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Greetings everyone,

I want to look at this as a fresh start to the Wintreath Orendi. As of right now, it's been almost ten months since the last Orendi was published, and while the Office of Foreign Releases hasn't been empty during that time, as a region we could certainly use some improvement.

As promised, I plan to be much more frequent with releases this term, but that means I'll have to be much firmer with deadlines as well. I'm looking to release at least three or four Orendi between now and December, in addition to Werewolf dispatches and special election updates. I'm not opposed to writing a majority of the articles myself, but I do need contributors to be much more candid with me about what they're able to complete and when, should they offer their assistance.

Other than that, I'm looking to use this office as a springboard for article and culture discussion, as well as anything else we can do to revamp our media strategy. Expect to see this page frequently updated, with progress reports outlined below.

Orendi XXIII articles.

• Nerdatorium profile. (Proposed.)
• RMB haiku day! (Proposed.)
• Among Us game review. (Proposed.)
• Highlighting rules changes. (Interview with Trader.) (Proposed.)
• Statement on cannibalism in Wintreath. (Proposed.)

Orendi XXIV articles?

Since the XXII edition is already a work in progress, I'll check in on some of the current plans.

• @Ruguo, @Excalibur, and @Red Mones, could either of you write an article or two about the events of Summersend this year? I wasn't able to participate so I'd need some filling in.
• I'm looking for an article about the August Underhusen and September Thane elections. @monkey, would you still be willing to write these, or would you like me to? (I will personally include a reminder about the composition of the Underhusen and the Cabinet.)
• On that note, I'd still be interested in that op-ed on the Burn It Down movement. @Doc, are you still able to write your piece on the movement you've headed?
• @Wintermoot, would you be able to write a piece about your Citizens' Council proposal and how it's being received?
• @Weissreich, do I have your standing permission to include segments from your "Oh The Places You'll Go" thread to show off regional flavor?
• @Michi, do I still have your permission to include your "Wintermoot Bans News Outlets" article? I've always been a fan of your joke pieces.

I'm looking to have something completed by Sunday, September 20 (my time). Does that work for everybody?

Please let me know if there's anything else I can do/add.

At the risk of triple-posting, I'll also ask to add @Imaginative Kane, @Dawcreek, and @ogunbiyi6422 to the list of potential contributors for Summersend writing, since I saw their names pop up a lot in those threads.

I'm also considering writing something on #the-nerdatorium from Discord. This I can do as an interview with @Potato Bagel, @trader, or Kane (or anyone else who's a contributor and looking to volunteer).

Since the XXII edition is already a work in progress, I'll check in on some of the current plans.

• @Ruguo, @Excalibur, and @Red Mones, could either of you write an article or two about the events of Summersend this year? I wasn't able to participate so I'd need some filling in.
• I'm looking for an article about the August Underhusen and September Thane elections. @monkey, would you still be willing to write these, or would you like me to? (I will personally include a reminder about the composition of the Underhusen and the Cabinet.)
• On that note, I'd still be interested in that op-ed on the Burn It Down movement. @Doc, are you still able to write your piece on the movement you've headed?
• @Wintermoot, would you be able to write a piece about your Citizens' Council proposal and how it's being received?
• @Weissreich, do I have your standing permission to include segments from your "Oh The Places You'll Go" thread to show off regional flavor?
• @Michi, do I still have your permission to include your "Wintermoot Bans News Outlets" article? I've always been a fan of your joke pieces.

I'm looking to have something completed by Sunday, September 20 (my time). Does that work for everybody?

Please let me know if there's anything else I can do/add.

I think @Red Mones and @Ruguo would be better candidates to write this as I wasn’t too active in Summersend this year.

At the risk of triple-posting, I'll also ask to add @Imaginative Kane, @Dawcreek, and @ogunbiyi6422 to the list of potential contributors for Summersend writing, since I saw their names pop up a lot in those threads.

I'm also considering writing something on #the-nerdatorium from Discord. This I can do as an interview with @Potato Bagel, @trader, or Kane (or anyone else who's a contributor and looking to volunteer).

Technically I'm already contributing to writing the Orendi with the several questions in the interview that I'm supposed to answer, but otherwise I'll decline the offer.

• @Wintermoot, would you be able to write a piece about your Citizens' Council proposal and how it's being received?

To be honest, I don't know how it's being received, which is one reason I've been calling it an experiment. There wasn't much discussion about it, and I'm basically forcing it through under my own authority to see if there's an actual interest in something like this.

• @Wintermoot, would you be able to write a piece about your Citizens' Council proposal and how it's being received?

To be honest, I don't know how it's being received, which is one reason I've been calling it an experiment. There wasn't much discussion about it, and I'm basically forcing it through under my own authority to see if there's an actual interest in something like this.

I think it's fine to frame it as an experiment with the results yet to come in, tbh.

Doc, are you still able to write your piece on the movement you've headed?

There's three versions here, of which you can take your pick of one or all if you feel like it.

Technically I'm already contributing to writing the Orendi with the several questions in the interview that I'm supposed to answer, but otherwise I'll decline the offer.

Oh right, Moot's cultural profile. Who's conducting the interview, and would I be able to get a transcript from them?

Technically I'm already contributing to writing the Orendi with the several questions in the interview that I'm supposed to answer, but otherwise I'll decline the offer.

Oh right, Moot's cultural profile. Who's conducting the interview, and would I be able to get a transcript from them?

I'm pretty sure Moot is, which you should be able to receive from after I'm finished.

I think the current situation devolving about the 2 popes in the Church of the Holy Tuber should be written.

Oh right, Moot's cultural profile. Who's conducting the interview, and would I be able to get a transcript from them?

I'm pretty sure Moot is, which you should be able to receive from after I'm finished.

Gotcha. Thanks!

Doc, are you still able to write your piece on the movement you've headed?

There's three versions here, of which you can take your pick of one or all if you feel like it.

I like the second option as a conclusion paragraph for the first option. I've done some edits to the op-ed. What do you think?

The Burner Manifesto.

Burn It Down is a rallying cry I have taken up over the last few years. In and of itself, it's a fairly comedic notion: we should abandon the institution of representative democracy with a feckless heed for what comes after. I triple down on this by constantly and publicly vacillating between a desire for the direct-democracy-style Open Assembly and an absolute-monarchist position where Wintermoot appoints all his officials and makes all the decisions himself or through his bureaucracy. Which is insane, because those are basically two exact opposites of each other on the political spectrum, and I'm de facto endorsing both of them at the same time.

But then again, I find that to be sort of the point.

A Nationstates region, and really any online community in general, is sort of a low-stakes environment. Sure, there are decisions of governance that need to be made, whether administrative or moderative in nature. But this is all fairly low-stakes governance; issues of how people interact with each other in an online setting almost inevitably are.

In this context, there isn't really a need for the checks and balances we demand of our Real World institutions of governance. What's important is, essentially, two things: how representative we want our governance to be - which is to say, who should have a voice in how we self-administer our communities - and how efficient we want our governance to be.

Worse yet, the Underhusen doesn't actually govern. Most functions of governance are either handled by the Cabinet and its various Ministries/Jarldoms, or by the Administrative/Moderator/Operator staff who handle day-to-day operations and iron out quirks in the region. Sometimes the Underhusen passes legislation to proclaim a holiday, or award someone a commendation, but these are self-serving bills the community as a whole agrees on anyway, and which could thus be done in an Open Assembly.

I'm opined that the Underhusen exists because it has existed in the past and we allow inertia to carry us forward. To craft celebratory bills as an attempt for the chamber to justify its own existence is, quite frankly, foolish.

Burn It Down isn't supposed to be a rallying cry for specific direction, just an observation that our present system doesn't work and that we're better off just replacing it entirely.

A spectre is haunting Wintreath - the spectre of the Burner cause. All the powers of old have entered into a holy alliance to exorcise this spectre: Potato Pope and Speaker in one, Chanku the arch-reactionary herself, the Paragons, and the Overhusen. And we must ask: where is the party in opposition not derided as radical, even insane, by its opponents in power? But we are indefatigable, for our cause is one of equality and liberty. We disdain to conceal our views and aims. We openly declare that our ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing regional institutions. Let the Underhusen tremble at a Burner revolution.  We have nothing to lose but the chains which already bind us; we have a region to win.

To be honest, I don't know how it's being received, which is one reason I've been calling it an experiment. There wasn't much discussion about it, and I'm basically forcing it through under my own authority to see if there's an actual interest in something like this.

I think it's fine to frame it as an experiment with the results yet to come in, tbh.

I like the "experimental" framing. Moot, is this something you'd still be willing to write about? I can have Tau do it if you'd rather not, but I see it as your baby.

I think the current situation devolving about the 2 popes in the Church of the Holy Tuber should be written.

This is a great idea, but can we save this for Orendi XXIII? That'll give us some more time to put the current one together, and to give us time for you and Crushita to work something out.


I've also updated the OP to reflect everyone's suggestions/progress.

Sure I would be willing to say something about Summersend.

You definitely have my permission to include that joke article.

Thank you! I've added you both