Osiris Fraternal Order

The International Newsletter of The Independent Order.
4th Edition, August/September 2014.

Our Forum is at w11.zetaboards.com/Independent_Order_NS!
Our IRC room is at #Independence on irc.esper.net!

Our Current Government

Grand Chancellor: Beatrice

Premier: Matthew Vinage
Minister of Culture: DaveIronside
Minister of Accountability: Aeviternus
Attorney General: Achkaerin
Minister of Foreign and Imperial Affairs: Matthew Vinage
Minister of Home Affairs and Integration: Major_Thom
Minister of Defence [VP]: Great Jonathania
Minister of Constitutional Review: CGJ

Senator: Avakael
Senator: Major_Thom
Senator: CGJ
Senator: DaveIronside
Senator: Aeviternus
Senator: Matthew Vinage
Senator: Achkaerin Executive News Once again, election fever gripped the Independent Order as the elections returned on 28th August. However, these elections were different, for the first time since elections during Beatrice's tenure as Premier, there was only one candidate - Matthew Vinage. He'd lost the previous two elections, and clearly wanted to achieve victory, though was still left surprised when no other citizens nominated themselves for Premier. This meant that as soon as the incumbent Premier's term concluded, he would take the reins. There was little opposition to this, apart from jokes calling the saga a "tough election". He soon silenced this opposition, as pictured here:
Though the new term has only just started, progress is already being made.

A new Ministry, the Ministry of Constitutional Review, has been established, with Vinage claiming that "it will give the People a much greater say in Orderian legislation." He went on to say "With the voice of the People dictating where the region should go, we can encourage the tradition of populist governance, where the actions and policies of the government truly represent the needs and will of the People of the Order."

The Ministry of Culture has been active over the past few weeks, with the main focus of the Ministry on planning a joint festival with the Land of Kings and Emperors, a region with which the Independent Order has chosen to develop its relations. Once the festival has concluded, the Ministry will be looking to advance two policies: "Cultural Imperialism" and "Orderstroika". The former focuses on advertising notable contributions to the Independent Order's Cultural District and RP sector, particularly on the NS forums to attract people to the Order, whereas the latter seeks to use a mixture of festivals and open events to attract new citizens. It's all part of our plan to take over NS...

The Ministry of Foreign and Imperial Affairs, as mentioned in the above paragraph, has now started to look into developing the Order's relations with other regions, having fully established the Ambassadorial Corps and expanded the Order's portfolio of embassies. One such region is the LKE - a Treaty of Friendship seems likely.

The Ministry of Home Affairs and Integration has established a new Resource Index for newcomers (basically an update for the first Resource Index), which compiles all of the helpful newcomer's guides and other such things into one topic - you'd think they would've thought about doing this earlier. The Ministry has also continued reforms of the Independent Mentors' Corps, and has plans to update the "Things to do" guide, as well as introducing a Newcomers' Curriculum and an awards scheme for Mentors - because who doesn't like shiny things?

The Ministry of Defence has began its revitalisation by reorganising the Independent Militia, the re-inforcement/non-update division of the Order's military, into two teams - Red and Blue. There are also plans to more rigorously advertise both the Independent Militia and the Independent Dragoons. Training exercises are to begin shortly, and we even have pictures of the latest equipment which will be undergoing trials:



The Attorney General's Office, rather fortunately, hasn't had much work to do in terms of criminal cases and such. However, it has been on the lookout for a new Court Clerk (that's pronounced "clark"). That Court Clerk is Major_Thom, who now also holds the portfolio of Minister of Home Affairs and Integration. Additionally, the Premier wants another mock trial to be held so that some fictional person can be berated for no apparent reason, and also to enlarge the pool of citizens with judicial experience.

The Ministry of Accountability (the Minister of which is soon to become an independently-elected portfolio) has also seen a resurgence over the past few weeks, with the AMA scheme being revitalised and plans for the revitalisation of the Anonymous Questions scheme being put in place. This does not bode well for Ministers as this marks a return to being dragged out of their comfy chairs to be asked questions by the riff-raff.

Watch this space for more filler news from our Executive Government!
Legislative News Senate Elections were held in conjunction with the Premier election, with 9 candidates contesting the positions. Neither party achieved a majority in the Senate, although the OPA won more seats. The newly elected Senate consists of the following:

Avakael - Independent
Major_Thom - PDA
CGJ - OPA
DaveIronside - OPA
Aeviternus - Independent
Matthew Vinage - PDA
Achkaerin - OPA

The senate has elected Chancellor Emeritus Avakael to the position of speaker.

Since the previous update, the Succession Act and the Seventh Constitutional Amendment were passed through the senate. Due to elections, there hasn’t been much recent activity, and the new Senate is yet to pass a bill, however the Representation of the People Act is soon to be voted on, and the activity of current senators is promising for the future.
Roleplay News Borlander separatists in East Moreland made a stir in the international community by claiming what is literally a rock in the middle of international waters. And here we were thinking insanity was limited to the regional government. Other nations seemed sluggish in noticing King Kyle and his... rock, but most flatly refused to recognize Borland's independence while even those who did gradually reversed their stances following intense... *ahem* persuasion by the government of East Moreland.

Meanwhile, Achkaerin is hosting the Independent Order's first Winter Olympics, though they aren't quite calling it that. USR propaganda blundered by claiming to have "won" the games against athletes from Rokkenjima despite the fact that Rokkenjima, um, didn't actually send any. Naturally, Rokkejiman media had a field day.

Not long after the propaganda debacle, the USR's Chairman Stalin died from extreme embarrasment natural causes, leading many to speculate that the USR was going to plunge into civil war. However, it didn't, leaving many in the CSTO feeling somewhat disappointed following the appointment of Stalin's successor, Boris Brezhnev. It remains to be seen whether anything will change in the USR.

The Union of Nordic Peoples successfully defeated a radical Odinist revolt and is now planning a conference on the rules of war. Several nations have already confirmed their attendance, raising hopes of successful talks. Additionally, the UNP has begun shopping for new toys seeking aid in rebuilding their military, turning down an offer from the USR to sell large amounts of weapons, instead choosing to accept a similar offer from a corporation based in the Confederacy of Allied Separatists.
Thank you for reading!

This newsletter was brought to you by:

Matthew Vinage
Major_Thom
Tytor