Tim Montresor-Stark + Pharaoh = Yes

[Seker]

You have my vote as well.

[Ridersyl]

And so the Cormac Vote falls in favor of Timmeh. Congrats Tim.

[Tim Stark]

First of all, please don't think I'm ignoring your questions (@ Raven, Seker and Joshua), I got pulled away for some RL things and am not really able to focus on answering those questions in an effective mindset right now. I hope you'll forgive me if I put them off a bit longer. I promise this isn't me trying to avoid answering them, I'd have answered them hours ago if I could! Thanks for your patience, guys!

Wow, I'm honored for the support I've gotten so far. Thank you so much to all of those supporting me, and I hope that I'll be able to successfully represent your ideas for Osiris in the office of Pharaoh!

[Tim Stark]

Some would argue that Osiris has received considerable damage to its foreign policy over the last six months with the last government not providing the robust attitude and visibility commonly associated with this region and as a result relations are weaker than expected with various regions. Some nameless figures have even commented that Osiris' decline has affected certain other regions with whom they share close ties. Do you believe that the "decay" in Osiris has actually affected other regions as a result of it? Or do you believe that the events of one region should not transcend the borders of another?

You noted a bit about the endorsement rate in Osiris, the numbers are not surprising given the history of instability in the region has left long term residents unwilling to endorse people. Long memories can be a pain in politics, after all. How would you see WA endorsement numbers increase? Do you think that there is anything that can be done to restore Osiran interest and activity in the World Assembly? Do you feel that the general apathy towards the WA reflects Osiran attitude in general given the recent decline in activity?

1. Has our decay affected other regions? For the most part, I would say no.. A region’s deterioration generally does not affect other regions it’s connected to unless there are expectations present. If one wishes to attribute the deterioration of ISRA to inactivity, which I don’t, then you could potentially say that Balder was affected by our “decay”. We did cut a significant number of foreign relations during our conflict with Lazarus, but I think those severances have hurt Osiris significantly more than they could hurt the regions we cut ties with. The largest issue I can think of would be the reduced effectiveness of the Sekhmet Legion potentially hurting the ability of our allies to make operations happen, but considering that the Sekhmet Legion’s updater numbers have been more stagnant than decaying, I don’t think there’s much there as an issue. The primary effect of the “decay” has been internal; hurting our activity, endorsement count, morale, and overall stature as a Game-Created Region in Nationstates. If these nameless figures you speak of, however, wish to step forward then I think we could see what their concerns might be and figure out how to resolve them.

As much as I wish events in one region would not transcend the borders of another, we all know they do. Treaties are broken, and suddenly you receive less military support. A region goes inactive, and you quickly move into poach their more active members. The possibilities are endless, and it would be closed-minded to say that events don’t transcend borders. However, I think that in these specific circumstances, our “decay” has been much more internal rather than external, with most of our foreign side effects being more harmful to us rather than the other regions.

2. My primary intent for this term in regards of WA endorsement numbers would be to reassure our longer-residing residents that we are a strife-free government and endorsing the Delegate is something that’ll help us be more effective as a region, rather than a waste of time due to a new coup coming next month or something like that. Our 60% endorsement rate clearly speaks to our World Assembly nations being either apathetic or uncomfortable endorsing a Delegate. I would actively work to connect with them and see if I can strike up conversations and such that would make them either care more or at least feel secure enough to endorse myself, the Vizier, and the Guardians. Aside from that, it’s just a matter of communication and retainment. I’d work to send out frequent updates about the region via a region-wide telegram, as well as advertisements for the World Assembly and the importance of a high number of endorsements for our nations.

To be honest, I’m not much of a World Assembly person myself. I consider it to be a useful tool for R/D, and the Security Council as a useful tool for backpatting and stopping raids that are in their waning stages. I will however work to better understand the General Assembly, and send out region-wide Telegrams with the Delegate’s opinion all Security Council and General Assembly votes. While this may annoy some and make them block region-wide telegrams, those players are usually either already involved or don’t want to be involved. I think, however, this would better help us connect with the nations that aren’t as involved in Gameplay and might just be here for running their own nation. Hopefully, this would then spur non-WA nations to join the World Assembly and get involved by at least granting an endorsement to the Pharaoh so their vote will count for more. I would then, of course, advertise that if they join the forum and become a citizen they can submit their vote for how I should make my decision which might cause them to join the forum community and stay active there.

Finally, I would say that apathy towards the WA does reflect Osiran attitude, as this apathy is directly connected to the state of Osiris. We’re in a period of stagnancy, right now, and all our various regional functions are therefore impacted by that. The Sekhmet Legion isn’t as active as we might want it to be, the Deshret has been derelict, and the World Assembly is more a backburner thing than something we really care about. I hope to, if elected, bring us out of this period of stagnancy and bring about interest and activity to all the aforementioned areas as well as all the others we have.

[Tim Stark]

Here's one question that I'm asking all of the candidates; how do you intend to deal with the relatively low amount of influence spread throughout the Atef?

Do you plan on making more appointments to the security council?

If so, who in mind?

I've outlined a plan for increasing World Assembly endorsements in the region, and that in general is the same plan I hope to use to increase the influence spread throughout the Atef. We're still a relatively new regime, especially with our influence, and the continued use of the Detective Figs nation in the delegacy has certainly left us one or two less people who might have higher influence nations within the region. The retirement of Treize Dreizehn has furthermore hurt our ability to have a solid Atef, and the recent choice of Zyvet to step down has done a similar thing. Therefore, my primary goal for the Atef will be to increase the influence of those we have while always looking for more individuals who are willing to stay immobile in the region and are not needed in R/D militaries either in Osiris or elsewhere. Really, the best way to hopefully find those individuals would be to get as many Osiris-only players as possible, but obviously that's something for further down the road. I think that, right now, we need to at the very least boost our endorsement count so that we may effectively prepare the Atef for potential coup d'etat situations.

To answer both your second question, and Seker's question, I do indeed plan to make more appointments to the Security Council, once I line up effective candidates. The current Osiris community is filled with younger players, NS age-wise, than your traditional GCR, so we have significantly less players who are already willing to settle down. Furthermore, there is the interest in avoiding the addition of Atef members who might be better suited for a mobile role such as membership within the Sekhmet Legion. While I do have some names on a personal shortlist, Seker, I'd rather not reveal who I have in mind simply due to the fact that I have not had an opportunity to approach them or to make sure they're as available as I hope they might be for the position. Therefore, I'd hate to raise expectations on Osirans who then might end up choosing to abstain from Atef membership. I would, however, be always searching for new potential Atef members, both out of the forum community and the region community, and of course would be vetting each of them appropriately so as to avoid putting subversive individuals into our Security Council.

I hope that adequately answers your questions, and I'm sorry that I was not able to elaborate on Seker's question. Feel free to ask follow-up questions or make requests for clarification if needed!


n.b Quite obviously, I'll also be tarting and yelling at my Vizier and the Guardians to tart. Tarting is quite important.

[Tim Stark]

Tim: how will you improve relations with non-treaty feeders?

Great question, thanks for asking! So to anyone curious, here are a few lists:

GCRs with whom we have treaties:

• Balder
• The East Pacific

GCRs with whom we have relations but no treaties:

• The North Pacific

GCRs with whom we have no relations:

• The South Pacific
• The Pacific
• Lazarus
• The Rejected Reams
• The West Pacific, who have an in-game embassy but no sign of relations.

Now, first of all, I would like to note that we used to have relations with many of these but had them closed in early September due to the Regional Sovereignty Conference. Therefore, I plan to approach The Pacific, The South Pacific, The West Pacific, and The Rejected Realms with talks regarding the normalization of relations and potential re-opening of in-game and foreign embassies between our two regions. One of my big points for my foreign policy is reconciliation, and I believe that it would be only to our advantage to recover the relations with our fellow GCRs that we lost. Not only will this help re-establish friendship and better avenues for things like military cooperation, but it will show the world the Osiris is progressive and we are willing to be a leading region in Nationstates, without stagnancy or old grudges. It won't solve our problems, or all the tarnish on our image, but it can set us on a path that will lead to good things for Osiris, and good things for her community.

Clearly, Lazarus is a different beast all together. If the situation deems it appropriate for us to normalize relations with Lazarus, I would first consult with my Cabinet and then with the Deshret about the potential pros and cons of this, and what Osiris gains out of a normalization of relations there. I will note that we are not at war with the Peoples Republic of Lazarus anymore, and simply in a state of no relations. If both my Cabinet and the Deshret concur with me that it is a wise step to take, however far down the road that step may be, then I would approach the leadership of Lazarus with intent to reconcile and re-open formal relations that would represent a new leaf and a continued cessation of hostility.

The North Pacific stands in a unique situation at the moment as our only GCR non-ally with whom we have relations with. I won't talk about treaties here, but that's always a possibility down the road. However, my priority there, as well as with any other GCRs with who we re-open relations would be continuing establishment of friendship and cooperation, whether that be through visiting each other for festivals, employing game tools like polls to compete against each other in fun contests, or cooperating together on military operations during update. Our friendship is not limited to just the regions that have treaties with us, and I wish to cultivate the image of a friendlier and more progressive Osiris Foreign Policy, regardless of how much Foreign Policy might be placed on the backburner. Internal Policy is my priority, but we have to fix our image and relations abroad just as much as we need to fix our activity and community dynamic at home.

---

As always, if anybody has any other questions to ask or clarifications they might want me to make, I encourage y'all to ask away!

[Cormac]

Just a side note, Treize Dreizehn was able to re-establish forum embassies with The West Pacific as Pharaoh, before the election.

[Applebania]

Will gluten-free pizza be provided?

But, in all seriousness, your campaign is my favourite so far.

[Cormac]

Tim is still taking questions too!

Totally not just trying to bump his campaign thread.

Because other people totally aren't doing this and it totally isn't tacky.

[Tim Stark]

Just a side note, Treize Dreizehn was able to re-establish forum embassies with The West Pacific as Pharaoh, before the election.

Ah, alright! That is certainly good to hear. I wasn't able to find a TWP Forum Embassy on our side of things, so I just assumed it was an in-game only. If elected, I'll see if they'd be willing to send someone over.

Will gluten-free pizza be provided?

But, in all seriousness, your campaign is my favourite so far.

Of course gluten-free pizza will be provided! It'll taste like real pizza too!

Thanks for the support!