The Tableland

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The Tableland
Forum: The Tableland Forum
Population: ~ 12 nations
Delegate: Thymlia
Founder: Liamist States
Info: NSEconomy RC XML

Government

Constitution

Preamble

To run a region requires effort, effort greater than any normal nation can handle. To maintain a lifestyle as preferred by the residents of The Tableland and so as to not overload any one nation, the resident nations of The Tableland hereby ratify the following Constitution as their own and will submit to its, and the Government’s so derived, rule as the highest power in the region and all its territories. By existing in the region and/or engaging any of its territories and/or using any of its facilities, resident nations agree to the above statement.

National rights

  1. Any separate entity recognised by NationStates (hereafter a Nation) has the right to self determination in domestic policy.
  2. A Nation has the right to be silent.
  3. A Nation has the right to freedom of expression, while recognising that Nations must stay within the bounds of the laws set down by NationStates (hereafter NS), the only power higher than that of this Constitution.
  4. A Nation has the right to be protected from internal and external Nations abusing any power they may have, whether it is through elections or invasion.
  5. A Nation has the right to have an influence in their regional government (hereafter Government), its composition, its structure and it’s Constitution. This will be conveyed through the nations right to vote or right to call a referendum but Nations must be recognised as Tablelegs (see Section G, Article 3) of the region to be eligible for this right.
  6. A Nation has the right to determine their United Nations (hereafter UN) status and endorse whichever Nation they wish but Nations must relinquish this right if the security of the region is threatened.
  7. A Nation has the right to improve The Tableland in any manner they wish but should recognise that they will probably need to do most of the ground work.
  8. A Nation has the right to request and receive the list of Nations on the Ban List.
  9. A Nation is free to waive any of their rights.
  10. No Nation has the right to infringe on another Nations right, unless the first party’s infringement is protecting a higher right of any Nation.

The founder

  1. The Founder is the Nation who is responsible for the creation of the region and so is an integral part of it.
  2. The primary responsibility of the Founder is regional security from invaders and annoying Nations alike. The primary method of exercising this responsibility will be through the use of the ejection function.
  3. The Founder reserves the right to eject any nation engaged in the act of
    • Flaming
    • Spamming
    • Invasion
    • Spying
    • Continual abuse of powers
    • Breaking any other NS rules
  4. Should the ejected or another resident Nation protest the Founder’s decision, the Founder will need to consult with the relevant Minister for verification. The Minister may advise that the decision be overturned. Ultimately, the decision still resides with the Founder. Should Nations still be unhappy they may seek a referendum on the issue (refer to Section G, Article 2) but must follow the necessary procedures for a referendum to be called. If the referendum is passed, the ejected shall be removed from the ban list and may return. If the referendum fails or is not called within fourteen days of the ejection, then the Founder’s decision stands.
  5. The secondary responsibilities of the Founder include, but are not limited to, serving as a regional figurehead, protection from espionage, maintaining order within the region, assisting projects from residents’ growth and stepping in as acting Election Officer (See Section D, Article 2b) when the UN Delegate is incapacitated.
  6. The Founder is the only unelectable position in the Government because of the nature of the position. With this in mind, any nation shall take up a dispute with the Founder directly with him through the proper channels. If they are unhappy with his response, they should seek another region.

UN Delegate

  1. The UN Delegate (hereafter Delegate) is the only position in the government whose election is constant, due to the nature of the position. It is the only officially recognised and uniform position amongst NS regions. Any Nation may legally become Delegate whenever they wish. Endorsement swapping is frowned upon but not illegal. If a Delegate abuses his or her position, they will be ejected but not banned. If a Nation incidentally becomes Delegate, they should leave the region or resign from the UN, rather than waiting on their endorsements to be removed.
  2. The Delegate serves two primary purposes: one to serve as the region’s representative to the UN and to serve the region as default Election Officer.
    • Representative to the UN: the Delegate must vote in accordance with the wishes of the UN nations of the region if a consensus has been reached by UN nations that comprise more than 2% of the resident Nation numbers. If both for and against are over 2%, the Delegate must side with the view that has the most Nations attached. If 2% are not heard either way or there is a tie in numbers, then the Delegate may use his or her conscience in deciding the swing of their vote.
    • Default Election Officer: As election Officer, the Delegate will be responsible for promoting any elections, receiving votes via international telegram, counting them and announcing decisions.
  3. Should the Delegate fail in his or her former duties, it is advised malcontent Nations seek to take Delegateship with a suitable Nation. Nations may also seek a referendum on the issue (Election Officer duties will fall to the Founder). If the Delegate is found wanting, they will be ejected but not banned, unless the Delegate is guilty of ejectable crimes, and a new Delegate will be elected. Should the Delegate be unable to fulfil his or her latter duties, he or she should inform the Founder to take over. If the Founder is unable to do so, then the Home Minister will suffice. If the top three are unable, the duties will fall to Foreign Minister and if not he or she, then a suitably independent, impartial and experienced Nation will do. If the Delegate fails as Election Officer without notice of being unable to fulfil his or her duties, he or she will be ejected but not banned and the election will be declared void.
  4. The Delegate may request access to the Founder Powers. Whether or not this will be granted is up to the discretion of the Founder, as it may pose a security threat.

Home & foreign ministers

  1. To alleviate the internal problems that the Founder would normally face and to alleviate the external issues that the Delegate would be responsible for, these two portfolios have been created to help. The results are the Home (hereafter HM) and Foreign (hereafter FM) Ministers.
  2. The primary purposes of the Ministers are to oversee the internal (HM) and external (FM) affairs of The Tableland. For the former, this may include, but is not limited to, settling disputes between Nations, welcoming new Nations, act as an intermediate stage between ordinary Nations and other Government officials and so forth. The latter official would be responsible for forging alliances, democratic partnerships and other relationships with foreign regions, coordinating a good ambassadorial program, maintaining the good reputation of The Tableland and so forth.
  3. Candidates may be nominated by themselves or others. Both positions will be elected using the referendum procedures (See Section G, Article 2). Unopposed candidates may be automatically elected.
  4. If 5% of resident Nations find the either Minister lacking in their duties, they may, in referendum style (See Section G, Article 2), call for their impeachment. If the impeachment motion passes, then elections will be held for a new Minister. It will not be necessary for the impeached Minister to be ejected, unless they are guilty of an immediate ejection crime.

Recruitment director

  1. In accordance with the Preamble (See Section A), the Recruitment Director (hereafter RD) will only be employed when The Tableland has a high number of Nations. It will be thus employed in order to relieve strain on sitting Government members.
  2. The primary responsibility of RD is to coordinate efforts to encourage new non-resident nations to join The Tableland.
  3. The RD is to be selected by general consensus of the Government from a list of willing individuals.
  4. The RD can be let go on one of either two grounds: the population needs of the region are satisfied or even with the RD’s efforts, negative population growth continues. As this position is abstract, there is no need for an ejection but if the RD is found to be the cause of the negative growth, then the ejection may be necessary.

Amendments & Miscellaneous

  1. To ratify this Constitution into regional law, 7% of the number of resident Nations at the time must sign this document in a statement of their support

STATUS: RATIFIED (31 January 2005)

TAKES EFFECT: 1 February 2005

SIGNATORIES:

  • The Cybercracy of Liamist States (author)
  • The Theocracy of Dulces
  • The Dictatorship of Cobra Empire
  • The Borderlands of Negamegedon
  1. In order to amend this Constitution, impeach a Government member or right a government policy or issue, a petition of 5% (number of resident Nations multiplied by 0.05 and rounded off to the nearest whole number) of the resident Nations of the region must be signed and independently confirmed. The petition must contain the proposed referendum voting sheet, including options. The voting sheet may not favour any one choice. From here, the Election Officer of the day must call a referendum of all Nations who are eligible to vote. This referendum will last a week, where all eligible Nations who wish to cast their sole vote may do so. If the referendum has only two options, a simple majority will suffice to pass it. If the referendum has more than two options a preferential system must be adopted in order to gain a result. In such a situation, the first choice of a Nation will be awarded as many points as options available toward its cause. The second choice will be awarded one less point than the first choice (or one less point than options available). The third will be awarded two less points and so forth until all options are exhausted. From here, the option with the most number of points will be the decision adopted. The decision adopted becomes law henceforth.
  2. To be registered as a Tableleg, as opposed to merely a resident of the region, and to be eligible to vote, all a Nation has to do, at this time, is join The Tableland and apply for and receive a place on the regional map.
  3. The Tableleg of Loserslavia is now and forever The Tableland's Secretary for Partying Down.

History

The Beginning

The Tableland has a relatively short and fairly uninteresting history. Originally, a group of real world Australian friends got together to form a region on NationStates, so that they could take their good-natured teasing and abuse of one another to a whole new, international level. Using the immense experience of the Liamist States (with already over a year's playing time behind him), The Tableland was born. It was named in honour of the well-loved picnic table used as a gathering ground for the original core group at lunchtimes. This founding group consisted of the Liamist States, the Erroneous Errol Island, Ancient Burtorr, Tamamara, the Joelist Islands, Ishonia, Fergustan and Nomattia. Unfortunately, interest waned amongst the founding players and nations started to disappear. It was decided then that The Tableland should remove its password protection and begin actively recruiting in an effort to rebuild numbers. While nations number nearly triple what they were, the same peak of activity that was reached when it was only the founding nations is yet to return but that will no doubt turn around with fresh blood from the likes of the Cobra Empire and Bored Beyond Belief.

The First Government

The Constitution and the government came from a disjointed series of ideas into cyberspace soon after the last chapter was concluded. The Constitution was written in Tablelandian on a single afternoon in late January. From there it was converted to English, posted online and ratification was sought from Tablelegs. It took less than 36 hours for the four nations required for ratification, and implementation, were found and added themselves as signatories. On 1 February, the Constitution was brought into effect. Almost immediately, motions were made to form the first government. In a week of nominations, only two nations came forward for the positions: Cobra Empire for Home Minister and Tamamara for Foreign Minister. Both were elected unopposed. During that same week, the forum was opened, much to the joy of all Tablelegs. Numbers began to grow at an accelerated rate, until finally on February 9, the tableland passed 100 nations. This day is now known as Day of the One Hundred Tablelegs. 109 is now the record population and activity has reached new highs, despite only five of the eight original members still playing.

The Decline & Return

It wasn’t long before the large number of nations built up by the first wave of recruitment efforts began to decline. For months, The Tableland population varied between eighty five and ninety two. The Tableland seemed to be out of sorts. During this time, on the forums, the First Generation (Liamist States, Erroneous Errol Island, Tamamara & Ancient Burtorr) and the Second Generation (The North Cascades, Cobra empire, Loserslavia and Dulces) solidified themselves as the mainstays of Tableland culture. Loserslavia, particularly, proposed the Tableland’s first amendment to the Constitution. It read: “The Tableleg of Loserslavia is now and forever The Tableland’s Secretary for Partying Down.” Trivial, but important nonetheless. After a personal falling out between the Liamist States and Tamamara, and questions being raised as to her competence, she resigned from the position of Foreign Minister. The North Cascades stepped up to fill the role and, as of this writing, in only a few short days has revolutionised The Tableland, negotiating The Tableland’s first attempt at a permanent peace treaty with The Exodus (without having even been at war with them) and having brought in well over a dozen nations in approximately forty eight hours. Combine these events with the successful admission of The Tableland into the arms of the defending organisation, the Alliance Defence Network (or ADN), The Tableland is on target to break the record population of 112 and will surely become an interregional player. Alot has changed in the Tableland. The Region is nearly completly lost, only 12 members are left. There are still those that fight hard to rebuild the Tableland, the nation Grand Dennistan has proclaimed the region to be in a state of "Reconstruction" and he is calling on those members to prepare for a time of "Mass Recruitment". Those members still left in the Tableland are very patriotic and many help out in many ways to bring back the glory of The Tableland. The Delegate Thymlia is trying her hardest to bring back the region to it's glory, and it seems that it is just a matter of a time untill the region is brought back to a major power stance in Nationstates. Many great members are pledging their support for the Tableland and it appears that Thymlia is very popular at the time. She has been the delegate since over 148 days! And all seem to agree that untill the Tableland is rebuilt to it's former glory, and more members join it will not hold a delegates election. Many old allies of the region are being contacted in order to try to get their help in Reconstruction, including the old Greatest allies The Exodus. It is still unclear wether the Exodus will aid the Tableland, only time will tell...

Delegate honour roll

  1. Joelist Islands [August 2004 - December 2004 (~100 days)]: Won a landslide election over Ishonia for first UN Delegacy (6-1).
  2. Erroneous Errol Island [December 2004 - July 2005]: Was most active nation at the time of Joelist Islands disappearance and was deemed to be the most suitable candidate for keeping Founder and UN Delegate separate.
  3. North Cascades [July 2005 - ]: After a great career as Foreign Minister, during which time he recruited numerous nations and helped make the Tableland the great region it is now, he decided to run for the post of Delegate following Erroneous Errol Island's resignation.

Language

After the Founder's keyboard broke down, leaving him with only 23 of the 26 letters of the alphabet, missing e, t and q, a new language was born. This language was adopted as Tablelandian, the region's official language. Tablelandian is derived from English but replaces e and t with various symbols. At the moment, four dialects stand out as the most commonly used:

  • Founder's Tablelandian: As used by the Founder in posts. Replace e with ', t at the beginning and end of words with " and t in the middle of words with -. All other rules of English follow, except for no longer using apostrophes to represent contractions.
  • Normal Tablelandian: As used by most Tablelegs. Replace e and t with '. All other rules of English follow, except for no longer using apostrophes to represent contractions.
  • Live Tablelandian: For use in live communication with non-Tablelegs. Replace e with 3 and t with '. All other rules of English follow, except for no longer using apostrophes to represent contractions.
  • Simple Tablelandian: Used for maximum confusion. No use of e or t. All other rules of English follow.

External links

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