2011 Devonitians coup

On May 22nd 2011, the nation Devonitians replaced Southern Bellz as Delegate of the South Pacific against South Pacifican law. Through foreign support and an unendorsement campaign, Southern Bellz was returned to the delegate seat on May 24th. Devonitians was later revealed to be a puppet of Sedgistan, causing tension with the Rejected Realms.

Background

Southern Bellz became delegate of the South Pacific on 1st January 2010, replacing Fudgetopia through the challenge mechanism. In October 2010, Southern Bellz refused to open embassies between the South Pacific and the Rejected Realms; the delegate nation in the Rejected Realms, Kandarin, had been transferred to Naivetry, a method Southern Bellz disapproved of. Suppression powers were introduced on 1st March, but Southern Bellz stated that they would not suppress recruitment posts ; in May around half of RMB messages were recruitment posts for other regions. At the time of the coup, Southern Bellz was away and had not logged into NationStates for two days. Southern Bellz held 98 WA endorsements with over 400 WA nations in the region .

The coup

Devonitians was founded 7th May 2011 by Sedgistan, a moderator of NationStates and administrator of the Rejected Realms. Beginning approximately 20th May, Devonitians endorsed all World Assembly nations in the South Pacific and telegrammed them requesting an endorsement back. At the time of major update on May 22nd 2011, Devonitians held 104 endorsements while Southern Bellz held 98; as the nation with the higher endorsement count, Devonitians became delegate. Their first action was to suppress several regional recruitment messages.

Several hours after becoming delegate, Devonitians changed the World Factbook entry to the following:

Welcome to the South Pacific. Once known to the world as the "party region" it fell into ruin, neglected by former delegates.

I took less than 36 hours to seize the delegacy. Let this be a message to all feeder delegates: to hold power, one must use it.

I do not intend to hold the delegacy for more than a week. Instead, I invite endo-swappers to join the region and compete for the delegacy. Once there are several above the former delegate's endorsement count, I will resign from the WA and depart peacefully.

In the meantime please endorse your native elected delegate: Devonitians.

Endo-swappers are encouraged to declare their candidacy and post manifestos here.

They issued the following statement on the forum:

I do not wish to hold the delegacy of the South Pacific for long, as I accept that I do not have the time for it. Instead I am inviting endo-swappers, whether from inside or outside the region, to join and see if they can take over. My only intention is to ensure that the region does not return to its former delegate. Those who stand in my way will be dealt with through all available methods.

Devonitians banned large numbers of nations who unendorsed Devonitians and endorsed Southern Bellz. RMB messages supporting Southern Bellz or linking to the Coalition forum were suppressed. Nations from other regions, including Europeia, were requested to support Devonitians' delegacy. They changed the WFE to encourage endo-swappers to take the delegacy.

Endo-swappers were encouraged to compete for the delegacy, with election statements posted on an on-site forum thread as well as the RMB. The closest nation to winning was GreenGremlins, who was two endorsements below Southern Bellz at the time she regained the delegacy. GreenGremlins was later revealed to be a puppet of Whamabama, a member of both Equilism and the Rejected Realms. Whamabama reportedly planned on returning control of the region to the legitimate government if GreenGremlins had become delegate. Another prominent candidate, Simoneia, was at one point the closest to becoming delegate, but was banned from the World Assembly for multying.

Resolution

Residents of the South Pacific were telegrammed and requested to unendorse Devonitians; however, several nations that endorsed Southern Bellz and unendorsed Devonitians were banned. The Founderless Regions Alliance moved into the South Pacific to endorse Southern Bellz on the major update of 23rd May, but only one FRA nation actually endorsed Southern Bellz before the region updated . Southern Bellz regained the delegacy of the South Pacific on the major update of 24th May 2011.

Involvement of the Rejected Realms

At the time of Devonitians taking the delegacy, only two people were aware of the puppet's true identity. Sedgistan was Officer of Foreign Affairs in the Rejected Realms, and Crazygirl was an administrator of the Rejected Realms forum. After Devonitians took the delegacy, Dalimbar suspected the nation was owned by Sedgistan, and Sedgistan confirmed this when the evidence became undeniable. Biyah (Officer of Media) was then informed by Dalimbar, and Naivetry (Delegate) was informed by Sedgistan. Sedgistan and Naivetry issued a statement on May 26th that criticized the legitimate South Pacifican government for not engaging residents on-site and for asking for support from the Founderless Regions Alliance to retake the delegacy.

On June 2nd 2011, Biyah issued a statement revealing the identity of Devonitians and that the government of the Rejected Realms had been aware of this. According to Biyah, Dalimbar and Biyah were asked to bring raider endorsements into the South Pacific to keep Devonitians delegate and to enable the delegacy to be given to CrazyGirl. Dalimbar and Naivetry both confirmed the statement as true.

Aftermath

Sedgistan's commendation was repealed on 15th June 2011, citing the destruction and betrayal of the Devonitians coup. A condemnation of Southern Bellz was submitted June 8th 2011, but was defeated at vote.

Before the identity of Devonitians was publicly known, the Rejected Realms led a vote of impeachment against Unibot, the arch-Chancellor of the Founderless Regions Alliance at the time, for ordering the FRA to support Southern Bellz. The impeachment vote was unsuccessful, but Unibot resigned the post on May 30th. This caused a split among the FRA, with the Eastern Islands of Dharma leaving, and the eventual creation of the United Defenders League on 1st September 2011. The newly-formed UDL included members who had supported the Coalition government during the coup, many of whom joined the South Pacific, leading to high levels of cross-membership between the South Pacific and the United Defenders League. All elected delegates of the South Pacific between 2011 and 2013 were members of the United Defenders League.

Within the South Pacific, the coup sparked discussion on making delegates more accountable and active, including suggestions of holding regular delegate elections. Daynor challenged Southern Bellz and became delegate on 14th June 2011. On July 21st 2011, the South Pacific passed a law mandating delegate elections every six months with reconfirmation votes halfway through the term. An endorsement cap of 50% of delegate endorsements was created.

Relations between the South Pacific and the Rejected Realms remained cold for some time until 2013, when embassies were re-established. The Rejected Realms took no action against Sedgistan. On June 21st, 10000 Islands withdrew its embassy with the Rejected Realms and banned Sedgistan and Crazygirl from their forums, citing disapproval of the actions of Sedgistan and Crazygirl and the fact that the Rejected Realms had issued no sanctions against them, among other claims that raiders had grown too influential in the Rejected Realms. The Rejected Realms and 10000 Islands entered into a treaty agreement again in 2018.

The West Pacific declared war on the South Pacific on May 23rd, shortly before Southern Bellz regained the delegacy. Punk Reloaded, delegate of the West Pacific at the time and present in the South Pacific as Punk Daddy, had previously been banned from the South Pacific and had a long-running feud with Fudgetopia. During the coup he encouraged support of Devonitians, and afterwards supported unendorsement campaigns and sent an operative into the South Pacific with the aim of overthrowing the government. Punk Reloaded was condemned on 24th August 2011 for his actions to destabilize the South Pacific alongside dictatorial actions in the West Pacific. The South Pacific and the West Pacific, now under the delegate Enlightened Defenders, signed a peace treaty on 8th October 2011, ending the war.

Further Reading

Sedgistan's Statement
Biyah's Statement