Kalistan

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Yoshimi Alternative Rock Band Moonshine Releases Debut Album
8 Hour Smile returns straight alternative to the Charts
Yoshimi, Suldanor
November 8, 5087


Alternative trio Moonshine quits heroin long enough to finally make a record

For the record, Moonshine has been around for a long time. "...like 15 years..." said frontman and lead guitarist Allan St. John. "I mean, I've known these guys since we were kids, and we've broken up and reformed like 18 times already." The problem, according to St. John was that every time the band got serious and decided to try to make a record, an old "frenemy" would show up: St. John is a notorious consumer of heroin in the Yoshimi scene.

"Allie makes those grit dudes up in Port Swedes look like rookies," said bassist Javier Guzman. "It's really limited our career possibilities." The band lost a number of managers over St. John's habitual usage of heroin. "None of the could understand that we couldn't leave him behind. Besides that being a death sentence for our brother, like, he wrote all our songs. I don't know how to write music. What am I supposed to do? Just not be in a band?"

It seems that the last time St. John overdosed, he decided to finally try to clean up for good. "Yeah, I've been sober for like 3, no, 18 months," said St. John. "Last time I died. Like seriously. I was at this little kid's birthday party, and I was eating some birthday cake and I went to the head to shoot up and the mom was in there saying 'Who are you dude? How did you even get here?' So I went in the little kid's room, tied off and basically killed myself. I woke up in the hospital, and the doctors said I has a seizure and pi--ed that kid's bed, and all sorts of weird sh-t... And Javi came and saw me and said, if I can get clean we should make a record. So I did rehab for a couple months, kicked the monkey, and totally started working. It was rad."

After cleaning up, St. John had to do community service and pay the family whose birthday party he crashed restitution. He ended up signing a ten thousand ruble advance check over to the family, and vowed that he would never get that bad again. Meanwhile, the band more or less recorded their live set at ARC studios in Sulari, finishing their debut album 8 Hour Smile in just two days. "Our producer, Freddy Delgado, was really awesome," said Guzman. "He was always right there to say, 'maybe try it like this, or maybe change this lyric.' We got to sit down with him at the boards and see how he mixed the sound, to pull vocals to the front, or to mix them in with background vocals. The whole process was dope. And to be honest, Freddy heard what we were trying to do, and basically just made what we had in our heads what you hear on the record."

The band negotiated a fairly generous royalties contract with ARC, as well as Republic wide distribution, contingent on St. John staying clean. "I get the feeling that the label cares whether I live or die, and before that the only ones who did were Javi and Mike (Owens, the drummer for Moonshine). It might be that they want to make lots of money and need me alive for that plan, but anyway, I'm seeing a shrink, trying LSD therapy to address some PTSD I had from a motorcycle accident like 10 years ago, and everything. I'm going to Meeting, which is a first, down in Yoshimi. The Brethren have promised to do what they can to help me."

8 Hour Smile is a hardrocking, pure Alternative masterpiece. The topics that St. John sings about on the record are somewhat predictable, if you know his history with hard drugs. "We sing about like suicide, drugs, absentee parents," said Guzman. "Allie writes a lot of lyrics that most of our fans think are confessions, but in fact, it is almost always some drug story that one of his junkie friends told him while they were zonked out in a trash can somewhere..." One such song, "The Dance" is a very personal tale about a three year old who remembers dreams of a red haired woman, who he identifies as his aunt, and through the song, you realize that he not only witnessed her jump off a bridge to her death, but that it was really his mother. Most fans think that the extremely emotional song is a true story about St. John's mother. "Nope. Never happened," said Guzman. "It's a great story, but Allie told me where that came from: He saw it in some horror movie when we visited cousins in Baltusia and was basically like, 'What a wild story. I bet I could write a song about that...'" Nearly all songs are hard rock, with a couple bordering on punk, like the deep cut "Drug Addict Girlfriend".

The Alternative rock album debuted on KRTVN's Album Chart at number 10, mostly driven by Moonshine's devoted fanbase, and anchored by the first Single "Sweet Port" about wanting to escape to the bayside town of Sweetport. "We've been to Sweetport a number of times," said St. John. "Played there, you know. That's kind of a backwater town. Nobody pays any attention to Sweet Port. That's a place where you can just disappear to, and nobody would even know what happened to you at all." "Sweet Port" is sitting at Number 3 on the National Hot 100 Singles Chart and heralds the return of straight hard Rock.

8 Hour Smile is now being sold at all record Stores across the Republic, as well as online.

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LKG Releases "LaMigra" in Kalistani Videogame Market
"Immigration Simulation" surprisingly addicting
Eveari, Ananto
April 1, 5088


"LaMigra" is about the drudgery and stupidity of Immigration and Customs laws

The Hutori-Kalistani Joint venture LKG, known mostly for a string of opensource quirky independent games that are almost always modestly successful, and a handful of hits which redefined computer gaming, seem to have struck gold once more. The Group released "LaMigra" last month to much anticipation and excellent critical and player reviews.

"'LaMigra' is a relatively foreign concept in a country that has no border controls, where nationality is granted to anyone in the world who claims it, and Passports are as common as birth certificates," said LKG spokeswoman Melanie Caruthers. "It is a simulation about the mindnumbing drudgery of high bureaucracy. Essentially you are a bordercontrol agent who has to apply an ever increasingly mindboggling set of restrictions to determine whether someone can come through your border control point or not. You have to decide whether this or that person is an enemy of the state, or is moving contraband across the border. You have to make a number of ethical decisions throughout the game. In short, it is about the absolute and inexplicable ridiculousness of not only border control rules, but also an explicit ridicule of those countries who maintain them."

The game is divided into a series of days. Each day, the player reports to work, and begins checking documents, like passports, work permits, fingerprints, and entrance visas. The player earns points not only for how many people he lets pass through, but how well he observes the laws, which can change from day to day. "It really keeps players on their toes," said Caruthers. "You have to be familiar with whatever the law is that day, first and foremost, making sure all the data in the documents is accurate, making sure that the person is legally allowed to enter the country, and so forth. Somedays, people will come in and beg to be let in, because they are being persecuted in their home country, but if you let them in when they are not legally allowed to enter, you will lose points." Points, according to Caruthers, are important because the player character is essentially trying to do a good job to earn food and medicine for their family, and if they fail, that food and medicine will be cut off.

"Our goal with this game is to illuminate the abject stupidity of both liberal nations and authoritarian regimes by simulating one part of the bureaucracy in those countries," said Caruthers."In liberal countries, which are supposed to have open borders, they still maintain border controls because deep down most people in those nations are afraid of foreigners. And authoritarian countries control their borders to prevent people with dangerous ideas from entering. Ultimately, in both cases, border control is about control. Control of the movement of people, control over who can come in and be considered part of 'Us', and use of those laws to define 'Them', and protecting the facade that there is something inherently valuable about 'citizenship'. In Kalistan, we see citizenship as a series of duties a person owes to their society. They clearly do not see things this way in Liberal Nations, were it is only about what individuals can take from the society, nor in authoritarian states which are really only about domination."

The setting for the game is a fictional nation of Ulyanovsk. Some claim that Ulyanovsk is based on Deltaria. "No," said Caruthers. "Ulyanovsk is an entirely made up country, speaking an entirely gibberish fictional languages. We essentially drew names out of a hat and this is how we settled on Ulyanovsk." The country is a recent;y democratized, former totalitarian state, which is surrounded by nations which are one day its friend, the next day its enemy, based on which faction controls the National Government. "There was a civil war right before the game began," said Caruthers. "They're still trying to figure out to what degree democracy is something they want to pursue."

Players have given the game high marks. "LKG is known for quality," noted game enthusiast Piper Downs. "This game feels like some designers ate a bunch of mushrooms, brainstormed a recently democratized state, and then picked one tiny part of it, and researched everything there is to know about the process, all in one night."

"Me and my buddies got stoned one night and played 'LaMigra'," said Mike Stacey, of Sulari, "and we tried to see how quickly we could get the main guy shot to death for f--king up everything. We just let everyone with a bomb through! What a hilarious night! 11/10!"

Critics were also happy with the game. Topher Nichols from Gamer Core Monthly praised its replayability. "The game is randomized so there is no real way to develop a strategy to win that is fool proof. Just when you think you have a method to check documents fast, the law changes and you have to remember that you are no longer looking for finger prints, or whatever. Its a simulation, but at its heart, it is a puzzle, like a labyrinth whose walls constantly change. You are still expected to make it to the center of the maze anyway, but you are also being timed."

Maggie Bolivar, of gaming blog "WspotGamez" said "I love that you can play it to win, or play it to lose catastrophically. There are enough choices that need to be made in a given moment: Do you let the poor refugees through, or do you put them in prison? Do you try to impress the boss, or do you work to feed your family. The game is full of mutually exclusive decisions, and despite not even having a name, you find that you get invested in the main character of the game very quickly. I think LKG really did a great job with this game."

Renee Smith, of "GOAT Games" praised its remarkable consistency and lack of bugs. "They must have had hundreds of hours beta testing this game. I have yet to find a bug in this game and though the rules change all the time, there is an amazingly consistent story that makes the changes seem like the next logical step in a coherent overall foreign policy. I've played this game dozens of times and while I know the changes in the rules are procedurally generated, the story always feels like a consistent narrative. I am, surprisingly hooked, and will try some of the scenarios next!"

There are only a handful of critics. Liberal blogger L. Lawrence Bildersley said "I really think their critique of liberalism is a little heavy handed. What we really need to pay attention to is that Kalistan has itself rejected liberalism. If it had closed borders, I'd say this is an accurate simulation of the kind of octopus government of Kalistan." His voice was only echoed in a handful of other reviews, and over all, the game earned a 96% "good" rating on review aggregators.

"LaMigra" is available now for download or as physical media. It can be played on PC or on console. Its retail price is K4.50, and as are all LKG games, it is open source and encourages community development and modification. There are already more than 200 scenarios published for the game, created by players themselves.

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Chasm drops S/T album on VDR
Grit album is "strongly personal" and "righteously angry"
Port Swedes, Vrassa
May 1, 5088


Despite their cheery outward demeanors, Chasm's new S/T is "definitely not a love letter to Swedeport"

Chasm's most recent release, Chasm is even grittier than their first two records. The new leaders of Grit, Chasm burst onto Republican radio with their grungy punk rock album Double Daniel four years ago, and their follow up, Kiss Our Ass performed modestly well, but was a commercial disappointment compared to Double Daniel. On their third record, the quartet from Port Swedes takes a different tact: One of relentless outrage.

"Our record is definitely not a love letter to Swedeport," said Chasm Frontwoman Kathleen Harding. "This place sucks my a--hole. This is a hateletter to this rotten cold ass smackjunkie ridden hellscape. You hear all these bands talking up where they come from. Well, I can say, as a life long citizen of that town that Grit is an appropriate name for the music it produces. Nothing but junkies, and the people who are too busy ducking their bullsh-t to clean up the streets. Swedes just takes takes takes, everything from everyone."

Harding and band deliver a dozen songs full of righteous rage and anger. The immediate impetus for the record was the death of Harding's husband, Dave to heroin overdose. When asked about his death, Harding simply said "Its on the record." Almost in spite of Harding's cathartic outpouring, the record is a solid Grit album, hearkening back to Grit's foundations in alt-folk. Harding switches to electric lead on this record, and her aggressive riffing is accented throughout the record by the acoustic rhythm guitar of Allison Moses. A solid, but almost understated foundation is laid down by bassist Madalyn Von der Platz, who shares rhythm duties with Moses, while Drummer Cary Greenwood matches the aggro tone of Harding.

"Chasm's S/T is a genuine reflection of the strange evolution of Port Swedes music," said reviewer Petra Donahue. "It is far louder than all other music playing in the Republic, whether its the sunny alternative of Suldanor, or the pop punk and RF pop of Kaliburg, or the alt-folk music further up in the hills. On its worst day it is rawer and more honest than anything else happening in the Republic. To some degree its a product of the weather. It's sunny maybe 8 days out of the year, and warm almost never. You gotta be hardscrabble to even live there. The music reflects the attitude and the outlook of the people, who are plagued by an environment that means they will be working, hard, all the time, and with no hope of tomorrow being much different than today. That's reflected in grit, and that's exemplified on this record."

Overall, the songs are about loss and grief and being angry at that. "When you think about what she's singing about on this record, you hear a woman who feels wronged, that something has been stolen from her unjustly," said Donahue. "There's not a lot of power or agency here the way there are on Chasm's previous two albums. This is a post loss record, one written in the aftermath of a great injustice." The last two songs were penned by Harding's husband before he died. "I think Chasm brings a sense of grievance that were not in the songs before she lost Dave to heroin. She's mad: mad at a system that allows the depression that often seems pervasive in Port Swedes turn into an epidemic of addiction. She's mad at Dave for not controlling his usage, and in the end just giving in to it in the end and embracing death, rather than fighting for life. And she's madder at herself, more than anything or anyone else, for not being able to stop him. All that comes out on this record."

Harding's outrage resonates well with a certain segment of the population who feels divorced from the system, who feels that the policies of the Government don't apply to them. But for the most part, the people buying the new Chasm record are the longtime fans that Chasm has cultivated since their breakout success four years ago. "Yes, Harding is angry. And yes, her band helped her make a cathartic record," said Moses, "but yes, Chasm is literally the biggest professional band on VDR at the moment, and are seasoned veterans. And they are, at the end of the day, in the business of selling records."

Harding herself seems to confirm this sentiment. "Yes, I mean, I have a good reason to feel like I do. And god damn, that feeling powers me right now. This is the best music we've ever made. And I am just pissed that Dave just quit on himself, and on me. But my band picked me up when I was down, and they were like 'We're here for you. We'll do whatever you need us to do.' And so we made a record and got all the poison out, and at the end of the day, my life will go on."

Chasm's first single from their self-titled LP is "Addisjah" which was one of the two songs written by the late Dave Harding. The record, distributed by VDR, is available across the Republic.

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Crisis in Lourenne washes Kalistani Shores
Foreign Minister issues hasty statement
Kaliburg, Ananto
March 12, 5089


Foreign Minister Troy Ulysses Addresses the Lourenne Crisis

In light of the revolution in neighboring Lourenne, the Government of Kalistan met in emergency session to offer a response. As the government met, the National press was hastily assembled near the National Assembly to await comment from the Republican Government.

Shortly before 6pm Tonight, the Foreign Minister, Troy Ulysses went before the Microphones and delivered the following statement outlining the policies of the Republican Government.

"Comrades, we are faced with a revolution in our close neighbors and most important trading partners, The Kingdom of Lourenne. This revolution follows the election of a coalition of Republican Parties who promptly declared a Republic, and forced the Monarch, Comrade Catherine the 2, to flee to her estate in Rildanor, along with her family. To our knowledge, the Queen is safe, as is her family, and her regent, Louis, remains as an official presence within Lourenne.

The Government of Kalistan has decided, for the time being, to remain neutral with regard to this internal matter. The Kalistani Government will not back either side of this conflict, and leave the matter for the Lourennais to resolve for themselves with no interference from The Republic. We will however not refuse to assist those who we have developed such a warm and peaceful relationship over the previous decade.

We offer all those who would like to avoid the conflict themselves refuge within the Kalistani Republic. The policy of our Government is to not only offer refugees shelter, but also generous support in integrating within the Republic, until such time as they decide they should want to return home. We will gratefully assist in resettlement, temporarily or otherwise in or near the Lourennais settlements in and around Dulnerstaad, and from there, refugees may make their homes anywhere in the Republic that they wish. Permanent residency will be grandfathered in for all recent arrivals.

Our treaties with Lourenne remain in effect regardless of who governs the nation. Our agreements were with the Nation and the people of Lourenne, not with any particular administration. As a result, the Republic hereby guarantees all Lourennais investment in Kalistan to its original investors. We also guarantee all bank deposits in Kalistani Banks belonging to Lourennais investors.

The Republic will place our coastal defenses on alert and will work with the Lourennais Navy to ensure that foreign powers do not attempt to take advantage of the situation in Lourenne. The President of the Republic has ordered the 1st Navy to the Northern Limit, and has ordered the second Fleet to relocate to Bozo River in case Lourenne has any need of assistance in the Outannais Passage. The Fleet will remain in port, however, and will serve as a quick reaction force. We have also called up the SP Militia in Ananto to provide support for the Regular Force on the Island, in an effort to tamp out any spread of any conflict that may or may not happen as a result of the instability in The Kingdom.

The Government of Kalistan will remain in consultation with the Queen, and will, for the time being, treat her government in exile as the legitimate Government of Lourenne, until such time as the situation changes, and another force has established full control over the Kingdom.

The Position of the Kalistani Government is a status quo ex ante position, and if this changes, we will make further announcements. Thank you and I will take questions now."

The FM then took questions for the next half hour. Reporters primarily sought more information and clarity about the Government's position, but the FM was unable to answer many questions, and responded simply that "The Republican Government has not developed policy on this topic at the current moment."

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Kalistani SFZP-EFR project reaches milestone
Fusion Reactor sustains Plasma compression for 1.383 seconds
Bozo River Experimental Reactor, Ananto
May 17, 5089


The remains of an experimental prototype which produced a stable column of burning plasma for just over one second before burning out

Dr. Janice Schmidt announced today that the Experimental Fusion Reactor has reached a milestone in the fusion "In this afternoon's test," Said Dr. Schmidt, "we sustained a stable compression of the plasma for just over one second, before the containment shear collapsed. While maintaining the compression still required more energy than was produced, we do have evidence of energy output from the reactor at a ratio of about .08, to the tune of about .89 Megajoules of energy and evidence of the tritium breeding cycle also occurring. This is an amazing step forward and demonstrates that we are so much closer to creation of the first commercially viable DT Plasma Fusion Reactor: We are on the very doorstep of ignition."

Backers in the Republican Government, concerned with the crisis in Lourenne, and potential budget pinches this will put on the National Budget, have begun helping the experimental reactor seek large scale private sector investment in an effort to shift the project to a more equal public-private partnership. "Financiers at KALNAPECO have worked with the project to set up a shall investment company to handle private sector investment into the project," said CFO Mike Green. "The company, Ananto Futures, will handle all the public money and accept private investment, which will then go to continue funding Dr. Schmidt's work at Bozo River." In this way, even foreign companies can contribute investment to the project to ensure that it will be a successful venture.

"The ultimate pricetag of just over 8.5 million Rubles is a bit steep, and that is not including the hundreds of millions that have already been spent on development," said Green. "Naturally, the Republic will insist that the reactor, once completed, will remain in the public space, and all return on all investments will be calculated at that time. But as you can imagine, it is hard to sell that to foreign investors who are keenly interested in the project, but hope to use the reactor to earn profit." Green noted that building the working reactor is one thing. Selling it will be comparatively easy.

"Once the working reactor is up and running," said Green, "You can see it here in the prototype: This can fit onto the back of a flatbed semi truck and assembled on site. The scalable model, the ones which can power whole cities, whole islands, those will be somewhat larger, but not by much. It will be easy, we think, to produce models that can be disassembled and transported to other countries. And of course, those who maintain their investments will receive a return from that. But Schmidt estimates that we are still at least 10 years away from large scale production of these fusion reactors. This test is a major achievement in that direction."

Dr. Schmidt was enthusiastic. "We have demonstrated that we can maintain a compression reaction over a relatively long time. One second may not seem like that long, but it is proof of concept that our gas sheer gas sheer served to keep the plasma compressing and generating energy. While we are still far below the Q=1 ratio that we seek to make this an actual power generator, we have nonetheless demonstrated that we can eventually get there. Think of a bolt of lightning: In nature, there is no way to contain lightning, and the bolt kind of goes everywhere. What you see there is plasma with a relatively weak static charge running through it. Now imagine compressing that whole 4 miles long bolt of lightning into a cylinder compressed together by the charge itself to pressures and temperatures many millions of times greater than anything we have on earth. Something like in the center of the sun. That is what we are working with here, and we have contained the reaction and can now therefore sustain it for a longer period of time. And the potential is infinite."

Dr. Schmidt intends to do more tests in the coming months, and says that she expects that the experimental reactor will reach the 1.0 threshold within a year, meaning that the reactor will generate more energy than it takes to run--Technically this will mean that ignition has been achieved. "At that point, we will still need fine tune the reactor for the purpose of containment and sustaining the reaction over much longer periods, days, weeks, months, or years, perhaps," said Dr. Schmidt. "Our primary issue is with the pulse current and the ability to vary the speeds of the plasma along the column- We need the plasma inside to flow slower that the plasma toward the edge of the column which contains the reaction at the center. We will accomplish this when we get the sheathing gas blanket to the right speeds that will sort of drag the plasma along, creating a heavily magnetic field around the outside of the plasma cylinder, without the need to use electromagnets. With each test, we calibrate our instruments closer and closer to create the pulse which sustains the field that contains the plasma without instability, and increase our efficiency to produce more power than we are supplying to the machine. That will require a lot more trial and error, but once it is achieved, it will be reproducible. We think the actually current needed is around 650,000 amperes to hit our breakeven point."

The SFZP-EFR Program at Bozo River continues, and gets closer and closer to the goal of clean fusion energy for the Republic and the world.

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Bozo Experimental Reactor Achieves Fusion Ignition
Q=1.002 for 6 minutes yielding net +8.65 Megajoules of energy, tritium breeding cycle observed
Bozo River Experimental Reactor, Ananto
October 13, 5089


The Research Team behind Kalistan's first operational SFZP-E fusion reactor, Dr. Schmidt, Project Director(top right)

The biggest news in Kalistan at the moment is not the crisis in Lourenne or the latest record, but a major breakthrough in thermonuclear fusion development. For the first time in the history of the project, Kalistani researchers have passed the ignition point.

"We are thrilled to announce that on evening of October 11, 5089," said Program Director Dr. Janice Schmidt< "our team working on the sheared flow Stabilized, Z-Pinch Experimental Fusion Reactor here at the Bozo River Facility have reached and surpassed equilibrium in a Deuterium-Tritium fusion reaction. We have calibrated the pulse to the correct frequency, and have created a stable column of burning plasma capable of generating more electrical power than it takes to operate the machine. We maintained the fusion reaction for six minutes before shutting down the machine, creating a net plus 8.65 megajoules of energy, and generating a net positive of tritium fuel, which we successfully fed back into the reactor over the test period. The implications of this breakthrough are quite revolutionary for clean energy."

The Fusion Reactor project, which was first theorized six years ago, was expected to draw more international investment than it has. "This reactor was built nearly entirely out of Kalistani capital," said Schmidt. "While this has slowed progress in some areas, it hasn't hindered us otherwise. We had hoped to have a functioning commercial reactor by now. But that is not far off now that we have reached equilibrium."

Schmidt congratulated the tenacious optimism of her team. "If it wasn't for the long hours, the willingness to try things which were unorthodox, and the resourcefulness of this team, we wouldn't be half way to equilibrium yet," said Schmidt. "It is due to the positive mental attitude and malleability of the team that we are here today."

Schmidt noted that she and the team will now vary the work schedule they have maintained for the last six years. "While one part of the team will continue to perform experiments with the reactor, another section will begin overseeing the construction of the first commercial reactors at the Bozo River Facility. The research team will begin experiments with higher wattage and move toward even greater compression of the plasma. Ultimately, we need to hit a Q=2 or higher to make this commercially viable."

Schmidt explained the role of the other part of the team. "The Construction team will built a somewhat larger version of the experimental reactor, that is about 5 feet tall and about the size of a sedan. This commercial reactor will ultimately become self powering, and will produce enough electricity to power Bozo River and the base here. As we reach higher Q ratios, new reactors will be constructed closer to larger cities, replacing the current LNG power plants, who will go off line one by one. KALNAPECO expects to maintain them for a period of 15 years as a back up, but then will decommission them, one by one. Plant operators will be retrained in maintenance of the new Fusion Reactors. Over all we expect the total cost of the project, including building, retraining and decommissioning to cost 375 million Rubles, over the next 10-15 years."

This major breakthrough signals a massive step toward a green energy future for The Republic. "As for other nations," said Schmidt, "I imagine KALNAPECO and KalMD will be willing to sell commercial reactors, but I do expect them to be sold at a premium, now that Kalistan has borne all the R&D costs. But as of this point, I haven't heard from the board about any foreign interest at all in Kalistan's fusion energy project, even from the countries that pride themselves on their environmental policies." She shrugged. "Kalistanis will celebrate this day regardless of what other nations will do."

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First Lourennais Refugees Arrive in Kaliburg
AeroKal flights from Eroncourt to double over the next week
Kaliburg, Ananto
November 1, 5089


Those fleeing the coming civil War in Lourenne have increased from a trickle to more than 400 a day in the last 8 weeks

At the International Terminal in Republican International Airport in Kaliburg, customs agents are working overtime to ensure that arriving Lourennais Nationals who are leaving Lourenne temporarily can get to the various services that the Republican Government has set up to accommodate them. The Government has set up "The Office Of Refugee Inprocessing" under the Foreign Ministry to begin ensuring that those fleeing Lourenne's civil war are provided with all documents necessary, as well as offering a host of services, such as immunizations and free physical check ups, a small upfront cash payment of close to K100 a person, expanded cambio and banking services, and temporary shelter for new arrivals. Certified counsellors associated with the Ananto Yearly Meeting are also on hand to offer counselling services for all those who have experienced trauma in Lourenne.

"We are doing what we can to make sure that the new arrivals' needs are being met, for the short term," said Office Spokesman Garret Newton. "We want to make sure that our friends are comfortable, and can offer them a bed for the night and then allow them, on their first full day in country, to access a number of different options, including hostel and hotel vouchers for single individuals and families respectively, as well as homestays, internet and phone services, and financial services. Once they arrive, we consider them, for the purposes of our law, citizens of the Republic, and we want to make sure they have access to the same benefits that all citizens have, regardless of their situation."

The Office conducts entry interviews, which are cursory and involve basic questions such as: Do you plan to remain in the Republic for more than 6 months? Do you have friends or Family within the Republic? What are your essential skills/profession in Lourenne? Will you be interested in working for pay while in Kalistan? and so forth. Single young men and women are in particularly high demand, and are welcomed to join the National Service Program on a temporary basis, if they are so interested, to provide them with semi permanent employment and housing, provided they speak Vrassan semi-fluently. But employment is not required for entry or to remain within the Republic.

Most of those who anticipate remaining in Kalistan for the long term are encouraged to begin to seek permanent residence and employment throughout the Republic. "We want to make sure that the new arrivals understand that the facilities that they first encounter are only intended to be temporary, and they are highly encouraged to go elsewhere within the Republic to get more settled. We only intend for each new arrival to remain here at the inprocessing center for a week at the most. But we anticipate a larger influx of refugees, and so it is imperative that those who seek shelter and respite from the fighting go look for an apartment and a job somewhere else in the Republic." The Office particularly recommends the Lourennais enclave at Dulnerstaad as a starting point.

"Years ago, the Republic welcomed a significant number of Lourennais citizens to settle in Dulnerstaad. Close enough to their homeland so they could return at their leisure, but far enough away that they could bring a new flavor to Kalistani culture. That enclave has kept their traditions, and though hundreds of years have passed, they still maintain much of those traditions. The new arrivals may feel more comfortable among people who they can speak with in their own language, and who sort of straddle both worlds and can teach them about integrating into a wider Kalistani society."

AeroKal, Kalistan's primary commercial airline, is expecting to double flights to the Republic from Eroncourt. "The Airline has generously offered subsidies for plane tickets and will fly all those seeking asylum in the Republic tickets at cost," said Newton. "Our goal is to ensure that all those who do not seek involvement in this civil war can find safety and peace in the Republic, and go on about their lives with minimal disruption." Newton expects anywhere from 100 to 300 thousand refugees from Lourenne, "...but we are prepared for more if they come."

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2nd Kalistani Merchant Fleet prepares to travel to Majatran Sea
Aims to duplicate the Success of Captain Creighton
Sulari, Suldanor
April 7, 5090


Mariners aboard Cap. James Coltrane's Flagship, KMS Torrence, prepare to launch a second expedition to the Majatran Sea

The Kalistani Navy might be in serious need of upgrading, but the Merchant Marine fleet of the Republic remains among the top fleets in the Anantonese Ocean. Seven years ago, Mariner Captain Marcus Creighton sailed a massive fleet to the Majatran Sea, and spend the better part of the year selling Kalistani goods, petroleum, arms, and ODEN products to Majatran Nations.

Now another Merchant captain James Coletrane, aims to duplicate the feat. The Merchant fleet he is assembling in Sulari will carry millions of rubles worth of trade goods to the same waters this fall. "We were able to sail with impunity, and to our knowledge, the situation in the region has not significantly changed within the last seven years. So: It makes sense to put together a new expedition to the Majatran Sea."

Coltrane is putting together a floating caravan of trade goods similar to the one Creighton assembled. "We won't be selling any oil, though," said Coltrane. "We have noted that in Creighton's expedition, most of the oil was either sold at a severe discount or returned to KALNAPECO. It seems that bringing a commodity like petroleum to an area of the world where its supply is abundant, even if it is tightly controlled. We had far more success with the other items: guns and ammunition, and drugs, especially. Buyers demonstrated that there is a huge market for substances, illicit or otherwise, in the region, and heavy and inexplicable government prohibition only increases demand and profitability to smugglers and black market actors."

As for Kalistan, Coltrane aims to merely be the supplier. "Like Creighton, we'll be the fleet who brings the things the people want to them. You gotta go where the customers are after all. We'll sell to distributors, who will of course take the goods and retail them. After the distributors take the stuff off our hands, what happens to the stuff is no longer our concern." His intention is to carry all manner of licit trade goods and sell them in international waters. Things like clothes, cars, machine parts, raw plastics, food and that sort of thing. "But the real money is in the things that these governments ban. Since they refuse to import Kalistani Goods that they have some hypocritical objection to, we will simply provide yet another floating market for entrepreneurs to acquire their own supply of these goods for their own domestic markets."

Coltrane has said his fleet will be assembled by early September, and will set sail for the Majatran aiming to arrive in October. A film crew will join Coltrane to document the journey for a documentary film on Kalistani Merchant Marines.

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Kalistan welcomes Lourenne Government in Exile to Eveari
Also welcomes diplomatic visit from Lodamun
Eveari, Ananto
April 9, 5090


Downtown Eveari, the temporary Seat of the Lourenne Government in Exile

The Premier of the Republic held private meetings with the High Chancellor of the Kingdom of Lourenne, Larosière to officially welcome the government to Kalistan. Following the meetings, the Premier briefly addressed the situation and Kalistan's role in the deepening crisis.

"We want to first take this opportunity to welcome our friends from across the Passage to Kalistan. More than two centuries ago, the Government of Kalistan made itself a protectorate of the Kingdom of Lourenne, to manage foreign policy while Kalistan recovered from a long period of chaos. Lourenne offered us shelter from a hostile and unpredictable world, and then when we were once more on our feet, they returned our sovereignty without a second thought. Today, we repay that debt, and offer the Government of Lourenne shelter as it weathers its own storms at home.

"The Government of Lourenne will sit here in Eveari, the ancient seat of the Kalistani Emperors, and a fitting site for such auspicious visitors. The Government will be permitted to utilize all facilities in Eveari for official Lourennais Government matters, and for the duration of the Conflict, Eveari will be treated as an international city. All Lourennais Officials associated with the Government in Exile will live under Lourennais Laws, and will be granted extraterritoriality. Their activities will proceed unhindered within the city of Eveari, and all public facilities will be put at their disposal.

"The Republic will continue to accept and integrate Lourennais asylum seekers in Kalistan, under the ongoing terms , and will endeavor to facilitate any and all consular services that the new arrivals require of their government while it sits in Eveari.

"With Regard to the arrival of the Dorvik Strike Group to the Anantonese Ocean, the Republican Government will note that Dorvik remains a signatory state to the Ananto Strait Accord. We call on them to abide by that Agreement with regard to the Strait. The Republic encourages Dorvik to provide assistance but to stop short from military intervention. The Second Fleet is on Standby at Bozo River, but our aim is to contain this conflict to Lourenne's homeland, and not let it spread outside of that territory. The President has commanded that the Bozo River Naval yards be opened for service and refueling to Lourenne's Fleet while they are blockading their ports. Details will be worked out for additional basing privileges in the Republic, but for the time being these emergency measures are a start.

"Finally, Kalistan has decided to retain diplomatic recognition of the Government in Exile sitting in Eveari, and have directed our Ambassadorial staff to continue to work with the Office of the Foreign Ministry of Lourenne at Eveari. We consider this a continuation of the Status Quo ex ante and look forward to continuing friendly relations with the Government and the reigning Sovereign of Lourenne."

Following the statement of the Premier, she offered her thanks to the people of Eveari for their willingness to host the Lourennais Government, and remained the rest of the evening consulting with the Lourennais Chancellor before returning to Kaliburg the next day.

[Rogue]

Deltaria issues ultimatum to Coletrane's maritime fleet