The Aegis Accords

The Aegis Accords

We, the Parties of this treaty, striving for greater cooperation between our regions, recognizing our shared commitment to defender values, and acknowledging our interconnected friendship and collaboration including through existing treaties and alliances, agree to establish the Aegis Accords.

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Article 1: Mutual Recognition

1. The Parties to this treaty recognize the government of each Party, based upon its constituting instruments and laws, as legitimate and will not extend that recognition to any government that comes to power unlawfully.
   
2. A Party must maintain in-game embassies with all other Parties. When applicable, a Party must maintain off-site embassies with other Parties. It is also recommended Parties exchange diplomats with all other Parties.
   

Article 2: Non-Aggression and Mutual Defense

1. The Parties vow to never attack the home region or Protected Regions of another Party, nor participate in any action with the intent to overthrow a Party’s legitimate government or conspire to the same.
   
2. A Party must not conduct clandestine operations, espionage, or any other forms of spying against another Party.
   
3. The Parties agree to provide military assistance where possible in the event of a military attack, which includes but is not limited to a coup d’état, an invasion, or a raid, against the home region of another Party or a Protected Region thereof.
   

Article 3: Intelligence Sharing

1. A Party must provide the Parties any intelligence it holds that is relevant to military hostilities, a coup d’état, or any acts of subversion against the home region, Protected Regions, or legitimate government of another Party.
   
2. Intelligence must be shared with the relevant security organization or other entity per each Party’s wishes, as recognized in a Treaty Annex.
   
3. The Parties agree to maintain the classified nature of sensitive information regarding military affairs that concerns the other Parties or their defensive military operations, unless they are authorized to share the information by the Party whom the information concerns.
   

Article 4: Cooperation

1. The Parties declare that they share the general goal of protecting the sovereignty of NationStates regions and self-identify as Defender regions.
   
2. The Parties to this treaty shall strive for closer cooperation in defensive military operations and liberations of innocent regions across NationStates.
   
3. The Parties will also cooperate to counter quorum raiding, the tactic of disrupting the quorum of a proposal in the World Assembly by raiding regions whose Delegates have approved it, when it is being committed against regions not espousing hateful ideologies or otherwise posing a threat to other NationStates communities.
   
4. The Parties agree to provide military assistance to lawful transitions of power between World Assembly Delegates of a Party, if requested.
   
5. The Parties to this treaty will endeavor to conduct communal cultural activities with one or more of the other Parties to benefit the people of all Parties and strengthen the causes of peace, liberty, and defending, when feasible to do so.
   
6. The Parties to this treaty will share strategies and techniques to further develop the endorsement culture of their respective regions and to increase the number of endorsements of their respective World Assembly Delegates.
   
7. The Parties to this treaty agree to develop communal strategies to improve the quality and superiority of potatoes above all other foods, as is right and proper.
   

Article 5: Councils

1. A Council of the Parties is defined as an official meeting of the Parties in order to discuss a matter relevant to this treaty.
   
2. Any Party may call a Council of the Parties. A Council of the Parties has the power to:
   
   1. Approve a request by a region to accede to this treaty.
      
   2. Expel a Party if that Party violates this treaty or otherwise shows concerning behavior.
      
   3. Recognise a region as a Protected Region of a Party.
      
   4. Propose an amendment to this treaty for the Parties’ ratification.
      
3. Each Party may send one voting representative to the Council. The Council begins once 75% of all Parties declare attendance. If a Party does not send a representative to the Council, it must provide an explanation for its absence. Parties may switch representatives during a Council.
   
4. Once a matter has been before the Council for a week, any voting representative may move it to a vote with a second from another representative. A motion to vote beforehand requires the stated support of over 50% of Parties.
   
5. Votes will be open for a week or until the requisite majority has been attained, whichever occurs first.
   
6. Votes before the Council, not including motions to vote, must achieve a 75% majority of all voting representatives to be considered 'Passed' before the Council. Any representative who abstains shall not be counted in the vote tally.
   
7. If a Council is called to expel a Party from this treaty or to remove recognition of a Protected Region of a Party, the Party in question may discuss in the Council but cannot vote and the Party’s attendance will not impact the presence of a quorum.
   
8. The voting representative of the Party who called the Council is responsible for monitoring the discussion time, opening votes, closing votes, and announcing vote results. They may, with the support of another Party, adjourn the Council if a vote is not held within four weeks of the Council convening. Should the voting representative of said Party switch out with another representative, the new representative shall assume the duties of the previous representative.
   
9. Once the Council has dealt with the matters for which it was convened, it must adjourn.
   

Article 6: Ratification, Expulsion, Withdrawal, Protected Regions

1. Any region interested in acceding to the treaty must make a formal request to a Party to this treaty.
   
2. If the request is approved by the Council and this treaty is approved by the applying region in accordance with its laws or norms, the applying region becomes a Party to this treaty.
   
3. If a Party violates this treaty or otherwise shows concerning behavior, another Party may call a Council to discuss expelling the Party in question. If the Council decides to expel the Party, it ceases to be a Party to this treaty.
   
4. A Party may withdraw from the treaty by providing at least seven days notice to the other Parties.
   
5. The Council may declare any region to be a Protected Region, to which the Parties will extend their defense and intelligence obligations. Protected Regions are to be listed in a Treaty Annex.
   
6. Any Party may call a Council to remove recognition of a Protected Region for any reason.
   

Article 7: Amendments

1. A Party may call a Council to discuss and vote on a proposed amendment to this treaty.
   
2. If a proposed amendment is approved by the Council, the proposed amendment is sent to each of the Parties for its ratification. A Party must notify the Council of its ratification or rejection of the proposed amendment. The proposed amendment goes into effect once all Parties have ratified it, or 1 month after its approval by the Council if no Party has rejected it, whichever occurs earlier. If a Party rejects an amendment, it shall be considered failed and will not be enacted.
   
3. A Party that failed to ratify or reject the proposed amendment within 1 month of Council approval is eligible for expulsion for inactivity.
   

Article 8: Deposition and Annexes

1. The Parties must publicly record the complete text of this treaty in their respective appropriate record-keeping places.
   
2. Alongside the complete text of the treaty shall be placed any annexes, which shall be updated as appropriate by the Parties. Establishment, abolishment, and/or update to an annex shall not be considered an amendment to this treaty.
   

Annex I: Parties to the Aegis Accords

The Parties to the Aegis Accords are:

1. 10000 Islands
   
2. The Rejected Realms
   
3. The Coalition of the South Pacific
   
4. The Baked Potato (with Cheese and Sour Cream) of Spiritus
   
5. The Union of Democratic States
   
6. The League
   
7. The Order of the Grey Wardens
   

Annex II: Recognized Intelligence Sharing Entities

The Parties to the Aegis Accords recognize the following entities for the purpose of intelligence sharing:

1. For 10000 Islands, the Chief Executive or Field Commander of the Ten Thousand Islands Treaty Organization
   
2. For the Rejected Realms, the High Commander of the Rejected Realms Army
   
3. For the South Pacific, the Council on Regional Security and South Pacific Special Forces General Corps
   
4. For Spiritus, the Chief Executive of the Baked Potato (with Cheese and Sour Cream)
   
5. For the Union of Democratic States, the President and Minister of Defense
   
6. For The League, the Office of the Consulate and the Domestic Security Bureau
   
7. For The Order of the Grey Wardens, the First Warden
   

Annex III: Recognized Protected Regions

The Parties to the Aegis Accords reserve this annex for recognized protected regions.

• Concord
  
• A Taco Paradise