<The Osiris Outlaw> First of all, I'd like to welcome Venico the Warrior Pharaoh to The Osiris Outlaw's official interroga...interview room.<Venico> Why thank you, however I would feel more comfortable not strapped to my chair.
<The Osiris Outlaw> That is for your own safety.
<The Osiris Outlaw> And that of our audience.
<The Osiris Outlaw> And mine.
<The Osiris Outlaw> Mostly mine.
<The Osiris Outlaw> I'd like to ask you a question that is probably still on the minds of a few people... when did the first seeds of the OFO begin to be planted, and why?
<Venico> That's not something I can truly answer with a date but with events. When I started seeing people genuinely being afraid of others in the community and having the Empire manipulate this fear for their own purposes.
<Venico> When I saw people's real life circumstances being used as leverage for political moves, I think I decided I was going to do something.
<The Osiris Outlaw> Without going into specifics, can you go into more detail?
<Venico> Without those people's permissions I don't think I can too much. But Asta certainly was threatened more than once and had circumstances used against her. I'd talk about others but it's not really my place. However I can talk about the amount of threats that were issued against the community and the region. If I had a nickel for every time I heard the phrase, "...or it's war" from Biyah I'd be buying some serious stamps.
* The Osiris Outlaw nods
<Venico> I decided that I thought I could answer, "Ok"
<Venico> And I did
<The Osiris Outlaw> And when you decided to act, what form did that action take?
<Venico> Well first, putting myself into a position to help the community. This started with trying to be active in Roleplaying. Trying to get the military active to attract new faces and things like that. I first started with peaceful means of trying to fix the community.
* The Osiris Outlaw nods
<Venico> However, the community remained toxic
<Venico> So
<Venico> I started maneuvering politically. I wanted to be in a position that I could win the next delegacy election. I started logging some serious executive experience while being Grand Vizier. I was spear heading the effort to gain treaties with regions.
* The Osiris Outlaw nods
<Venico> Unfortunately, the Empire managed to force Asta to resign.
<Venico> And I was thrown into the delegacy with the general consent of everyone. Heck, I even got their support at first.
<The Osiris Outlaw> After you were thrust into the delegacy, what did you do then?
<Venico> Well, I reluctantly told Koth of my plans. He seemed on board and told me he always had my back. After a few days we talked to Cormac and he took a lot more convincing. However at the end, he joined.
<Venico> After that, we started seriously planning
<Venico> Assembling lists of potential allies, neutrals, and enemies.
<Venico> Listing objectives in order to sway people.
* The Osiris Outlaw nods
<Venico> Every day we'd show up to our channel, sit down with our coffee and look at what we had to do for that day. Write a new WFE. Write a gameplay statement, things like that. From mid-November til December 10th, it was solid work.
<Venico> Quite honestly, we over planned. The only supporter that Empire ended up getting was Spiritus.
* The Osiris Outlaw nods
<Venico> And the decisions we had to make too of when to execute.
<Venico> I originally wanted to do it December 15th in order to give ourselves time to get our stuff together before the New Year.
<Venico> However I was advised that doing this on the day of elections would make it seem like I was afraid of elections and I would be compared to uhh someone. >.>
<The Osiris Outlaw> When you did execute, what was the first reaction, from the region and the rest of NS?
<Venico> December 10th. We triggered for Osiris. On update I banned Dalimbar from the region. Seconds later I had thrown up a new WFE. After that I issued a region wide telegram and posted our Gameplay statement.
<The Osiris Outlaw> And the reactions?
<Venico> The initial reaction was a lot softer than we expected
* The Osiris Outlaw nods
<The Osiris Outlaw> From within the region, and specifically from Empire, can you give us an idea of the climate post announcement?
<Venico> Biyah and Co. didn't show up until about 14 hours later and most people were generally accepting of this. The biggest issue was the fact that we were pushing the Brotherhood of Malice so much
<The Osiris Outlaw> Do you regret that?
<Venico> Not at all.
<Venico> BoM logged HOURS of work into this
<Venico> BoM was the one pulling all of the initial support from our allies.
<Venico> BoM was the region that was going to spearhead this war effort against Empire.
<The Osiris Outlaw> Were you disappointed at all that the opposition crumbled so quickly?
<Venico> Honestly...yes.
<Venico> I mean for the sake of Osiris I am glad
<Venico> But I am a fighter in NationStates and for the amount of planning we did and all of the back up plans we made. When you do all of this and you finally execute ready to fight a war with your hardest...
* The Osiris Outlaw nods
<Venico> And nobody even bothers showing up. It's deflating
<The Osiris Outlaw> So, with no real enemy to fight, what came next?
<Venico> Legislation. Setting up a solid foundation for the region to build off of. Starting a community that was no longer fueled on conflict and toxicity.
<Venico> And it...worked. Or at least it seems to have so far.
<The Osiris Outlaw> And to the ends of starting a community, what did you do?
<Venico> I'm a culture guy. I run RPs, I spam, I talk with people, I run the IRC channel. The stuff I'm good at. But I'm also the emergency guy when I'm around. And when I'm not that's Cormac.
<The Osiris Outlaw> When the government needed to be set up and appointments needed to be made, how did you handle that?
<Venico> Oh well as people started flooding in I saw who I thought would be best in situations and placed them where they would be productive and enjoy what they were doing. Take Raven for example.
<Venico> Raven has been an absolute blessing to the OFO. He loves doing Foreign Affairs and has managed that solidly in several regions and abroad.
<Venico> He was a no brainer.
<Venico> NES for security was just smart. Hileville seemed enthusiastic about starting a mentoring program for integration. It's all about just letting people find what they like to do.
<Venico> Or at least what they're good at.
* The Osiris Outlaw nods
<The Osiris Outlaw> So where do you see yourself in the New Osiris you've built?
<Venico> Culture, military, legislation if I manage to get better at it. Osiris has been my home for months now. It's what gave NS life again for me. So for that I will always owe it.
<Venico> Anytime it needs me, it only has to call.
* The Osiris Outlaw nods
<The Osiris Outlaw> So, now that we've covered the really burning questions... let's talk a little bit about a few other topics.
<The Osiris Outlaw> You mentioned Spiritus earlier.
<Venico> Aye
<The Osiris Outlaw> It's widely known that Spiritus declared hostilities almost from the moment of the OFO's initial announcement, how did you react to that then, and how do you plan to deal with that going forward?
<Venico> My first reaction was, "Finally someone to actually fight!" however that soon turned into a realization that we still weren't really being opposed. My plan is to let it lie for now. As long as they stay inactive in their promises then I'll just gently push them to retract their statements. However should they choose to engage me then I'll do my best to put them in the ground.
<The Osiris Outlaw> More recently TRR decided to close relations with Osiris, what was your reaction to that?
<Venico> Quite frankly, it's understandable. I truly do understand the want to step back and just watch until we have our stuff together. Osiris has been an absolute hot mess the last year and it's ok to just let us sort our stuff out.
<Venico> That's one of the reasons I started this.
* The Osiris Outlaw nods
<The Osiris Outlaw> Well I think that about covers it, anything else you'd like to add?
<Venico> Yeah, if anyone has any questions, issues, concerns, general ramblings/hatemail. Just come and talk me. I'm always open to conversations and I love hearing hearing what I'm doing wrong. How can I address your concerns if I don't know about 'em? Ah well I look forward to more Outlaw articles. =P
<The Osiris Outlaw> As do we. I'll get someone to come in and loosen those straps.
<The Osiris Outlaw> Thanks for your time, and thanks for the interview.
<Venico> Thank you also, and be quick with the loosening please. My fingers are turning blue.
<The Osiris Outlaw> This has been an Osiris Outlaw exclusive interview with the Warrior Pharaoh Venico.
