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Good evening, Wintreans!

As the long days of summer slowly give way to the cooler nights of autumn and we enter the season of our regions' founding, it seems a good time to evaluate our progress and discuss the future in the form of a State of the Region address. The last time I gave such a comprehensive address, the region was only three months old. We were still figuring who we were as a community and region, and there were still doubts about Wintreath's ultimate success. So then, so much has happened...our community has gone through growing pains and has become stable and vibrant, we've lost some old faces and gained new friends, and we've evolved from the principles we were founded upon into a region that's truly open and accepting in ways that I think are very special. While I cannot take credit for our successes alone, I can say that I am very proud to be the founder and leader of this wonderful region filled with so many great people.

On the Community and Culture
My focus since the summer has been to build Wintreath's community by focusing on recruitment, activity, and retention. We spent several weeks focused on improving recruitment, and now we have both the ability and the staff to recruit manually during times that we don't have funding to purchase recruitment stamps, although thanks to a generous donation by Sachém Uióndánš we should be able to use stamps for the immediate future.

We've established new things to do in the region and we're quickly transforming from a desolate culture with little to do into cultural mecca. I feel that this is the legacy of Amalya's tenure as Jarl of Culture...it was during this time, with help from the contests she organized, that the spark of culture ignited. From there, it has grown and most importantly is now being fueled by the initiatives of ordinary Citizens that will lead to a more active and vibrant culture. Great examples of these initiatives are Sapphiron's Mandate of Heaven roleplay, Pengu's Werewolf game, and Harry McClain's Wintvision competition. If our community is to have continued success, it will be dependent both on an active government and culture Jarlship and on the brainchilds of our Citizens to continue to build our culture and community.

When it comes to improving retention, we've established a mentor program that should help new Citizens keep in touch with the region and the people in it until they find their footing. I've also personally spent a significant amount of time streamlining the forums and making them more visially appealing so that people will be able to more easily navigate the website and understand what each section of the forums is for. Additionally, we took on an expanded effort to get feedback from people that haven't been a part of our community, asking them why. The feedback was illuminating and contributed to the initiatives which we took on this summer.

As a result, the number of Citizens active in our community rose from 18 during the week of July 13th to 28 during the week of September 29th. After a short decline, our recruitment is improving and our Citizen counts are rising once again. Most importantly, again, our culture is in a place it has never been before, and looks to improve even more for the foreseeable future. I feel that we've accomplished all the goals I announced for our summer "Keep Wintreath Beautiful" campaign.

That doesn't mean that we can rest in this area, especially with the weaknesses identified in our last statistics examination. We need to maintain what we've accomplished and build upon it further. I intend to initiate another survey of the region to keep in touch with the people in our region, to conduct another SWOT analysis to see how things have changed since the last one in May, and to take on suggestions in general. We also still need to improve the programs we implemented during the summer to make sure they're working right. We still need to recruit new members, and continue to encourage our existing members to be active.

On Government Internal Affairs
While I was focused on community building, I admit that the affairs of the Executive government were placed on the backburner, and I feel that now is the time to focus again on this area. While community affairs should always be considered more important, it is important that we maintain and even improve the Executive government, because it's tasked with the running of the region's day-to-day affairs, including working with the community. It's the portion of the region that's directly responsible for the ultimate success...or failure...or the region.To that end, I intend to make several decrees to improve the function, understanding, and transparency of the Monarchy and the Riksråd, our Executive Cabinet.

1) A Formalized Cabinet Structure - The Fundamental Laws grants me full authority to rearrange the Cabinet as needed, but thus far this has been done informally, without any document that states the makeup and function of the Executive. To that end, I intend to make a formal decree that will specify each Ministry of the Riksråd and list their duties and responsibilities. I hope that this will improve the understanding of how this portion of government works, while not disrupting my ability to change the Riksråd to meet new challenges as they uncover themselves.

2) Pathways to Success - Separate but related, this initiative will involve each of the Jarls working with me to come up with a document detailing how people can advance in the region. In many other regions, they would do so through politics, but in Wintreath it's more a mix of initiative and merit that may not be as easy to understand for new Citizens. What if a new Citizen wants to eventually become Jarl of Culture? Or be more involved in our foreign affairs program? This document will serve as a guide on what we are looking for in people in those positions so they know where they should focus their efforts.

3) The Extended Cabinet - I am considering allowing the Underhusen to select a representative to the Riksråd to make up something of an Extended Cabinet, which I think would give the Underhusen more prestige and add another voice to our discussions. If this were to come into being, this person would have the same duties and responsibilities as any general member of the Riksråd, such as following activity requirements and not revealing any of the confidential discussions which take place in the Cabinet area.

4) Sunshine Policy - I am of the belief that non-democratic governments need to be even more transparent in their affairs, to show the people that have put faith in them that they are working for the common good of the region and the community. With our one-year anniversary coming up, I feel that now is a good time to implement a sunshine policy that would allow for more transparency on the vast majority of our discussions without compromising discussions that truly need to remain private or may be particularly sensitive. The way this would work is that Riksråd discussions that were last posted in a year ago would be made public if no Jarl moves to classify that discussion for any reason. Very few regions have such a policy, but I believe it will continue to show our good intentions, and justify the outstanding faith that has been placed in me and in the Riksråd over the past year...and also give insights into how the region has developed in the way it has over the last year.

In addition to these formal policies, I will give a renewed focus on the individual ministries to ensure that they're active and doing the sort of job that the community expects them to. As the portion of government that runs the day-to-day affairs of the region, it's vital that the Cabinet contribute to the activity and growth of the region. If the people that have this responsibility aren't active, how can we expect anyone else to be active? It is my hope that this combined with the proposals I have just made will give the government a shot in the arm, and provide an active and outstanding government to go along with the active and outstanding community we have built.

On Government External Affairs
Although we a primarily community-based social region, we have been doing exceptionally well in our relations with other regions. Since the regional sovereignty conference in Lazarus, we have forged or deepened relations with a number of diverse regions, and we are in the process of ratifying Wintreath's second treaty as we speak. Foreign affairs has never been a priority in our region, and I don't expect that to change, but at the same time I suspect we will have a greater role to play on the world's stage in the future. As our community grows and develops, and we prove the value we offer as a diplomatic partner, how can we not? And as we grow in this area, it will be an excellent opportunity to promote the values of this region...a focus on regional sovereignty and the right for other regional communities to make their own decisions, the belief that we can be a highly involved diplomatic partner without having to be cosmopolitan or having a singular focus on gameplay, and the principle that regions can focus inward without compromising their ability to work with others outside the region.

On the other hand, our challenges in this area are obviously with the military. It's no secret that the military has never been a big focus of our region, and that it's been in particular decline for some time now...we maintain an excellent ability as a piling force, but our ability to participate in update is not what it used to be. This will probably be the case until we are able to find someone who can devote time to the Hvitt Riddaral and lead the military consistently and competently. In the meantime, I've taken some steps to make this easier to do. I've eliminated the position of Field Marshal, and created smaller and more manageable offices in the military so that whoever becomes the next Jarl of Defense will not have to do so much...perhaps the next Jarl of Defense will even be someone who takes on the challenges of one of these offices first.

Overall...
Overall, our region is strong and getting stronger, but there are still challenges to face and goals to aspire to. As always, I will do everything that I can to make our region ever greater, but there is only so much any one person will do. We have long passed the point where I alone can be responsible for our region's successes or failures. Much of the future of the region depends on you and and your continued interest and involvement. As such, I encourage you to be as involved as possible...get involved with a project, or join the Civil Service and contribute to the things we do there, or even just enjoy a cultural event. In their own ways, each of those and many other things are just as important to the success and health of our community and region. As long as the unique and strong bonds between us as a community continue to exist, we will continue to be a strong region, and more importantly a strong group of friends.

I will say it again...I am incredibly proud to have led this region for the past year, and I thank you for being a part of what makes this region so great...its community. I can't wait to see what the next year has to hold for all of us.

Yours,
-Inric Nordrim Kestar (Wintermoot I of Wintreath)
-Monarch and Founder of Wintreath