The West PacificBoard

Punday Monday Highlights

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By Gryphonian Alliance

Every Monday, our RMB gets together to post the funniest, wittiest, and snarkiest puns in the world of NationStates. Here are some entries from this month that I absolutely have to share, along with a few puns I made myself!

Infinite Star wrote:

#PundayMonday

Why did the vampire not make a good CEO? Because he could not bear the stakeholders.

What made the can crushing machine quit its job? The work was soda-pressing.

What made Noah the most successful business investor? When everything around him was liquidated, he still managed to keep his stock afloat.

What is a vampire's least favorite day of the week? Sunday.

Cro Magnon wrote:

*brews a fresh pot of that West Pacific Blend*

Have to spend the day with my father's incontinent sister. That's right, it's In Depends Aunt's Day.

*coffee*

Why is July 4th a holiday for ducks? Because that's when they duck-lared independence from Bird-tain.

Flying canaries wrote:

What’s the most popular pet band of all time? The Beagles! :)

And what's the most popular rock band for pets? Pugs N' Roses!

Haetonia wrote:

Astronomers back then were tired of watching the moon go around the earth for 24 hours so they just decided to call it a day.

Someone's slowly been adding soil to my garden. The plot thickens.

Somebody's been stealing hay from my farm... That was the last straw!

Everyone is welcome to join us on Mondays for this fun-filled event. So if you're in the mood for wordplay or just want to appreciate some cheesy puns, be sure to check it out!

Introduction

The New Hall of Nations Member Challenge Is Finally Here!

As the duly-elected HoN Guardian, it is my honour to announce the launch of the New HoN Member Challenge, a new TWP initiative designed to encourage your participation in all areas of life in the West! Without any further redo, let my give a brief rundown of what the Challenge is about, and how you can take part.

What is the New HoN Member Challenge?

The Challenge is comprised of a checklist where all HoN members (especially new ones) can review what there is to do in TWP to get acquainted with all the opportunities we have to offer—Foreign Affairs, TWPAF, WAR, to name just a few. On the checklist are some basic, introductory tasks/goals that every new HON member should find easy to complete and check off. Doing these tasks will give you a much better understanding what there is to do in TWP and how you can be a part of it all!

How exactly can I participate?

It's very simple! This announcement comes with a checklist attached, so you can scroll down and review the listed tasks. Complete them in any order you like, keeping a record of things afterwards, and you can then message me with your records/proof for me to verify the completion of tasks. That's it!

Is the Challenge mandatory for all HoN members?

No, it is not—participation is encouraged but not mandatory. However, you will have much to lose by not participating in it! See below for all the exciting rewards you'll lose out on if you don't get involved at all.

What's in it for me?

Given that this is a Challenge after all, there will be rewards for those who make good progress completing tasks on the checklist! The rewards are:

• Potential to be selected by HoN Speaker Hertfordshire and Jammbo for Hall Member of the Month

• A better reputation and more friends in TWP: you'll seem trustworthy and befriend other hardworking TWPers with similar interests!

• Getting to know all the opportunities for you in TWP better: this will help you climb up the ranks!

So what are you waiting for? The New HoN Member Challenge is open to all HoN members, whether new ones who are just getting started, or returning TWPers wishing to get reacquainted with the region today. As HoN Guardian, I'll be your main point of contact for the New HoN Member Challenge, so please don't hesitate to ask me any questions or ask for help! I'll be monitoring your progress and checking in with you regularly.

The Checklist

World Assembly Recruitment

• Join the Western Endorsement Sovereign Trust by reaching 150 endorsements

• Receive endorsements from the top 10 most-endorsed nations in TWP

Foreign Affairs

• Sign up to become a TWP diplomat to another region

• Complete basic FA reading and become acquainted with in-game FA concepts

TWP Armed Forces

• Read Nrevyw’s impressment telegram and join TWPAF

• Join TWPAF Discord and complete basic training

• Participate in any THREE operations with TWPAF in the span of a year

Regional Guides

• Greet a member of the RMB and show them ONE TWP dispatch/guide

• Post ONE Today in the West (TITW) with the help of a Regional Guide

Cultural Trust

• The Western Post (Newspaper)

  • Author/make at least ONE article/piece of art for the Western Post

  • Contribute to THREE issues of the Western Post in any way, in the span of a single year

• TWP Gaming

  • Join at least three different multiplayer gaming sessions

• The West on the Waves (Radio)

  • Attend a live taping of a TWTW show and share any thoughts, suggestions or comments afterwards

• TWP Card Club

  • Participate in at least ONE Card Club Contest

• TWP Roleplay Community

  • Join the TWP Roleplay (RP) Community by…

    • …reading the RP Guide

    • …introducing yourself on the TWP RP Discord server

    • …submitting your Mapplication^TM

  • Become further acquainted with the TWP RP Community by…

    • …posting/drafting a nation factbook on the TWP forum

    • …introducing yourself in your continent chatroom

    • …participating in an official TWP RP event organised by Lorekeepers

Other Activity-Related Tasks

• Participate in Today in the West (TITW) activities for a week in a row

• Volunteer for and complete at least TWO Action Items in Cabinet minutes

• Participate in at least TWO TWP regional events

• Contribute significantly to a Regional Commendation/Condemnation (make at least 3-5 accepted suggestions)

• Ask at least one question in an Ask Me Anything with a TWP Government official

Apply for Hall of Nations Citizenship now!

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Welcome back to another edition of the TWP Card Collection Spotlight! This more or less yearly feature of the Western Post highlights notable card collections in the West Pacific, with previous editions of 2020 and 2021 found on their respective links. Collections are groups of cards pertaining to a certain theme, and they come in all types and sizes in the card universe, many of which are certainly deserving recognition. As the maintainer the Collection Collection v2 thread in the NationStates forums for over two years now, I often look at collections to see if they're worthy of inclusion, and the criteria here will be more or less the same.

Of course, much has changed in the landscape of cards since my previous article. The Trading Cards Anti-Laundering System has been disabled, cards organizations have spent time on retention of members as the number of active traders dwindles, and overall activity has declined while the much-sought Season 3 is yet to be released. Nevertheless, new collections and collectors are still springing up! Therefore, this article will not only feature some of the collectors already listed in previous edition that have built new collections since then, but also new traders to the scene. Nations of all deck values are also looked at, since any nation can build a collection, although the list will present a greater focus on established traders that naturally have more opportunities and power to collect cards.

Giovanniland

Previous spotlights saw myself talking about the vast and complete TWP regional collections of both Season 1 and Season 2, alongside other themed collections on puppet nations like Miniplenty, Ordem e Progresso, Tibetan Empire, and Xadrez. This time, we cast our eyes on some smaller but nevertheless interesting collections by myself held on the main nation, many of which are about TWP as well! The largest of them all prominently features over 300 TWP themed flags, for example a few personalized versions by known TWPers, and hundreds of military puppets with various versions of TWPAF designs over time. Also worthy of note are some self-explanatory collection names, such as TWP Delegates, Speakers of the Hall, Issues and WA Authors. Last but not least, a few collections are dedicated to the process of recognizing other nations' legacies—all TWPers commended or condemned by the Security Council and those honored by our internal Regional Commendations.

A screenshot of the TWP Delegates collection by myself.

Fhaengshia

Fhaengshia was featured on the last snapshot with a diverse range of collections, including a complete set of both legendary cards and of Season 2 Delegates. However, Fhaeng's collection list includes much more, for example the collection of all Season 2 Epics on their puppet nation Naughty Catboys, and a display of notable cards that were inflated on their main nation, such as the cards of Misplaced States and Aki Zeta that the nation Luna Amore temporarily inflated in order to achieve first place in deck value. Yet more interesting collections can be found, for example two of them that illustrate the fact Season 1 had the initial release on April 2018 and the return of the market in December 2018—these GCR delegates were at the seat on April, enjoying a nice rarity boost but losing the delegate badge before December, whereas these ones were the leaders of GCRs at the time of the card seasons' respective final snapshots.

Apexiala

We arrive to the description of a new collector in the trading cards market, the rising star of Apexiala, which has in a few months achieved sixth place worldwide and second in the region for deck value! This growth in bank and deck value naturally comes with many collections, of which Apexiala currently has three featured in the Collection Collection Thread—Eagle Heraldry, presenting the common presence of eagles in historical, present-day real life and fictional flags; Portraits, depicting real life and fictional faces and personality with detailed effort; and LGBT, a diverse collection whose cards celebrate the various communities united under the LGBTQIA+ banner. Furthermore, it's also worthy Apexiala won the TWPride Card Contest in June with their collection about Trans Pride, featuring over 100 cards celebrating the Trans community and capturing the event theme perfectly. The list and size of collections by Apexiala grows by the day, and you can find many more displays about various card themes in Apexiala's deck page.

A screenshot of the Trans Pride collection by Apexiala.

Kwisatz Carderach

Kwisatz Carderach, a puppet nation of The United Peoples of Centrism residing in TWP, also holds interesting collections despite their puppet nation status! Their most known collection is a complete display of Season 2 Epics, becoming one of the few collectors to achieve that feat just like TWPers Fhaengshia and Mediobogdum. The collection name, "On the Cusp of Greatness”, describes how close epic nations are to the famed legendary status, and the collection of more epics continues as UPC seeks all the Season 1 counterparts as well, currently a third of the way there. On their main nation, UPC also displays magnificent collections such as legendaries of both seasons and an almost complete display of three times every Season 2 legendary.

DiscGolfLand

Although DiscGolfLand has resided on the West Pacific for years, their collections haven't been on this spotlight for either of the past editions, so it's time to fix that! Their choice of themes for collections is also diverse, after all there are over two thousand cards at their disposal for collection building. Collections about famous real life culture are ubiquitous, such as Star Wars, The Matrix, Game of Thrones, The Infinity Gauntlet, DC Comics, and Rick & Morty, as are the animal-themed collections about themes like dinosaurs and cats. Furthermore, NationStates-themed collections aren't lacking either, as they have gathered a fair amount of animated cards for example.

A screenshot of the Game of Thrones collection by DiscGolfLand.

Varanius

Varanius's deck, once a small collection, has now risen to be 10th most valuable in the world and 3rd in the region, as the nation also gains prestige in gameplay through their recent appointment to Minister of Foreign Affairs. Vara's self-collection has risen to almost 200 cards since the last snapshot, as a respectable value of 10.00 is maintained in the card and more copies are bought. Another collection, meanwhile, jokingly displays cards of players that Vara has talked to about the Security Council, often in regards to approving a proposal or voting on a resolution. Like Vara himself has shown in the Foreign Affairs Feature of the Western Post's July 2022 edition, passing a resolution of their own certainly relied on the support of other regions to the idea besides a good writing that conveys the achievements of the nominee.

The Passerine Islands

Last but not least, The passerine islands (Sam) is a recent arrival to the region with many collections worth highlighting! For example, their regional collection of the Communist Bloc features over eighty percent of that region's Season 2 cards, and they are also two-fifths of the way to joining the ranks of complete Season 2 legendary collections. Besides those larger collections, Sam's deck also features smaller ones that can also be mentioned here—such as an almost-complete display of Season 2 moderator cards that only lacks one card, and a creative geographical themed collection about the U.S. state of Texas, including the state flag, mentions of other places in the state, and of course its interesting culture.

A screenshot of the Texas-themed collection by The Passerine Islands.

Anyways, that's it for this article! I recommend checking all collections I have mentioned in this article if you haven't already, and of course other collections curated by TWPers that I may not have mentioned here. If you wish to build a collection and need help with that, be sure to join our regional Discord server and ask questions at #twp-card-central, the home of every TWP card collector. Thanks for reading the article, and stay tuned for more card-related articles in the future!

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The 4th Annual Casserole of Humanity took place recently over the span of a week from July 25th to August 1st. Organised this year by Bran Astor, this unique, fun event derives inspiration from a 2016 dispatch by Big Bad Badger in which he described The West Pacific's culture as a "casserole of humanity", thus lending this event its creative name. In this short event packed full of exciting fun, nations chose to join one of 5 houses in the Really Weird House Cup—the traditional teams like the Decepticons, Team Rocket, 1962 Green Bay Packers, and Westwind's Flying Circus, as well as the newly-formed Card Sharks, in honour of our Delegate Giovanniland's hopes for a Season 3 in NationStates cards (as unfounded as they are <3 ). The competition revolved around members of these houses completing activities to earn points for their own houses over the course of the festival, with the highest-scoring house winning Casserole.

On the first day of Casserole, participants were asked to use a text-flipping generator to flip their nation's customisable text fields upside down. Other recurring events on the TWP RMB also counted towards the houses' scores—for example, participants who contributed to Punday Monday, Haikuesday and Karaoke Friday with appropriate posts bearing the "#ForTheWest" hashtag all scored points for their houses. Casserole's Shark Week included snarky shark facts and shark-related puns, haikus, and songs from TWPers to celebrate!

As the week progressed, TWPers took part in a few other activities for Casserole. Daily casserole recipes were shared, including Keto Reuben Casserole, Shrimp and Crabmeat Casserole, Breakfast Casserole, and Chocolate Lasagna! Meanwhile, participants were also asked to don a piece of mermaid, manatee, sea witch or siren art as their national flag for the Casserole's Mermaid Parade, followed by the challenge to add a propeller hat to your mermaid, in honor of TWP's role as the "Propeller Hat Pacific". And as TWP approached the end of Casserole, an Endorsement Fire Sale kicked off, where endorsing Delegate Gio would earn participants points—all participants endorsing Gio gained 2 points, while all first-time endorsements gained 5 points each for their house!

At the end of the Casserole week, each house's total points were tallied and revealed: Westwind's Flying Circus proved triumphant out of all 5 houses with their total of 78 points placing them in 1st place, while Card Sharks came in 2nd and Team Rocket in 3rd. The total scores of all 5 houses can be seen below. The TWPer deemed the MVP of this year's Casserole was Corbeil, having scored the most points in the event!

Casserole IV Final Rankings

1st place: Westwind's Flying Circus (78 pts)

2nd place: Card Sharks (Season 3 Is Totally Real And Happening!) (65 pts)

3rd place: Team Rocket (40 pts)

4th place: Decepticons (37 pts)

5th place: 1962 Green Bay Packers (27 pts)

And that concludes Casserole of Humanity IV! The tradition of the Casserole celebrates the facets of TWP's unique culture and what it has to offer, and is a welcome reprieve from summer every year. The event saw a great deal of participation from TWPers of all stripes, and we hope everyone who participated had fun. Feel free to search the TWP RMB for the #ForTheWest tag to experience the event for yourself! Stay tuned for more TWP events in the future, and until the next Casserole of Humanity, see you!

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Are you confused about certain creatures, things, or references from the comic? Well never fear, Zoran's Compendium of the West is here! Every one of its entries will be compiled in a dispatch for your easy viewing!

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You may recall if you read the last issue of The Western Post that the Delegate, Giovanniland, wrote the Hall of Nations Update. This was because there was a transition period going on in which the previous HoN Speaker, Wymondham, resigned due to real life and the Speaker role was in the process of being handed by choice of the delegate to the then-Deputy Speaker. That would be me. With that out of the way, I’ll kick this off with a rundown of what’s to come. In this issue, a choice between Commendation and Condemnation, the final choice of the aforementioned kicks off, a future AMA in the pipeline, and the Hall Member of the Month.

Regional Commendations — Discussion

The discussion for who would be the subject of the 14th Regional Commendation ended with an interesting dilemma in play. Wymondham had started the thread when he was still Speaker, and Zoran was the one who put forth the idea to craft a commendation of Dalimbar. On the other hand, Fujai suggested that the Hall instead craft a condemnation of United russoasia (URAP), citing that although it would take a lot of research and connecting of timelines, the historical value of the condemnation would be incredible.

Fujai's idea was well received, although it would need to be written in a way that made it certain that it was actually condemning the recipient URAP rather than in a way that turned it into a badge of honour. However, Mediobogdum, who was a Guardian in the time of URAP, intervened and informed the thread that going ahead with the condemnation held the possibility of stirring up resentment and re-opening old wounds. I decided, with Gio agreeing, that there was too much risk involved in writing a condemnation of URAP and that Dali was overdue a commendation. Thus, that is why the Hall of Nations is currently in the process of drafting the commendation of Dalimbar. Speaking of which…

Regional Commendations – Initial Drafting

The initial stages of drafting have gotten underway and so far both The Holy Principality of Saint Mark (Halo) and Giovanniland have commented on it. Halo has brought up on how crucial Dali was as an advisor to him during his time as delegate and described him as “loyal, reliable, enthusiastic and fun”. On Gio’s end, he provided a rather helpful selection of things that Dali has done, including being a former wielder of the (in)famous Rainbow Banhammer. He also signaled his desire to see more people commenting on the thread and pointed out that there are in excess of 18 years to study for the commendation.

In fact, I’m now going to be the one calling for this. If you are interesting in joining the drafting process and wish to research into what merits the ongoing commendation, then please do so and comment your findings on the thread, which you can access through this link.

Ask Me Anything – Incoming

The next AMA has begun in August 4th and will take place for a period of two and a half weeks throughout the month until August 21st. This time, the subject will be current Commander of TWPAF Nrevyw, otherwise known as Wyvern. This is timed to coincide with the one-year anniversary of Wyv’s [REDACTED] as TWPAF Commander, except not really because the actual date coincided with the Casserole of Humanity which took place the week of 25th July – 31st July, so the AMA has now started in early August to avoid clashing and potentially drawing away and/or splitting attention from one or both. Citizens of the West can now take part of the TWP Inquisition once more in this link!

Hall Member of the Month & Conclusion

Many congratulations to Fauthur on becoming July’s Hall Member of the Month for their newcomer activity and engagement! In the announcement, it was noted that Fauthur has "burst out in overdrive and taken the initiative with heavy involvement in both TWPAF and Gaming", becoming a great standard for future new arrivals to aim for and a deserved recipient of the award. Although Fauthur is currently less active for a while due to the real life, he was of course very thankful of the award, and stated that he hopes to get involved in Foreign Affairs as well! To all citizens reading this, take note of what you can do as a new member.

Last but not least, you may be wondering how you can get involved in the aforementioned and other things besides. Well, you’re in luck because I’m here to offer an easy guide on how to do just that. Through the bold green words in this sentence, you can, if you so choose, apply for the Hall of Nations. If you do, make sure to read the rules before applying, fulfill both the form and oath steps, and consider joining our Discord server and wade in to involvement with the myriad of what the West has to offer. DISCLAIMER: Hall membership only costs the bargain price of one forum post per month, though you might soon find yourself posting far more often than that!

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spooky!