Yasmin Lane: Attempted "invasion" on Urbanites

[Yasmin Lane]

This is Yasmin Lane, reporting from the Urbanites.


Yesterday, an "invasion" was atempted in the Urbanites, by no one less than their previous Delegate, Insaaniyat.

We tried to find out what happenend by asking some of the key figures in the play what happenend, and by snooping around on the Urbanites forum, where we found this thread:

White Lotus Eaters:

We had some incoming this morning - all UN nations (bar 1), from various regions. They didn't muster enough to challenge me for delegacy, but it wasn't all that far off.

Bear in mind we don't need 30 invaders if the selected delegate already has built up some endorsements from within the region.

I notice The Editor has gone walkabout since then, with a few ins and outs to conceal the identity of the invaders ...

I have never been comfortable with this nation. When they arrived with Mike's handle and the "Anger is an Energy" flag, I TM'd them saying if they were Mike, would they please tell me something only he and I would know. (Fortunately I know him well enough he could have done that easily.) Then they blustered about their nation name being a "homage" to Urban75, refused to reveal their identity "in case of embarrassment" ... and threw up a huge whinge when I withheld my endorsement from them.

I'll leave you all to draw your own conclusions.

Stay alert, everyone!

White Lotus Eaters:

Well, now the full story can be told!

Urbanites may remember the arrival of Shiite Lotus Eaters, the troll with the turd for a flag, which I ejected. They then toured NationStates, asking for help to revenge this "injustice" - and I received many communications warning me about this.

The day before yesterday, Spoffin contacted me: he had agreed to help them with their invasion, so as to learn of their plans. It turned out they had planted a "mole" in the region: The Editor. This was no surprise to me, I was suspicious of a nation I had already established was *not* the real editor of Urban75, homeboards for many of us. The Editor had been gathering endorsements, reducing the number of outsiders needed to take the delegacy.

So yesterday morning we waited and watched as nations arrived. During that time Spoffin told me that SLE had a long-standing grudge. I was puzzled, as that nation had clearly arrived ready to troll: no new NationStates player founds their first nation with a name that is a scatalogical pisstake of that of the delegate in the region they plan(?) to join!

Suddenly the penny dropped with me, who this was.

I mentioned no names but asked if Spoffin had an e-mail address or similar. He gave me it, and the MSN messenger name he had for her: Random One. There was no longer any doubt for me. The Editor, Shiite Lotus Eaters, The Regime - all were one and the same, our former delegate, Insaaniyat.

(For newer members: Insaaniyat was Delegate of Urbanites for a few months early last year. She left and it was taken on by my predecessor, Anarchotopia. A little while ago she came back and said she was ready to be delegate again: I invited her to campaign but everyone else ignored her, and she flounced off.)

Back to the invasion: yesterday she failed to muster enough support to swing the delegacy. Consternation! Would she try again? And an interesting question for me, what would that staunch defender of Urbanites, Anarchotopia, do?

So Spoffin and I suggested a tactic: the one used by Savage Lands Reloaded in the South Pacific campaign. She was to leave the region straight after the update, so I "couldn't" eject her. That way she would keep her endorsements, and nobody in Urbanites could withdraw them. Then return this morning with reinforcements ...

This morning I waited patiently as the update approached, ready to log in and boot her as soon as she made an appearance. But ... she misjudged it. Hopped into Mercia, stayed a little too long, and was caught as the update swept through that region. Lost her endorsements.

I felt a bit sorry for her, rather as a defender might feel who has dug a bear trap, then watched an invader walk off a cliff ... but not that sorry.

Insaaniyat, if you're reading this (and I'm sure you are) - will you please accept that Urbanites is not your personal fiefdom, and if you want to be delegate of this region again, will you campaign openly and honestly and submit yourself to a democratic vote instead of trying to use deception and force?

Edited: due to personal information about Atopia

Anarchotopia:

I dont appreciate having personal info put up WLE so I edited your post to remove the reference to me.

For the record (not that I think anyone will care or believe it) I had no pryor knowledge of this other than Insaaniyat saying she wanted to make things more interesting in the region again a few weeks ago. It appears she got a little carried away on that front! Anyway, i'm sure there is actually interesting threads on these boards other than this boring non story about a rift between you two.

Spoffin:

Non story.

CFES:

Quote:"And an interesting question for me, what would that staunch defender of Urbanites, Anarchotopia, do? "



What is this meant to mean?

White Lotus Eaters:

CFES, I can't tell you now as the reference which would make sense of that has been deleted from my post by Anarchotopia, on the grounds of "personal information".

Since the regional boards have been scrolling very fast since I posted news of the invasion, I'll repeat here the questions I'm asking Anarchotopia there:

Quote:"A: "Turf war"? Is that what you call an attempted invasion by our former delegate, Insaaniyat, using the endorsements gathered by her puppet The Editor, and more than a dozen outsiders? Hardly a legitimate way to "campaign"!

And perhaps you can tell us, since you seemed to know something of her plans (for reasons I'm not allowed to say apparently) - did you know Shiite Lotus Eaters was also her puppet when you complained so vociferously about me ejecting her as a troll?

And since news of the invasion has scrolled off this board during the exchanges between Anarchotopia and his newly-revealed puppet, anyone who missed the fun over the Easter weekend can read the story on the proboards, news and information section, under "Half Baked Invasion". "

Ponchotopia:

hhhmmm... I guess I now wish I'd read the "personal info" before it got wiped out... cuz I'm as confused as a baby in a topless bar now.


Anarchotopia... whose side are you playing on? If you knew who this was AND openly tried to stage a coup (of sorts) AND indirectly backed them AND hid their identify AND then backed off due to the "impending invasion"... which side did you wind up picking and why?

Anarchotopia:

As i've said above, I had no prior knowledge of this. This was a joke by Insaaniyat nothing more so let's not get our knickers in a twist over it (or start trying to use peoples real lives to score political points). My loyalty to the region has remained as it was a year ago when I first joined.

Ponchotopia:

I had read that... but you knew "The Editor" was this girl?

Anarchotopia:

No I didn't, you're trying to put words in my mouth. I was told by Insaaniyat that she was going to have some fun in the region some weeks ago.

CFES:

I think this is all getting a little out of proportion, the tail is wagging the dog so to speak.

Anarchotopia is a very respected nation in defender circles and that nation had no foreknowledge of the events in Urbanites, of that I am supremely confident.

It seems, and no offence is intended, that certain members of this region with possible grudges are taking opportunity of misinformation to stir stories which would sensibly have been dropped a while ago.

[Yasmin Lane]

We also found some interesting posts on the Civil Headquarters:

From White Lotus eaters:

A: "Turf war"? Is that what you call an attempted invasion by our former delegate, Insaaniyat, using the endorsements gathered by her puppet The Editor, and more than a dozen outsiders? Hardly a legitimate way to "campaign"!

And perhaps you can tell us, since you seemed to know something of her plans (for reasons I'm not allowed to say apparently) - did you know Shiite Lotus Eaters was also her puppet when you complained so vociferously about me ejecting her as a troll?

And since news of the invasion has scrolled off this board during the exchanges between Anarchotopia and his newly-revealed puppet, anyone who missed the fun over the Easter weekend can read the story on the proboards, news and information section, under "Half Baked Invasion".

Insaaniyat (under her nation The Regime:

*does a dramatic 'i've been shot' act* oh ya got me, ya got me good;) hehe

yeah so it was me, as usual trying to make the game more exciting for myself and some others. I had fun during all the planning and doing the fake outrage thing as The Regime and stuff.

And Like i said to Spoffin (nice double play by the way-i'm impressed;) i would've only stayed a few days and then left.
1 minute ago The Republic of The Regime Oh yeah forgot to add-Just to be clear this had nothing to do with Anarch, he does occasionally let me out to play by myself;p (bet he won't be doing that anymore though after seeing all the trouble i get into and all 0:)

[Yasmin Lane]

This all made us curious, and so we asked some questions to the key-players in this play.

First former Urbanites Delegate Arnarchoyopia:

Yasmin: What, in your own words, has happened?
Anarchotopia:Apparently it was a joke invasion was attempted to raise activity in the region, the Delegate found out about it and allowed it to go ahead so she could gloat about it after it “failed”. This whole thing really is a joke but some people’s idea of humour is rather absurd. I actually found the whole thing kind of cute, the idea that anyone could successfully invade our region is a real fantasy!

Yasmin: Why do you think Insaaniyat did this?
Anarchotopia: As I said it seems it was a joke, I don’t think for one minute that she had any ill feeling toward the region.

Yasmin: Were you aware of her plans?
Anarchotopia: I had no prior knowledge of the invasion, its plans or White Lotus Eaters role in allying with an invader to initiate a sting operation.

Yasmin: Could you clarify on this: "White Lotus Eaters role in allying with an invader to initiate a sting operation. "?
Anarchotopia: As she gloated on our forums she knew full well about the invasion and allied with a known invader region to set up a sting operation. Rather than stop it in its tracks discreetly (as anyone who knows anything about Intel work would of done), she chose let it go ahead and then to use it to emphasize her superiority.

Yasmin: What is, in your opinion, the cause of this lack of activity in the Urbanites?
Anarchotopia: The region has been in slow decline for some time now but the current Delegate has exacerbated it by centralizing everything, we no longer have a regional government to speak of, all Intel goes through her and her alone. Anyone who has a dissenting view point gets either ignored or argued down, which is a shame because the region used to thrive on debate rather than sycophancy.

All previous Delegates did much to involve the region, posted briefings, consulted with nations etc but she does little of this. The consequence is that nations feel less valued because they play a small role. Then of course they concentrate on their nation or look outside the region for interesting activity (whether RPing of the honorable act of defending.) It’s not totally her fault but as leader she must bear the majority of the responsibility for it because that is the role of the Delegate; to represent and be accountable to the region.

Yasmin: Anything you would like to add?
Anarchotopia: Yes, I would just like to say thank you to you and the whole NW Radio team. Even though there was no reason to involve the international community in this petty affair I'm thankful that it was overseen by people with real integrity and honesty. We need more of that in this game!

[Yasmin Lane]

Next, we asked Spoffin about what happend.

Spoffin: I answered a message on the Rejected Realms regional board about a nation called Shiite Lotus Eaters who felt they had been unfairly ejected from their region. I offered her a number of UN nations to help her take the delegacy and teach this depot a lesson. At this point I had no idea who the nation really was or what region we were looking at. However, from the name I guessed a connection to White Lotus Eaters, delegate of the Urbanites. This was confirmed by SLE and I agreed to help her.

It was about two days down the line that I decided to change my mind.

Having worked for Urbanites before, and having had friends who had great respect for them, I decided that the better course of action was to warn Urbanites of the threat. But, there wasn't much to go on at this stage. Warding off a distant invasion isn't as impressive as warding off an imminent one, and if I bailed now, SLE would have enough time to gather new support and try again, so I played along. SLE took some time to get endorsements with a secret puppet in Urbanites, and for about a month we planned this invasion. Last wednesday, SLE informed me that we were ready: the invasion would go down Saturday morning before the update.

On Friday night, at about 1am GMT (10 hours before the update), in a state of panic, I finally managed to get hold of White Lotus Eaters. She was surprised, naturally, when I explained the situation and she said to go ahead with the plan and she'd be online to stop it. By exchanging the MSN address of SLE, we also confirmed WLE's suspicion of who she was: Insaaniyat, former Urbanites delegate.

The invasion went ahead as planned, The Editor (SLE's UN puppet) had 17 native endorsements, so needed 10 from invaders, but I had delayed too long the night before while I was trying to contact WLE. We didn't have enough people to mount a sucessful invasion and close the net, and having WLE not notice the attempt for a day would have been too suspicious. So I suggested a plan to WLE, who agreed, so I took it to SLE as well. The Editor would move out of Urbanites directly after the update, thus keeping her endorsements and we could try again tommorow. I spent the day collecting enough people to finish the invasion and had them endorse The Editor and move to Urbanites. Everything was ready, we just needed The Editor to move in before the update.

But when I woke up next morning, something disasterous had happened. The region The Editor was in updated before Urbanites, and she lost her endorsements. WLE compared it to digging a bear trap for someone only to have them walk off a cliff. We decided rather than wait a month for SLE to make a new attempt, we'd out her now. WLE posted the story on Urbanites Proboards and the rest is publicly know.

[Yasmin Lane]

White Lotus Eaters was also so kind to answer a few questions.

Yasmin: Could you, in your own words, tell us what happenend?
WLE: Under my delegacy, Urbanites has been a peaceful and friendly region - my logic is that even soldiers need some peace at home. The region has no founder and has never been passworded in my memory. We preserve our security with strategic alliances and a good watch on our borders.

Until these recent events, I had only ever ejected one nation: a newly formed nation called Shiite Lotus Eaters, with a flag featuring a naked torso and a pile of sh*t. I took the view that it had been created solely to be offensive, so I ejected it upon arrival. Most members of the region supported me in this, except for Anarchotopia. I even let that nation's new puppet, The Regime, stay when it arrived, despite the fact that it was continually critical of everything I said and did.

Several people had informed me that Shiite Lotus Eaters was touring regions trying to drum up support for an invasion. So it wasn't a surprise when Spoffin contacted me to tell me one was imminent, but it was helpful to learn the identity of a pre-planted UN nation, The Editor, who had gathered enough internal endorsements so that they only needed a dozen invaders to take the delegacy.

I didn't know Spoffin all that well so I couldn't take his word for this unsupported: I had to see if it was true before ejecting anyone. I watched with a puppet as the invasion went ahead but The Editor was a couple of endorsements short of achieving power. In the meantime, by comparing notes with Spoffin, I had learned that SLE and The Editor were in fact the region's former delegate, Insaaniyat.

So Spoffin suggested a tactic: the one used by Savage Lands Reloaded in the South Pacific campaign. She was to leave the region straight after the update, so I "couldn't" eject her. That way she would keep her endorsements, and nobody in Urbanites could withdraw them. Then return the next morning with reinforcements ...

The following morning I waited patiently as the update approached, ready to log in and boot her as soon as she made an appearance. But ... she misjudged it. Hopped into Mercia, stayed a little too long, was caught as the update swept through that region, and lost her endorsements.

I felt a bit sorry for her, rather as a defender might feel who has dug a bear trap, then watched an invader walk off a cliff ... but not that sorry.

The reason I allowed her to have a second attempt at taking the region, was to see if any other Urbanites were in on the plot and would switch endorsements from me to her. I didn't call for assistance from allies because I was confident of my ability to deal with the situation: also because the invader was a former native of the region. Although an invasion using puppets and outsiders goes beyond my definition of "politics"!

Yasmin: Do you have any idea as to why Insaaniyat would want to invade her home region?
WLE:I have to say that I respected our former delegate and was sad when she left for personal reasons last year, leaving Anarchotopia to succeed her. When she said she wanted to come back, I invited her to campaign against me for the delegacy, but she seemed disappointed at the lack of support for her within the region and left within a day or two.

If she has plans for Urbanites (which she didn't elaborate on) she should either campaign for, and win, the delegacy fairly - or work as a team member with others in the region to bring these about. Power won by deception and invasion is not the right sort to lead a defender region, in my view.

[Yasmin Lane]

And finally, Insaaniyat's own side of the story.

Yasmin: You're former delegate of the Urbanites?
Insaaniyat: Yes, it's been some time now, but I was delegate previous to Anarchotopia. But I haven't been a part of the region for a while.

Yasmin: What, in your own words, happenend?
Insaaniyat: Well, I got bored of the game, so decided to try and make things interesting for myself. *cheeky grin*

The Urbanites has been stagnant for some time so i thought i'd go and try and cause a bit of a storm there, try and get people active.

And then i got bit carried away with all the fun i was having, decided to liberate, didn't do a great job and the rest is history really

Yasmin: Why did you decide to invade your own home region?
Insaaniyat:I have no ill feeling towards the region or the delegate. And like i said to Spoffin i was never intending to stay as delegate.

Also like i said before Urbanites has been pretty stagnant and nothing much seems to happen on the civic hq, so i thought it was time to make things happen....i think it's the most excitement the urbanites have seen in a while


Although i was quite surprised that none of the usuall allies flew in to help, they usually turn up wihtout request.*confused*

Yasmin: 4.Why did you ask Spoffin for help?
Insaaniyat: Good question! I don't know maybe because i like to be double crossed (ya did a good job of it too my friend ...hehe

Yasmin: Did Anarchotopia know of your plans?
Insaaniyat: This again?! I never told Anarch because i knew he wouldn't let me do it, with him being a defence fundamentalist and all *cheesy grin*

Yasmin: Why did your invasion fail?
Insaaniyat: Invasion is such a harsh word, i like to see it as 'actively seeking activity' It was obviously never going to succeed from the beginning. Spoffin had sided with White Lotus Eaters and she knew the invasion was coming.

But if i hadn't been played by Spoffin it could've worked, i just got over excited, managed to stay into update time of Mercia and lost all prior endorsements. But heh it was only ever meant to be a bit of fun so no big deal

Yasmin: And I got word the Delegate knew of your plans, but still allowed you to continue, do you know of this?
Insaaniyat: Obviously i had no idea of this before hand.But i do now.

Actually I'm quite confused why she didn't just kick out all the invaders who had endorsed me, on the first day!?? If there's an invasion happening and you know who the invaders are, first course of action is always to kick them out. Or have things changed?!

[Yasmin Lane]

Also, some new developments:

28 minutes ago: The Vague Conglomeration of White Lotus Eaters updated the World Factbook entry.

World FactBook Entry of the Urbanites:

World Factbook Entry: Welcome to Urbanites! Established by members of the notorious Urban75 collective, this region is now a haven of equality and tolerance for NationStates from all corners of the globe. Our allies are 10000 Islands, Alliance of Socialist States, Democratic Underground and Mercia. Would all new arrivals please register on our message boards: theurbanites.proboards19.com

Anarchotopia:

Exactly when did we become allies with Mercia? I do not remember a proposal let alone a vote.

A

White Lotus Eaters:

The decision to ally with Mercia was taken by myself (and, of course, their delegate and founder): based on their recent assistance with the attempted invasion, and hopefully future co-operation towards common goals. Ambassadors were exchanged some time ago. It is an informal arrangement, outside the MAP - which as you keep telling us, is about to become obsolete.

Anarchotopia:

So we are allowed input on joining one alliance and not another??

Spoffin:

Arnarchotopia, I think that the Mercian alliance was simply a matter of assumed concencus. You sent me a number of positive telegrams recently which appeared to negate your previous bad feelings and... quite frankly, it wasn't thought that anyone would oppose it.

Anarchotopia:

It is not a matter of opposition it is a matter of democracy and quite frankly it also for the Delegate to answer to not you. This "alliance" was built on the premise of a fake invasion that the Delegate knew about yet allowed to happen (all so she could gloat).

WLE:

We have a democracy: the nations vote for a delegate by means of endorsements, and the delegate runs things day-to-day. I seek input on major decisions, such as joining a multi-region alliance with an executive (of which you are a member, Anarchotopia) and consult with the appropriate Advocate - when there is one.

The invasion was by no means fake, nor did I "allow it to happen". And if I had ejected The Editor (/SLE/The Regime/Insaaniyat) *without* waiting to observe and confirm the intelligence I had received, I'm sure you'd have been the first to criticize me for that.

Spoffin:

>>>It is not a matter of opposition it is a matter of democracy<<<
Thats fine

>>and quite frankly it also for the Delegate to answer to not you.<<<
Thats not.

>>>This "alliance" was built on the premise of a fake invasion that the Delegate knew about yet allowed to happen<<<
There is no cause for alliance to be given inverted commas so far as I can see, and the reason it was formed was to cautify the spirit of friendship that came into being from someone with no ties and no loyalty to the Urbanites foiling a major attempt to invade them.

>>>(all so she could gloat).<<<
If you're not gloating at your victories Arnarchotopia, you really aren't having enough fun in this game.

Anarchotopia:

I disagree the invasion was fake and you did allow it to happen because you had prior knowledge of it. You worked out a deal with Spoffin (something he has admitted to even though he considered going along with it) rather than password the region on the basis of credible evidence.

You could of also ejected the invading nations and left the Editor alone and this would of been enough to stop things but you didn't instead you chose to let it happen so you could write a soap opera and try and implicate me to the press.

Indeed you could have posted a thread about it in the Intel section so the region had an idea of what was happening.

You then allied us with a region known for its invading (and one that some highly respected defender nations “would trust as far as they could throw him”). This “alliance” is based upon a false premise and is undemocratic. I think it’s fair to say that if we are too be allied in such a manner we deserve at the very least a say if not a vote.