I acknowledge that Laeral has been a near perfect delegate over the past two years. He has, to my understanding, been active more than enough and has never, to my understanding, CTE'd while in office. It is nessesary for any delegate to remain active through this term. That is a given, however, sometimes real life throws curveballs to NS users causing them to CTE or become inactive. This is an unfortunate but garunteed part of the game. Therfore, I move that, upon the conclusion of Laeral's term, Delagate terms be shorted to six months. This is still a relatively long time and I am sure that no one would be overly disappointed. I suppose the motion has to be seconded befor it reaches the voting room floor officially.

Good evening IDU. If anyone could cast a constructively critical eye over this draft I'd be enormously grateful. Thanks in advance!

Freedom of Expression for Organisations

Category: Furtherance of Democracy | Strength: Significant | Proposed by: Uan aa Boa


The World Assembly,

Applauding protections granted to individuals to express their opinions and to assemble with others to pursue common goals,

Aware that most individuals do not have the resources to pursue these goals without acting in cooperation with others,

Knowing that legal persons such as political parties, campaign groups, community associations and other collective entities are thus essential for giving a voice to individuals,

Aware that unrestricted freedom of expression for legal persons can lead to misleading advertising, unwelcome corporate influence on politics and other negative consequences,

Determined that no person shall be denied access to the public forum,

Hereby,

Makes, for the purposes of this resolution, the following definitions:
A legal person is an entity other than a sapient individual that has rights or obligations in law
Commercial expression is expression intended to promote the purchase of products or services
Political expression is expression intended to influence either the policy and decisions of a national or regional government or public opinion regarding such matters

Resolves that the free expression of legal persons in member nations shall be protected to the same extent, and subject to the same restrictions, as the free expression of individuals under the provision of prior and unrepealed Assembly resolutions, save that
Member nations may impose reasonable restrictions on the commercial expression of legal persons in order to regulate false or misleading information, the promotion of products known to be seriously damaging to health and the exposure of individuals below the age of majority to the promotion of products and services that are restricted on the grounds of age
Member nations may impose reasonable restrictions on the political expression of legal persons in order to prevent undue commercial influence on government.

Clarifies that this resolution does not prevent the regulation of campaign finance or other donations to political organisations.

Co-authored by Aclion

How many different classifications has your nation had, and what were they? Do you think your nation will be reclassified as something else anytime soon?

As for United New England...
1. The nation started out with Left-Leaning College State (moderate economic and political freedom with high personal freedom).
2. It then went up in political freedom and got Civil Rights Lovefest (moderate economic freedom with high political and personal freedom).
3. After that, it went down in personal freedom and got New York Times Democracy (moderate economic and personal freedom with high political freedom).
4. Next, the nation went down in economic freedom and got Liberal Democratic Socialists (low economic freedom with moderate personal freedom and high political freedom).
5. Finally, it went up in personal freedom and got Leftwing Utopia (low economic freedom with high political and personal freedom).

Who knows what will happen next! I would guess that United New England will never have high economic freedom, low political freedom, or low personal freedom. Besides the classifications it has already had, I could also see it getting Scandinavian Liberal Paradise (low economic freedom with moderate political freedom and high personal freedom) or Democratic Socialists (low economic freedom with moderate political and personal freedom).

After surviving an abnormally stressful work week a few months ago, you decided to treat your cabinet to get their DNA tested using the DNA service, 22 and You. Now the results are in and some heads have been turned. Apparently, your minister of defense is actually 100% Marche Noirian. A crowd has gathered in your office asking for action.

"I can't believe it!" Shouts your extreamly paranoid seceratary. "I never would have thought that a man I worked with, a man I trusted, would be one of Marche Noir's. I'll bet he is a Spy! Trying to steal all of our secrets and give them to Marche Noir!"
Your secretary then begins to chant "Jail Him! Jail Him!" and runs from the room.

"So maybe he is Marche Noirian, our arch rival nation, that doesn't mean we have to lock him up." Exclaims Elle Everwood, the president of All the People, a civil rights group. "We should show compassion to all beings on this planet. Leave this poor man alone. I'll bet he never meant any harm by it."

"No indeed I don't!" Finally yells your Defense Minister, who is now red with rage. "I believe that this DNA testing stuff is a scam! Shut it down! Ban all of these services from our fine nation forever. I will not stand for these lies. At that he collapses into a chair, crosses his arms, and stops talking.



Outcome 1 = The Defense Minister of @@Nation@@ is charged with treason.

Outcome 2 = Spies are often released from prison on the basis that they were just "looking out for the good of their county" by stealing state secrets.

Outcome 3 = 22 and You is banned forever.

THIS MESSAGE IS FOR YOUR EYES ONLY

February 10th, 1968

Good morning, Agent. You've been given an assignment that is of utmost importance. In the Kovarzek Hotel in Liberigo, Kivasek, a technology summit will be held by Kivasekian Offices of Science on February 14th. Nations from around the world have been invited to discuss technologies and even to show them off in the name of the advancement of humanity and unity. We, however, don't buy this one bit. We want you to be at the summit and find out what the Kivasekians are really planning to do there. It's also within the interest of the government that you try and collect as much data on the other nations' technological efforts. Keep causalities, civilian or otherwise, to a minimum; we don't want an international incident to come of this.

You will be alone on this mission, so watch out for anyone calling themselves a friend, and be wary of other agents; we've no doubt other forces will be after the same things we are. You have the option of choosing what gear you will be bringing on the mission, but make sure you can get in and get out without arousing any suspicion. Our nation is counting on you

Good hunting, and good luck

• Set in the late '60s
  All contained on the grounds of a Kivasekian Hotel
  Technology summit taking place
  Find out Kivasekian motives
  Collect data on other nation's technologies
  Limit casualities
  Arouse little to no suspicion/ Remain undetected
  No help from outside the hotel
  Any gear, but keep in mind the mission parameters

The following list of nations should be masked as IDUSA members already:

Bears Armed
Cagontia
Christos
Comhar
Democratic Fauxia
Ertaland
Eshre
Gnejs
Grosseschnauzer
Judealand
Kambucha
Koloda
Laeral
Lauchenoiria
Legionas
Malabra
New Gren Artle
Osirisa
Ryan Isle
Sanctaria
Sancti Imperii Catholico
SchutteGod
Sciongrad
Skoden
Slokais Islands
Solmarne
Swesterland
The Free Stuff
Thyerata
Trive 38
United New England
Verwood Island Archipegalo (previously Nova Sodor)
Vexam

And the following two nations need to be remasked as IDUSA members: Conternia, Kivasek

Basic Conditions: Location, Climate, Geology
The region runs approximately from 20[sup]o[/sup]N to 60[sup]o[/sup]N, so your nation's location on the northern shore of the Agrimaj Ocean should give it a basic climate roughly comparable to that of southern France but with a bit more & more reliable] rain along the coast and in the west. Your eastern neighbour Malabra, however, has an anomalously hot climate (except in the mountains, of course) which is likely to make the inland sections (below the mountains) of your country's eastern end warmer and drier than would otherwise be expected.
The river-valley forming most of your border with Malabra is part of the "seam" where the proto-Malabran land-mass collided with the region's northern continent several tens of millions of years ago: Unless you object, I'd say that (a) the lower reaches of that river are deep and rather brackish, rather than mainly freshwater; (b) there's at least one waterfall some way inland, where the land drops suddenly, probably just below the lower of the two large lakes, which blocks navigation further upstream but also keeps salt-water out of the higher reaches; and © that valley is prone to relatively frequent, but [usually] relatively mild, earthquakes.
The mountain-range along your northern border is relatively narrow, as they go, but tall enough for steep slopes and for some of the higher peaks to have permanent snow & ice at their tops.

Basic Ecosystem Suggestions

Obviously these are only suggestions, and you're free to reject any of them -- or to say that some of these species were present within [what's now] your nation but have been hunted to [local] extinction -- but anyway...

Any single species that in RL is native both to Eurasia and to North America is probably native to at least part of the IDU as well: e.g. Brown Bear, ['Gray'] Wolf, Barn Owl, Golden Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, Osprey.

Any basic type of animal with one or more species native to RL Eurasia and another one or more native to RL North America probably also has at least one of those species native to at least part of the IDU, too, or has one or more other species 'endemic' to (i.e. native only to) at least part of the IDU; e.g. Black Bear, Red Fox (if that isn't just one single species, in RL, anyway), Beaver, [European] 'Red Deer'/[American] 'Elk', Bison, [European] Otter/[American] River Otter, White-tailed Eagle/Bald Eagle.

Smaller species tend to have shorter generations than larger ones, allowing faster evolution, so are more likely to be endemic.

You probably have temperate forest as the native vegetation (where that hasn't been cleared for agriculture, construction, etc.) in the west and along the coast, shading into subtropical forest in the south-east. This would be mainly "˜broad-leaved' trees, some of them evergreen (e.g. Holly, Laurel, Bay-tree, Evergreen Oak), with conifers only on the poorer soils. Magnolias and wild Lilac are likely, and Gingko/Maidenhair Tree would be a possibility. In the foothills of the mountains in the north-east you might even have groves of the 'Puzzle-Pine' which -- instead of being a "true" Pine -- is actually quite a close relative of the RL 'Monkey-Puzzle' tree. Here in RL today that family has two species in South America but is otherwise restricted to the SW Pacific/Australasia/SE Asia regions: It was far more widespread in prehistory, however, with both the semi-precious 'Whitby Jet' [in the UK] and Arizona's 'Petrified Forest' being derived from trees of this general type... and in the IDU the ancestors of this one species, at least, also survived past the Cretaceous/Paleogene transition. The seeds, similar to large 'pine kernels', are a good food although collecting them is labour-intensive and supplies are limited.
The drier areas in the eastern interior would tend more towards scrub and grassland, with reed-beds & tall grasses more abundant than trees in the lower parts of the river-valley along the Malabran border. Vegetation in the mountains would go [with increasing altitude] from temperate forest or scrub through bands of mixed or coniferous woodland to more scrub (with extensive bamboo groves in the moister areas), and then to heathers and grassland below the snow line: Bears Armed has some species of "˜Tree-heathers' among its upland shrubs, and their range could plausibly extend to here.

I would expect this nation's species of large mammals[on land] to include Brown Bear probably [Iduvian] Black Bear (in the densest woods), Puma/Cougar/'Mountain Lion', IDU endemic the 'Snow-Cat' (a smaller relative of the Puma; in mountainous areas, mainly above the tree line), possibly Tiger (as it occurs both in Malabra and in the south-east of Bears Armed; likeliest to survive in the tall grasses of the river-valley on your eastern border, I think...), 'Gray' Wolf, possibly either Coyote or Golden Jackal but probably not both of those as they have very similar ecological roles, Wild Pigs, possibly Bison but more probably Wild Oxen(related to the now-extinct Aurochs of RL Europe; maybe replaced completely by domestic stock, or surviving now only in protected parks?), Sheep/Goats/Goat-antelopes of several species [i](in the mountainous areas), possibly Musk Deer [ditto], [Iduvian] Red Deer, [Iduvian] Fallow Deer, possibly Roe Deer, Iduvian Water Deer (related to the RL Chinese species); possibly wild Horses/Ponies of one or more kinds, possibly a 'Hairy' [non-tropical] species of Rhinoceros, and maybe even a surviving species of Chalicothere. In the drier & less wooded lands of the eastern interior you might also have "” extending their ranges westwards from north-western Malabra "” Blackbuck, Nilgai, Armadillos of various kinds (possibly even a species of Pampathere), the Giant Anteater, and Ground Sloths of various sizes...
Although we tend to think of Monkeys as tropical, some RL species do live in more temperate climates instead: This area could plausibly have a species of 'Macaque' (similar to the 'Barbary Ape' & the Japanese Macaque of RL) and/or a species of leaf-eating Snub-nosed Monkey (as one such species in RL manages to survive in montane woodland in central China), even in areas where the winter weather may include snow.


___________________________________________________________________________

I have some ideas about smaller land mammals, marine mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and even fish, as well... if you're interested?

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Some possibilities:

Ailurus cyaneus: Blue Panda (very similar to the RL Red Panda, apart from its colouring)
Hystrix malabraica: Malabran Crested Porcupine

Chrysolophus chlorochrysos: the Gold-and-Green Pheasant (a close relative of the RL "˜Golden Pheasant' from which it differs mainly in the colouring of the adult males' body-feathers; foothills & lower slopes of the mountains)
Snowcock (further up in the mountains)
Cygnus fidelis: Swan (known further north as the "˜Loyal Swan', because unlike the other species that are found there "” which your nation probably lacks "” it doesn't migrate)
Grus tener: Dainty Crane (breeds in Laeral, then over-winters in western Malabra& so maybe also in your nation's eastern lands).
Several species of Heron, at least one of Cormorant, and possibly the region's endemic species of Pelican.

In the eastern river, and maybe elsewhere, one species of medium-sized Champsosaur (a fish-eating reptile, basically crocodile-like in shape but with "˜paddles' rather than legs, from a group that in managed to out-last the Dinosaurs by several tens of millions of years even in RL)?

One or more species of "˜Scaly Salamander', from the Amphibian order Allocaudata.

EDIT:

OOC planning spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1...ko-Ws/edit
IC wiki page: https://www.theidu.us/wiki/Second_Lauche..._Civil_War

Rules:
1. No WMDs
2. Stay off Butterfly Island
3. No killing other people's named characters without express permission
4. Please keep it reasonable, i.e. no fancy space weapons or armies that outnumber the native Lauchenoirian population


Original Post:

Summary of what's happened so far: