Issue I
Brief News, Good News

Expanding our Cultural Dimension
by Unibot

Culture is so fundamentally important to the South Pacific that I found there was a dire need for more legislation in our Assembly to expand our cultural dimension. When you ask a question like, “what motto represents the South Pacific?” or “what animal represents the South Pacific?” or even more wild, “what flower?,” you’re making a judgement about the region and learning something along the way about what you see in your region…what your region means to you. We could use some soul-searching these days, me thinks.

The Cultural Heritage Bill, a pet piece of legislation of mine, plans to recognize a number of official symbols and slogans that represent the South Pacific. It’s important to me, however, that citizens and residents have their say in what personally represents the South Pacific for them. For example, I opened up a poll regarding regional animals in the Assembly and thus far, 60% are in favour of “Drama Llama”, which suggests a fun, if not casual, acceptance of The South Pacific’s temper-fueled discussions and politics. I’m keenly looking forward to see how the region sees other aspects of the region.

Return of the Regional Games
by Kris Montresor

When I first suggested the idea of regional games, I envisioned a competition that would unite South Pacificans and promote a sense of belonging and community. Little did I know that the first edition of what became the South Pacific Regional Games would also promote a spirit of friendship and cooperation with other regions. We had a dedicated region in which nations competed in teams to win challenges, but what made this event all the most special and inspiring was that the teams we made at random, so that people from different regions would have to work together and build new ties of friendship. This event was a resounding success, and ever since then we have intended to repeat the experience.

It is now my pleasure to announce that there will be a new edition of the South Pacific Regional Games. This will be a two-week competition that will help promote that sense of community and enhance our friendships abroad. There will be three main challenges to be held in a dedicated region, along with forum activities and lots of other opportunities to meet new people in a fun and relaxed environment. South Pacificans are of course invited to attend, as are our treatied allies and all other regions who wish to spend a nice time with us. In a time when there is much conflict and confrontation, it is important to remember that there is still place for friendship and cooperation. We hope that others will share our sentiment and join us in this event!

Go here to find out more about how to participate in the Games!

Mapping Pacifica
by Ditortilla

There is a profound disengagement between what is traditionally regarded as roleplay and gameplay in NationStates. We have roleplayers who sometimes fail to see that the framework of delegates and regional governments are a variation of the more orthodox forms of roleplaying, while we also have gameplayers who have no patience for the more detailed and realistic aspects of roleplayed wars and trading.

Both sides have something to offer: roleplayers could provide more texture to events in gameplay, while gameplayers could provide the framework for roleplayed stories. The ideas was that mapping out the gameplay world and presenting it in a visible and roleplayed form would bridge this gap and perhaps add texture to the metagame. Let us look at two examples of this:

• What if Ramaeus had to attend a conference in the South Pacific, but a volcanic eruption near the airport grounded all flights between the two regions? Ramaeus might choose to travel by sea, therefore providing the setting for a roleplay. He does not need to participate in the entire roleplay, but by mapping out the geophysical relationship between the two Pacifics, we have a context for the story.
  
• Consider athletes arriving from the North Pacific for the Regional Games and arriving to Farengeto City. Since that is the northernmost major city in the South Pacific, it would have to be put on alert should relations with the Rejected Realms (which lies to the far west) worsen at the same time.

How was the map made?


One of the main conditions for portraying the land masses was to use maps that had been generated by the regions themselves. It would obviously be a mammoth task to include User Created Regions in this project, so I decided to map only Feeders and Sinkers. This was no easy task, since at the outset only three Feeders had maps available, each of varying detail.

It is also important to note how another important condition was to place each region according to its update time, placing them along the equator. However, this would have produced a rather linear representation, with massive voids in the north and south. I decided then to have two hemispheres, one including the West, East, South and North Pacifics, the other containing the Pacific, Lazarus, Osiris, Balder and the Rejected Realms.

The first hemisphere is complete, since at the time of writing I received the only missing map, that of the West Pacific. There is little data on the second hemisphere, the only available map being the of Osiris. We could conclude that Osiris is located in the southern portion, while Balder occupies an area in the north, but until further information is obtained, the distribution of those land masses remains shrouded in mist – satellites sent up to survey these areas have mysteriously stopped working once they have left East Pacifican airspace!

Mapping Pacifica is a daunting task, but it is an important project and can be completed with a little cooperation from all Feeders and Sinkers. If anyone is willing to assist, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me!

Special Forces in EPSA Operations
by Kris Montresor

Recently the East Pacific News Service published an article on its record number of operations, with 109 detags in the week from August 17 until August 22. While most of the credit for these detags is due to the East Pacific Sovereign Army (EPSA), it is important to highlight the participation of our South Pacific Special Forces (SPSF) in some of these operations.

On August 21 the Special Forces aided the EPSA in a series of detags. Minister of the Army QuietDad commented that “both sides represented themselves with honor”, while EPSA General Xoriet thanked the SPSF for being up to the challenge, saying that “the detag mission would not have been nearly as much fun without their presence”. This is proof of the strong cooperation that exists between the East and South Pacific, and of the immense untapped potential of this relationship.

Random Musings
by Kris Montresor

Random Musings is the space where guest writers will make a reflection on important issues that affect NationStates in general and the South Pacific in particular. For this first issue, I want to reflect on how much the South Pacific has progressed over the last few months, and what will the future hold for us.

We started this year in crisis, with two members of the Cabinet resigning and citizens arguing over who was more detrimental and dangerous to the region. This got to such a point that we were forced to establish a new regional forum and outstanding citizens like Escade felt the need to abandon us. Since then we have picked ourselves us, and how have a vibrant, active and ever-growing regional community. We have become even more inclusive, giving all citizens as much opportunities to get involved as possible, and I am proud to see people like ProfessorHenn, who joined NationStates a mere three months ago, assume leadership roles in the Cabinet. We have held new and more exciting cultural events, like the Regional Games and the Lampshade Cabinet, which allows our residents to be a part of the regional community and our allies to get to knows us even more. We have an active Regional Message Board, where our residents constantly share their thoughts and engage in exciting discussions. I am proud of being a South Pacifican, because this region is seeing one of its better days.

What does the future hold for the South Pacific? I’m afraid I have never been good at predicting the future. We do have many exciting projects being developed, all with the objective of attaining an active and engaged region. If those plans work and the people respond accordingly, then I am sure that the South Pacific will have a bright future ahead of it. However, there is a limit to what the Cabinet can do, if the people do not respond. In order to have an ever better region we need you to be active and participate, to step forward and ask if there is anything you can do to help. We need to work together and be the best we can, for this region can only be as successful as its citizens want it to be.