Salutations, Citizens of Wintreath!
It seems like only yesterday that we were just founding this region with a few loyal friends following my depature from Spiritus, so it's
really hard to believe that next Friday will mark three months since Wintreath has been founded. When I founded the region, I wasn't sure what to expect. Although I was hopeful, I also had fears. I had fears that Wintreath would become Spiritus 2, with exactly the same people, culture, and atmosphere. I feared the entire effort would collapse, and that my success in Spiritus would be proven to be a fluke. I feared we wouldn't pick up recruits because there were so many other, more established regions out there. And more...I'm a natural worrier. Now, not only have those fears not been realized, I think I can safely stop worrying that they will be in the future.
I feel that this past month was one of the most important in our region yet. This was the month when a unique culture started popping up on the forums, including our first spontaneous forum craze, Ask Me Anything. This was the month when our Wintreans that were born and raised in the region started making themselves known and becoming important contributors to our community and region. This was the month when I felt we really started coming together, forming new friendships, and becoming the close-knit community I hoped that we would become. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that we also established our own unique, homegrown Constitution and Government, had our first successful elections, grew an active and reliable military, and had our first official foreign outing at the NationStates World Fair, where Wintreath had
the most active booth out of over 40 regions participating.
Everyone should congratulate themselves on being part of this success! We are long past the point where I and the small group that founded this region with me can continue making this region a success alone. This and all future successes and failures will rest on all of us, from myself down to the newest Citizen. And of course, there's always room for improvement. I would like to highlight a few thoughts on the future.
On the CommunityIn my opinion, the most vital thing we must do as a region is to promote, maintain, and protect our uniqueness as a region and a community. At the end of the day, this is what will make it worth it to be here instead of elsewhere, and what will attract new people wanting a fun experience to our region. I believe this starts with the members who have helped make Wintreath what it is today, and I would very much like to have a discussion on how we can promote and reward members who have devoted themselves primarily or exclusively to Wintreath. I would like to see more unique activities and events emerge, things that we can really promote to people when we recruit, things that will make them believe they'll have the best NationStates experience in Wintreath.
Part of protecting our uniqueness is ensuring that our region remains the community of friends that it is developing into, a cooperative community where newcomers feel welcome and everyone feels they can relax and just enjoy the company of their regionmates. To that end, as a region we should steer away from unnecessary gameplay politics and drama within our community. I once led the charge in Spiritus to embrace NationStates Gameplay. I was told doing so was the only way to make the region "relevant" and "popular", but I learned the hard way that you lose much more than you can ever gain by being either. Dabbling in the divisiveness of NationStates Gameplay leads to broken communities and broken friendships, and I sincerely hope to avoid the mistakes that I made elsewhere in the past.
What matters is what the people of Wintreath think about our region and community, not the most well-known of NationStates.
On CultureOne of the most curious things about our growth in the last month is the organic way in which our culture has grown, in spite of having no functioning Ministry of Culture. We have a RP because Butterspring decided to make one, and thanks to Golden Persian, Weissreich, and Rout our little RP project has grown far beyond what I ever imagined when I started one topic to come up with RP locations within the region. Then there was the Ask Me Anything craze, which grew spontaneously out of nowhere.
I would like to run a little experiment and see how it goes. Obviously, we don't seem to need a Ministry of Culture to build activities for the region, so I intend to dissolve it and instead make it easier for anyone that wants to run an activity or event to do so. Of course we'll work with anyone wanting to create and run an activity, but I would love to see more of this organic cultural growth. It really has me fascinated!
On IntegrationOn the other hand, this is the month that I would love to fill the vacant Ministry of Integration, because this is easily one of the most important parts of our government. The Ministry of Integration is charged with welcoming new members, reviewing Citizenship apps, and then keeping track of our new Citizens and contacting them to ensure they're not slipping through the cracks or need help. I would also like to see a mentor program take hold, where our experienced players can "adopt" a new Citizen and mentor them through the game while they hopefully make a new friend in the process. Right now I'm doing the basic work myself, but having my hand in so many pots I can't give this the full time and effort it deserves. I will be watching intently for someone to step up and show themselves as someone who might be able to tackle these challenges.
On InformationSadly, this is another area that I'm directly running yet neglecting. One of the best ways of attracting and retaining members would be to provide them with the information they need starting out, but I admit things have been lackluster in this area as well. I'm not sure I'll fill the Jarlship of this Ministry this month, just because it's a position that requires a good deal of NationStates knowledge, but I hope to get more guides out. I would also like to start a press service so that we can have more regional news outlets, and perhaps even Citizen-ran news outlets. We will need to discuss what we want to do as a region further, but I think it would be awesome having this for those that want to write articles for the region outside of the Orendi.
On the MilitaryI'm disappointed to say that I there's some sad news in this area, with the resignation and departure of our previous Field Marshal, Saeturn Valerius. In many ways, Saeturn made the Hvitt Riddaral what it is, and his most lasting contribution may be the flags that our troops wave when they go into battle. His loss to the Hvitt Riddaral and the region will not be an easy one to stomach. However, we must try our best to go on without him. In his stead, Horse is currently acting as Field Marshal...he's someone with plenty of experience defending and running operations, and I have faith that the Hvitt Riddaral will continue to succeed with him at the helm.
With that being said, I hope that in the next month we can recruit more people into the Hvitt Riddaral and make it an even more effective fighting force! I'm concerned that we're letting troops slip after their apps to join the military are approved and not doing a good enough job of telling them what they need to do when they are approved. Perhaps we're not adequately informing them what's expected of them when they sign up, too. Either way, it's a matter that deserves some investigation this month.
On Foreign AffairsI feel that we're quite lucky to have someone like Charax, who recently campaigned for a more isolationist FA policy elsewhere, is head of our own FA here, as I feel that this is just the policy we need at the moment. I definitely want to grow and expand our embassies and communications with other regions, but at the same time we should tread carefully when we consider which additional regions we want to invest ourselves in as a community, if any at all, realizing that for all the benefits closer ties with other regions bring, they also potentially bring us one step closer to being involved in the same gameplay politics I cautioned about earlier, and in particular any disputes, divisions, or dramas of any potential region we choose to have close ties with. For those in the know, remember that time I tried to have close relations with Osiris? -.-
On the other hand, I'm pleased that we have ratified the treaty with Lazarus. I feel that Lazarus is a straightforward, efficient, and amazingly united region that Wintreath can only benefit from close ties with. If we have close ties with any one region, in my opinion it should be Lazarus, and I'm glad that we do have those ties.
And Whatever Else!These are my ideas and plans to advance the region, but I would love to hear what you would like to see the region, or what you would like to be involved in, or create, or be part of in the region. I can only do so much, and I feel that the best kind of growth is the kind that happens when the community decides it wants to do something without the prodding of the government. We've seen some of that this last month, and I'd love to see more of it. If there's anything you would like to do here in the region, please let me know. My door is always open, and if it's something that's feasible and that others would like to be part of as well, I would love to help make it happen. Ultimately, we're here to relax and have fun, and when it comes to realizing ideas to make our region better and funner, I would like for Wintreath to be the kind of region where the sky's the limit.
Thank you for reading this wall of text. I appreciate this and all the other support you have given myself and Wintreath over the past three months.
-Inric Nordrim Stark (Wintermoot of Wintreath)
-Monarch of Wintreath
