Wittenberg

After most of a term, where are we when it comes to our goals?  We already know that we've failed on our promise to rob His Majesty and give everyone all of His Grace's money, but where have we succeeded?

(https://imx.talossa.com/i/16a95365-3bac-4d0b-ae71-d7196fb0fdc9.png)We promised to prioritize immigration by publicizing the issue and trying lots of new ideas.  This has been a huge priority for our government, and we've tackled it in a bunch of different ways.  We've tried different forms of advertising at different times, and kept an eye on what worked.  More on that later.  But before we could even accomplish this, we had to remake the entire immigration system!

Now and the first time, everything isn't hosted on a web-based form accessible to anyone with login information to the national website, but instead on a secure form accessible only to a few authorized people.  And we've begun tracking how the immigration process proceeds -- when and from where are we getting applications that are successful eventually, what is causing hiccups in the process, and how are things going generally?

We also conducted an experiment: we promoted Talossa with Reddit posts and short-form videos at the start of the term, then took a break in the middle of the term, then resumed.  And how about that: we saw healthy immigration at the start of the term, then zero after we stopped promotion, and then it's back to decent (but not great) levels again.

Now, obviously it's a good thing on its own that we rebuilt the immigration system to save time and energy, and that we are getting actual information back, and that we fixed a security hole with hundreds of people's private information, and that we ran a cool experiment.  But we need to concentrate now on putting this all to work and getting this machine running.  Let's introduce more people to this amazing thing that is Talossa!

(https://imx.talossa.com/i/16a95365-3bac-4d0b-ae71-d7196fb0fdc9.png)We promised to update and support Infotecă, the people's immigration portal.  We accomplished this in a big way!  The entire thing has been overhauled.  Now it's not just a collection of dry statistics... it's now presented in a beautiful manner with an automatically generated summary at the top of the page.  It's still all of the people's information, but now it's even better.  And the best part is that it's still just the same amount of work for future governments: five minutes a month!

(https://imx.talossa.com/i/75bffdc9-8e7d-498b-a160-2210b310c68b.png)

We promised to cut administrative red tape and reduce bureaucracy.  While we did okay here, we didn't succeed in making many permanent changes.  Our main success was fixing a bunch of blank spots and hiccups in the law with 67RZ10 (https://database.talossa.com/ziu/bills/62RZ10), as well as creating El List del Seneschal (https://wiki.talossa.com/El_List_del_Seneschal) to actually organize everything and make it accessible to everyone (more on that one soon).

We also wanted to change the way the Cabinet works so that it's not bound by such rigid jobs, so that roles can instead be swapped around as needed in a more sensible way.  But this plan got a lot of push-back, and it's going to need more thinking on the best way to accomplish that fluidity.  Maybe there are better aspects to focus on?  Let us know your thinking!

We promised a fresh look at our web presence, making sure our online tools are being used in the best way possible.  And while we did take a look at it, our conclusion was that we think we might need to entirely rethink how we're approaching our web presence.  We'll talk more about this in the campaign, but it's 2026 and in a lot of ways we're still operating like it's 1996, focusing on this forum.  That's holding us back and it doesn't match the way a lot of people (most people?) are using the Internet today.  So before we make big changes, we want the people's vote of confidence.

We promised to make access to government infrastructure easier, promote a repository of useful files and images, and create starter kits for everyone to use.  Unfortunately, the two organizations which formed this term did not have any interest in this assistance.  We're going to continue to encourage everyone and we'll get this done!

(https://imx.talossa.com/i/16a95365-3bac-4d0b-ae71-d7196fb0fdc9.png)We promised never to secretly block potential immigrants, and promised we would pass legislation to eliminate this government power.  The first bill of the term was a revamped Public Process Bill, 62RZ01 (https://database.talossa.com/ziu/bills/62RZ01)!  That particular government power is completely gone and dead, and we won't let it return.

In fact, we did some other work to preserve the rights of the people.  Did you know that the Seneschal used to be able to make permanent laws as long as they were counter-signed by His Majesty?  It was an incredibly broad power, but it cut out almost the entire Ziu!  But thanks to 62RZ07 (https://database.talossa.com/ziu/bills/62RZ07), this power has been cut down to size.  Once the referendum passes, the Seneschal will only be able to make temporary laws that will automatically sunset after three months.  Emergencies and oversights happen, but if the Seneschal can't get the Ziu to agree to a law, then it will automatically be canceled.