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The candidates go to their podiums as they get ready to be asked questions and to enter a debate. Pictured are most of the current candidates running for office.

Ladies, Gentlemen, Penguins, and Toucans it is that time of the elections again! It is the debate time. In this thread any citizen can ask a question, which is to be assumed to go to all of the candidates, who then may answer them. Please note that, questions on a candidate's general policy should probably be put in their campaign topics unless it is clarification on an answer posted here.

Usually the person opening the thread will ask a starter question, but seeing as I am a candidate I don't feel it would be appropriate for me to ask any questions, at least any starting questions.

Should Wintreath join the FRA?

Personally I don't think we should. The FRA is a nice organization, however both as a legislator and the Jarl of Defense, I find it something Wintreath should not join. Further Wintreath gains no real benifit from joining the FRA besides being apart of some 'defender club'. Further we would be somewhat restricted by the FRA as well in some ways.

Generally speaking we gain nothing by joining the the FRA and we loose a bit.

I won't say we should or shouldn't, since I don't know the complete details of what joining the FRA entails.  But I'd want to see just that: the complete list of exactly what we'd be doing, what we'd have to change in our policies, or anything that could potentially and negatively affect us in the long run before saying we should.  If we're essentially just a glorified group that just gets together, then I don't see the harm.  If we have to change things about our structure or whatnot to accommodate our new "friends," then I'd say we're better off being a more independent defensive force that willingly teams up with other people.

Another question...should Wintreath remain defender, switch to some other alignment, or withdraw from R/D entirely?

Just to make it interesting.

Well as I do have a Conflict of Interest in this, as I am the Jarl of Defense, personally I think Wintreath should stay in R/D. However if we were to change alignments I would prefer to be imperialist at most instead of swapping to the other side. However I believe we should remain defender at this time.

On the first question. It all depends really, we should look at it from more then a military standpoint. If we don't have to change, or the changes are cosmetic/painless, then sure we  should join, why? Because it can help us further our influence in foreign affairs by giving us a link to other regions.

On the second question, it all really depends on the amount of interest in the region, and how much the administration is willing to support it. If its more of a drain and time and resources to set it up then its giving to Wintreath, we might as well scrap it entirely, on the other hand, if the benefit to Wintreath is more then the cost, we should keep it. The problem comes from how hard it is to gauge this. If we do keep it however, I would support keeping us as defender.

Like Chanku, I have a conflict of interest being as I come from a Defender background.  I think to satisfy being a region that actually does shit and as far as wanting to keep our allies, we should stay in the R/D business.  That also being the case, since our mission is more about being a welcoming force the embraces everyone even if they were shunned by other regions, I think we should stay as being Defenders.  I have nothing wrong with Raiders (if they do it fairly), or anyone that is within that spectrum...but I feel like defending is something that falls more within Wintreath's mission.  Defenders help people.  Wintreath helps people.  It's pretty much a given if we stay in the R/D business.

One of our region's greatest strengths is our firm relationships with allies. As strong as those bonds are, our enemies' (and Wintreath does have enemies) disdain is just as strong. We would need to ensure that joining the FRA is in our best diplomatic interests before proceeding in any visible way. The same goes for changing our R/D alignment. We have allies that count on us for military aid, and we were recently reminded of the reality of the treaties we've signed. I would hate to offend long time allies and friends because we decided to become more aggressive in R/D.

I despise defenderdom, so I don't think we should have any involvement whatsoever with the FRA. The behind-your-back intrigue and drama just isn't worth it. I like this region specifically because, even though it's a defender, it just wants to get shit done and leave politics and intrigue at the door. This region's isolated stance allows it to actually maintain the moral high-ground that other fendas *claim* to have.

Also, since I'm not involved with the R/D system at all here, my opinion on which alignment we should have doesn't really matter. I am a steadfast supporter of Imperialism, however, so were this my region, I'd have us become imperialists in a heartbeat, to bring our stability and friendliness to countless other regions. Not through force, either.

Personally I an not a fan of gameplay in general, but that being said I realise it is quite popular here and many of Wintreath's friends and ally's like Wintreath because of it's stance and alignment. In that case going with my gut would not be beneficial to the region, as such I will agree with many of the other candidates here in saying that: in my opinion Wintreath should probably remian involved in R/D as a defender, I agree when they say it best reflects Wintreath's values.

1.) I believe Wintreath should not join the FRA. Wintreath has a founder. The FRA is for regions that need a little extra security. We have all the security we need. While I support the FRA, being part of 2 member regions, it simply is not for us.

2.) I'm a defender, always have been. An alignment change could potentially bring new citizens no matter which side of the R/D spectrum but at the same time it could cost us citizens. If anything the best options for Wintreath are either to stay defender or get out of R/D and focus on culture. I support both options.

1) I don't think that Wintreath should join the FRA, but that we could cooperate more closely with such organisations. I might be in favour of entering the FRA as an observing region, but certainly not a fully vested member.

2) If we were to switch classifications, I believe imperialist is the way to go. Raider nations are so inefficient about the whole thing and just rack up enemies. Imperialist nations are far better at increasing influence. But for now, I don't see why we should switch away from being a defender region at this time.

Should Wintreath join the FRA?

Firstly let me say thank you Wintermoot for your questions and thanks to everyone for responding so far in this debate.  It's good to see a strong presence of candidates here.

I do not believe that Wintreath should join the FRA.  We have an active founder, as mentioned, and the FRA have shown to be slightly manipulative at times, in one instance they did attempt to manipulate the elections and/or policy in the British Isles so that BI would be pro-FRA, or at least stay defender in their organisation.  BI left soon afterward and Sauron / Wopruthien apologised for it.  I believe that joining the FRA would restrict our abilities to choose whom we wish to have diplomatic relations with, or even allies. 

If nothing else, we should at least allow them to have diplomatic relations with us, but no membership in either the FRA or the UDL.  Both have shown to be restrictive and in some cases, interfering with regions' politics.

I may be slightly also biased here, but since 00000 A World Power, one of the FRA member regions, has gone inactive, very little has been done to help bring back activity to the region, except to help take care of the forum after Wibblefeet was outed as an invader plant.   AWP is supposedly an FRA protectorate now, but not much else has been done from the FRA to help revive the region IMO, and I'm saying this as a citizen of that region.

Another question...should Wintreath remain defender, switch to some other alignment, or withdraw from R/D entirely?

Just to make it interesting.

I believe we should stay defender.  We are one of the few organisations that actively do our best to help others  in need, and we should be able to help other regions when they are invaded against their will.  Every region has a right to determine its own sovereignty.  I firmly support Wintreath staying as a defender.

With all due respect Govindia, since when is it the FRA's duty to maintain the activity of its member regions? The sovereignty of its member regions has always been of the utmost importance to the FRA. That is one of its core values. AWP is responsible for its own activity, as with every other member region.