In a world full of kingdoms and empires run by autocrats whose word is law, the King of Vanaco, FirstLeak, is giving some of his power back to his people. The massive Vanacan constitution has a whopping 19 articles. Article 3, the Bill of Rights, contains 12 sections of rights that Vanaco citizens are guaranteed, ranging from the right to expression, to property rights, to the right to a fair trial and the newly ratified right to counsel. The constitution establishes 4 branches of government: the legislative, executive, judiciary, and monarchy.

The legislative branch includes a House of Representatives to create laws and a Senate to pass laws. The congress (House of Representatives and Senate) has the power to not only enact legislation but also to manage the nation’s finances (such as setting taxes and allocating national funds), create and abolish government departments, and declare war on other nations. Representatives serve 45-day terms, with elections taking place every 45 days. During elections, anyone in the nation is able to run, but only the 5 most popular candidates are elected—with the most popular becoming the speaker of the house. The Senate consists of 6 people and uses a mid-term election cycle, meaning that while senators serve 90-day terms, elections for half of the Senate happen every 45 days. Interestingly, senators don’t represent specific towns or territories but rather three population demographics: small population towns (1-20 residents), medium population towns (21-49 residents), and large population towns (50+), with each demographic having two senators. Senators choose a senate majority leader from among themselves.

The constitution also lays out the powers of the president, who’ll serve as the head of the government. The president is elected by the citizens of Vanaco and serves a 90-day term. The president has the power to command military operations as the commander-in-chief, issue executive orders, nominate candidates for department secretaries and Supreme Court justices, conduct diplomacy with other nations, veto legislation (although this can be overruled by Congress), and declare emergencies. Despite the power the president holds over the government, he cannot override the crown.

While King FirstLeak explains that the new constitution is inspired by the IRL American constitution, he as king still fits into the new system and retains significant power. Article V of the constitution gives the monarchy power to remove any government official from office, dissolve any government department, and veto amendments to the constitution. His most notable power is to issue “crown orders," which allow the king to enact any policy or to direct government action without congressional approval. While the king’s crown orders cannot supersede the constitution, he still holds immense power within the nation despite the new legal systems. During his interview, FirstLeak reminded me that "this isn't a full democracy. We consider [ourselves] a sovereign constitutional monarchy, and that is what our nation is.” Section 7 establishes an expectation that the monarchy is to use his power with restraint; however, there are no actual limitations against many of his powers.

The judiciary branch establishes three levels of courts: town courts, federal courts, and the Supreme Court. Town court judges are appointed by the mayor and have jurisdiction over their town’s affairs and preside over cases against town residents and lawsuits between town residents. Federal court judges are nominated by the president and approved by Congress and have the power to resolve disputes between residents of different towns, preside over cases of violations of federal law, and make decisions on appealed cases from town court, among other things. The Supreme Court justice (there is only one) is nominated by the president and approved by Congress and has the power of the federal court, as well as the power to resolve constitutional disputes, disputes between towns, and appeals from federal court, and presides during impeachment trials against the president.

While at the time of the interview, the judiciary branch had only existed on paper, King FirstLeak reports that his government has moved quickly to pass multiple pieces of legislation to lay the groundwork needed for a functional legal system and is ready to appoint a town judge but still needs a Supreme Court justice, a federal court judge, and an attorney general; he also needs to establish BAR exams and train attorneys to represent citizens on trial.

So what will Vanaco criminal trials look like? FirstLeak explains that the trial process starts with the mayors, who, under the new laws, have been made to serve as deputies. The deputy mayors enforce the law within their town and can put those who break the law on trial. From there, the accused then has 72 hours to appear before a judge; during this time, they can hire an attorney to represent them in court. If the accused is found guilty, the town judge can then enact fines or even imprison them.

During my interview with FirstLeak, I posed a potential limitation in the trial system: how would his nation be able to actually force convicted criminals to accept their sentencing? After all, it’s not like you can steal money from a player’s balance or easily send them to jail. FirstLeak admitted that this was a conundrum that he had also come across but answered that due to trials being held at the local town level, mayors will be the ones bringing charges against the criminals, so if they refuse to accept their sentencing, the mayor would simply kick them from the town. He further explained that in the near future, Vanaco citizens will invest in expensive real estate and that if they refuse to accept their sentencing, they could have their property seized. With real estate pricing estimated to cost upwards of $10,000 at the minimum and $100,000 at the high-end, the fines or imprisonment would be worth it in order to keep ownership of such property. 

“But surely there are exceptions to who is allowed to be put on trial?” I asked. Given the scenario of an insider who was actively sabotaging a siege, surely he would get the boot rather than be given a lengthy trial; yet FirstLeak assured me that he’s adamant in his belief that everyone deserves a trial, although he stated that a trial doesn’t prevent him from taking immediate action to stop criminals from actively committing more crimes, such as removing their soldier in this instance.

The newly enacted Criminal Code Act gives us an insight into the kinds of punishments that convicted criminals could receive. The act establishes a list of offenses and their punishments. The act is quite large, containing 13 sections of crimes, each section including multiple offenses and their corresponding punishments, as well as punishments for repeat offenders. The act creates the Civil Unit, shortened to CU, which acts as a legal currency to measure fine amounts and represents $100 in CCNet money, although its value can legally be changed via crown order at any time. Minor infractions such as public nuisance and trespassing carry fines of only 5 CU ($500) and 10 CU ($1,000), respectively, while more serious crimes, such as mass murder and treason, carry fines of up to 500 CU ($50,000) and 1,000 CU ($100,000), respectively. Some more serious crimes, such as the aforementioned treason charge, also carry prison time of 60 minutes, plot eviction, permanent disqualification from government office, and stripping of all government privileges and honors. Those who harm other players may also be required to pay restitution to the victim. The Criminal Code Act also lays out the inherent rights of Vanaco citizens when it comes to trials, such as the presumption of innocence (innocent until proven guilty), the burden of proof being solely on the prosecution, prohibition of citizens being found guilty of laws that did not exist at the time, double jeopardy (citizens being put on trial more than once for the same offense), and the right to due process.

With democracies being so common IRL, why is it so rare on CCNet? King FirstLeak shared that he believed that many other nation leaders are fearful of more democratic systems of government due to the concern that the people would drive the nation into the ground and found himself agreeing against absolute democracies for that reason but concedes that democratic governments like his tend to create better atmospheres for the nation as a whole. The end goal for FirstLeak, however, is not to have the most democratic form of government, but rather a more balanced government that gives the most power it can give back to the people without sacrificing stability—which is a fair compromise considering the differences between CCNet and IRL nations. FirstLeak further explained that he wants a stable government as well as a free populace that would outlast him: “The reason I give so much power to my people is because I intend on leaving at some point. I want the system that I'm setting up for the nation to be anti-fragile.”

Even though the new legal systems are still in their infancy, King FirstLeak reports that the citizens of Vanaco are excited for the coming changes and believes that it’ll become a focal point for player activity within the nation. He envisions Vanaco citizens filling the roles of attorneys and having fun in court, and that big cases, such as Supreme Court cases, could serve as a form of entertainment for the nation. Perhaps if Vanaco’s new government is successful, they may inspire other nations to implement similar systems of government.

Sources: FirstLeak, the Constitution of Vanaco: https://www.notion.so/vanaco/Constitution-of-Vanaco-2becf49cd83c80b285e0dba38345e875 & the Criminal Code Act: https://www.vanacomc.com/laws/co-005 

For the past two years, the two rivals of North America, the Telurian Federation and the Imperial North, have been engaged in a never-ending war. Virtually every siege weekend for the past two years has seen one side attacking the other. It’s been so long that many prominent members of both sides don’t even remember the beginning. Going into this, my biggest questions were how the war had gone on for so long and why both sides hadn't made peace. Through interviews with both nations, I tried to piece together the history of the war to answer my questions, although I often found that both sides had conflicting perspectives.

Canadian sources claim that the war stemmed from being in enemy alliances and that Floritânia’s aggression started with camping their members, then a subsequent siege on their fort, Nova Prospekt. However, Fake4, the Sustik of the Telurian Federation and historic leader of Floritânia, downplayed the aggression as nothing more than skirmishes between recruits, and told me that the war actually stemmed from his suspicions of the Canadian leader Greymesa’s involvement in a siege against Floritânia, namely in the moving of a zeppelin suspiciously close to the enemy siege base on Brigantia. While Greyemesa reportedly claimed he was just passing by, Fake4 said, "You have so many places to pass a zep. Why do you need to pass a zep through Brigantia? I then placed siege bases on their nations and proceeded to siege both, as we do not tolerate nations joining in against us.”

The Coalition-aligned Canadians, who were much weaker, were then sieged and occupied for multiple weeks by Floritânia. During this time, Floritânia switched from the Alliance to the Coalition, meaning that the two nations were now allies. However, according to the Canadian wiki, Fake4 refused to free them: “They (Canada) were of more use to him as a daily money machine than as allies.” When confronted, Fake4 claimed that he made multiple attempts to free them but blamed their leader for neglecting to log on to accept the unoccupation request, and, according to Fake4, instead of accepting the unoccupation request, they left the Coalition for the Alliance and revolted.

While peace has never been tried again, in November 2024, both nations did agree to a peace treaty, mediated by the CE leader, Supercell. However, it fell apart within a couple of weeks. Unsurprisingly, both sides have contradictory stories. Canadian Director Maruguchi claimed that spies in Floritânia overheard Fake4 saying that the treaty was just a temporary break to re-prep future sieges. He further claims that Fake4 accused Canadian leader Ekko—who had recently expanded his siege base on Brigantia—of prepping a siege as an excuse to leave the treaty. However, Fake4 tells a different story—he claims that his spies uncovered a plot between Canada and CE to siege both of Floritânia’s forts, and that Ekko expanding the siege base’s claims on Brigantia was just further confirmation of the impending betrayal, and that he was just the first to make the treaty's failure official by pulling out of it.

Mergers with other nations have expanded both the modern-day Telurian Federation and Imperial North substantially. With giant ‘meta-forts,’ sieges every siege weekend between the two nations are quite large and must be materially taxing; so how can they afford to keep up with a siege every siege weekend? Fake4 boasts of the Telurian Fed.’s team of some of the server's best grinders who are able to restock sieges within a couple of days, namely, him, Sqnky, Sevenplan, and Fraancis. He reportedly has enough resources that he's able to prep his ally's sieges. On the other hand, Director Maruguchi admits that Imperial North used to struggle with staying ahead of prep, but now the bulk of Imperial North’s logistics tasks are distributed between the members of their council, which was recently aided by the expansion of their leadership, giving them more people to carry out tasks. In emergencies, they can also buy prep or get some from allies. It appears that even with constant warfare, both nations are on top of their logistics—something many nations struggle to achieve, even in times of peace.

With a war going on for so long, it only makes sense that both sides would be exhausted and wanting peace—and yet, surprisingly, both sides seem to be not only fine but also seem to be using the war to grow. When both leaders were asked how the war had affected their ability to expand, Fake4 stated that it’s become integral to his nation: “War is indeed the main driving factor for growth. No one would play if there was no fun.” The Imperial North King Delotris told me that the biggest impact on growth was due to his recruits being killed in the wilderness, causing many to quit. Although he conceded that new members have a tendency to enjoy war. Maruguchi added that from his experience, the war gives recruits a common goal.

Imperial North tried to sue for peace in January but was denied by Fake4, who said, “Leave America; then we can be neutral.” In spite of the recent occupations, Delotris still believes that his nation will one day conquer North America through steady growth but doesn’t believe peace will come so long as Fake4 remains the leader of Teluria, blaming his “competitive nature” as a hindrance to peace. Although he stated that if offered, nothing was stopping his nation from accepting peace. Fake4 stated that due to the betrayal from November 2024, he would never make peace with Imperial North under any circumstances and agreed that peace will likely not come unless one side collapses, which wouldn’t come through war: “A nation doesn't disband if it doesn't want to, and it's not via siege you disband a persistent one like Teluria or Canada.” and added that even if Imperial North collapsed, he would simply find a new nation to fight. 

While I wasn't surprised that the war was much more nuanced than I had originally suspected, I was a little surprised about how such a long war has had the complete opposite effect from what I anticipated. I find it fascinating how instead of being exhausted and burnt-out, both nations have been able to grow not just in spite of the war but for the Telurian Fed., apparently because of it. Although I believe that it's clear that the Telurian Fed. is responsible for continuing the war, I don't necessarily think the war as a whole has had such a negative impact as I originally suspected—both nations are clearly doing just fine. My original questions on how the war could go on for so long and why both sides wouldn't make peace have been answered: both sides are able to use the war to grow their nations, and peace will never come because of Fake4's strong objection, due to his distrust of Imperial North because of their previous betrayal.

There weren't any objective sources of information available, so if anything is incorrect, please remember that the bulk of my information came from interviews!

Sources: Fake4, Delotris, Maruguchi, and the Canadian Dominion fandom page.

What happens once a province is captured and the war ends? Does the attacking nation get to occupy it like n2 where the province would be forced to pay occupation taxes? Or would the province be forced to join the attacker's nation or what