in a grand show of force.  The empire deployed the twin fleets under the Kensei Doctrine, which dictates that the Imperial military be used to defend Frost interests and nationals abroad. The twin strike fleets boasted their naval superiority over the Imperial Union by entering and leaving the Imperial Unions EEZ unimpeded, politically humiliating the Imperial Union's navy.  The Imperial Union placed sanctions on the Empire in response to the incursions, but the sanctions have had no effect on the overall Frost economy. The Frost Empire has also offered the Northeast Republican Confederation diplomatic recognition in the hopes that it can use outside legitimacy to bolster their position in reaching a peaceful resolution with the Imperial Union.

Following the show of force, the CRGFE has assisted the Kensei administration crack down on other ultranationalist parties. The CRGFE has used their political influence to prevent thousands of ultranationalists linked with the Imperial Democratic Alliance led by the Far Right party from leaving the country and have provided an outlet to peacefully protest their grievances against the Imperial Union. Meanwhile those who remained defiant have been turned away multiple times at both ports and airports citing unnamed reasons.

Gejou Gyaksha a prominent member within the IDA expressed frustration at being barred from leaving the Empire to show solidarity with the Republicans. "Why is the Kensei regime stopping us from mobilizing and showing our support against the false king?" Lamented Gyaksha as several armed guards blocked his way into the terminal.
Meanwhile, a smiling Hojo Shishio said, "The Committee to Restore the Greater Frost Empire is proud to serve the Frost Empire by preventing fools like Gyaksha from instigating a war with their capture in hostile nations. President Kensei was soft when I spoke with him, but when it came to protecting the Empires people... he was different. He was willing to fight tooth and nail for the safe return of our citizens abroad, and as one who holds the Empire in high esteem, one can only admire his commitment to the Empire regardless of our political differences."

Published by the Imperial Tribune in Oured, Frost Empire

Every flag in the Starfire Islands' public buildings, military facilities and embassies overseas flew at half-mast on Tuesday 25th, as the government declared a national day of mourning  in honour of former president George Battle, who had died the day before. President Battle served as the president for The Islands from 2000 to 2005, a period most notable for the immense economic crisis the country went through, which is considered to be one of the worst in its history.

President Battle was the fourth president to come out of the Battle family, a family that has been involved in Firese politics for more than a century. Lawrence Battle was the first Battle to be president, all the way back to the 19th century, from 1868 to 1872. Joseph Battle, son of the former and president from 1903 to 1907 and again from 1911 to 1915, is considered to be one of the founders of the modern Firese welfare state, having created major laws protecting the lower classes in terms of social security and labor. By 1927, his nephew had already married Marianne Boyle and that year they had George. George grew up witnessing his father become more and more respected within the Red Party and, later on, become president in 1947. Around 1958, seven years after his father finished his term as president in 1951, George began his career in politics with a seat in the lower chamber of parliament representing the Red Party. By 1965, he was chosen as the leader of the party, as his father had passed away a year prior. Soon after that, came his first presidential campaign in 1966. He lost to the opposing party, a story that would repeat itself  three more times until in 1999 when, in his fifth run, he would finally win the Firese presidency by a relatively small margin of 4 percent on the election's second round.

It was during that term that President Battle made international headlines when an off-the-record discussion with a Maxtopian journalist was made public. In it, President Battle was asked about the corruption scandal that had been exposed shortly before within the government of Maxtopia. "The Maxtopian government is full of thieves, from top to bottom" he replied. "As Mr. Terranova (a former member of the Maxtopian senate) said, "we'll do much better when we stop stealing" ... Are you even aware of the huge amount of corruption there is in Maxtopia? Go fix your own problems in Maxtopia and don't try to mess with these islands. We're two separate countries". The journalist then made a joke about how every time he interviewed Battle, they had had an argument of some kind, to which Battle responded in a calm, but firm tone "That's because you always see things upside down. That's the problem with you Maxtopians. You're always angry that no one is helping you and yet you don't realize that you should help yourselves in the first place". He then proceeded to say that then president, Edward DeHall, had no political influence, no backing from his party. "He doesn't know where he's going". As senator Terranova years before, Battle was both praised and criticized for these words, as some saw it as raw honesty, a trait very common in him, while others thought his statements were extremely non-presidential and disrespectful.

In spite of this and other bumps in the road, his government managed to make it through the aforesaid economic crisis. The party's image, however, was severely damaged, with many people blaming it for the consequences of the crisis, which lead to a historic happening: for the first time in Firese history, a left-wing president was elected to succeed the Red Party and the Battle dynasty in the 2004 general elections for the 2005-10 period. George obtained a senate seat, but decided to cede it instead and subsequently retired from politics. He did, however, remain active as a political commentator, giving speeches and making appearances at talk shows throughout The Islands as well as throughout the entire South Pacific. It was precisely at an event this October, to which he was invited to speak, where he fell backwards and hit his head after having been feeling dizzy for several hours, according to people who were with him. Battle was immediately taken to the local hospital and, after being stabilized, he was taken to the capital city. The medical team in charge of his treatment at the Alexander LaGarda General Hospital diagnosed him with severe brain damage after running the necessary analysis. While in an induced coma, he remained stable for several days and his condition even showed signs of improvement. Therefore, it came as a shock to the nation when it was announced on Monday 24th that he had passed away.

Members of every political party payed their respects to the politician at the Parliament House the next day, where a public funeral was held and current president Michael Turner gave the eulogy. In his speech, he mentioned President Battle as one of the most intelligent people he and the country had ever met and one of the most important and influential politicians in the modern political landscape of The Islands. "Battle will forever live, not only within the walls of this parliament, but also in some of the best bits of the history of our nation." concluded President Turner. His widow then was presented with the Firese flag as a token of respect and gratitude for her husband's years of service to the nation. Once outside, thousands saluted the hearse as it made its way through the streets, headed for the central cemetery. Upon arrival, a brief speech was delivered by former Vice President, Anthony Walker, who could barely help himself from bursting into tears, which lead to a round of applause in sign of support. Shortly after, Battle's remains were finally buried, accompanied by a collective silent sob from anonymous individuals, members of the Red Party, his family and close friends.

President George Battle would have been 89 years on Tuesday 25th, the day after he died.

A Peonic medtech startup company known as 燕子 announced it closed a Tö 25 million Tiōls funding round led by the Bahnan Foundation, along with investments from Lotus University, Avicenna Medical Trust, Nightingale Foundation and from The Peony herself.  The latest round brings 燕子’s total funding up to Tö 42 million, which the company says will allow it to expand its operations to new countries.

燕子 have put drones to work in a slightly more humanitarian role: delivering blood and medicine to difficult to reach locations in Huawan and elsewhere. In fact, 燕子 launched the world’s first medicine-based commercial drone service through a partnership with the government of Huawan.

Building roads to remote locations requires a significant amount of time and resources, and even though Huawan does have roads in many areas, there are still traditional villages and areas impassable due to the rough terrain and the evergreen forests. As a result, many of Huawan’s clinics away from the center find it difficult to restock their supplies of blood and medicine, and 燕子 set out to solve this problem by using drones to bypass the roads entirely. The honorable Nǚwáng, Doctor Yan, had this to say:

“Despite our health service being one of the most capable and sophisticated in the world, bringing it about Peonic lands does pose such a challenge for us. What is the point of advanced technology if we could not spread it evenly amongst those of Peonic colors? Such projects are indeed quite lucrative, results would be seen soon.” (Translated from the Chinese)

According to 燕子, its drones are capable of delivering packages weighing up to about 3.3 pounds across distances of nearly 100 miles, all while travelling at a breakneck speed of roughly 62 miles per hour. This allows 燕子 to deliver medical packages across nearly the entire country of Huawan while launching from a single centralized location.
For its project in Huawan, 燕子 also formed a partnership with the Royal Peonic Post, which included an Tö 800,000 grant to help 燕子 further develop its technology and infrastructure in the country.

“The inability to deliver life-saving medicines to the people who need them the most causes millions of preventable deaths each year. The work of this partnership will help solve that problem once and for all,” said 燕子 cofounder and Chief Executive Sun Shangxiang. “With the expertise and vision of our partners, instant drone delivery will allow us to save thousands of lives in a way that was never before possible.”

News written by Zheng Wei Bin Hassar, Chief Correspondent of the Luoyang Post.

Complaining about how the youth speak is nothing new. Living languages are prone to change over time; go back a few centuries and you will have serious problems understanding your own language. Despite their grandparents’ great efforts, today's Sedunners have stopped using the imperative inflection, the i that is added to a verb to indicate a command or an instruction.

Standard Sedunnic, or Gjellsedunnejj, is the version and dialect of the Sedunnic language that is taught in school and used in public administration. Official use and grammar is regulated by the Sedunnic Language Authority (SLA). It consists of two "parties", one of selected linguists from Sedunnic universities and the other of teachers, and is headed by the Minister of Education. Its purpose is to ensure standardised use of Sedunnic and to preserve the language by promoting certain words and terms as alternatives to foreign equivalents. The SLA also transcribes foreign names, recommending "Kvejt" instead of "Qvait" for example. It should also implement changes, if popular use starts to deviate from the standard.

Now it is doomsday for the imperative inflection. The teachers have recommended the abolition of the imperative inflection to the SLA, which will vote on the matter.

"The use of the imperative inflection in spoken Sedunnic today is rather limited, abolishing it in written Sedunnic as well is only natural. The Language Authority wants to make sure both expressions of Sedunnic are in sync", says Miksa Sannienn, teacher at Hyillto Teamm, Ullenst.

Instead of adding an i to a verb in present tense singular, the verb is stripped of its present tense inflection, leaving what is called the stem. For example:

Lowland Sedunnic, the dialect that Standard Sedunnic is derived from, was the last dialect on the Sedunnic mainland to use the imperative inflection. This is a reflection of a main feature of this dialect, where every vowel is pronounced individually, resulting in a more "stiff" pronunciation compared to the diphthongs of the Mountain Sedunnic and Southern Sedunnic dialects. Vastraennian Sedunnic is the only dialect in which the imperative inflection still is used in spoken form, a result of Vastraennians mostly having emigrated from the west coast of Sedunn. There the feelings are mixed.

"If that's the way most Sedunners speak, fine. Without a unified written language, Sedunnic would be a mess" says student Kann Ynniks, Sraved, Vastraenn.

"My point is that you should differentiate between formal and casual, where removing the inflection would be the latter", a pensioner in Sraved replies.

The SLA and Sedunnic language standardisation has a strong tradition of keeping close to the spoken language in the capital region, in all likelihood a recommendation against the imperative reflection will be issued.

Written by Kerrt Sruilynn via Vilue International.

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(The Official Out-of-Character Column)

Nation Showcase Week Results in RP Resurgence!

October was a funny month, especially towards the end.  In Treasure Island we had tried to get things moving with Non-Canon Events Month, allowing RPers to act out stories that would not normally be allowed in our relatively realistic, modern tech canon.  Unfortunately, however, only two events happened and, owing to time constraints, they didn’t get very far either (although I do plan to continue mine at some point).  Hot on the heels of that,  however,  we had Z Day, which, whilst not actually an RP event per sé, encouraged a fair amount of RPing on the Regional Message Board and in telegrams.

And then November hit us and we tried to capitalise on the surge of activity with Nation Showcase Week, an initiative from the director of Roleplaying, Qwert/Sedunn, designed to encourage players to share facts, trivia, artworks and factbooks pertaining to their nations on the RMB.  After a slow start, things really began to pick up with lots of nations showing off their flags and histories in particular, as well as inspiring one another to produce more.

Since NSW finished two weeks ago, many nations have continued to do this, making sure the RMB is about more than just memes, hugs (as much as we love them) and real life politics.  More than that, however, we’ve seen a few folk from the RMB with an interest in roleplaying appear on the forums or on our regional Discord server.  One of them (GI-Land) has even taken the bold step of joining in with out canon RP, just as some of our older players have returned after an extended break, breathing life back into the regional RP.  

Of particular note has been the tensions building up between the Imperial Union and the Frost Empire, the recent Erinoran referendum and the arrival of a few nation nations to the international scene.  This is really encouraging and means that we’ll almost certainly have more RP-themed events in the not-too-distant future and it gives us a new drive to get working on the Treasure Island RP Guide, to help new players learn the ropes quickly and easily.

If you’ve been reading the last few issues of the Treasure Island Report and were wondering, just how do I get involved in all this?, then may I encourage you to hit us up on Discord, tell us about your nation and we can help you integrate it into the canon.