My name is Kenny and I am a sovereigntist..., Introduce yourself here!

[kenny]

[In unison: "HI KENNY!!" ]

I've been a sovereigntist ever since the stupid dolphins started lobbying for rights back in the old United Nations. Since then my experiences with the UN/WA have varied from the incredibly awesome (like getting my first repeal passed!) to the incredibly sucky (that repeal was "Gay Rights" ). Lucky I've always had the shelter of the Strangers' Bar when the crazy shenanigans in the Snakepit got a little too crazy, even for me. Oh, and I also had the NSO. Let's hope NSO 2 proves just as successful.

Outside NS, I am a university researcher and freelance reporter, I live in San Diego (aka "Shamu-town"), I thrive on macaroni and cheese, I can't get enough reality TV, and my guilty pleasures range from the perfectly harmless (Harry Potter) to the extremely embarrassing (Sarah Palin's Alaska). In other news, I am now a registered independent, and I generally think all politicians should be lined up and shot. And throw in all the PC thugs like Rob Reiner and Alec Baldwin while you're at it!

A little about my WA characters:

---

Jack Riley, secretary of state

Age: 42
Biography: Ardchoille's favorite person, and still the pretended viceroy of The Eternal Kawaii, is well-known for his brash and bluntly spoken demeanor, which suited him well back when he was UN ambassador and Fox News commentator. Ever since an embarrassing 2006 incident in the Strangers' Bar -- which no one in the Fernanda Administration dares discuss publicly, and which Riley has mostly forgotten due to a heavy medicinal regime (though he still has an unexplained fear of cats and witchcraft) -- Riley has made it his personal goal to claw his way back to the top in the State Department, and finally achieved success to that end when his predecessor was elected vice president last year. His first order of business was to declare war on the Security Council, but after discovering that the Constitution actually gives that power to Congress, he resolved instead on covertly supporting terrorist assaults on the SC.
Inspiration: Jack is dually blessed with John Bolton's diplomatic restraint and sensibility, and Keith Olbermann's charm and good looks.

Susa Batko-Yovino, ambassador to World Assembly

Age: 30
Biography: It is no secret that Susa has inflicted a lot of damage on many undeserving people in his short career in public service, including gambling away his entire royal inheritance, (allegedly) burning down UNHQ, (allegedly) "suicide"-bombing his wife, faking his own death, and taking up arms with Chechen militants against his own country. The above photograph (Susa is on the right) is a screenshot from his disastrous recent foray into gangsta rap, the field in which he's done the least harm. And even there, he completely destroyed the careers of several collaborators, and bankrupted an entire record company. So when you think about it, his nation has very good reason to keep him confined to WAHQ.
Inspiration: The rather tragic product of an experiment seeking to discover what happens when a metrosexual English boxer converts simultaneously to radical Islam and Opus Dei, and is then endowed with all of Manuelo Fernanda's good sense.

[Zarquon]

My name is Zarquon, and I too am a sovereigntist.

My feelings towards sovereignty in NS have been carried over from my RL beliefs in that the local government should be directly in charge of their own unique citizens over a large scale bureaucracy thousands of miles away. NS is much the same way with ever increasing levels of micromanagement which disturbs me.

In RL I work in a print shop, and hate every minute of it. I love studying lost arts, I am currently setting up a forge for blacksmithing, I also work with a steam locomotive on a regular basis. My book list contains the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which I have read 6 times now, Animal Farm and I have finally started on the Harry Potter series. I'm currently refusing to see the final two films until I finish the books.

I have one main NS character which I constantly use as my own personified version of what I think a god ought to be like. So I will introduce you all to:

The Great Prophet Zarquon, Emperor Extraordinaire

Age: Unknown

Biography: History of Zarquon prior to his landing on a primitive planet as a Prophet for Hire is unknown. However, his landing was timed perfectly to save a foundering race of people who had been deserted on the fledgling world by the auto-pilot on their vessel. The people, whom he called "Froods" through a misinterpretation, began to see him as a god and began to found what would become the Empire of Zarquon Froods in the 7.5 billion year lapse in which Zarquon sought the origin of his subjects.

Throughout the nation's history there have been no less than three failed attempts by evil doers to take the throne of ZF, but through the will of the people, Zarquon has remained.

Personality: Zarquon is wildly eccentric, often to the point of being totally disconnected from what is going on around him. He is just and fair, though when he does loose his temper people have been known to end up strapped to TEA missiles.

[Iron Felix]

My name is Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky and I am a sovereigntist!

Felix takes his shoe off and bangs on the podium. A hundred Destructor Bunnies march in, all wearing cowboy hats and singing the Yeldan national anthem. Mister Jones crashes through a window and begins chewing on the newly installed furniture. A giant robot rips the roo....

OK, enough of that. I'm Felix, some people call me David Watts, some people call me Hiriaurtung Arororugul, some people call me Vicente Fernandez, some people call me Maurice, cause' I speak of the pompetous of love.

Besides Iron Felix, you might know of some of my other nations such as Yelda, Franxico, New Leicestershire, Aundotutunagir, and Mad Sheep Railgun.

I'll try to put together a post later telling about my RP characters but.....I've got a lot of 'em so it may take a while.

In RL I am a robotics technician and PLC programmer for a major appliance manufacturer. I love music, all kinds, and I play guitar (badly) and ukulele (somewhat less badly). I'm fanatical about Baseball and my favorite teams are the Yankees and the Cardinals. You may all stop clapping now. I'm also a homebrewer and just bottled a batch of overly-hopped barleywine, I guess you could call it an India Pale Barleywine. Except it isn't pale, it's dark. I'm thinking of calling this batch "Hoptimus Prime".

I've been a sovereigntist nearly since I started playing the game back in 04. I was a member of the old National Sovereignty Organization. Back then I was known as a "moderate sovereigntist" because I was RPing Yelda almost exclusively and the Yeldan government is, or was, devoted to human rights. I currently see no need to be a moderate anything since the nations I generally use in the WA now would not care much about internal conditions in other sovereign nations.

In an OOC sense, I'm a sovereigntist for 4 main reasons.

1. As an international organization, the WA should limit itself to dealing with matters that are of truly international consequence. If two or more nations are not affected by something then it is, by definition, not of international consequence and in my opinion none of the WA's business.

2. The WA itself is weakened and its mission degraded if it attempts to deal with every problem under the sun. The more resources the WA devotes to dealing with what are purely national matters, the less effectively it can deal with what it should be doing: addressing international matters.

3: The game, and especially the WA part of the game, needs two equal and opposing sides. For too long the International Federalist philosophy has held sway in the General Assembly, to the point that IntFed doctrine is widely seen as the "only" way of doing things. Newer players need to be shown that there is another side to the coin and that it is not inevitable that the WA take on the role of a world government.

4. It's fun.

[Krioval]

I'm Krioval, and I'm a limited interventionist. What?

I began my NS career as an international federationist before the one-worlders took over the movement and made it a mockery of anything that was once decent. I have the "honor" of having had "Fairness in Currency Exchange", a moderate piece of legislation aimed at curbing unfair exchange practices, defeated twice while "National Economic Freedoms", one of the most sovereignty-promoting blockers tolerated on the GA floor, passed without incident. I claim at least three "kills" thanks to NEF, though, so it's not all bad.

Outside NS, I'm a graduate student (again!) at the University of Rochester. I'm queer, I'm liberal, and I also think that most politicians are utter douchebags. Funny that - it's almost as if we've stumbled on a universal truth or something.

WA Representative:

Henrik Søgård, Ambassador to the World Assembly

Age: 31
Biography: "Harpoon Man" Henrik began life as the forbidden lovechild of a Norwegian and a Swedish immigrant, whose illicit affair prompted their emigration to the Imperial Chiefdom. To their chagrin, Henrik immediately took to the far north and far south and found fame as the star of a reality show featuring whalers. Henrik is noted for successfully sinking at least three Sea Shepherd vessels single-handedly and for sleeping with at least three other crew members on attaining the age of consent, though several devoted fans are convinced that two of those liaisons were staged. He was named to the position of WA ambassador after the resignation of Aleksei Volkov, who was determined to not have to deal with both the bitching of the unwashed WA masses and his new wife at the same time. Rumors abound that Henrik and Chief Dylan are currently in a romantic relationship, which might explain his rapid ascension in political and diplomatic circles. To everybody's surprise, he turned out to actually be good at his new job.
Inspiration(s): Dolph Lundgren's body, Dag Hammerskjöld's diplomatic abilities, and every homophobic preacher's penchant for other men, though without the self-loathing or hypocrisy.

[bloodstone kay]

I'm Bloodstone Kay, and I'm a federalist... err sovereigntist.

I'd have to agree with felix for my main reason for this being so. Namely, that the WA should only be dealing with things that are truly international, and not with silly things like standardising time, and banning piracy (the nerve of it).

WA Representative:

Kari Kagrosi

Age: 16(ish)
Biography: Whilst the exact origins of Kari are unknown, she quickly rose through the ranks of the Bloodstonian Navy thanks to a bizarre series of unfortunate accidents happening to her immediate superiors. After gaining the position of WA rep in an election / battle to the death, she seems to have spent the majority of the time in the Strangers Bar running up a hefty tab.

[The Palentine]

I'm Senator Sulla and I'm a drunken bastar...err.... Soverignist. I was a member of the old NSO because I really couldn't stand some of the fluffy dreck being proposed and passed back then. I've joined this fine establishment because I can't stand the asiinine and nanny state drek being proposed and passed. I'm a conservative and rampant free market capitalist. I also have many unwholesome hobbies.

OOC I work in retail and am a diehard Steelers fan. Like Yelda i'm a baseball fan as well, with an allegence to the Buccos.(however if they continue to act like a farm team for the rest of the Major league, I'm going to become a Toledo Mud Hens fan ). Politically I'm a conservative republican who regrets his youthful flirtation with the Democratic Party(we all do dumb things when we're younger).

Here's a brief rundown of my major personas in the game...
Senator Sulla: Dave Allen if he was a conservative politician.
Lord Julius: Palentine Prime Minister a bit like Rufus T. Firefly.
Emperor Captain Spaulding
HIH Empress Jhessan Spaulding
Murray the Evil Skull: the evilest talking skull in NS. He's currently plotting to take over the Festering Snakepit from Catherine Gratwick's control.
The Jagermonsters: based on the creatures from Phil and Kaja Foglio's Girl Genius comic. They speak with a german like accent, have a monsterous appearace, and see hats as the ultimate status symbol. They also like to play a rousing game of Pie in the Face™.

[Knootoss]

I am a sovereigntist, because I believe that international organisations should deal with international issues.

Like Krioval, I am liberal and a queer in real life. I have a masters degree in public administration and am politically active. My political compass being:

Economic Left/Right: +1
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -7.5

My ambassador, Aram Koopman, has his his own wiki page. So does my my foreign and WA policy. From which I quote to describe the relationship between Knootoss and the WA:

World Assembly membership is highly controversial in Knootoss. The SLP and the KGP political parties are in favour of World Assembly membership, but the conservative RCPK is staunchly opposed. Knootoss was an early member of the United Nations, but left when a resolution imposed fishing quotas. Many Knootians consider the Assembly to be a nascent world government, and they have a tendency to see proposed resolutions in that framework. Whereas resolutions promoting sentient rights, free trade and security cooperation are generally popular, most Knootians disapprove of resolutions labelled by the World Assembly as "moral decency", "social justice" and "environmental" or which promote protectionist aims. A majority of Knootians also oppose resolutions which ban the use of military equipment. Resolutions that promote international security are mildly favoured, provided that they do not infringe on civil liberties. Resolutions that restrict gambling or gun ownership are generally met with hostility.

Prior to joining the World Assembly, Knootian diplomats wrote a Green Book. This 'Green Book' keeps track of Knootian positions on World Assembly resolutions, as well as issues with compliance. The Knootian voting record is sovereigntist, and World Assembly policies are closely aligned with those of the Antarctic Oasis. As the regional delegate for the Western Atlantic region, Knootoss will only endorse well-written resolutions which support it's policy aims.

[philimbesi]

My name is Nigel and I'm a soverigntist.

Honestly mostly for the free food.

OOC: I'm a computer programmer, and a volunteer firefighter, who enjoys theater on the side. I'm married and my first child is on the way in May. I describe myself as fiscally conservative, and socially liberal, so I have no problem with freedoms and rights and such, just when people expect the government to pay for them.

[Mousebumples]

Hi, I'm Mousey, and I'm a sovereignist. To be completely fair, I used to be more Int Fed - my original/historical ULC resolution only had Nat Sov provisions because I wanted to earn the votes/approval of Texas - which was my only real "WA Contact" before I posted anything on Jolt.

Since then, I've (obviously) gotten more involved with the WA and the forums. And, I'm sure this won't come as a surprise to anyone, but being around the usual WA crowd (the regular Int Fed posters and the n00bs who haven't a clue) has pushed me firmly in the Nat Sov crowd.

Generally, I agree that the WA should deal with international issues. I'm okay with some standards being set for domestic issues - provided that it's not micro-managing and that there's plenty of Nat Sov friendly clauses. They're even better if the block further (micro-managing) legislation on the subject.

OOC: I'm a pharmacist IRL (and female, at that), so feel free to pester me with drug-related questions (and even general health care questions, although I won't promise to be able to answer those) if needed for RP or Nat Sov-friendly legislation.

Politically, I'm socially liberal and something of a moderate on economic issues. I also have a big libertarian preference, which probably has something to do with why I like Nat Sov-friendly NS policies.

MY NATION'S CHARACTERS:
Lizzy and Sasha Hall - Co-Leaders of the Doctoral Monkey Feet of Mousebumples, and they have their own NS Wiki pages. Of course, all of that reads like a super-sappy teenager wrote it. Which is true! Because I was a teenager when I wrote those circa 2004. (NS Wiki link to the main Mousebumples page)

Nikolas Eberhart - The WA Ambassador for the Doctoral Monkey Feet of Mousebumples. He's mainly there to "follow directions" as he was an aide to Lizzy Hall when she served as the WA Ambassador. He's fairly young by Mousebumplonian standards (late 20s; we have a life expectancy of about 125), but he is driven to represent his nation as best he can.

Geoffrey Von Käse is the "official grammarian" of Mousebumples. He's a bit of a germophobe and considers documents constructed with poor grammar to be even more dangerous. For his sanity, he's often restricted to the chambers of our WA Delegation - if only because there's too many ambassadors running around right now that don't know how to use a dictionary.

(I really should write up NS Wiki pages for my WA guys, but I should probably update/redo my nation pages first ... )

[Brutland and Norden]

Hi, we're Brutland and Norden and we are sovereigntists. We don't like the direction the WA is being brought into by these filthy internationalist meddlers who think they have the right to dictate what we can do and we can't do in our country. That is why we vote AGAINST on all WA legislation that lengthens the slimy tentacles of the WA (both GA and SC) and vote FOR on all repeals.

OOCly, though, I don't like the meddling of the WA in how I run Brutland and Norden. The WARs pushes my taxes high and meddles with my classification and ratings (I have stopped answering issues months ago, and any change in B&N's classification is purely the WA's fault.) Also, it messes up with RPs, haha. The only reason that's stopping me from resigning Brutland and Norden from the WA is that it had accumulated a lot of influence in the South Pacific, hence also my disinclination to take it out of that feeder region.

I do have a bunch of resolutions I want to repeal, but I don't have the time for them. (I'm in my last year of medical school, and should be studying for the licensure exams.)

[HotRodia]

Howdy! I'm HotRodia. Been retired from the United Nations/World Assembly for quite some time now. But I like the sovereignty movement and hope to lend whatever support to it as time will allow.

[Bears Armed]

Hello. My name is Simon, and I am a Sovereigntist because… Well, why shouldn’t I be?
After all, if I can trust myself to set up a nation and make its government’s decisions ( at least in NS) — and if I didn’t think that I could trust myself to do that then what business would I really have playing this game in the first place ? — then why on Earth should I want to see those decisions over-ridden by the votes of an Assembly many of whose members are obviously badly-run (at least by my standards…) when compared to my own nation?
Plus, of course, there’s the fact that a lot of the policies that most IntFeds seem to be trying to push tend to be ones that I disagree with… and there’s the irritatingly smug self-righteousness that some of them have shown about those views…
And, if I object so strongly to having the Assembly over-ride my decisions, wouldn’t it be rather hypocritical of me to try using it to force every other member-nation into my own preferred pattern instead?

(Also, the RL me is English, and is utterly fed up with the EU & its supporters pushing their IntFed agenda onto the UK… and that annoyance has definitely influenced my attitude towards the NSUN WA too…)

IC, Bears just don’t take kindly to attempts at pushing them around — notably independent and stubborn, by Human standards, is your typical Bear — and if they won’t even give their own national government much power in its own right then (“As sure as the Great Bear made nice, juicy, red apples!”) they certainly won’t authorise it to grant such authority over their actions to any other body either.
On the other paw, they do accept that an international organisation such as the WA can legitimately have something to say about the interactions between nations, including international trade and some environmental matters.

I suppose some people might try to argue that because the Bears believe so strongly in rights for themselves they should support WA-guaranteed rights for everybody else as well, and should therefore follow a ‘HumSov’ (or should that be‘SapSov’ instead?) policy rather than a ‘NatSov’ one: However what they actually think about this is that it should be up to each group of people to decide on what rights that group’s members should have for themselves. Ideally they would like to see all of the nations within the WA (or even within NS as a whole) become as democratic as possible so that this could be achieved but, as that is unfortunately clearly not achievable they will settle for encouraging democracy when possible (which does not mean that they support Glen-Rhodes’ decolonisation proposal…) and for a good resolution on the ‘Right of Emigration’ so that people who are really unhappy about how their native countries are run will be able to “vote with their feet” and move to lands whose laws better suite their tastes. They may also choose to support proposals on those [relatively few] rights that they see as being so ‘fundamental’ that depriving people of these would make it very difficult for those people to either vote or emigrate, depending on how well-written those proposals are.

In RL
So, as I’ve already said, my name is Simon and I’m English. I grew up in the outskirts of London, but now live in a fairly quiet town by the name of Worthing which is located on the south coast, and I work as the technician in a school’s Chemistry department. My 51st birthday will occur in less than a fortnight, which I think makes me rather older than the average for NS players. Politically, I used to vote Conservative but have more-or-less given up on that party (except at the levels of the borough & county councils) by now and have shifted my support to UKIP instead. I enjoy listening to a wide range of styles in music, especially Baroque and Swing (but not much modern-ish ‘Pop’…); read a lot of SF & Fantasy, but also quite a few mysteries, and works about either history or natural history, too; have a definite fondness (some people might say over-fondness…) for sweet foods, and when the Winter has set in and daylight is scarce, quite often feel a strong urge to hibernate…

My RP characters
In the previous incarnation of this organisation I was a member, as some of you will undoubtedly recall, using the nation of St Edmund and its Antarctic (although not ‘Antarctic Oasis’) protectorate-&-UN/WA-puppet. I think that it’s safe to say those countries have given up on the WA permanently, so now it’s basically just the Bears and their puppets with which you really need to be concerned here.
I’ve already posted some basic details for several members of the Bear’s WA Mission], and will add to that post when I have any more to note about them or their colleagues. You can generally take it that Artorrios is speaking ex officio unless I drop his job title completely from the post involved, but the trainees Urra and Harron — especially the former — are still likely to be expressing personal opinions instead unless I actually specify at the time that they are speaking for their superiors. If this organisation really takes off then I’ll probably add somebody else to the mission’s named & described characters specifically to maintain a presence here while the others might be busy in the actual WA.
Borrin o Redwood, who was the Bears’ leading representative at the WA for several years, is now a member of the ‘High Council of Clans’ — the country’s national government — and holds a junior ministerial post in the ‘Committee for The Strangers’ which is their equivalent of a Foreign Ministry. He might return to the WA briefly, from time to time, to speak on some topics (such as the Bears’ forthcoming proposal on ‘Rights for Intelligent Beings’…) that his government considers especially important.

[Cool Egg Sandwich]

My name is Cool Eggs, I am a [limited] sovereigntist. I am currently pursuing my B.A. in History, I am 22 years old, and I have been involved with NationStates intermittently since 2006. Involvement in the General Assembly has become my main priority in NS.

I believe that a healthy respect for national sovereignty is an essential concern in the World Assembly. Being a relatively new member of the Assembly, I have come in contact with some very differing viewpoints, ranging from the ultra IntFed stance to the ultra NatSov [don't tread on me] sentiments.

I would have to classify myself somewhere in between. While leaning toward NatSov, I must admit that I am a pragmatist above all else. With respect to sovereignty, national [local] governments are inherently better suited to legislate on the vast majority of matters within their borders. For one, those governments are more knowledgeable on domestic concerns, and are better equipped to delegate resources to the resolution of issues. For these reasons - and because I just don't like people telling me what to do - I have chosen my allegiance toward the new National Sovereignty Organization: part II.

My country's WA Representative is Mr. Mickey Darke. Having recently inserted himself as an active member of the Assembly, Mr. Darke already has to his credit one passed GA Resolution (GAR 139). Although GAR 139 can hardly be classified as 'NatSov' legislation, Mr. Darke took care to ensure that domestic governments / courts would have authority to legislate on matters of 'Consumer Product Safety' within their own nations. The only 'real' concession made by 'NatSov' within GAR 139 is the restriction on international commerce.

While the government of Cool Egg Sandwich would classify its tendency toward national sovereignty, we must respect the supremacy of international law, as outlined in GAR 2 , "Rights and Duties of WA States." We believe that the World Assembly has unquestioned authority to legislate on these international concerns, when national governments are incapable of effectively resolving concerns. Furthermore, we believe that the World Assembly has the 'right' to legislate on matters of human rights. With respect to national sovereignty, there should be no allowance for the opportunity to deny basic human rights.

These concerns aside, I formally declare my allegiance to the National Sovereignty organization. I look forward to the discourse on this forum with my fellow Ambassadors.

[Eternal Yerushalayim]

I am Eternal Yerushalayim, also known as Eternal Life with God. I am a pro-raider, conservative-leaning sovereigntist. I support democracy and human rights, provided this does not lead to over-inteference or micromanagement by the World Assembly. My WA nation is Uluru Aborigines. I look forward to hearing more about your views and hope that we, and our regions, shall be able to cooperate.

On a side note, I do support the resolution 'Consumer Product Safety".

[Mahaj]

Hi.
I'm Mahaj.
I tend to do things OOC'ly, but i'll try to RP.
My WA character is Varun Vale. More on him later. Just imagine a 70 year old guy who is a tribal leader.

I am a NatSov, I feel WA should only legislate on international issues. Though sometimes I may display some IntFed beliefs.