Roless wins Forest Keeper

Roless has been elected Forest Keeper, winning 22 votes, or 67 percent, and avoiding a runoff.

The Realizer finished second with nine votes. Pletho and Prusmia received one each, while Mirg Givers received none. Thirty-three valid ballots were cast from 104 eligible voters.

The campaign focused heavily on how Forest brings newer residents into government as long-serving officials begin handing over some of the work.

Roless and The Realizer both made that transition part of their campaigns.

A week of questions

Election Discussion Facilitator Anxious And Kevin kept the candidates busy throughout campaign week. Early questions covered why they were running and what they hoped to accomplish. Later, the candidates discussed government problems and Forest’s constitution. They also considered whether the Arboretum could be easier to navigate.

Other Forestians joined in as the week continued. Forest’s place in the rebuilt World Assembly came up, as did relations with other regions and the future of the ambassador programme. The discussion also turned to sports roleplay and other ways of getting residents involved.

That gave the candidates plenty of room to explain what they thought the next government should concentrate on.

Different ways to participate

Roless proposed a tiered government built around a smaller group of primary positions and a wider selection of secondary roles.

The primary officers would handle the larger portfolios and could take on unfilled work when necessary. Secondary positions would give newer Forestians a narrower set of responsibilities and a more manageable way into government. More experienced officials would be available to help them learn the role.

Roless’s broader programme was fairly restrained. Recruitment would continue, but with care taken not to disrupt Forest’s culture. Getting people involved in government would take priority over expanding the ambassador programme.

The campaign also left room for some familiar regional projects. Roless supported another census and wanted the Photo Contest to continue. Sporting and roleplay events could also be developed where there was enough interest.

The Realizer offered more continuity with the previous two terms. Recruitment would continue, but the emphasis would shift toward getting newer Forestians involved after they arrived. The proposed deputy-minister system would give newer officers smaller projects while allowing them to work alongside experienced ministers.

The Realizer also wanted a more active programme of events and regional outreach. The ambassador programme would be rebuilt, and an embassy with Europeia could come back for discussion if there was interest.

On the cultural side, there was interest in bringing back Forest-themed trivia and interviews. The census and Photo Contest would continue, while sports and lore-based roleplay could provide more ways for residents to take part.

The case for a third term rested partly on experience. The Realizer argued that two terms as Forest Keeper put them in a position to help a new group of officials get established before handing things over.

Pletho offered a simpler campaign focused on trust and transparency. Government decisions, Pletho said, should be explained to residents rather than simply announced.

The campaign also leaned toward informal community activity. Game nights and trivia were suggested, along with the possibility of joke competitions.

Prusmia also remained on the ballot despite having a mouse with a mind of its own. As a result less policy material appeared during the campaign.

The candidate who asked not to be elected

A PEBKAC computer issue brings us to Mirg Givers. Mirg joined the field after clicking the wrong button on the nomination poll and quickly issued one of the clearest statements of campaign week:

“I do not want to be forest keeper.”

Mirg said they weren’t active enough for the job and urged everyone to vote for somebody else. They then realised that telling Forestians not to vote for them might encourage exactly that behaviour.

Bisofeyr promptly announced their support before withdrawing it in the same post.

The voters eventually followed Mirg’s instructions. The final tally was zero.

From policy to orbital cannons

As campaign week went on, the questioning became less conventional.

Chan Island presented candidates with the problem of an undead pirate cutting down a Forest tree. Roless proposed using orbital cannons, although the possible damage to several kilometres of surrounding forest was apparently “not relevant, probably.”

A spelling mistake in The Forest Leaf presented an even greater crisis. Roless concluded that the only response would be to refound the region while Realizer would require a lie down in a darkened room for the rest of the term.

The lighter questions also revealed a few things about the candidates themselves. Roless had recently hiked in Tanzania’s Uluguru Mountains, preferred pastel green and was considerably less enthusiastic about being asked for a fun fact.

The Realizer approached the undead pirate problem differently. An axe-wielding intruder might, after all, offer opportunities for the timber and furniture restoration industry.

Azure Mines later asked candidates to remove one letter from the alphabet. The Realizer chose E, largely for the disruption it would cause and the prospect of serving as “Forst Kpr.”

Chan Island eventually dispensed with ordinary election questions altogether and brought out the bridge scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Candidates were asked their name and their quest before facing the important question of the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow.

Pletho, every pragmatic, put the answer at 21. A factual and honest response. If we leave Monty Python aside, a European barn swallow flies at roughly 10–12 m/s (36–43 km/h, or 22–27 mph) in ordinary flight.

Through all of this, Anxious And Kevin kept returning the discussion to how the candidates would actually govern. Transparency, government priorities and lessons from previous service continued alongside the swallows and orbital cannons.

After a week of serious discussion and some less serious questioning, the result itself was straightforward.

Roless won with a clear majority and will serve as Forest Keeper for the twenty-first administration.

Canopy holds the line to finish fifth in N-Day

Canopy finished N-Day in fifth place after its largest outing yet, passing one million successful strikes and one million intercepts while keeping radiation to just 486.

The Forest-backed faction entered the event with a defence-first strategy. Strategic and economic specialists were directed towards shields, while the Nuke Branch waited for targets.

The Nuke Branch didn't have to wait long. Forty minutes into the event, the first order was to target SPEAR. By 4:40 p.m. PDT, attention had shifted to Horsemen of the Apocalypse, beginning a campaign that would occupy Canopy for most of the next day.

The routine soon became familiar: produce, target HoTA, fire, return to production. By late evening, Priola barely needed to explain it:

“You know the drill. Target HotA.”

Canopy's Shield Branch, meanwhile, spent much of the night protecting other factions. CORAL received repeated assistance before shields were redirected towards ANAL and Starlight Brigade as attacks shifted between Canopy's partners.

HoTA remained the preferred offensive target. At 1:34 a.m. PDT, Garbelia gave one of the more memorable orders of the event:

“Let's make some more radioactive glue. Target the horsies.”

The attacks continued through the night and into the morning, despite increasing technical problems with NationStates. At one point Canopy had about 200,000 missiles targeted simultaneously, reportedly a faction record.

For nearly 20 hours, Canopy itself remained largely untouched.

That changed shortly after 11 a.m. PDT.

“@Shield Branch DEFEND CANOPY!!!!!!!!!!!”

“We've been waiting 20 hours for this,” Realize replied. “Time for the shield branch to have some fun.”

Several more volleys followed. Canopy repeatedly rebuilt its shields between attacks and came remarkably close to its goal of finishing without radiation. Only 486 radiation got through.

In the final two hours, Canopy's attention shifted from HoTA to The Subspace Rebels as command moved to secure fifth place. At 1:50 p.m. PDT, Garbelia made the objective explicit:

“FIRE ON SUBSPACE! LET'S LOCK DOWN 5TH”

Two more attack cycles followed. At 2:52 p.m. PDT came the final order to fire while Shield Branch prepared for whatever might arrive in the remaining minutes.

At 3 p.m. PDT, Garbelia posted simply:

“it's over.”

Canopy had secured fifth place.

The final numbers showed how much the operation had grown since last year. Canopy fielded 1,869 nations, up from 1,481, while its score rose from 116,069 to 272,058. Successful strikes more than doubled, from 489,140 to 1,088,408, and intercepts passed 1.09 million.

This year Canopy came close to its goal of zero radiation. Last year's Canopy finished with 31,616. This time, despite more than doubling its successful strikes, it finished with just 486.

But Shield Branch wasn't about to let Nuke Branch forget one other number.

“Over a million intercepts, and 11 thousand more intercepts than nuke branch got strikes,” Roless observed, “so we are clearly superior.”

Garbelia's final assessment captured the larger result: the largest Canopy faction yet, more than double last year's score and strikes, and the lowest radiation of any faction with more than 1,000 nations.

The Roster of Edible Voters

Forest’s election season began with an unfortunate discovery: some voters were apparently eligible to participate, while others were edible.

The revelation came during discussion of turnout for the Anti-GenAI tag poll, when Dest Oritio accidentally referred to Forest’s “edible voters.” Safiloa immediately asked whether a cannibal cabal had been uncovered. Ruinenlust confirmed the worst, cancelling the coming election and directing everyone on the Roster of Eligible Voters to report to a large cast-iron soup pot outside the polling station. Election Officers were asked to bring the seasoning.

Chan Island later identified as an “inedible voter” and requested further instructions. Fortunately, by the time the actual Forest Keeper election arrived, Forest had returned to counting ballots rather than ingredients.

The Mantis in Mum’s Backyard

A suggestion from Kawastyselir to go mantis hunting was one of the month’s more unexpected RMB item.

Safiloa recalled finding a praying mantis in their mother’s backyard in Aruba last year and uploading photographs to a citizen-science app. The sighting attracted local news coverage because, according to Safiloa, mantises were not thought to occur on the island. Then this July, Safiloa’s 12-year-old step-nephew found several more. There were enough of them that some began climbing onto visitors’ clothes.

Things became stranger when a Dutch camera crew announced plans to travel to Aruba to investigate what was being described locally as the Aruban praying mantis. Safiloa had heard it described as a species thought extinct since the late nineteenth century, while Melenavenia found reporting describing it as a newly identified species instead.

Who Takes Over the Photo Contest?

After years of running one of Forest’s most familiar events, Mount Seymour is stepping back from organizing the Photo Contest. Shout out to MS for the work they’ve done on this. But with the next contest expected in December: who picks up the camera bag?

The question came up during the Forest Keeper campaign. Roless proposed a possible Chief Photographer role responsible for organizing the contest, while allowing the work to fall under Cultural Affairs if no separate organizer emerged. Realizer preferred keeping the contest in the hands of a willing individual, with the region reaching a loose consensus on the new host rather than simply having the Forest Keeper appoint one.

No successor has yet emerged. Whoever takes it on will inherit an event has become a regular showcase for Forest photography. Feel like taking a shot? Let our Forest Keeper know.

Older, Wiser... Maybe?

One of the longer RMB discussions this month asked an awkward question: does age actually make us wiser?

The conversation moved quickly beyond the usual “experience comes with age” argument. Forestians discussed whether knowledge accumulated over decades remains useful when technology and society change rapidly, whether younger generations are necessarily better equipped for those changes, and how much value lies in passing experience between generations.

Sierra Brava and Chan Island took different views on the pace and consequences of technological change, particularly the effect of the information revolution on work, public debate and everyday life. The larger question remained harder to settle: experience grows with time, but what we do with that experience is another matter.

When the Issue Is the Issue

Sometimes the most interesting part of a NationStates Issue is arguing about the Issue itself.

Sierra Brava raised objections to A Chemical Reactionary, which places a celebrated chemist before a revolutionary court in a socialist republic. The complaint was partly about the scenario’s assumptions and partly about the statistical effects attached to its choices, including an increase in corruption for releasing the scientist.

For Sque suggested that some authorial bias is unavoidable in Issues and pointed out that the scenario leaves important details open to interpretation. There was also the simplest solution available to every head of government: the Dismiss button.

Sierra Brava conceded the point, then asked where the writers could be found because the revolutionary court had “a few friendly questions for them.”

A Quiz League Begins to Stir?

Mirg Givers’ Forest Keeper campaign may have been, by their own description, “completely fictional,” but another idea appears to have attracted rather more serious support.

After floating the possibility of a regional quiz league, Mirg reported receiving interest from several Forestians and said they would try to get something organized over the coming months.

Roless Begins Building the 21st Administration

With the election settled, Forest Keeper Roless has begun assembling the region’s 21st Administration.

The first round of appointments puts two experienced Forestians in the government’s broadest portfolios. Realizer, Roless’s predecessor as Forest Keeper, was appointed Deputy Forest Keeper and Cultural Affairs Minister, while Azure Mines takes over as Foreign Affairs Minister.

Garbelia has been named Statistician and Rogue River becomes Worldbuilder. Dest Oritio will continue as editor of The Forest Leaf.

The appointments show of how Roless intends to put one of the central ideas of the election campaign into practice. Roless proposed a government in which experienced ministers would oversee broad areas of responsibility while more focused roles could provide manageable ways for other Forestians to become involved.

The cabinet is not yet complete. Roless said at least one more round of appointments would follow and invited Forestians interested in serving to come forward, with a particular encouragement to newer members who might be hesitant because they lack government experience.

Forest Shortens Election Nominations

The September election was also the first held under a newly shortened timetable after Forest approved the Bisecting Overlong Government Signups, or BOGS, constitutional amendment.

The amendment reduces the period for prospective Forest Keeper candidates to declare themselves from seven days to three. The seven-day campaign period remains unchanged.

The change resolves a discussion covered in the August Forest Leaf, when Forestians were considering two proposals for shortening elections. The more extensive WRECK proposal would also have reduced Campaign Week, while BOGS concentrated on the nominations period.

BOGS ultimately won approval, cutting four days from the electoral process. The September election therefore began with three days of nominations before moving directly into Campaign Week.

The argument behind the change was fairly simple: prospective candidates already have six months between elections to consider whether they might run, while a full week of nominations could leave the region without a sitting government for longer than necessary. Others had been more cautious about shortening Campaign Week, particularly after several recent elections produced substantial debate between candidates.

Magna-Parva and Pletho Join the Forest Map

Forest’s regional map received another update at the end of August, adding two nations to the Old World.

Magna-Parva has been placed east of Elfrard and Canaltia, while Pletho now occupies territory west of Chilledsville. Shalotte was removed from the map.

There were no changes to the New World.

The August 31 update follows a larger revision earlier in the month that added Saint Agatha and Sierra Brava while removing five former nations. The latest changes continue the regular reshaping of Forest’s geography as new nations claim places on the map and inactive ones make way for new arrivals.

As always, Nations wanting a place on the region map can reach out Roless.

Election Records Show Consistent Turnout

Forest Governor Ruinenlust has also published a new record of participation in Forest Keeper elections dating back to March 2021.

The archive preserves the rosters of eligible voters for the twelve elections Ruinenlust has administered and identifies which nations cast valid ballots. It deliberately leaves out candidates and winners, concentrating instead on participation.

The figures give some context to this month’s election. September 2026 had 104 eligible voters, of whom 33 cast valid ballots, for participation of 32 percent. That sits close to turnout in several previous Forest elections and slightly above the 29 percent recorded in the first round of March 2026.

The archive will also give future Forestians something elections tend to lose surprisingly quickly: a record of who was actually there to vote.

NationStates Hits Ten Million

NationStates passed a rather large milestone on September 3 when its counter reached 10 million nations created since the game began. The number includes the many nations that have come and gone over nearly 24 years; around 300,000 were active when the milestone was announced.

Appropriately, the ten-millionth creation was NS 10 Millionth Nation, suggesting somebody had been watching the counter rather closely.

Read the NationStates announcement

GA Resolutions Now Come by the Tranche

The rebuilt General Assembly introduced Tranches, allowing World Assembly members to bundle GA resolutions into recommended sets.

Any nation can create a tranche based on the resolutions it thinks nations should adopt. Other WA members can follow it, adopt its recommendations together and receive further recommendations as new resolutions pass. That could make managing the growing post-reset GA considerably easier, although choosing whose judgement to trust remains firmly the nation's problem.

View Tranches

Issues Writers Asked to Seize the Means of Production

Barely two months after the annual Issues Contest produced three Forest winners, the Issues team announced another opportunity for writers.

The Red October Edition is NationStates' first themed Issues Contest. Entries must be submitted between September 29 and November 7 and must apply exclusively to socialist nations. Each player gets one entry, coauthored submissions aren't eligible, and winners are guaranteed the Medal of Issues Writing.

Given Forest's rather substantial contribution to the Issues system over the years, there should be no shortage of comrades capable of answering the call.

Read the Red October announcement

Issue Decisions Get a Clearer Paper Trail

The results screen after answering an issue received an overhaul on September 24. Changes to World Census rankings are now organized into a Decision Impact Report, with individual scales offering a deeper explanation of why a decision affected them.

The update also added eight policies, including Compulsory Vote, Gold Standard, Digital Money, Referendums and Piracy. Nation banners have meanwhile become collectible "postcards", complete with global unlock statistics to show just how rare an image is.

For anyone who has ever stared at an unexpected Census change and wondered exactly how that decision produced that result, the new report should at least provide a few more clues.

Read about the September update

Pressure Builds on Longingland Prime Minister

The political fallout from Longingland’s recent terrorist attacks has reached Prime Minister Nikolai Rasmussen, with opposition groups and some members of the public now calling for his resignation or impeachment.

Last month, The Forest Leaf reported that Longingland had imposed martial law after coordinated attacks by the Infinite Insurgency. Since then, the government has opened an investigation into possible foreign support for the militants, examining financial transactions, communications and possible supply networks. Klaussa, already a security partner of Longingland, has assisted with intelligence.

Rasmussen is also facing criticism over the government’s handling of the attacks, the lifting of the national curfew and changes in domestic policy. For now, the pressure remains political: no formal impeachment proceedings had begun when Longingland reported the story.

Read Longingland’s report on the impeachment discussion

Brush Tsanglu Votes to Enter World Assembly

One of Forest’s newest independent nations has taken an early step onto the international stage.

Following negotiations that established Brush Tsanglu as a sovereign country, its provisional government put World Assembly membership to the public. The referendum required 60 percent approval to proceed, a threshold the Yes side narrowly cleared with 63.52 percent of the vote.

The results also revealed some of the new country’s political geography. Rural communities were generally more sceptical of membership, while support was stronger around the tourism-dependent Teliwa River valley and its ski resorts. Provisional leader jan Teko acknowledged concerns about sovereignty while describing international participation as part of the country’s emerging political direction.

Read Brush Tsanglu’s referendum report

Rainges Wins Nortallius Presidency

Last month, The Forest Leaf introduced readers to an eight-candidate presidential race in Nortallius. That race now has its winner.

Vice President Catherine Rainges was elected the country’s second president, winning both the popular and electoral votes. Foreign Minister Riley Rockland will become vice president, while the other candidates have conceded.

Rainges succeeds two-term President Jared Cunningham and has said she intends to continue many policies of the outgoing administration. The result brings a straightforward conclusion to one of the international election stories followed in the August Leaf.

Read Nortallius’s election report

Karaa Charts a New Course After Civil War

Karaa Theocracy is describing a period of rapid political and economic change following the end of its recent civil war.

The government reports that its former corporatist planned economy has been replaced by a state-capitalist model, while restrictions on public protest, independent media and political criticism have been loosened. Term limits have also been introduced for legislators and the Dux, although the dispatch adds, with some confidence, that current Dux George Tronto “is not going anywhere.”

Economic recovery has taken priority, however, and Karaa acknowledges that its environmental ambitions have fallen behind schedule. That leaves the government trying to balance post-war recovery with the greener aspirations it had previously set for itself within Forest.

Read Karaa’s account of the “Era of Liminalism”

Lord Dominator Achieves Zero-Emission Public Transit

Lord Dominator has solved one of the more stubborn problems in transport policy: emissions from public transit.

Following the abolition of the automotive industry, the nation now reports that public transportation produces no emissions at all, largely because public transportation does not exist. Meanwhile, the gambling and arms industries have expanded to help fill the economic space left behind.

It is an environmental achievement of a particularly Forest kind.

Saint Dolmance: Please Compliment the Flowers

Saint Dolmance is a country where horticulturalists outnumber the military and flowers appear to influence both public policy and personal reputation.

Its Mediterranean landscape is carefully cultivated, with gardens and flower-lined streets shaping much of the public realm. Horticulture is taught in schools, while municipalities compete over whose surroundings are the most beautiful. Residents can even report neighbours whose gardens are deemed insufficiently impressive.

At the center of it all is His Most Beauteous, Most Serene, Most Fragrant, Incomparably Wise, Universally Admired Saint Dolmance. Apparently deciding that having separate names was unnecessarily complicated, he renamed both himself and the country. Failure to include at least one complimentary adjective before his name is technically punishable by law.

The country’s devotion to beauty occasionally collides with practical concerns. Affordable housing proposals have come with fountains, marble and decorative arches attached, while government spending on beautification has reportedly tested the patience of the finance ministry. One opera house even required chandeliers imported from six countries.

Forest nations have one easy way to make a good impression with this nation. Saint Dolmance enthusiastically supports reciprocal regional endorsements, sometimes celebrating them with feasts and fireworks.

Those who don’t reciprocate are still appreciated. They just might not be invited to dinner.

Sierra Brava: A Country From a Poem

Sierra Brava’s national story begins with a poet.

In 1763, Manuel Corbera wrote Oda al pueblo serrano, or Ode to the Mountain People, arguing that Sierra Brava should be a nation in its own right. His green cockade, representing hope, soon became a symbol among supporters of independence.

At the same time, miners led by Juan Guazurarí were rebelling in the north under the colour yellow. Corbera combined their yellow with his green, creating the colours that would become associated with Sierra Brava. The flag was first raised over a captured fort in 1767.

Corbera was executed, and his head was displayed in Tacuarendí’s Plaza Mayor.

More than forty years later, revolutionaries retook the city and raised his green-and-yellow flag in that same square. Sierra Brava eventually declared independence on July 19, 1816.

The country’s later history would include dictatorship, civil war and democratic renewal, but the flag endured.

So when Forest neighbours see Sierra Brava’s green and yellow today, see the memory of two rebellions and a poet who imagined the country before it existed.

Majalangka: At the Movies

One of the easiest ways to understand Majalangka may be watch one of its films.

Cinema began there with imported movies shown in modest halls near markets, ports and railway towns. Over time, local writers, musicians, artists and actors began making films of their own, drawing stories from royal history, village life and rapidly changing cities.

That created a distinctly Majalangkan question: what language should the country speak on screen? Early films often favoured the prestigious dialects of the capital. More recent productions have increasingly used regional languages and found larger audiences than expected.

The industry has also created stars of its own like Siti Marjoeki. Known as the “Orchid of Sriwangi,” she began in travelling theatre before being discovered by the Cahaya Selatan studio. She has since appeared in more than twenty films and spent nearly two decades in the industry.

Her career reflects some of the changes taking place in Majalangkan cinema. Newer films are beginning to give older women more substantial characters and stories of their own.

Majalangka’s cinema shows which stories the country wants to tell, which voices it wants to hear, and increasingly, what it looks like when Majalangka sees itself on screen.

Into Safiloa’s Lost World

There are easier ways to spend a holiday than following a guide hiking through the wilds of Safiloa in search of an egg-carrying mammal.

That was the thought running through my head. My editor wanted the story, so here I am beneath the canopy of Safiloa’s Burañnoan Cloud Forest. The air had gone cool and damp, and our guide had already reminded us more than once to keep an eye above us. Safiloa’s Vebo'ai crocodilians spend part of their time in trees, which is useful information before you start walking underneath them.

Ecotourism is a significant part of Safiloa’s visitor economy, drawing travellers beyond the beaches and resorts into forests, wetlands and other protected landscapes. The archipelago’s long isolation has preserved ecosystems and species that disappeared elsewhere, including the Kouway, an egg-carrying mammal descended from a lineage dating back to Gondwana. We’d look for that in the wetlands later.

First, we had the forest and the possibility of a tree-climbing crocodilian. For most of the morning, very little happened. We walked. We stopped. Our guide pointed into dense vegetation and we stared politely at leaves. After a couple of hours, I was beginning to wonder whether I’d traded a perfectly good beach for a long, damp walk through the forest.

Then the guide froze. A few metres ahead, something moved above us. What had looked like another dark branch shifted. Stretched along it was a Vebo'ai, leaner and more lightly built than the crocodilians I knew, with a narrow snout and long, clawed limbs gripping the tree. Its slender body almost disappeared among the branches when it stopped moving.

That’s the attraction of Safiloa’s ecotourism industry. The unusual animals aren’t exhibits waiting for visitors. You enter their habitat and hope you’re fortunate enough to see them.

From forest to wetlands

The Hoñie'lua Wetlands couldn’t have felt more different. The canopy fell away and the view opened across water, marshy ground and sky. This was also where we might finally find the animal that had brought me on the tour in the first place.

The Kouway is unusual even by Safiloan standards. It walks on its knuckles, eats plants and lays eggs, and it’s the last surviving Gondwanathere in the world. The wetlands are its territory, so once again we slowed down and started looking.

After the forest, I knew better than to expect anything to appear on cue. This time, though, we didn’t have to wait as long. Our guide pointed toward movement near the water. Vegetation shifted, then a stocky animal emerged onto the open ground, moving slowly across the wet terrain with the unusual gait we’d been told to watch for.

There it was. The Kouway.

It’s difficult to convey the strangeness of watching an animal whose lineage reaches back to Gondwana quietly feeding in a modern Safiloan wetland. We’d started the morning beneath a crocodilian in a cloud forest. Now we were watching the last surviving member of another ancient lineage in an entirely different landscape.

That variety is part of what makes the tour work. Safiloa isn’t offering visitors a single wildlife attraction. In the space of a day, the landscape changes around you, and with it the things you’ve come to see.

An evening on the water

After a day spent watching branches and staring into wetlands, I was ready for a break. The Falokrupu Floating Gardens of Hufaïeti provided it. The gardens spread across the bay in a mix of planted spaces, pavilions, food and performances. By evening, the pace was completely different. Puppetry, theatre, comedy and dance replaced the quiet searching of the day, while visitors wandered through the gardens long after most botanical attractions would’ve closed. Dinner offered another unexpected rich experience. The country’s food culture is overwhelmingly vegan, drawing heavily on seaweed, nuts, fruit and other locally grown foods.

After a day exploring what Safiloa’s isolation had preserved, the gardens offered a glimpse of the Safiloa people live in today. The next morning, the tour was heading down.

Below Kambanu

Kambanu Island contains extensive caverns and archaeological sites connected to a much older period in the islands’ human history. Among them are Aratta, subterranean monolithic ruins whose builders remain uncertain. Safiloan accounts attribute them either to the Doians, the islands’ earliest known inhabitants, or to the Ashab al-Rass who later displaced them.

The contrast with the previous day was immediate. Above ground, Safiloa’s isolation preserved animals whose relatives vanished elsewhere. Underground, the islands hold traces of people whose story now survives through ruins and archaeology.

Safiloa’s eco tours make good use of all of this. The landscapes alone are worth seeing. The chance to encounter wildlife found nowhere else, with some of the islands’ older history along the way, makes the tours even more rewarding.

So if Safiloa is on your travel list, leave some room in the itinerary for a guided ecotour.

In Memoriam

Four Forest nations left us this month.

Sapnu puas leaves one of the longest records behind. Founded more than nine years ago, it grew to a population of more than 17 billion and is recognized by NationStates as the nation of a former Issues Author. Its surviving dispatches and factbooks leave traces of a player who had been part of the game for a long time.

Rezua also leaves a substantial archive after more than twelve years. Its factbooks document cities, government, history, geography and culture, preserving a considerable amount of worldbuilding even after the nation itself has fallen silent.

Althean states was younger, but had already begun building a detailed history of its own, including the Althean Unification, the Rafflesian Flood and Walian Secession.

Prydaein had been part of NationStates for almost nine years. The Organic Co-operative was a long-standing Forest nation with a strong environmental streak, and it remained part of the region’s civic life, casting ballots in the March 2026 Forest Keeper election and runoff.

This month we remember Sapnu puas, Althean States, Rezua, and Prydaein, and the pieces of Forest they leave behind.

Forest Takes Part in the First WA Secretariat Election

The World Assembly entered a new phase this summer with a rebuilt General Assembly and the election of a five-member World Assembly Secretariat.

The General Assembly reset purged all previous resolutions and introduced a new adoption system for newly passed resolutions. Nations now make two decisions: voting for or against a resolution and, if it passes, whether to adopt it. To retain their WA voting rights, nations must maintain an adoption rate of at least 80 percent. An elected Secretariat was also created to publish prominent voting Opinions on proposals before both WA chambers.

The inaugural election ran from June 24 to June 28. Varanius finished first and became Secretary-General, followed by UPC as Deputy Secretary-General. Merethin, Islandwalk and Moduland took the remaining seats.

Forest backs Islandwalk

Garbelia organized an internal poll featuring Moduland, Voopmont, UPC and Merethin.

Voopmont, running as Islandwalk, became Forest’s preferred candidate. Bisofeyr pointed to previous work with Voopmont on environmental legislation. Islandwalk supported WA action on genuinely international problems, including environmental harm that crosses borders. The campaign also emphasized clear legislation and avoiding unnecessary international micromanagement.

Chan Island throws in the tri-corner

Chan Island entered independently, outside the regional endorsement process, with Captain Naybeard fronting a pirate-themed campaign.

What began as an unconventional candidacy made it through the first round and into the final field of 25 candidates. Forest members including Jutsa and others discussed supporting Chan as a regional, alternative or protest choice.

On reaching the second round, Chan Island celebrated by promising supporters rum and freedom from walking the plank. (Yarr!)

The campaign did not capture one of the five seats.

Forest debates the endorsement

The regional poll also prompted discussion about whether Forest should endorse Secretariat candidates in the first place.

Jutsa questioned whether recurring WA elections should become a regional activity and suggested members could simply share their own preferences on the RMB.

Garbelia argued that a non-binding endorsement could support embassy partners and establish useful relationships for Forest authors without directing how individual nations voted.

The second round brought more tactical discussion as members considered candidates near the five-seat threshold and whether to shift votes to block candidates they opposed.

One such discussion followed Anxious And Kevin’s vote for Knights of Lusitania as an opponent of WA overreach, despite rejecting the candidate’s fascist politics. Other members argued that several candidates already supported limits on WA authority without the same associations.

Forest interests reach the new Assembly

Forest’s preferred candidate, Islandwalk, won a Secretariat seat. The other three candidates included in the regional poll — UPC, Merethin and Moduland — were also elected.

One of the first resolutions passed by the rebuilt General Assembly was the World Environmental Treaty, proposed by Bisofeyr and co-authored by The Ankhalic Vaspriot.

The resolution established principles for dealing with environmental harm that crosses national borders and created an Environmental Coordination Office to support monitoring, information sharing and international cooperation.

All five members of the newly elected Secretariat recommended voting for it, including Islandwalk.

The resolution passed on July 22 with 91.3 percent support.

The Regional Message Board has hosted several substantial discussions over the past month, alongside regional business, worldbuilding and the everyday conversation of Forestians.

Falklands discussion

A discussion of the Falkland Islands developed into one of the longer recent RMB exchanges. Forestians discussed the islands' history, competing British and Argentine claims, self-determination and the role the dispute continues to play in Argentine politics. Sierra Brava contributed an Argentine perspective, while Anxious And Kevin brought comments from an academic who studies Latin American politics into the discussion. The discussion later expanded to the Falkland Islands fox, or warrah, the islands’ only native terrestrial mammal, which was hunted to extinction in the 19th century.

Anti-GenAI regional tag

Forestians debated whether the region should adopt NationStates' new Anti-GenAI tag.

One part of the discussion has focused on creativity. Supporters of the tag have argued that generative AI sits uneasily with a region where writing, art, photography and worldbuilding are prominent parts of community life. Concerns were also raised about the use of artists' work in training generative systems.

A second line of debate has focused on environmental impact. Sierra Brava and others pointed to the energy, water and material demands associated with generative AI and questioned how those costs fit with Forest's environmental identity. That argument drew some pushback over the scale of AI's resource use compared with other forms of consumption.

There has also been disagreement over what adopting the tag should mean in practice. Some supported using it as a regional statement while stopping short of formal restrictions on individual nations, while others questioned whether Forest should take an official position on the technology at all.

Editor's note: Since the writing of this story, a regional poll decided that Forest adopt the new tag.

Election timing under review

The proposed BOGS and WRECK constitutional amendments returned to the RMB, reopening discussion about the length of Forest elections. Particular attention has gone to whether the nomination period should be shortened and whether candidates still need a full seven-day campaign period. Recent competitive elections were cited in the discussion over retaining the existing campaign week.

Ten years in Forest

Ruinenlust marked ten years in Forest with a retrospective on their time in the region and the people who have come and gone during that period. This connected with another RMB discussion about CTE'd nations, including Forest founder Errinundera, and memories of former members of the community.

Football beyond the Forest Cup

Football continued to generate discussion as several Forest nations entered the 2026 IFAU Regions Cup. Another conversation considered whether Forest could support a club competition alongside the existing biennial Forest Cup, although concerns were raised about whether enough nations currently have the necessary club football worldbuilding to sustain one.

Continued energy

Smaller projects and personal interests continued to surface across the board. Bob the Cartographer shared new map work and cartographic experiments, while Nittany Hollow showed off an increasingly ambitious national map. Victoriaans Nederlands shared photography from Botanic Gardens, and Anxious And Kevin posted photographs from a trip through the Scottish Highlands. Rogue River also talked about using studies in politics, geography and municipal government as material for future worldbuilding, while Vituria and Magna-Parva traded ideas about conlangs.

Bextoria Wins Forest Poetry Fantasia III

Bextoria has taken the overall prize in Forest Poetry Fantasia III, leading a field of nine nations whose entries ranged from reflective haiku to comic verse, environmental writing and longer poems about identity and change.

The winning poem, The Self I Never Was, earned the contest’s highest score of 28.25 and won the Change category. It looks at the experiences that shape a life, asking who a person might have become without the music, relationships and hard-earned understanding that formed them.

Bextoria also won the Haiku category with a score of 23.00. The three-line poem turns its gaze toward ancient starlight, capturing the idea that the night sky is filled with light from places and times long gone.

The Cypher Nine also had a strong showing, winning both the Freeverse Photo and Living World categories.

Their Freeverse Photo entry, which received 24.50, follows a patient trying to be heard through a series of brief psychiatric appointments. The poem grows more forceful as the patient’s frustration builds, giving the category one of its most direct and personal submissions.

In The Living World, The Cypher Nine scored 22.75 with a poem about watching a steady stream of war and cruelty on television before finding a moment of perspective in images of Earth from space.

That category showed how widely the writers interpreted the theme. Tripod II turned the phospholipid bilayer into a rhyming biology lesson. Truzipa wrote about hiking, picnics and putting away screens. Bextoria’s The Pigs used repetition to examine greed, while Muspelgard focused on the fragility of life on Earth.

The Change category produced the contest’s highest-scoring group of poems. Azure Mines received 25.25 for a vivid journey through a storm-struck Forest landscape. Lontranutria wrote about the shifting moods of the sky, while New Eestiball reflected on returning to a town worn down by time and decline.

The Water category ended in a tie. Bextoria’s The Sea Calls Me and The Cypher Nine’s Dear Rain each earned 22.75.

Bextoria’s poem follows the pull of the open sea and the desire to leave a familiar shore behind. The Cypher Nine addresses rain as a teacher, finding calm in surrendering the need to control what comes next.

Muspelgard’s Lifeguard brought the category back to the physical experience of water, following the heat and repetition of a lifeguard’s shift before relief finally arrives in the pool.

The contest also left room for humour. One haiku by 7 robots in a trenchcoat ends before reaching its seventeenth syllable, while Azure Mines used a play on “real eyes” in an entry prompted by Realize.

Forest Poetry Fantasia III brought together poems that were serious, playful, strange and deeply personal. The results show a contest with enough room for polished literary work, experimental ideas and writers who simply wanted to try something memorable.

Congratulations to Bextoria on the overall win, to The Cypher Nine on two category victories, and to every nation that contributed.

Results

Overall winner: Bextoria, The Self I Never Was

Haiku: Bextoria

Freeverse Photo: The Cypher Nine

The Living World: The Cypher Nine

Change: Bextoria

Water: Bextoria and The Cypher Nine

Updraft Gives Forest Writers a Place to Start

Earlier this year, The Forest Leaf reported that Forest nations were responsible for a remarkable share of NationStates issue writing and editing.

That record shows how deeply writing is already embedded in the region. Now, a new initiative is giving more Forest nations a practical way to take part.

Updraft, led by The Ankhalic Vaspriot, connects aspiring authors with experienced members of the NationStates writing community. It is designed for people at any stage, from those with a loose idea to authors preparing a draft for submission.

Writers can ask for help shaping an issue concept, improving a resolution, researching technical details, understanding forum expectations, or managing a project from its first outline through submission.

The team includes issue editors, World Assembly authors, experienced feedback-givers, and a member of the WA Secretariat. Its members were selected for their ability to give useful feedback, work collaboratively, and help other writers develop their ideas.

Updraft cannot guarantee that an issue will be published or a resolution passed. Those decisions still depend on editors, delegates, and voters. What the initiative can do is help writers understand the process, avoid common problems, and submit stronger work.

The assistance is also flexible. Some writers may want ongoing mentoring. Others may only need help with one awkward sentence, a question about political viability, or another set of eyes on a finished draft.

The region already has a strong record of contributing writers. Updraft can make it easier for more nations to join them.

A nation with one unfinished issue idea, a rough resolution draft, or a question about where to begin already has enough to approach the team. Assistance is available through the Updraft forum thread, its Discord server, or by telegramming The Ankhalic Vaspriot.

Forest’s photographers votes have been counted and the results of the Eleventh Annual Forest Photo Contest are in. Twenty-six voters weighed in across the four categories.

Mount Seymour took Trees with a photograph of a Huangshan pine in Anhui, China, while Kawastyselir won Stillness with a reflection in Glacier National Park. Juxtaposition ended in a tie: The Realizer captured an Australian outback sunset alongside a rising moon, while Valentine Z paired Mount Fuji with Fujikawaguchiko, Japan.

In Nature in Human Space, Stevist Guam and Tuirsland shared first place. Stevist Guam’s Front Yard Visitors caught three deer wandering through a residential yard, while Tuirsland’s Perching Outlook offered another take on nature finding its place among people.

There were plenty other finalists. Kawastyselir, Magna-Parva, Fadnesia, The Cypher Nine and Einswenn were among those collecting second- and third-place finishes, while honourable mentions recognized entries from across Forest.

The full results are available in the contest dispatch, while the Forest forum thread collects the submissions for anyone who wants to browse the photographs themselves.

Forest Writers Claim Three Issues Contest Wins

Forest writers took three of the ten winning places in this year’s NationStates Issues Contest, selected from 139 submissions.

Chan Island won with First Past the Deal, Krusavich with Parks and Depredation, and The Realizer with Instruments of Destruction. Two of those entries, from Chan Island and Krusavich, had already been highlighted in the June Forest Leaf while the contest was underway.

The result adds to Forest’s growing presence in the Issues community. Regional writers have been active in developing drafts, helping newer authors, and participating in writing initiatives such as Updraft.

The contest, now in its eleventh edition, is also one of the ways the NationStates Issues team identifies promising new writers. Whether any of this year’s Forest winners move on to join the team remains to be seen.

Forest Map Welcomes Saint Agatha as Five Former Nations Depart

The Forest’s Old World map has received a significant update, adding Saint agatha while removing five nations that have ceased to exist.

Saint Agatha and the Sasquatch isles has been placed on the map under the shortened name Saint Agatha, occupying territory north of Nordstrua. No changes were made to the New World.

The update removes Azwela, Larbiec, Palos Heights, Paytxew and Taco Respublic. Although their territories are now vacant, several left behind records of the places and projects they created during their time in Forest.

Palos Heights was the longest-lived of the departing nations, founded more than nine years before its cessation in March 2026. Its name remains reserved because it belonged to a former NationStates Issues Author. Palos Heights also organized the Official Forest Recipe List, an extensive collection of recipes contributed by nations across the region.

Taco Republic was older still, having been founded more than twelve years ago and reaching a population of 25.72 billion before ceasing to exist. Its surviving factbook describes the nation’s “Peacemakers Army,” though little other public worldbuilding remains.

Larbiec spent just over a year in NationStates and developed a detailed political setting. Its factbook described a federal liberal democracy with an eleven-party parliament, a recently impeached chancellor, its own currency and a space agency operating 143 satellites. It also recognized every known Forest religion equally under its constitution.

Azwela, though active for less than a year, produced thirteen factbooks documenting an isolated volcanic archipelago. Its setting included sacred mountains, hot springs, close-knit island communities, nature-based spirituality and a culture shaped by fishing, oral traditions and the surrounding ocean.

Paytxew reached a population of 2.697 billion during nearly two years of existence. Its only surviving factbook is a country map, leaving less of its national story available than the other removed nations.

The map changes remove several established names from Forest geography, including communities with developed histories and regional contributions. Their former locations may now open space for new applicants as the Old World continues to change.

The updated map and applications for future placement are available through Forest Map, maintained by Roless.

Centrist Party Holds Balance After Magna-Parva Election

The National–Country Alliance won the largest share of seats in Magna-Parva’s June 22 general election, positioning the party to return to government after six years of Social Democratic leadership.

The result left neither the right nor the left with a clear parliamentary majority. The right-leaning parties hold only two more seats than the parties of the left, giving the centrist Ŷgra party a potentially decisive role.

Ŷgra received more than 20 per cent of the vote for the first time since 1996 and finished two seats behind the Social Democrats.

National–Country Alliance leader Gair Schwetz has announced plans to form a minority coalition with the Nationalist Party. The government’s survival may depend on whether Ŷgra supports it on confidence votes and legislation.

The campaign focused on business regulation, old-age security, defence policy and allegations of corruption in provincial government.

Read the Magna-Parva election report

Nittany Hollow Wetland Project Floods Border Communities

A major wetland restoration project in Nittany Hollow has caused flooding and property damage across its border.

The Maumee & Erie Wetland Ecosystem Restoration project is intended to recreate part of the historic Great Black Swamp near Lake Erie. According to Nittany Hollow’s account, the first stage flooded farmland, homes and small communities without advance warning.

Residents on the Nittany Hollow side had been evacuated before the flooding began. Communities across the border reportedly received no comparable notice.

The Nittany Hollow government has agreed to compensate its neighbour for economic and humanitarian damage. The restoration project will continue, although its planners have been directed to prevent future work from extending beyond national territory.

Read Nittany Hollow’s report

Longingland Declares Martial Law After Coordinated Attacks

Longingland has declared a nationwide state of emergency and imposed martial law following coordinated attacks in several cities.

The militant organization Infinite Insurgency claimed responsibility for bombings in the capital, Hammerhal, and in Mosden, Elsted, Huskhärad and Vethammar.

Longingland’s government described the bombings as the deadliest attacks in the country’s history. Casualty reports were still rising when the development was reported.

Prime Minister Nikolai Rasmussen and Queen Veronika Holmlund have mobilized emergency resources. The military has also intensified operations against insurgent positions in the Jõgetu Forest mountains.

Neighbouring Klaussa is fighting the same organization along its border with Longingland and has offered assistance.

Read the report from Longingland

Rainges Favoured as Eight Enter Nortallius Presidential Race

Eight candidates have qualified for the coming presidential election in Nortallius as President Jared Cunningham prepares to leave office after two terms.

The election follows the introduction of a two-term presidential limit. Vice President Catherine Rainges enters the race as the clear frontrunner and is widely viewed as Cunningham’s preferred successor.

Polling cited by the Nortallius government places Rainges above two-thirds of the popular vote.

Her challengers include members of the current administration, two senators, a provincial governor and the army’s chief general. Several candidates are broadly aligned with the current government, although they differ on foreign affairs, defence and the role of the central bank.

The field also includes conservative Senator Les Burton and Jen Hamlin, leader of the newly formed Socialist Party. Governor Anderson Pickett has made the possible growth of formal political parties a concern of his campaign.

Read the Nortallius election preview

RHcordia: Where the Three E-s Meet

In Tyanet, one of Forest’s Oceanic subregions, RHcordia is a country shaped by water, mountains, and the cultures that have settled between them.

Its best-known landscape is the Basin of the Three E-s. The Eva, Eki, and Ellas rivers descend through separate valleys before meeting in a broad central lake. Around them sit meadows, farms, and rural settlements, all nearly enclosed by the Otto Mountains. The basin feels like a country within a country.

Its people, the Mundils, speak a Romance language and follow a largely Catholic tradition in a nation where Orthodox Christianity is more common. The region also has its own government, legislature, and supreme court.

The mountains helped make that possible. They limited outside influence and allowed the basin to keep a strong identity of its own. They also spared much of the region from the industrial development that reshaped other parts of RHcordia.

Today, the Three E-s are known for clean waterways, open countryside, and villages that remain closely tied to farming and local traditions. For travellers, crossing the Otto Mountains means entering a quieter part of the country, where rivers still help define how communities live and where they belong.

Elsewhere, RHcordia tells a different story. Its cities and regions reflect generations of travel, settlement, trade, and political change. Languages shift. Places of worship change. Architecture carries traces of the people who once governed, traded, or built there.

Claireburg is one of the clearest examples. Its streets combine RHcordian and BingoBongo architectural traditions, giving the city a character shaped by cultural overlap. That atmosphere has helped attract painters, writers, musicians, and other artists.

The result is a country with no single cultural centre. Orthodox, Catholic, Muslim, Jewish, and Slerian communities all contribute to RHcordia’s character. Some regions preserved their identity through isolation. Others developed through contact and exchange.

Even the monarchy reflects that pattern. When the former royal line ended in the twentieth century, a new tsar was chosen through a popular vote. The institution survived, though the way it continued was distinctly RHcordian.

The Basin of the Three E-s remains the best place to begin understanding the nation.

Three rivers arrive from different valleys and meet in one lake. RHcordia has grown in much the same way, with separate histories flowing into one country while still remaining visible beneath the surface.

Kimonoko: Where the Trains Run on Time and the Blossoms Set the Calendar

Kimonoko is the kind of country that rewards travellers who arrive with a plan.

The journey is likely to begin in Kyōhoku, the capital and main point of entry for foreign visitors. From there, the country opens by rail. Trains run between the major cities and into the interior provinces with a reputation for remarkable punctuality. For a traveller carrying a timetable and a light bag, the railway offers a natural way to see the country.

Spring brings Kimonoko’s most celebrated season. Cherry blossoms spread through parks, temple grounds and city streets, drawing visitors to Kyōhoku and Shimozaki. The spectacle also fills hotel rooms quickly, so accommodation is best arranged well before arrival.

There are familiar hotels in the larger cities, though the more memorable stay may be found in a traditional inn. Here, the rhythm of the day changes. Shoes are left at the entrance, communal bathing is part of the experience, and evenings often become quiet earlier than foreign guests may expect.

These customs offer an introduction to the wider character of Kimonoko. A bow is the usual greeting between strangers, although visitors are not expected to master every detail of local etiquette. Watching how a host or shopkeeper responds is usually enough. Shoes also come off before entering private homes and some temples, making simple footwear a sensible choice.

The same consideration follows travellers onto the train. Carriages tend to be quiet, and loud conversations can draw attention for the wrong reason. The journey becomes part of the destination: stations arriving on schedule, countryside passing beyond the windows and passengers settling into the calm of the carriage.

From Kyōhoku, the rails lead toward Shimozaki and deeper into the provinces. This is where Kimonoko begins to feel less like a capital-city visit and more like a journey through the country. A timetable can carry a traveller from blossom-filled streets toward quieter towns, temples and landscapes farther along the line.

There are limits to how far that journey should be improvised. Some northern districts remain under administrative restrictions following unrest, and visitors should check local guidance before heading that way. Travellers should also be mindful of their cameras along the route. Military installations, ports and some government buildings are off limits to photography, while around temples and religious sites it is courteous to ask before photographing people.

Money is another detail best handled once you've arrival. The Kimonoko yen is not widely exchanged abroad, according to Majalangka’s travel guidance, so authorized banks and hotel counters are the safer places to arrange local currency.

The published passport, permit and consular advice was written for Majalangka’s citizens. Forest travellers should therefore confirm their own entry requirements before booking passage rather than assume the same rules apply to them.

Once those details are settled, Kimonoko seems best approached at its own pace. Follow the railway and leave some room between destinations. The country’s pleasures appear in small moments: blossoms beside the track, shoes set neatly at an inn doorway and a train gliding into the station exactly when the timetable said it would.

Open Roads and Open Throttles: Caltia Calls to Forest’s Auto Aficionados

Germany has the Autobahn. Forest has Caltia.

Officially known for its unlimited-speed roads, the Federation of caltia is an obvious point of interest for the region’s auto aficionados. With a major automobile manufacturing sector, a thriving industrial economy, and stringent safety laws, Caltia stands out as one of Forest’s most intriguing destinations for those who see the road itself as part of the holiday.

Caltia has not published a traveller’s guide to its unrestricted roads. That has not stopped motorists from wondering what it might be like to point the bonnet toward the horizon and simply keep driving.

The country’s automotive industry adds to the appeal. Automobile manufacturing is one of Caltia’s leading industries, giving the nation a strong connection to the machines that would make such a journey possible. The fascination with Caltia’s roads sits comfortably within a country where engineering and production already carry considerable weight.

Away from the roads, Caltia presents itself as an industrious and tightly ordered society. Crime is described as virtually unknown, while health and safety laws are notably strict. That gives the country’s unlimited-speed roads an added layer of intrigue. Speed may be unrestricted, but little else about Caltian public life appears casual.

Then there is the black eagle, Caltia’s national animal, occasionally reported dodging aircraft over the nation’s cities. Whether that counts as a roadside attraction is best left to the traveller.

Visitors should also get acquainted with the Caltian groat. One NationStates Dollar buys roughly fifteen and a half groats, while digital payments are becoming increasingly common in major cities and at the international airport.

For Forest’s auto aficionados, Caltia offers an unusually simple appeal. The cars are built at home. The roads have no stated limits. Some destinations are remembered for the view at the end of the journey. Caltia makes a compelling case that the drive itself deserves top billing.

Forest has said farewell to several nations whose time in the region ranged from a few weeks to nearly two decades.

The longest-lived among them was A Once Great Nation, which endured for almost twenty years. Yukona, New Ladavia, and Fad also carried histories stretching across much of a decade, leaving behind names that had long been part of the NationStates landscape.

Some nations are remembered through the worlds they documented. Yukona preserved accounts of its geography, institutions, armed forces, and culture. Ocrus, despite a much shorter existence, produced maps, proclamations, civic records, and its own in-universe newspapers. Silver Creek also left an extensive archive covering its politics, culture, and national life.

Forest also remembers Keplar, Parlok, Alteplano, and Bongalia. Their histories varied in length and detail, but each was part of the region’s community for a time.

Their nations may have fallen silent, but the names, stories, and traces they left behind remain part of Forest’s history.

A reflection on the rhythms, quirks and quiet strengths of Forest’s voice

The 2026 Forest Cup has come to an end, and after years of entering as one of the favourites, Roless finally lifted the trophy.

Their 2-1 victory over Einswenn in the final brought an end to one of the most memorable editions of the tournament so far. Greenaway opened the scoring with a stunning strike after a no-look pass from Harvey Carrol, before Solheim equalised early in the second half. Carrol would have the final word, scoring the winner only minutes later. Einswenn came painfully close to forcing extra time, striking the woodwork twice late on, but Roless held on to secure their first Forest Cup title.

The tournament was full of surprises from the very beginning. Valentian Kittens announced themselves as a serious threat with a shock 2-1 victory over title contenders Einswenn, while defending champions Nardin were pushed to the limit by Clown Town City and only escaped with a 2-1 win thanks to a last-minute goal.

Several teams produced statement victories during the group stage. Lumiose demolished Ownzone 5-1 to establish themselves as contenders, while Anxious And Kevin finally discovered their attacking instincts in a 4-0 win over Mozolephies after spending several matches seemingly unsure whether scoring goals was actually allowed. Woodland Green were swept aside 4-0 by Roless as Joshua Greenaway scored four times, becoming only the second player in Forest Cup history to record a poker after Nysnub in 2024. Another unforgettable group-stage clash saw Sehir come from 2-1 down to defeat Fish 3-2, securing Garbelia's qualification in dramatic fashion with a late penalty winner.

The knockout stage delivered some of the tournament's most memorable moments. Lumiose and Valentian Kittens then produced one of the most tense matches the competition has ever seen. Neither side could find a breakthrough until the 115th minute, when Penosi finally sent Lumiose through after nearly two hours of football.

Hosts Democratic Republic of Cacusia produced perhaps the most shocking result of the entire tournament with a 7-0 destruction of Nordustra. Nordustra had impressed throughout the group stage and had even pushed Roless in one of the tournament's most competitive matches, making the result almost impossible to explain. Malcolm Dartmouth delivered the third poker in Forest Cup history as Cacusia overwhelmed their opponents from start to finish.

Cacusia's dream run came to an end one round later in another classic. After appearing headed for victory, they were stunned by an extraordinary late equalizer from Gro before eventually falling to Einswenn on penalties. It was one of the tournament's defining matches and cemented Gro's reputation as the competition's standout performer.

Bilsa once again found themselves at the center of penalty heartbreak. After a flawless defensive campaign, they were eliminated by The Realizer in a shootout following a scoreless draw. The result only strengthened what many supporters are beginning to call Bilsa's penalty curse. Remarkably, Bilsa conceded zero goals throughout the entire 2026 tournament. Combined with the single goal they allowed in 2024, they have now conceded just one goal across the last 10 Forest Cup matches.

Realize's victory sent them to a historic semi-final appearance, while Einswenn produced another major statement by dismantling favourites Jutsa 3-0 in the semi-finals.

Much of the tournament's story revolved around individual performances. Harvey Carrol was instrumental in Roless' title run, delivering crucial goals, assists and an MVP performance in the final. Greenaway finished with 12 goals, including both a hat-trick and a poker. Yet the tournament's biggest star was undoubtedly Olle Gro. The Einswenn forward scored 13 goals, produced a hat-trick and the fourth poker in Forest Cup history, rescued his nation repeatedly throughout the knockout stage and earned the Golden Ball with 55% of the vote.

Away from the pitch, Bilsa once again played a major role in keeping the tournament running smoothly. The organizers maintained schedules, updates, predictions and the official competition page throughout the event, helping deliver another successful edition.

Lumiose also contributed significantly by preparing spoiler-free schedules and replay guides, allowing Forestians to follow the tournament without accidentally discovering results before watching matches.

The RMB once again became the unofficial center of the competition. Depending on the day, it functioned as a newsroom, comedy column, tactical discussion board, conspiracy forum, press conference room and emergency broadcast service.

Anxious and Kevin provided one of the tournament's most entertaining storylines. After beginning with a cautious draw and widespread national confusion regarding the concept of scoring goals, they gradually evolved into one of the strongest teams in the group stage. By the time they scored four in a single match, the country had transformed from curious observers into genuine contenders.

Bextoria's debut campaign contained all the emotions expected from a first Forest Cup appearance. A heavy opening defeat was followed by the nation's first ever tournament goal and a draw that briefly kept qualification hopes alive. Although elimination soon followed, players such as Hološko, Ristovski and Lazarevic ensured the country's first appearance will be remembered fondly.

Chan Island, naturally, supplied headlines of a different variety. Early in the tournament, the team faced accusations of being "well-behaved" and "sporting", allegations strongly rejected by former captain Captain Hook. Following a victory over Ownzone, deputy captain Boatswain Wellerman was reportedly arrested after an incident involving two people and a cat. Local reporting later expanded the story to include a butcher's shop, a rain jacket, a chipped tooth, a glass eye and several highly questionable decisions.

Their tournament eventually ended in a 4-2 defeat to Einswenn, a match that also showcased an excellent performance from Chan Island despite the result. Shortly afterwards, the squad allegedly departed Cacusia by stealing the largest container ship in the harbour and disappearing with millions of dollars worth of cargo. Authorities are still reviewing the matter.

Elsewhere, Ecologist Hegemony proudly announced that it had scored infinitely more goals than its opponent after a 1-0 victory, inspiring a regional debate about division by zero. Karaa Theocracy informed citizens that defeats had not actually occurred, while Bisofeyr blamed opponents, referees and possibly reality itself before offering sandwiches.

Congratulations to Roless, champions of the 2026 Forest Cup.

NationStates’ annual Issues Contest has returned for 2026, giving players another chance to write one of the policy dilemmas that appear on leaders’ desks across the game.

Announced on May 31, this year’s contest is open throughout June. Players may submit one original issue by ticking the contest-entry box on the issue submission form. Ten winning entries will be guaranteed publication as official NationStates issues, along with the badge that comes with it. Coauthored entries aren’t eligible, and all submissions are final.

For Forestians, the contest arrives in a region with a long and unusually active connection to NationStates issue writing. According to figures compiled by The Ankhalic Vaspriot, 403 issues, or 21.82% of all issues, were written by someone at some point in or affiliated with Forest. TAV also found that 680 issues, or 36.82% of the entire issue base, were edited by a Forester. With overlap accounted for, TAV concluded that over half of the entire issues base was written or edited by someone at some point in or affiliated with Forest.

Forest is also strongly represented among Issue Editors by regional affiliation. A recent breakdown listed Forest as the largest regional affiliation among Issue Editors, at 28.6%. That presence has been visible in recent appointments as well: Klaus Devestatorie was appointed Content Director and Issues Development Manager, TAV was promoted to Senior Issues Editor and Raionitu became a Tech Admin. Together, those changes point to Forestians being active in both the creative and technical systems that help keep NationStates running.

That background gives extra weight to the Forest Writing Initiative, launched earlier this spring by Azure Mines. The initiative was created to make writing for NationStates more accessible across both Issues and the World Assembly, giving Forestians a place to bring ideas, drafts and questions.

One part of that work is Forest Writes an Issue, which has returned on a permanent basis. Forestians can pitch issue ideas or first drafts on the RMB, or by telegramming Azure Mines. If an idea attracts community interest, Azure Mines can organize a group to help develop it into an official Forest issue. Once contributors agree a draft is ready, Forest issues are posted on the forum through Forest Events and submitted through the Forest Arboretum.

The initiative can also help writers who want to submit individually. That matters for the Issues Contest, since contest entries must be the work of one player. Forestians can still seek feedback, sharpen a draft or talk through an idea before making their final submission. Several Forestian-written contest drafts are already circulating on the Got Issues? forum, including drafts from Chan Island, Krusavich, Azure Mines and The Random Island in the Arctic.

Forestians don’t need to arrive with a polished issue. A starting point could be a strange policy problem, a funny minister quote, a local Forest reference or a dilemma they’ve always wanted to see the game ask. The useful first step is getting the idea somewhere other people can respond to it. From there, the work becomes easier: sharpening the conflict, separating the options and making the choices feel distinct.

The Forest Writing Initiative is wider than issues alone. Its WA arm, Forest Writes a Resolution, supports Forestians interested in writing for either chamber of the World Assembly. That can include help with finding coauthors, conducting research and campaigning. With the General Assembly reset creating room for new proposals, Azure Mines has encouraged Forestians to consider topics that fit the region’s interests, including environmental protection.

One example is Biso and TAV’s post-reset draft of the World Environmental Treaty, which aims to set a baseline for environmental legislation after the reset. Forestians can also offer feedback on TAV’s ongoing Commend Ruinenlust effort in the Security Council, another example of Forest-related writing work open to community input.

For anyone with a half-formed policy idea, a strange minister quote or a problem they’d like to drop onto the desks of unsuspecting world leaders, June is a good month to start writing. Post an idea on the RMB, telegram Azure Mines or bring a rough draft forward. Forest has plenty of experience to draw on, and the next issue idea doesn’t need to begin as a finished piece.

Pride Month arrived on the RMB with flag changes, cheerful greetings and a little Forest humour.

Roless marked the month by changing their flag and updating the borders of the regional maps to match. Safiloa also updated their flag for the month, while Garbelia joked that they had never changed theirs back from last June.

Glossa, Rhodevus, The diplomat and Chan Island were among those adding Pride greetings on the RMB. Karaa Theocracy also offered a longer message ahead of Pride Month, pointing to Stonewall, dignity and support for those marking the occasion.

Together, the posts gave the start of Pride Month a warm and visible place in Forest’s regional life.

With submissions now closed, Poetry Fantasia III has moved into judging, with the full entries dispatch showing a broad field of poems across all five categories.

In total, the contest received 24 submissions: six haiku, two Freeverse Photo entries, five entries for The Living World, seven for Change and four for Water. The range gives the judges plenty to consider, from compact haiku and light comic pieces to longer reflective poems, nature writing, personal work and more formal verse.

The entries also show the flexibility of the contest format. Some participants used the categories playfully, while others leaned into more serious themes of memory, weather, identity, grief, beauty and the natural world.

Judging is still underway, with results expected soon. For now, the entries dispatch offers a strong snapshot of Poetry Fantasia’s appeal: enough structure to bring the event together, and enough openness for contributors to make the categories their own.

Forest nations have declined embassy requests from Ensio and Hell after one of the region’s more active recent votes.

The two requests were considered at the same time under Forest’s constitutional process for multiple embassy-opening requests. Residents could vote for Ensio, Hell, both or neither. Each region needed a two-thirds majority to open an embassy.

Neither reached that threshold. Ensio received 11 votes in favour and 26 against, while Hell received 13 in favour and 24 against. Jutsa noted that 37 residents voted, making this the strongest participation Forest has seen in an embassy poll, or any poll, over the past year. The last embassy poll to reach 30 or more votes was Europeia, which also drew 37. Only four voters backed both requests, while a much larger share chose neither.

The RMB discussion showed that residents put real thought into the vote. Instead of treating the requests as routine diplomacy, Forestians considered the value of each region and whether an embassy relationship made sense for Forest.

Ensio faced the sharper concerns, including questions about the limited detail in their initial request, its current roleplay setting and past embassy links to regions some residents viewed as problematic. Ensio representatives said those earlier ties had seemed normal at the time and that the region had been looking for active partners.

Hell drew warmer interest, which was reflected in its higher yes vote. Some residents saw it as more familiar, more established and potentially useful for roleplay or shared initiatives. Even so, support remained well below the required threshold. Some residents questioned whether Hell’s newer community direction would prove stable enough to justify an embassy.

Hell's rep, The Diplomat, accepted the result and said Hell may re-request an embassy around September, depending on activity and how things develop.

Jutsa thanked the visiting representatives for answering questions and noted that both regions remain welcome to spend time in Forest and share events.

Roless released the June 2 update to the Forest Regional Map, adding The 1st Canadian Republic north of Bextoria and Finea south of Khiva Steppe in the Old World. The New World map also gained a Chan Island territory off the east coast of the northern island.

Residents hoping to join the map are reminded that nations must have been in Forest for at least 12 days before applying.

The Forest Leaf – International Desk

The Liminal State of Karaa Theocracy has declared victory in its civil war, ending a brief but severe conflict that began with an ideological rupture at the centre of government and spread across several regions within days.

For Forestians and neighbouring nations, the central fact is that Karaa’s government appears to have survived. The Liminal State now claims that “a single order and a single authority” has been restored across the country. Its own account leaves some uncertainty. Smaller rebel groups still control parts of the country and fighting continues in some areas. The main war has ended. The aftermath hasn’t.

The crisis began on May 11, when the Emperor of the Second Green Empire unveiled a new doctrine called Liminalism. The proclamation marked a major shift in domestic policy and broke with Karaa’s old eco-authoritarian order. Conservative forces rejected the change, especially its movement toward communism and the head of state’s adoption of the title Dux.

On May 13, Parliament met in New Deerington and impeached Dux, accusing him of illegally seizing power and ignoring the law. The capital turned into a battlefield as supporters of the liminalist government fought defenders of the previous regime.

The liminalist government held New Deerington. Parliament came under fire and the deputies were arrested. Surviving members of the old order escaped north with loyal army units. From the country’s main military base, they formed an alternative government under John Kruger, a former Karaan combat general who proclaimed himself emperor.

The conflict then widened. On May 15, a syndicalist rebellion broke out in the southwest. These rebels opposed the government’s gradual path toward communism and drew support from impoverished peasants hurt by harvest failure and the loss of state subsidies. In the southeast, Christian democratic forces also rose against authoritarian rule, drawing on the region’s earlier role in the coup against the First Empire of Karaa.

For neighbours, the spread of the war matters beyond the final result. Karaa’s rebellion was fed by several grievances, each with its own source of support. The old order retained military loyalists. Rural anger in the southwest had been sharpened by economic hardship. The southeast carried its own memory of earlier resistance to empire. A military victory can break rebel forces faster than it can settle those disputes.

The final phase came with a liminalist counteroffensive. According to the government’s final update, the army inflicted heavy losses on rebel forces before moving against what remained of the exhausted opposition. Kruger, leader of the Green Third Empire faction, has reportedly been arrested and placed on trial. Many commune soldiers and rebel army residents fled toward the Khiva Steppe before the rout.

That reference to the Khiva Steppe may be one of the most important regional details. Defeated fighters and displaced residents can create complications after a civil war is declared over. Neighbouring states may need to watch border movement closely if rebel remnants try to preserve themselves beyond the government’s immediate reach.

The war also carried an international roleplay dimension. Battles were resolved through War of Dots and outside nations were invited to support factions. That support provided bonuses that could affect the outcome. Foreign involvement may now matter diplomatically, especially for nations that backed factions now defeated by the restored Karaan government.

For the Forest, the immediate issue is the stability of a neighbouring state after a rapid internal collapse. The Liminal State has defeated its major opponents, yet it now has to govern regions that rebelled for different reasons. Control on the map may prove easier than confidence on the ground.

The speed of the civil war is also worth noting. Karaa moved from doctrine to impeachment in two days, then from capital fighting to wider rebellion almost immediately. That pace suggests a state under heavy internal strain before the first shots were fired.

For now, the Liminal State remains in power and the main rebel armies have been broken. Since these dispatches were published, Karaa has moved away from Forest, so this report now serves as a snapshot of recent activity from a former neighbour.

Still, Karaa’s brief time here added a welcome bit of colour to the community. The civil war dispatches brought active worldbuilding to the regional doorstep and gave Forestians something lively to follow between the usual currents of RMB conversation. If the debates of the moment ever made Karaa feel less than fully welcome, we hope that won’t be the lasting impression. Former neighbours have a way of finding old paths back through the trees, and there would be room around the fire if Karaa ever chose to return.

The Nomadic Peoples of Iija are one of Forest’s newest neighbours. Good luck finding them.

That is partly by design. Iija was founded in the East Pacific, where its government was quickly “bombarded by emigration proposals” from regions looking for new arrivals. In proper Iijad fashion, the response was not immediate action. It was procrastination.

Eventually, the recruitment messages stopped. Around the same time, Iija’s government learned that regional influence was something a nation could build up by staying in one place, making the question of where to settle a little more meaningful. Forest, with its many maps, became the chosen home.

That makes Iija’s next request especially important: please don’t put them on one.

After joining Forest on 11 March 2026, Iija changed from a Community to “some Nomadic Peoples” once the government discovered what it called “nomadacy” and decided it should preserve a culture of “not staying long enough to be noticed.” This does make Iija a slightly awkward subject for Know Your Neighbour, a section built around noticing our neighbours, but Forest has never been shy about celebrating a contradiction.

Iija’s factbooks give readers a nation still figuring itself out, with a dry sense of humour and a clear fondness for making uncertainty part of the setting. The name Iija, pronounced \ˈiːjɜ, means “us” or “our people” in the local language. Its currency, the Saich \ʃæjx, means “a piece” or “a unit of value,” reflecting a fairly relaxed attitude toward money in a nation where the government manages the economy directly.

The national animal, the Taan \taːn, is respected as a spirit because of how much its behaviour varies between individuals. It once held a central place in Iijad mythology, although most people now maintain that must have been a different kind of Taan.

Iija’s government has its own practical style. It reportedly does not worry much about the economy, since “we can just raise taxes.” Its World Assembly application has also been postponed more than once because of concern over all the legislation it might have to obey. Foreign affairs remain limited, which the factbook explains through the introversion of both the people and the government.

The strongest piece of Iijad worldbuilding may be the National Cultural Recovery Agency, created to discover the ancient past, or invent it if necessary. The Agency promotes the Way of us, a belief that everything exists in continuum, borders are artificial and all is one. This has apparently led Iija to discover advanced quantum physics before basic arithmetic.

The Way also gives Iija an efficient approach to population growth. Instead of relying on immigration, the government can convert a few people to the Way and count them as Iijad.

For a young nation, Iija already has a recognizable voice. Its history is brief, its mythology is incomplete and its culture is still being recovered with a generous allowance for invention. That makes it a welcome neighbour in Forest: lightly mysterious, gently absurd and, by request, best left just off the map.

Forest has gained many unusual neighbours over the years, and Glossa announces itself with confidence. Its flag watches the visitor with a giant eye. Its national animal is the anteater. Its people appear to treat dinner as a form of public communication.

At the center of Glossa’s culture is the belief that the five senses are spiritual guides. Taste seems to sit highest among them. Food and drink carry meaning in daily life, and Glossians appear to set the country’s mood by how they set the table.

That may make Glossa one of the few places where asking “what’s for dinner?” is also a reasonable question about public safety. According to its own cultural notes, bitter dishes become more popular when there is tension or danger in the nation. A visiting diplomat might learn more from the soup course than from the briefing papers.

This is where Glossa may be especially interesting to Forest’s more culinarily minded residents. Some may recognize the idea that food can carry more than flavour. In Glossa, cuisine carries mood and warning. A menu may function as a national bulletin.

The nation’s public page adds the kind of absurd detail NationStates does so well. Glossa is described as compassionate and socially equal. It has no prisons, no automobiles and a strikingly even distribution of income. It also maintains missile silos, compulsory military service and school trips where children are asked what torture means to them. One hopes the packed lunches are reassuring.

Glossa’s hedonism gives the nation another layer. Its factbooks describe pleasure-seeking as a response to suffering in the nation’s early history. Glossians developed a love of thrill, comfort and simple pleasures as a way of coping with what came before. That keeps the culture from feeling purely decorative. Beneath the anteater and the culinary mood ring, there is a darker origin story.

Then there is the anteater itself.

Glossa’s national animal was chosen for its long tongue, making it a fitting symbol for a nation where taste carries spiritual weight. It is odd, memorable and, by Glossa’s own logic, entirely sensible. The name Glossa adds another neat layer: in entomology, a glossa is a tongue-like mouthpart in certain insects.

As a neighbour, Glossa is still a relatively small presence in Forest, but it already has a clear concept. If it becomes more active around the region, Forest may want to keep an eye on the menu. Bitter dishes may be a warning sign. Cheese exports and soda sales may be diplomacy. The anteater, presumably, already knows what’s going on.

Pack warm clothes, sturdy boots and whatever one respectfully wears to a mammoth procession. For this Forest traveller’s guide, we head north to Abyssrinn, a parliamentary republic where the mountains are sacred, the winters are long and the mammoths are impossible to miss.

The nation page calls Abyssrinn a “mammoth, cultured nation,” which turns out to be less a description than an itinerary. The mammoth appears on the flag, stands as the national animal and sits at the center of the national faith, Mammothology. Any visitor hoping to understand Abyssrinn should probably begin there, with one enormous tusked presence moving through civic life, religious practice and local imagination.

The journey begins in the far north. Abyssrinn is described as a land of towering mountains, frozen valleys, icy rivers, pristine lakes and dense coniferous forests clinging to snowy slopes. Settlements are built against the mountainsides, tucked in against the wind. The people are mountaineers, ice fishers and hunters, shaped by a landscape that sounds beautiful from a distance and extremely demanding up close.

A good Abyssrinn travel guide would need a section on sacred altitude. The mountains are central to the Cult of Tuskhear, the factbook’s deeper account of Mammothology. Followers believe the mountains are the dwelling place of Tuskhear, a divine figure associated with mammoths and renewal. Pilgrimages to high-altitude shrines and mountaintop sanctuaries are part of the faith. In practical terms, this means Abyssrinn offers the sort of spiritual tourism where the view is magnificent and the climb is doing most of the theological work.

The mammoth calendar would be worth planning around. Tuskhear’s Blessing celebrates the migration of mammoths with prayers, blessings and gatherings at sacred mountain sites. Tuskhear’s Ascension marks the death of a mammoth with carved totems and sacred fires, guiding its spirit toward the celestial herd. On livelier days, mammoth processions bring masks, costumes and sculptures into public life. Forest has seen its share of regional events, but a mammoth-themed mountain procession would be difficult to overlook.

Visitors should also leave room for the standard NationStates surprises. Abyssrinn is styled as a Scandinavian Liberal Paradise with superb civil rights, excellent political freedom and a frightening state-planned economy. Its capital is Háseti, its leader is Urdmal Mountainpass and its currency is the kron. Somewhere between the sacred peaks and the parliamentary offices are rum-swilling pirates, underground cities with a healthy green glow and teenagers outside government buildings insisting vandalism is “just fun.”

Abyssrinn’s older stories still show through, though they do not need to dominate the trip. The country’s lore speaks of ancient clans, Emperor Hrothgar and domesticated mammoths once used for labour and war. That history gives the modern republic a sense of weight. The ceremonial empire, the parliamentary government and the sacred mammoths all seem to occupy the same national landscape without crowding each other out.

That may be the charm of Abyssrinn as a neighbour. It gives visitors a clear image right away: northern mountains, sacred herds, public rituals, liberal politics and a large amount of mammoth commitment. The lore has enough solemnity to feel rooted and enough NationStates oddity to keep the snow from settling too heavily.

For Forest travellers looking north, Abyssrinn offers a memorable stop: a mountain republic beneath the aurora, where the local faith has tusks, the festivals have parade potential and the mammoths have clearly been here longer than everyone else.

Every region has its old growth: the names that settle so deeply into daily life that you feel they’ve always been there. They turn up on the RMB, join events like N- and Z-Day, vote in elections or simply remain quietly present for years at a time. Eventually, they become part of the Forest's history.

Over the past month, several of those familiar nations found their way to the Boneyard. Some carried histories stretching across different eras of the region. Some left behind dispatches, factbooks, tournament appearances or other traces of their time here. Others may be remembered most simply as names older Forestians grew used to seeing around the region.

Yeldan nature preserve stands out as one of the oldest names in this group, with a nation history reaching back across a large span of NationStates time. North rukonia and Rubinania left behind enough factbooks and dispatches to remind us that a nation can keep speaking long after they've CTE'd. Socialist ancomistan also has a place beyond the Forest itself, as one of the nations connected to NationStates issue writing and therefore woven into the game’s wider history.

Others, such as Arzibe, Stralla, Hot Catboys and Oecos, should also be remembered for the quieter ways they contributed to regional life. Some kept conversations moving simply by being there. Others added to the region’s creative atmosphere through worldbuilding, humour or the distinct identities they brought with them. There’s something very Forest-like about a list that can include nature preserves, socialist ancomists, catboys and long-running worldbuilders without feeling out of place.

The Forest continues to change. New nations arrive. Old names return. Events bring people together, newspapers record the month’s activity and the RMB carries on in its usual mix of news, nonsense and neighbourly chatter. But beneath that living canopy are the roots of earlier residents, some still visible through the Boneyard and the archives they left behind.

So this is a modest remembrance and an invitation to explore their history. For the nations resting in the Boneyard: thank you for being part of the Forest. We hope some of you find your way back one day.

Features: Forest Cup Nears Kickoff 🌲 Spring Makes Itself Known

Forest Cup 2026 Nears Kickoff After Active Buildup

BREAKING NEWS: Draw Alert

The Forest Cup Group Stage draw is scheduled for Sunday, May 3 at 19:00 UTC.

The draw will be streamed live in The Forest regional Discord server.

After weeks of buildup, the first whistle is drawing closer in Cacusia.

The Forest Leaf reports that Cacusia 2026 is expected to kick off soon, with the tournament now in its final buildup phase after a lead-up marked by late expansion, rule adjustments and growing anticipation.

The Forest Football Confederation has given this year’s cup more of a matchday feel before a ball has been kicked. A dedicated tournament hub, feature coverage, streamed matches, rankings and fixture pages give supporters something to follow before, during and after the action.

The cup’s mechanics add to that sense of life around the tournament. Teams are built from submitted squads and simulated in PES 2021, while ranking points, articles and wider participation can influence the strength of the sides that take the pitch. In classic Forest fashion, the football is shaped by the creativity around it.

There is no shortage of storylines before play begins. Roless arrives atop the rankings and will be seen by many as the side to beat, while host Cacusia enters carrying both home expectation and the burden that comes with hosting. Einswenn looks a dangerous challenger, while defending champions Nardin remain impossible to dismiss. In tournament football, favourites matter — but surprises can happen too.

That is the charm of tournament football. Rankings may set the stage, but they do not decide the matches. The Forest Cup has always left room for the unexpected run, the stubborn underdog, the noisy rivalry and the nation that arrives half in jest before suddenly looking dangerous. This year’s adjustments and growing coverage have only added more fuel to that matchday atmosphere.

And soon comes the part institutions cannot script: The beautiful game itself.

After weeks of registrations, refinements and rising chatter, speculation is almost ready to give way to results. The Forest Cup is nearly underway.

Follow the Action

Spectators can follow the competition through the dedicated Forest Cup tournament hub: Forest Cup 2026 tournament hub.

The broader Forest Football Confederation site also includes rankings, articles and tournament information.

Tournament features worth reading:

• Roless preview

• Host nation feature on Cacusia

• Forest Cup links and signup dispatch

• FFC Discord
  

Matches are streamed through FFC-linked channels on YouTube, Twitch and Kick, while reactions and running commentary can be followed through Forest channels as the tournament unfolds.

April’s first full bloom gives way to May’s deepening season in the northern hemisphere

For those of us in the northern hemisphere, there comes a point in April when spring becomes impossible to ignore.

By mid-April, that change had taken hold. The air turned warmer, the early flowers opened wide, and the whole landscape seemed to shift at once. Daffodils, tulips, camas, hyacinths, and other first blooms were fully here. Fresh growth pressed in from every side. Even the trees seemed changed, carrying that shine that belongs only to spring.

The season announces itself through more than colour. Birdsong returns with force. Movement gathers across the landscape. The living world grows louder, fuller, more present. At moments it can seem as though everything carries an aura of life around it, something visible in the light and unmistakable in the air.

There is a fitting echo of that in Liimus, the Hul’q’umi’num’ name for April. Hul’q’umi’num’ is a First Nations language spoken by Coast Salish people on southern Vancouver Island and neighboring islands in British Columbia, and the name’s association with migrating geese is a reminder that this season has long been understood through the land, the sky, and the movement of wildlife.

Now, as May begins in the northern hemisphere, that first awakening continues to build. What first broke open in April is now spreading, filling out, and gathering strength. Spring has settled in.

If spring has arrived where you are, this is the time to get outside and bathe in it. Take in the colour, the birdsong, the movement, and the vitality that's in the air. It is a potent thing.

“Nature’s first green is gold.” — Robert Frost

Forest Writing Initiative Opens for Contributors

The Forest is sharpening its pencils.

Azure Mines has announced the launch of the Forest Writing Initiative, a new program intended to help Forestians write for NationStates through both issues and World Assembly resolutions.

The initiative brings back Forest Writes an Issue as a permanent program and introduces Forest Writes a Resolution, giving the region a more formal path for collaborative WA writing. Projects may be community-wide efforts, individual drafts, or small-group work supported through feedback, research help, coauthors, and campaigning.

Forestians can get involved by pitching ideas on the RMB, joining collaborative drafts, or bringing forward their own issue or resolution concepts. Those interested can also telegram Azure Mines directly to get a project started or seek support. With the upcoming General Assembly reset creating fresh room for new proposals, Azure Mines noted that environmental protections may be a natural area for the Forest to explore.

Forestians interested in taking part can read the announcement and join the discussion on the RMB here: Forest Writing Initiative announcement.

First five syllables
Then it’s seven syllables
Last five syllables
— Malalonius, Poetry Fantasia II

Announced April 22, Poetry Fantasia III is now open, inviting Forestians and all regions to take part in an Earth Day-themed poetry contest.

Now in its third edition, the contest builds on last year’s successful event, which brought together a range of styles and voices across multiple categories. What began as a simple writing competition has settled into a recurring part of the Forest’s calendar, returning this year with embassy partners The Region That Has No Big Banks and The Leftist Assembly.

The format remains open and flexible. This year’s categories — Haiku, Water, The Living World, Change, and Freeverse Photo — allow for everything from tightly structured short forms to more interpretive pieces. Whether writing something brief or more exploratory, entrants have room to approach the themes in their own way.

Submissions are open through May 17 by telegram to Forest poetry judge, with results expected around May 24. Participants may submit up to six poems, including a maximum of two haiku.

Entries will be judged by a panel drawn from the Forest and its partner regions, with poems assessed on effectiveness, thought, and resonance. Category winners will receive two legendary cards, while the overall winner will receive an additional S3 Daarwyth.

For returning writers, this is a chance to build on last year’s contest and try a new category or approach. For first-time entrants, the barrier to entry is low: a single poem is enough to take part.

You write something down.
Once written you send it in.
It is that simple.
— Haiku

page=dispatch/id=2772643

With the World Assembly’s new Secretariat structure on the horizon, early discussion has begun within Forest about how the region might approach the upcoming elections.

Recent RMB discussion by Garbelia and Azure Mines suggests some Forestians are already thinking ahead about whether the region should field its own candidate, support one through embassy relationships, or work with allied blocs. Just as notably, the conversation has touched on the practical reality that coalition-building may matter as much as any candidate the region might support.

No formal plans have emerged, and no candidacy has been proposed, but the fact that the subject is being raised now may itself be noteworthy. In a region often animated by policy debates, the discussion hints at attention turning toward representation as well.

With the first Secretariat elections expected later this year, the groundwork for any Forest role may begin long before ballots are cast. For now, the conversation remains open — and perhaps that is the point.

Bisofeyr Appointed NationStates Moderator

The Forest Leaf – International Desk

On Tuesday 14th April tragedy struck... Our ex-Forest Keeper and resident GA author, Bisofeyr, tripped over a tin of red paint and became a moderator. On behalf of Forest, I offer my commiserations for their loss of sanity...

But, in all seriousness, it's a brilliant achievement and one that recognises the years of hard work put into becoming one of the GA's most prolific resolution writers. Despite the recent NatSov trend of repeals in the GA, Biso has still managed to wrack up 16 GA resolutions and 2 SC resolutions, many of which have been crucial in establishing environmental legislation in the WA such as sustainable timber standards and catalytic converter implementation. They also don't seem to be slowing down with multiple drafts lined up for after the GA reset that will help establish guidelines for the new-look GA.

Being a GA moderator is hardly the easiest job given the volume of submissions that come in but, undoubtedly, Biso will be prepared for that, particularly after being an issues editor for the past 9 months. They've also joined an illustrious club of Forestians to be both a moderator and an issue editor at the same time, highlighting just how much Forest and the individuals in it have contributed to the site over so many years.

So please join me in congratulating Biso on their appointment and we wish them the best in their new role guiding the GA forward : )

The Realizer

Our foreign desk has received a document reportedly leaked from the office of The Ankhalic Vaspriot’s ambassador to Forest, together with very clear, very confident assurances that there is absolutely no dictatorship, no irregularities, and no cause for concern whatsoever—despite what some have described as increasingly RDICulous rumours to the contrary. We reprint it below in full.

It’s a sunny spring day in Rhodoline, the capital of The Ankhalic Vaspriot. The nation has a spring in its step as the warm weather returns, and so does Vaspriot president L.W. Bennett, having just checked out a new painting from the city’s largest art library. He walks down the Rue de l’Azur with the piece under his arm, stopping by the farmer’s market on the pedestrianized street to get some raspberries from a centenarian vendor who always has an interesting story to tell. He does not pay. The vendor was hardly in school when the abolition of money was completed.

Most of the world’s people, barring perhaps those of Kindjal, he thinks, would consider this state of affairs utopian. Homelessness has been virtually unknown for over three centuries. The prestigious University of Rhodoline has doubled its enrollment every ten years. The Rue de l’Azur is paved with lapis lazuli. However, something’s been on his mind recently. Despite the enchantment of this country he loves, some little silver spark in his mind wonders if something’s missing.

The Ankhalic Vaspriot’s ambassador to Forest has been acting odd in the past few months. They’ve replaced their entire wardrobe with black, white, and violet. A flag of the same colors has graced their desk alongside the Vaspriot one. They’ve taken five trips to local archeological sites in the past month alone.

Bennett swears there’s a new noise in the Capitol. Typewriters. Under the floorboards. Incessantly. But no! That’d be crazy! But still. Spring seems to have come months early this year. The trees are garishly green. The potted plant in his office has needed trimming twice as much recently. The night has seemed darker recently; he can see more stars; the fireflies are more numerous than ever—in the heart of Rhodoline!

All the new interns in the government seem to speak Latin, even among themselves. There’s an election coming up, but they don’t seem to care. But that’s how the youth always are, isn’t it? They’re apathetic, iconoclastic, and adverse to authority, even here. There’s nothing to worry about, even if the lock on his office door has been giving him a bit of trouble recently and the locksmith he requested a week ago still hasn’t shown up.

He’s on his way to the Capitol right now, in fact, to be briefed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs on regional security developments. Nothing major, he imagines. The last serious threat was fifty years ago when the bridge on the River Yj was blown up, but that’s all over now. It still hasn’t been rebuilt, but that was for cultural reasons. The cities it connected, Eljarbk and Rrnyj, are some of The Ankhalic Vaspriot’s most patriotic. Patriotism’s in the air, really; studies have shown steadily increasing levels for decades.

When he reaches the Capitol, he hands the painting off to one of his staffers to replace the one in his office. As soon as he’s finished speaking, the Minister of Foreign Affairs runs up to him. It’s urgent, they say. An emergency. No, no, it’s not a regional security matter. His life is in immediate danger and they must retreat inside immediately, but must not cause panic. The intelligence service has identified a credible threat to assassinate him and have secured the premises. They take off at a brisk pace.

Once inside, he’s shuffled through hallways that feel a little different than they always have. The atmosphere is fresher, as though there were a window open, but the windows here don’t open for security reasons. The Minister of Defense lets him know what’s going on. The People’s Assembly has called elections early, and bombs were mailed to him following the announcement. Elections? What? He asks about this. The bombs were sophisticated, the Minister of Defense claims. Someone’s after him.

They reach his office. It smells like rain. The old painting is gone, but his new one isn’t in its place. What’s there is an image of a purple tree surrounded by a white toothed circle, all wreathed in floral pink on a black background. Elections have concluded early, the Minister of Defense informs him. He lost. A classics teacher from the University of Rhodoline secured 94% of the vote. He’ll have to pack his bags.

Somehow, he doesn’t mind this. He’s still staring at the painting. It has a sort of subtle resplendence. An old glory. He’s getting a slight case of ruinenlust. It was probably time for a vacation anyways.

The Constitution, Revisited

How a passing remark became a constitutional conversation

What began as a small observation has turned into something more interesting.

In a recent post, easily missed, Jutsa noted that Dest Oritio was the only remaining signatory to the constitution still active outside the boneyard. It was an offhand remark, but it prompted a simple reply: “Let’s fix that then.”

From there, the conversation grew.

Some floated the idea of a new constitution — a way to reflect the current generation of Forest nations. Kawastyselir pointed out that the constitution is already a living document, with most of its original form having been amended over time. That is, after all, what Article 8 was designed to support. Azure Mines echoed that view, suggesting that the current framework is sufficient and that the question of signatories could be handled ceremonially rather than through wholesale change.

So far, the most interesting suggestions have centred on the signatories themselves. Kawastyselir proposed preserving the original names while also noting those who backed the latest amendment. Azure Mines went a step further and suggested a ceremonial re-signing from time to time, with later rounds appended at the end.

Together, those ideas offer a way to keep the original signatories in place while giving newer generations of Forestians a visible place within the document’s history.

Most encouraging, perhaps, is that the exchange grew out of curiosity — the kind of passing remark that can still, on the RMB, become something thoughtful and substantial. If it leads to appended signatories, ceremonial re-signings, or simply a renewed look at the constitution as it stands, it’ll have been a worthwhile discussion.

It began with a simple question from RKD: what is your favourite tree?

The Forest, unsurprisingly, had opinions.

What might have remained a pleasant exchange of arboreal preferences soon grew into something livelier when Chan Island and Lumiose found themselves in a spirited contest over birch and aspen. Birch was championed as the tree of individuality and understated beauty; aspen was defended as autumn’s true sovereign, backed by glowing foliage and the quiet majesty of vast clonal groves. When RKD re-entered the debate with a nod to Pando, the famed aspen colony, the debate put down deeper roots.

Elsewhere, loyalties spread in many directions. Giant sequoias drew admiration for their age and immensity. Willows gathered praise for their grace and mystique. European beech, wild apple, bonsai, and the proudly nominated fofoti all found advocates.

Maple, too, made a memorable showing. Dest Oritio praised the tree not only for its beauty, but for the sweetness it contributes to breakfasts everywhere, prompting Einswenn to add that even beyond syrup, few leaves carry such instantly recognizable symbolism, eh!

Not every answer was solemn. One respondent even nominated the drag racing “tree,” ensuring the discussion never strayed too far from mischief.

Perhaps the thread’s charm lay in how naturally it became more than a list of favourites. A casual question turned into playful rivalry, botanical trivia, national pride, and small moments of wonder. For a few days, the region named Forest seemed content to live up to its name.

And if the birch-aspen dispute remains unresolved, perhaps that is only fitting. Some questions are not meant to be settled—only revisited beneath the canopy.

A strange report from Candlewhisper Archive has raised eyebrows across Forest. Styled as a crime report, it recounts the untimely death of Richard Cadell under suspicious circumstances involving an improbable cast of suspects, a theatrical murder weapon, and a coroner’s verdict that may leave more questions than answers.

According to the account, suspicion will fall on Cadell’s eccentric household companions: Sweep, found tampering with the corpse but protected by an alibi; Sue, whose rambling testimony will cloud rather than clarify; and Sooty, the silent prime suspect, whose wealth and legal influence may prove nearly as significant as the evidence against him. Despite blood, motive, and mounting absurdity, no murderer will be convicted.

Part crime report, part satire, and perhaps something more, the piece feels less like a concluded tale than the opening move of a wider mystery. Its curious framing suggests Forest observers may want to watch for further clues.

Richard Cadell’s death may be untimely in more ways than one. The story, it seems, has yet to catch up to it.

Last month, Forest’s card collectors were reminded of a familiar truth: finishing a collection is easy right up until it isn’t.

Garbelia thought a full Season 4 Forest set was within reach, only to discover that one card had somehow slipped through the cracks. After a brief round of checking, though, the missing card turned out to be a false alarm. Garbelia already owned it. The real gap was Candlewhisper Archive, which Realizer then supplied through Forest Events.

Bisofeyr was not far behind, also one card away from completion and suddenly at the mercy of the same last-card nonsense. In that case, the missing copy was quickly traced to a puppet holding one, and the collection was soon completed as well.

By the end of the exchange, two stalled collections had become two completed ones.

That is no small milestone in Forest. A regional collection means one copy of every nation’s card from that region in a given season. In some places, that is mostly a matter of bidding early, buying steadily, and waiting patiently. Forest is another matter. Season 4 includes 318 cards, ten of them legendary. That makes completing the set a much longer and more expensive game.

These were personal milestones for Garbelia and Bisofeyr, but the thread also showed a familiar regional habit: when someone is one card short, Forest tends to help.

And once finished, a Forest collection becomes more than a difficult deck. It preserves a snapshot of the region in one season: who was here, who was collectible, and what shape the Forest took at that moment.

So, congratulations are due both Garbelia and Bisofeyr on completing their Season 4 Forest collections last month. In Forest, solving the last card problem is an achievement of its own.

New Skies Open: Einswenn Launches International Air Network

A quiet but intriguing development has emerged from Einswenn, where a new initiative—the International Aerospace Alliance (IAA)—is beginning to take shape.

Framed as a roleplay infrastructure project, the IAA introduces a network of interconnected “hub airports” spanning multiple regions, including several here in the Forest. Nations such as Roless and Sehir are already listed among early participants, with others holding “signed” or “limited” status as the system expands.

At its core, the concept is straightforward: establish shared transit points to make cross-regional travel smoother, more coherent, and easier to integrate into RP. But the underlying implication is more strategic. If adopted widely, this could become a lightweight standard for how nations coordinate movement, trade, and interaction—something the wider NS world has historically lacked.

For now, access remains invite-only, suggesting a controlled rollout rather than a fully open system. That may help maintain consistency early on, though it raises questions about how inclusive—or influential—the network becomes over time.

Still in its early stages, the IAA feels less like a finished system and more like a foundation. Whether it becomes essential infrastructure or a niche RP layer will depend entirely on uptake.

Readers can review the full proposal in the official dispatch: IAA – International Aerospace Alliance.

For Forest nations, the question is simple: participate early, or wait and see where these new flight paths lead.

The Sovereignty of Vantser has officially broken into Forest’s Top 100 for greenness, landing at a self-declared triumphant #98 after a steady climb over the past year.

What might have been a routine statistical milestone instead arrived with unusual fanfare. In a characteristically theatrical address, Vantser’s leadership hailed sweeping environmental success, citing the planting of fourteen trees, the installation of a “beautiful” recycling bin, and the creation of a proposed Department of Climate Efficiency.

The tone — equal parts celebration and satire — did not go unnoticed. A playful jab at Furilisca, sitting just ahead in the rankings, added a note of regional rivalry to the announcement.

Behind the rhetoric, however, the progress is real. Vantser has moved from well outside the Top 100 to firmly within it, aligning with its broader reputation as a nation of strong environmental conditions and high-quality living standards.

In a region that often treats greenness as a quiet metric, Vantser has opted for spectacle and, at least this week, the spotlight is theirs.

With the new Greenness Index drawing attention across the region, a recent dispatch from Karaa Theocracy has offered an interesting response of its own.

At its 5th Congress of Imperial Landlords, restored under the watchful eye of His Imperial Majesty Georgito I Vinograllini, the Empire turned its attention to the land itself. Karaa pointed directly to its environmental standing among Forest neighbours and called for improvement: more protected areas, cleaner transport, alternative energy, and tighter limits on deforestation.

The Congress was, by all accounts, united in its enthusiasm.

Beneath the imperial ceremony, the message is clear. Karaa wants to rise in the regional rankings, and it sees the Forest’s greener nations as the mark to beat. The dispatch suggests these rankings carry weight beyond statistics. They can prompt ambition, invite comparison, and even influence national priorities.

Karaa remains a distinctive neighbour: grand in language, firm in command, and unmistakably itself. But its latest Congress shows a nation engaging with a familiar regional concern — how to become greener, stronger, and better regarded amongst its' neighbours.

Placed alongside this year’s Greenness Index, Karaa’s dispatch shows that rankings are not passive measurements. In the Forest, they can become pressure, provocation, and policy.

If Korwin were introducing itself at a Forest gathering, it would likely arrive impeccably dressed, speak warmly about tolerance and public welfare, and then casually mention that private enterprise is illegal and the tax rate sits at 99.5%. Beneath the polished exterior is a nation that clearly takes pride in being orderly, compassionate, and very well run. Its nation page paints a picture of a cheerful, socially equal, low-crime society with excellent civil rights, strong political freedoms, and a serious devotion to social welfare.

Its recent religion dispatch adds a little more texture. Korwin is mostly non-religious overall, but it is far from culturally blank. Christianity and Judaism remain central to the country’s story, and the dispatch ties those traditions closely to Korwin’s different historical communities. In other words, religion in Korwin seems to say less about weekly worship and more about heritage, memory, and who belongs to which strand of the national story.

What Forest readers need to know is that Korwin comes across as a nation of careful balance: secular but not rootless, diverse but not chaotic, idealistic but highly structured. It does not seem interested in swagger. Its preferred image is competence, inclusion, and civic calm. For the Forest, that makes Korwin less a noisy neighbour and more the sort of nation that quietly keeps its house in very fine order.

What makes a forest?

I've been thinking about this question for a while now.

At first glance, you might say it's the trees. How many there are. How tall they stand. And there's something to that. But you know the saying: you can't see the forest for the trees. A healthy forest is always more than what's immediately visible.

Look closely at a forest and you're really looking at its history. There's old growth that has been quietly spreading its seedlings for decades. There's new growth pushing up from what came before. Fallen trunks slowly becoming soil, shelter, a foundation for something not yet imagined. And underneath all of it, a mycelium network threading silently through the floor, connecting each tree to every other, invisible and essential.

But not every part of the forest looks like growth.

Sometimes you come across a clearing. A place where trees once stood and no longer do. It might have been a fire, or a slow dying off, or simply the end of a long life. Standing in one, it can feel like absence. Like something is missing that should be there.

But a clearing isn't a sign that the forest has failed. It's part of the same story. The soil remembers what stood there. The edges of the clearing are already reaching inward. And in time, something new will rise from that open ground—shaped, in ways you might not immediately see, by what came before.

What defines a Forest isn't any single season of abundance, or any single moment of loss. It's the slow accumulation of layers. The memory of what has grown and fallen. The continuity that holds even through the quiet times.

I think the Forest region works the same way. It's easy to look at a spike in activity, or a surge in growth, and feel like that's the measure of things. And those moments matter. But they're not the whole story.

What I keep coming back to is continuity. The behaviours and rhythms that outlast any one leader. The customs and connections that survive the slow periods—and the losses. The Forest region wasn't built in a season. It was grown through pauses and peaks; through cycles you might not have even noticed at the time.

That's worth remembering. Not just when things feel quiet, but when we find ourselves standing in a clearing, aware of what used to be there.

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately..." — Henry David Thoreau

In the space of a single dreadful hour, 45 Forest nations were reported to have ceased to exist, among them familiar and long-rooted names such as Archenomia, Paytxew, Tscharva, Wantevolo, Nimros, Liberal Liberals, and Eireann Fae. Archenomia’s fall is felt especially sharply, having stood among the region’s longest-resident nations. Forest’s own losses appear to mirror the wider catastrophe across NationStates, where players estimated roughly 44,600 nations vanished, or about 14% of the world’s roster.

The precise cause remains unsettled, but the disaster appears tied to the recent site turmoil that followed the February outage and password-reset crisis. NationStates staff had temporarily halted ordinary CTEs, extended inactivity timers and then began slowly lowering them again. All the while trying to avoid overwhelming their email systems with warning notices. As of March 21, the official timers stood at 49 days for regular nations and 81 days for vacation mode nations.

For Forest, the immediate effect is not merely a smaller census, but a thinning of memory. Old map neighbors, former ministers, treaty-signers and quiet familiar names have been swept into the boneyard. A few nations have already returned. Even so, this die-off leaves the region looking barer, older and more fragile than it did a day before.

Forest has chosen its Keeper once more. After a closely watched election and a runoff that stirred no small amount of discussion across the region, The Realizer has been returned to office, defeating Einswenn by 19 votes to 12 and taking 61 percent of the final tally. With that, the Twentieth Cabinet now begins its work.

The official result, announced by Ruinenlust, brought to a close an election season that was quieter in volume than some of Forest’s livelier contests of old, but still rich in personality, argument and the sort of constitutional soul-searching that seems never far from regional life.

A race to a runoff

The first ballot left the region with no clear conclusion. Einswenn led the opening round with 14 votes, exactly half of the valid total, while The Realizer stood on 11. Azure Mines drew 2 votes, and Anxious And Kevin 1. But under Forest’s present rules, half is not enough. A candidate must secure not merely 50 percent, but a full majority of 50 percent plus one. So the race moved onward to a runoff.

And it was there, in that second and decisive round, that the current of the election shifted. The Realizer overturned the first-round deficit and emerged with a clear victory, transforming a narrow and uncertain race into a firm mandate to govern.

Part of what made that reversal so striking was the visible movement of votes between rounds. In the discussion that followed, Jutsa remarked on how unusual some of those shifts appeared at first glance, particularly as several former cabinet members who had initially backed Einswenn ended by voting for The Realizer instead. Yet those same shifts were soon explained, at least in part, by the voters themselves. Roless pointed to the discussion around activity and CTE concerns, while Azure Mines said the change came after taking a closer look at the candidates’ platforms.

Other details only added to the sense that the runoff had become a genuine second contest rather than a mere procedural formality. Jutsa also noted having cast an earlier vote under the assumption that a runoff was either unlikely or would settle the matter later, and suggested that very late election reminders on Discord may have altered the shape of the first round altogether. In that light, the runoff looked less like an echo of the first vote than a moment in which Forestians reconsidered the field with greater care and under slightly different conditions.

A campaign week of earnest platforms and playful theatre

Campaign Week opened with four names on the ballot: Anxious And Kevin, Azure Mines, Einswenn, and The Realizer. Yet Forest being Forest, not every candidacy sought office in quite the same spirit. Anxious And Kevin made plain from the beginning that the run was a joke campaign, while Azure Mines waged an exuberantly satirical bid full of slogans, spectacle and knowingly extravagant promises.

Even so, those lighter candidacies played their part. They gave the campaign its wit, its absurdity and some of its charm. But beneath the jokes and pageantry, the true contest gradually settled into a more serious choice between two distinct visions for the coming term.

Two visions

Einswenn offered Forest a quiet road. The platform was notable precisely because it resisted the usual call for more, more, more. Instead it proposed a slower pace, a lighter touch, a smaller cabinet, greater focus on on-site life, and a renewed emphasis on lorebuilding and in-character polls. It was, in essence, a case for a peaceful spring and summer under a steadier hand.

The Realizer offered something different: not upheaval, but renewed motion. The campaign stressed events, small injections of activity, environmental theming, recruitment, public discussion, Earth Day observances and the completion of unfinished work from the previous term, including the newspaper and the regional podcast still inching toward fruition. It was less a cry for reinvention than a promise to tend what had already been planted and coax more life from it.

The questions that mattered

As ever in Forest, the race was shaped by questions. Candidates were pressed on roleplay, cards, transparency, cabinet structure, the balance between public process and private coordination, and what kind of activity best suits the region in quieter times.

Those exchanges gave the election real substance. By the time the runoff arrived, Forestians were weighing temperaments, priorities and different answers to a familiar regional question: whether Forest now most needs a calm custodianship or a more deliberate effort to stir fresh life through its institutions and traditions.

The twentieth cabinet assembles

The Realizer has not lingered in making appointments. Jutsa returns to Foreign Affairs. Azure Mines enters office as Minister of Events and also takes up the post of Deputy Forest Keeper. Garbelia assumes the Culture portfolio, with an expansive remit touching activity, recruitment, integration, and the preservation of Forest’s regional character. Roless returns as Cartographer. Daarwyrth joins government as RP Minister. Dest Oritio returns as editor of The Forest Leaf, while Chan Island continues work on the long-promised podcast.

Taken together, the new cabinet suggests a government chiefly concerned with the internal life of the region: its culture, its projects, its maps, its conversation and its identity.

The ballots are counted, but the argument continues

If the election has ended, the discussion it provoked has not. In the days after the runoff, Forestians turned openly to the matter of the voting system itself. Cypher Nine questioned whether the present runoff structure can produce outcomes that feel arbitrary, especially when a candidate reaches exactly half the vote in the opening round and still cannot claim victory. Einswenn likewise suggested that a region of Forest’s size may have reason to consider simpler electoral machinery.

Others looked in a different direction, raising the prospect of ranked-choice or instant-runoff voting. Some expressed a strong desire to keep elections on-site, where they remain public and part of the region’s own record. Just as closely watched were the shifts between rounds. To some they seemed curious. To those who shifted, they were simply the product of reflection: a second reading of platforms, a sharper concern for activity, or a changed sense of what the moment required.

That, in turn, became one of the strongest arguments in favour of the runoff itself. If the extra days gave Forestians time to rethink the race and arrive at a different conclusion, then the process did not necessarily distort the region’s will so much as give it a second chance to speak. For now, no reform has been set in motion. But the runoff plainly did more than produce a winner. It reopened the old question of what kind of mandate Forest wishes its elections to confer, and by what means.

A new term begins

So Forest turns the page once again. The campaign banners are furled, the votes entered into the record, and the Twentieth Cabinet now takes up the ordinary but vital work of governance.

The Realizer has won the office. But this election may yet leave behind more than a change of government. It may also mark the moment when Forest, in its quiet and thoughtful way, began asking whether its old electoral customs still fit the shape of the region as it now stands.

Another stretch of Forest’s story has been set into the record. Forest Arboretum has released the first major update to the Forest Regional History dispatch since 2021, carrying the story of the region forward to the most recent election. For longtime Forestians, it is a return to well-worn paths through familiar groves; for newer residents, a guided walk beneath older boughs, where tales of raids, refoundings and hard-won stability still echo between the trees. A worthwhile read for any who would know the deeper roots beneath our shared canopy.

Notable entries for this year: "Feburary and March saw multiple NationStates sites events hosted, namely the Wonders event and N-Day. The Forest entry to Wonders, Waldeinsamkeit secured third place overall, and N-Day featured the revival of Forest's traditional faction, Canopy, for its first event since March 2023."

Forest’s new Deputy Forest Keeper and Minister of Events, Azure Mines, has opened the term with an enthusiastic call for participation, setting out a packed list of ideas and inviting Forestians to help decide what comes next.

Among the proposals are Poetry Fantasia III, a revived Forest Writes an Issue, the return of the chaotic and much-loved Ruinenlustian Dictatorship Interactive Game, a possible second Forest Murder Mystery, plus Discord game nights, watch parties, joint events with embassy regions, Forest Trivia and more card giveaways.

There is also no shortage of prizes. Forest Events reportedly holds 152 legendaries worth 8,187 bank, along with a complete Forest S4 collection and collections from 20 embassy regions—more than enough to keep participation well rewarded.

For Forestians, this is a chance to do more than spectate. Whether you enjoy writing, roleplay, games, trivia, cards or simply showing up and joining in, this term’s events program looks designed to give everyone something to take part in.

The message from the Events Office is simple: Forest can make this a lively and memorable term, but only if residents get involved. Forestians would do well to cast their votes, share their ideas, and start picking the events they want to see brought to life.

The current events poll is open right now. Cast your vote, share your suggestions and help shape the term’s program.

The latest greenness figures have arrived from Garbelia, and while this month’s report brings little upheaval at the top, Forest remains a realm of enviable natural distinction.

Ransium continues to lead the region’s Greenness Index, with Reannia and Mozworld close behind. Chilledsville, Ecologist Hegemony and Marthuania also remain among the region’s strongest ecological standouts. Bilsa claims the month’s most notable rise, breaking into the regional top ten for the first time.

Across the broader rankings, several Forest nations continue to shine in the world’s top 100 for eco-friendliness, weather, tourism and environmental beauty. New or returning appearances by Tsatsakkh and Ruinenlust add a little movement to an otherwise steady season.

Forest’s average greenness remains far above the world norm, reinforcing the region’s long-cultivated reputation as a haven of beauty, balance and clean air. Even in a quiet month, the trees still speak well of us.

At first glance, Longingland’s latest dispatch on its armed forces reads like a dry official profile. Look closer, however, and a more revealing picture emerges. Beneath the measured language is a nation carefully shaping how it wishes to be seen: disciplined, modern, battle-tested and too substantial for the Forest to ignore. Six branches, 170,000 active personnel, 800,000 reserves, and defence spending said to have reached €70 billion by 2026 all point in the same direction.

The dispatch draws particular weight from the 2025 Jõgetu Conflict. Longingland points to new northern command stations, improved battlefield coordination and stronger communications in difficult terrain, turning a recent war into evidence of hard-won competence. The implication is subtle but unmistakable: this is not merely a military that endured conflict, but one that claims to have been sharpened by it.

That is what gives the piece its real intrigue. Set against the now-voided Cap & Exchange Act, which once capped defence spending and redirected funds elsewhere, the dispatch begins to read as more than a bureaucratic summary. It suggests a country that has moved decisively away from restraint and toward a new understanding of its place in the region.

For Forestians, that is where the story lies. Longingland is not simply describing its armed forces. It is quietly signalling that military strength, once treated as something to limit, may now be central to its claim to standing, relevance and influence.

Armed Forces

Crinadia’s government has moved firmly against membership-only warehouse retail, enforcing a January 14, 2024 law that bars stores such as PriceCo Wholesale from restricting access to paying members. Despite resistance from PriceCo, including lobbying efforts to overturn the measure, the ban held and authorities stepped in to ensure compliance.

The change has had mixed effects. Retailers responded by raising some prices, but the removal of membership barriers has made bulk shopping more broadly accessible and reportedly sped up service by eliminating card checks at entry and checkout.

For Forest nations, the story is less about warehouse procedure than about market philosophy. Crinadia has made a clear statement that access to essential goods should not be gated by subscription-style retail models. Whether others see that as consumer protection or an overreach into private commerce may depend on how much faith they place in merchants to balance convenience, affordability and fairness on their own.

Crackdown on Membership-Only Warehouses

For those not aware—I’m sure there are a few—LusoVision is an annual interregional cultural event created by Portugal. Inspired by the real-world Eurovision song contest, LusoVision was one of the first events created in this region and became notable enough to influence Portugal’s administrative structure, including the creation of a Ministry of Culture.

LusoVision is open to all regions as a musical competition with nations showcasing entries which are judged or voted on by participating players.

LusoVision saw 4 Forestians participate, with Lumiose placing 4th out of 30 participants.

Forest results

• Lumiose, with the song "Revival" by Deerhunter, received 167 points.
  

• Anxious And Kevin, with the song "Hyperactive" by Saint Chaos, received 77 points.
  

• Azwela, with the song "time waits" by Glitter Party, received 93 points.
  

• Safiloa, with the song "Dushi Bida" by Jeon, received 16 points.

High among the branches of Forest stands the Tree of Knowledge, our own community library. There, citizens and friends of our embassies have gathered stories, poems, and treasured reads for all to enjoy. Pay it a visit, wander its shelves and you may yet leave with a new favorite in hand.

The Tree of Knowledge is open for browsing. Stop by and see what is waiting on the shelves.

Forest nations write in many voices. They write as archivists, essayists, myth-makers or quiet observers. In this January feature we explore how that writing shapes the region and how you can share your lore and world-building.

The Forest hit its 20th anniversary with celebrations kicking off on August 1. On the agenda was a flag and banner contest open to Forest nations (and even friendly embassy neighbors), plus encouragement to keep designs in the recognizable Forest style, while still leaving plenty of room for creativity.

Throughout the anniversary stretch, we rotated through historical Forest flags going back to a 2009-era design and moving forward in time. If people weren’t participating in contests or events at least they could reminisce.

Alongside the visuals, the anniversary brought in messages and reflections from long-time Forestians. One recurring thread was the idea that the Forest stays healthiest when it mixes old growth and new growth. Over the years veterans drifted back in, newer nations took root. Everyone contributing at their own pace.

There was a focus on keeping the anniversary events inclusive. Constructive pushback came against events that only work for one style of participation. Nations specifically asked for anniversary events to stay accessible and asynchronous. We tried not to be dependent on Discord or voice chats, so people across time zones or people who just prefer onsite play could still join in comfortably.

The anniversary talk also revived the idea of bringing back Forest Day on June 6 which was tied to the refounding of the current Forest.

The best part of the Forest RMB in 2025 was the sheer variety of colour in the feed. One moment you’d get a moody broadcast excerpt, the next a poem. We had newspaper-style dispatches drop, and cultural events like Eurovision and Sports, a 10 year anniversary photo contest. It all added up to a welcoming, eclectic board that felt alive in lots of different ways.

Forest Radio Excerpts

If you like your Forest with a little crackle in the speakers, Anxious and Kevin’s Forest Radio snippets were some of the most shareable RMB content this year. Probably because of the popularity of Eurovision, which the Forest Radio showcased. They were quick and atmospheric. These worked whether you were deep in roleplay or just scrolling to catch up. It helped make the region feel lived-in.

Forest Poetry Fantasia

The Forest Poetry Fantasia event saw cross-region participation with the Bar on every corner. You could write, read, cheer or just quietly enjoy what others posted. You could join in however you wanted. No pressure and it fit the Forest’s vibe. It's a great reminder that not every community moment needs a big time commitment to feel meaningful. Kudos to the winners, Azure Mines, Greater Eesti and Justa, as well as all the participants.

The Columbiqash Times

The Columbiqash Times basically ran like a little in-character newspaper throughout the year that made it easy to dip in whenever you had time. The format is part of why it worked. Its headlines, recognizable voice with enough consistency gave readers fun periodic reads.

Signals from the Plateau: Dest Oritio

Dest Oritio’s RMB-friendly lore posts fit perfectly into a broader RMB feel starting with moments during Z-Day. The intercepted-transmission / bulletin style writing played nicely alongside gameplay coordination. You could read it as atmosphere and as storytelling that added a texture layered to the even.

Eurovision: Lore in a Pop-Music Wrapper

Eurovision was a popular topic for many nations. Along with posts following the real Eurovision were Eurovision-adjacent NS events. NS Eurovision 2025 was promoted by Einswenn. Portugal-lead LusoVision was open to Forest participants. Anxious And Kevin’s Eurovision selection update provided local flavor and a clear hook for anyone who liked sitewide events or cultural worldbuilding.

Photo Contests (and a Call for Submissions)

The Photo Contest energy is one of the Forest’s most reliably inclusive traditions. It gives nations a spotlight and a low-pressure reason to participate.

Early this year saw a milestone, the 10th annual iteration of the event. Categories for that contest were Trees, Horizon, Rock and Animals. There were at least 7 nations that submitted with at least 21 nations voting. Competition was tight. The winners for this contest were: Trees—Victoriaans Nederlands (18 votes); Horizon—Alpine republics (18 votes); Rock—Yahlia (21 votes); Animals—Mount Seymour (21 votes). Ties for the overall winner went to Yalia for The Old Man of Storr and Mount Seymour for Five birds on a post.

The current Photo Contest is open right now, consider this your nudge: submit something—anything. One photo is enough. Post your best in the spirit of these categories: Trees, Juxtaposition, Stillness and Nature in Human Space. Check the contest post for this year’s exact rules and deadline, and jump in. And if you’re not submitting, voting is half the fun—take five minutes, look through the entries, and help celebrate the range of what people saw fit to capture.

The RMB Voice and Word of the Year

The 2025 Forest RMB voice stayed active, casual and surprisingly accessible even when the topics were dryer and procedural. People kept things genuine without getting self-serious. When folks disagreed it usually came out as presenting their view rather than confrontational.

The jokes were peak Forest too. The “jeepers, we ain’t the UN” energy permeated through threads at one point. This stood out enough for your Editor to mark it as the 2025 Word of the Year.

The region’s love of nerdy wordplay went fully feral in May, when a Latin one-upmanship thread escalated into grammar-flex theatre (ablative absolutes and all) and got treated like an RMB hall-of-famer.

Z-Day: Late October, Forest Edition

If you want a single moment that shows Forest’s organized chaos superpower, it’s Z-Day. Anequina-Pellitine’s Cure Leadership stood out during Z-Day, while Dest Oritio provided the narrative “Z-Day Command” worldbuilding layer. The thread moved fast both on Discord and the RMB. The tone was confident but not self-important. Folks coordinated targets and strategy, leadership enforced lines when needed The whole thing read like a community working together. It was one of those RMB stretches where even if you weren’t playing Z-Day hard, you could still follow the story and feel the region moving as a unit.

Even after the event the RMB posted retrospective chatter about how to make future Z-Days better by recounting this year's experiences, what worked, what didn't and how could we make it better next year.

After conducting the last ten elections for Forest since the ceasing to exist of Errinundera, I have gradually expanded and streamlined the official announcements for the elections. The announcements and implementation of various stages began as a necessarily ad hoc effort, but it quickly became obvious that having pre-prepared scripts or "form posts" for the various parts of the electoral period would be a more elegant way of proceeding. As such, I created a word document for each election, with each post typed up in advance, and with names, dates, and elements which need to be adjusted for specific information in red. While this system has proven to be very effective, the posts have also gradually become longer and more disjointed as elements were added.

As such, my goal over the next few weeks, given the time off from school in real life, is to conduct the first comprehensive overview and re-writing of the posts which are used for announcing the various stages of the elections. After ten elections and five years, it's time to look everything over and start over. As a companion to that effort, I'd also like to review my informational Forest Keeper Elections dispatch, which I fear has similarly suffered from a degree of needless verbosity. It may be that any changes will be rather minor, but I'm acutely aware that despite my natural tendency to say things in far too many words, that very quality often is self-defeating for the average reader, who simply wants to glean the important information with as little effort as possible. I'd also like to continue with my little "Daily ___" feature, in which I edit the WFE with some daily item for consideration, simply to add a bit of interest to the election. I had songs in the March 2025 election and then species of plants in September 2025, and while it's certainly something with a finite number of plausible themes, it's also something which adds to the overall culture and points of interest for the region, in however small of a way.

One of the nicest background stories of 2025 was the feeling of Old Growth returning. Familiar names reappeared. Chan Island resurfaced for the first time since the end of 2022 and got the warmest welcome back. Bruination also returned with a simple, perfect “I’m home,” which honestly says everything you’d want it to say about Forest as a place.

Yeldan nature preserve came back into the mix as well, along with Dest Oritio, adding to that sense that the canopy was filling back in. Palos heights made a comeback after a year after they’d CTE’d. This landed like a genuine reunion moment. Even when the news wasn’t as upbeat, the RMB still marked it. Later in the year the board noted that Bruination had CTE’d, and people paused to acknowledge it rather than just scrolling past.

Mid-year also brought a quieter note: Uan aa boa CTE’d around July. This was mentioned in the same casual, matter-of-fact way on the RMB. Another change was the quiet life-update style news that Osionic was stepping down and moving away. Some of these "Goings" are a reminder that world-building is still made of people doing real-life things and we all have to set our own priorities.

Not every change was dramatic—some of it just “happens.” Safiloa, for example, accidentally ended up out of region and then immediately came back (classic NS physics that happen to the best of us).

Name 0, meanwhile, explicitly announced they were leaving the Forest for another region. They keep their social ties alive by though one of their other nations, Egre (a very Forest way to do a goodbye: no bridges burned, just different scenery).

We also saw new shoots arrivals and re-arrivals: Tsatsakkh talked openly about moving because previous regions didn’t quite fit and Forest being the kind of place they could settle into again. On the alt-and-friends side of things, The MLoP popped in with an alt relocation, a reminder that not everyone’s Forest presence looks the same, and that’s fine.

Note: This is certainly not a complete list of comings and goings in the Forest last year. Apologies to any we've left out. If you're new, welcome; if you've faded away, you will be missed.

In Memoriam

The Forest also paused to mark real losses this year, and it matters that we make note of it as significant in 2025. In March, the RMB noted the passing of Omigodtheykilledkenny (shared from the Antarctic Oasis RMB). The point was the recognition. That a name on the map is still a person behind the screen, and it’s worth stopping to honour that.

In early October, news reached the Forest that Big Tex (of NewTexas) had passed away after fighting cancer. The response was immediate and human. Many of us added condolences to a memorial thread so the remembering could be truly NS instead of isolated. Many Old Growth knew Big Tex as one of the oldest in NS, being founded almost 22 years ago. He was a bridge between regions as Texas’ Ambassador to Forest. The RMB treat that kind of long, steady presence with the respect it deserves.

These moments cut through gameplay differences instantly. They remind us that behind every nation name is a person.