NA and UC for all
If extra teams needed feel free to include Cantabria.

The Ministry of Defence have announced today that the nations Special Forces until known as the Mjölnir have conducted a raid just outside the village of Mikswald. The Mjölnir had been told by law enforcement that it was believed that a criminal gang had established a facility there for smuggling narcotics and potentially also weapons. The Mjölnir raided the facility this morning and discovered that the intelligence was not accurate and rather than it being a facility for drugs and firearms it was discovered that six swimming pools had been created and that Dolphins  were being stored there. Several arrests were made including one who was a Lijiang citizen. As well as the dolphins illegally in captivity several freezers were found containing dolphin skin and vials of various oils. The seized items are reportedly used in a variety of medicines traditionally used in Lijiang medicine. There were in total 12 Dolphins in captivity, thought being houses ready for their flesh to be removed and oils extracted. Vetenary practiners were called and despite their efforts only 8 of the animals are being prepared for release back into the wild while four of the animals have had to be euthanised. Those arrested have been charged with animal cruelty, various wildlife offenses and smuggling.

Head Gothi Stein Ulfsson said "We will be contacting authorities in Lijiang to work out whether this is part of a wider operation and to ensure that we have captured everyone involved. Some may say it strange that we take an approach to try and prevent farms such as these, this is now the second we've found in four years. We as a nation consume whale and dolphin however only in two small settlements where it is as much a necessity as it is a tradition. There animals are taken quickly and painlessly from the wild, however these people have inflicted lengthy captivity in horrendous conditions and that is unacceptable."

Head Gothi candidate Dr.Olivia Robertsson also spoke about Ulfsson's statement saying "There is no place in our nation for two things. First is cruelty to animals. The second is to apologise for the traditions of our people. The Gods are clear animals are sacred creatures, and that they were closely connected to the gods. It is important to hunt respectfully, and to avoid taking more than was needed. When those two settlements hunt they do so with that in mind, there is no need to explain to the world why we do it."

Those arrested will appear in court on Monday.

With the elections a month away the Liberal Odinic Rite have announced an official leadership partnership. The parties founder and leader, Dr.Olivia Robertsson, confirmed at the parties rally in Uppsala that one of their candidates in the upcoming election will be former foreign minister Brigid Strand and that if the party is successful in taking control of both the position of Head Gothi and a majority in the Odinic Council that she would become Allsherjargoði. The Party are standing on a platform designed to give the nation less of a theocratic controlled way of life while simultaniously ensuring the Odinist faith remains an important part of the nations identity. The party have been successful in local municipal council elections with the party now controlling 35 out of the 58 within the nation. The party have also enjoyed a huge amount of support from the younger demographic with a massive 82% of those aged between 18 and 30 polled saying they would vote for the party. In the 20% of the Ålander population who describe themselves as "Nords" rather than Ålanders the party currently poll around 60% of the vote. These two statistics mean the party stand in a strong position heading into the nation elections which have for close to a decade been considered a one horse race. Even when Nya Åland was part of the Union of Nordic Peoples the Odinic Rite Party always won elections within the nation however since the referendum under which Åland left the Union that parties grasp has gradually weakened.

At Uppsala Indoor Sports Arena the medic, who is also one of the non-heriditary Jarls of the nation, addressed a crowd of around 38,000 people. She was joined on stage by Birgid Strand. During the speech she laid out the policies of the party. "If elected our course of action is clear. Live out the nine noble virtues. Under our programme the nation would have the courage to intervene at times of crisis across the world just as we needed people to do on our behalf. We would expose the truth that following the path of closeting ourselves away has cost us in terms of economic opportunities lost, in terms of friends lost. Our faith talks about the importance of honour and to enhance it the need to do good deeds, when truly was the last time we as a nation did anything good for the world, Marseille? And then were have we been on the recent Troyes situation. It can be argued that shoulder to shoulder with Real Marseille the Ålander forces we sent into Marseille created the road-map for that nations freedom from evil. But since then what? Nothing. We are expected to show discipline, self discipline, yet as a nation we have allowed Stein Ulfsson to control our morality, we are not his children. We are to be self-reliant, we have the ability to stand as a nation alone, yes but self-reliant means we equip our young to face Mundus and be confident in their own skills and knowledge. How many of us have truly seen our nation equip us with the ability to navigate a life on Mundus, a handful of us who have partaken in the More and Mundus project have ever truly known a life without religious rules dominating our lives. Our faith teaches us to be industrious but what oppurtunities have Ulfsson extended to us to fulfil this? We are supposed to perservere in the face of hardship, but how have we really tested ourselves. Finally to me the most significant of these virtues is hospitality, how do we make guests to our nation feel? I would say not welcome. If we are elected we shall make these virtues central to everything we do. If you elect Ulfsson you elect a nation of fear. Fear of the outside world, fear of other Gods, fear of failure. Elect us and we show the world that Odin has nothing to fear from Mundus and guided by his wisdom we shall resume a place of respect and co-operation with the world."

Following Dr.Robertsson's speech Strand addressed the crowd briefly saying, "Nya Åland stands at a cross roads. We turn one way and we remain the same. A nation speaking of its love and devotion to Odin. We turn the other and we become the living, breathing embodyment of the All-Fathers word, a nation living without fear and a nation not willing to take a backwards step. Make your decisions."

Stein Ulfsson's Odinic Rite Party responded to the speeches saying, "The Liberal Odinic Rite are a party with no track record of international politics. They are unaware of what it takes to keep a nation safe and secure and rebuild after one of the worlds largest disasters. We have turned places like Uppsala from a wasteland back into a thriving city in just a short space of time." This comment however was rubbished by many on social media as one user pointed out "No track record of international politics? Strand ran the CTO! Strand helped draft the Uppsala Convention! Ulfssons a clown."

With the Cenneg having the benefit of the HQ being in their homeland they had slightly more flexibility with their delegate. On this matter it was the duty of Prince Lennox to attend. "Good Morning" he greeted everyone as he took the assigned seat and then listened first to Sir Jacob, Baron Roman and then finally Tangaroa. "I agree with almost everything that has been suggested, could I therefore suggest this updated version of Sir Jacob's plan."

1. A "Ring of Steel" is placed in a position of defence around the Commonwealth. Utilising ships and aircraft we have in the region and sending Jekars Shield systems we wish to ensure that the Commonwealth is safe from missile strikes.

2. We place a team of CNN administrators under the leadership of Melissa Lusk in the Commonwealth in order to, if required, set up evacuations from a warzone.

3. Ourselves and Lodja place assets in the Alba Karinya region to intervene in Mersch if required.

4. Ui Cenneslaig and the Iwi take responsibility for leading operations in the Matildas.

5. The CNN stand up as potential mediators in the situation in the Matildas.

6. We form a CNN Squadron in the Commonwealth made up of maritime patrol aircraft, air defence capable fighters and strike aircraft.

7. The CNN Squadron will undertake defensive actions.

3rd/4th Place Playoff

McMoreland 3 - 2 Theocracy of Kaitaine

FINAL

Lymm 0 - 3 Eigg

Lara Kjelt had been around science and the environment for many years. She had been one of the team of researchers who had refused to leave Hygelac in the face of the Toshikawan threats of missile tests there. In that brief period of time she had become the Foreign Minister of the short lived Odinist Republic of Hygelac but in the years since then she had returned to the science of the environment. As such she had been asked to attend the talks alongside Martja Larsson, for now Stenberg's foreign minister.

While Martja had completed the formalities of the meet and greet it would be Lara who would do most of the speaking when it came down to the meat of discussions. With Uehara finishing it was time for her to speak. "I would like to first of all say I think conferences such as this are a great idea. I do however have a few issues. While nations in OPEN do produce oil and gas and seek to support each other in their sale if there was no market then they would be irrelevant. Like it or not oil and gas is going to be around for a while to come. While in my homeland of Nya Åland we've been able to utilise a variety of nuclear, wind, tidal and above all geothermal energy to mean we are close to being able to produce all our electricity from non-fossil fuels. The issue is though its not just as fuel and electricity we have to consider. There are medical products people rely on that also include oil, items such as laxatives, contact lens lubricants and even burn treatments require oil. While just as in energy production and transportation fuels alternatives are being researched they are currently nowhere near as effective and their cost makes them prohibitive for the use by many. The point is we can sit here and demonise oil production but unless we are going to radically change our way of life they are going to remain with us. The same is true of natural gas which has various uses beyond electric production. We so far talk simply of energy production and fuels but the issue is the world will still rely on the use of oil and gas for at least the next fifty years. While you talk of the issue being man-made that of course is true, but if we look at who created the majority of that damage it is us, those in the developed world. The developing world that is now only just beginning to put in place large scale industrialisation are just beginning to make the large contributions to emissions. Many of them will look at those of us here and ask why they can not do what we have already done? You will of course say that we can help them the point is this does one of two things. First it is expensive, many of these fuel systems and electric production methods are expensive to set up and require often much more specialist training and maintenance than more traditional methods. We are asking these nations to make sacrifices none of us had to. We will of course talk of biofuels. To produce 100litres of biofuel using something like algae will take a nation growing 1000kg of algae, it will also require 100,000-200,000 liters of water. The fuel produced also costs ten times more than traditional petrol. I know Rokkenjima in the past have talked about using Hemp as a biofuel, let me crunch those numbers for you. We, as a planet, use around 712,372,303 litres of petrol just for transport a day. To produce that you need 142,474,460,600kg of hemp a day. Currently the largest producer of Hemp in the world[1] produces 80,000,000 kilograms a year. We also have the issue that while hemp can be harvested five or six times a year each harvest makes the yield weaker unless the soil is allowed to recover. Many farmers are forced to use synthetic fertilisers and those contain natural gas or oil quiet often. We therefore have an issue that even going green we place the planet in stress. I am therefore of the opinion that this organisation should not be a rival to OPEN, we should be a compliment to them. The irony is we fail to recognise that some OPEN members are actually leading the way where we fail. Just this past few weeks Daito and Rokkenjima have engaged in military exchanges, expanding their militaries and the like. You have also said that OPEN seek to maintain the prominence of fossil fuels let us remember that the worlds biggest facility for producing rechargeable vehicle batteries is operated by Tamora and Royal Seleucid, as such rather than excluding them through combative wordings we should be embracing and utilising what they are trying to do at the Gigafactory. All these new military vehicles used by Rokkenjima will be running on petrol, only one nation on Mundus has invested significantly in producing electric powered military vehicles and that is Royal Seleucid. We sit here, ourselves, Rokkenjima and Daito as nations privledged enough to have put people into space. Each time we have we have put around 200-300 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, thats the same as 50 cars driving for a year. So unless we are going to start cancelling our space programmes we are not in a position to start asking other nations to halt their production in favour of more expensive alternatives. Now if I may I believe that the aim of this organisation needs to be explored. If we are serious about achieving your aim of protecting the environment then large nations need to change their ways. The recent border issues between Rokkenjima and Daito, just like any conflict utilise a large military. Each one of the jets engaging in combat created 3,000kg of CO2 per hour of flight. I have no idea exactly what our hosts here will suggest as a way forward but I have outlined why I think we need to perhaps return to exploring exactly what this potential bodies purpose is as I believe there has been a huge mischaracterisation of the situation of OPEN V's the environment."

1.	Canada in RL

Game Day 8

Group 1

Group 2


Game Day 9

Group1

Group 2

Game Day 7

Group 1

Eskdale 1 V's 3 Preoira

Group 2

Dal Raitha 1 V's 6 Lymm

Current STandings

Game Day 5

Group 1


Group 2


Current Standings

Game Day 3


Current Tables

Day 1 Results

When it was announced that there would be a Pan-Celtic tournament to celebrate what many fans consider to be the anniversary of the sport of Shinty it was clear tickets would sell out in minutes. Today as the group stages of the tournament where released tickets went on sale with those for the final selling out in under 30 minutes. The final will take place at Eilan Grove Stadium with an expected 60,000 capacity crowd in attendance. One of those with a ticket is King Finley who will present the Caman Trophy to the eventual winner. "900 years ago our ancestors swung the wooden Caman and represented their clans in competition. We are going to honour the spirit of that with our modern nations. We shall keep alive our shared identity by coming together in a spirt of Celtic brotherhood and marvel at the skill, strength and determination of those wood swinging heroes of the modern game. I'm excited and while I naturally hope the Cenneg win I'm just praying that the tournament goes well and if successeful you can guarantee I will be ensuring this becomes an annual event and hopefully by the time we're celebrating 1000 years of this sport the tournament will have gone from strength to strength." A televised draw for the tournament took place with King Finley drawing the teams in Group A while his 17 year old son Prince Keane drew Group B. The groups stand as follows.

Group A

Preoria
Theocracy of Kaitaine
Arcaibh
Ui Cennslaig
Eskdale
Eigg

Group B

Cantabria
Dal Raitha
Seaforth
Lymm
Ruasilibh
McMoreland (Team made up of Seaforthians who resettled in East Moreland after the Seaforth Eugenics War)

Games are due to begin this weekend as the round robin phase of the tournament begins with games taking place at arenas across Ui Cennesliag. Supporters from the various competing nations have begun arriving and Claith has been busy as fans prepare to enjoy several weeks of entertainment. King Finley will be at the tournaments opening game as Ui Cenneslaig take on Eigg the King had invited Queen Aoife however the ongoing conditions of the Eigg referendum mean she will be unable to attend. King Finley did say. "It is a shame that young Queen has been hamstrung in such a way. Ui Cenneslaig will not involve itself in the referendum campaign but I wish Aoife well now she is out of custody. We have restored full relations with Dal Rathia and hope we can build on these no matter what the outcome. I will welcome all Heads of State or government officials wishing to come and support their team, I shall keep the fire lit, the whiskey ready and a warm welcome ever."

The fact that it is clear parts of the Rokkenjiman military have betrayed their oaths is worrying. We saw the confusion of trying to ascertain which side renegade forces were on during the recent Lodjain conflict and we should learn those lessons. As such we agree to declare all Rokkenjiman assets as hostile and having seen King David's decleration in the press will issue identical orders.

For the support and reassurance of our Maori friends we shall dispatch a carrier and escort immediately. It is our hope that this will reach in a a few days from stops in Ruaslaiblh.

OOC- No idea how that got missed Nova. I would say if no one objects within 48 RL hours then we should just add Vinitsia to the organisation.

Since Hans Bethe discovered the process of nuclear fusion was possible people have been saying we will see it utilised within "the next 30 years." That was in 1938 and the world is still waiting. Since then there have been numerous experiments that have seen it become a closer reality than ever before with the recent groundbreaking experiment in Achkaerin claiming to have produced a "net energy gain" this week. The RF2 facility claim that they produced 3.15 megajoules of energy as output, exceeding the 2.05 megajoules used to power the experiment. While the scientific world hailed this as a major step towards nuclear fusion Krokom based Professor Torben Kristoffer of The Krokom University joked, "The truth is that while fusion is in theory a great glimmer of a energy efficient future it is still 30 years away. It was 30 years away 30 years ago and I am sorry to say in 30 years it will still be 30 years away. The issue is we see experiments such as those in Altona and those in Achkaerin bringing very interesting headline figures. To the eyes of the non-science world expending 2.05 MJ to get what could be described as  1.10MJ profit seems good. However what must also be remembered is that the close to 200 lasers needed to create the beam required around 320 MJ during the experiment. We perhaps therefore are basing success on the wrong thing. While the idea of ignition is to create more energy than is used we only measure the actual end part of the process. It is also worth mentioning that the system used to carry out the tests is designed initially not for energy experiments of this kind but for nuclear weapons scientists to study the intense heat and pressures in explosions. While it is commendable that these men and women have now sought to harness the atom for peaceful means it remains the fact that the need to examine how this discovery can be harnessed for electricity production has yet to take place. The vast costs of projects like the one in Achkaerin are likely to make the process not a reliable one for electricity production however a glimmer of commercial light exudes from Altona's "Pistol Shrimp" method which while having produced less total output currently would be 1,000 times cheaper, per joule of energy, than using a laser. Traditionally laser or magnetic containment have been used for these projects. Laser has so far produced the higher yields but magnetic the more commercially adaptable technology, the Altonan path is the outlier which is why I'm very interested in that approach in the next few years."

Professor Kristoffer highlighted another key problem that the commericalisation of nuclear fusion could face. " these reactors will require deuterium and tritium. The good news is deuterium exists naturally in seawater and can be easy to acquire however tritium does not occur naturally in significant quantities. Some fission reactors produce tritium and it is likely some of those in operation globally could provide some. It is likely though that fusion reactors have to produce it themselves from lithium as there is only around 20kg of tritium available commercially. As lithium is in high demand and heavily used in places like the Gigafactory in Royal Seleucid and Tamora it is likely we have to choose between batteries or power production. As a planet we may find that we do better for the environment proiritising energy storage technology than energy production. We have many means on Mundus of creating clean and often reliable energy but it is often wasted. Take for example the large river in Lijiang. It is capable of providing vast amounts of cheap, clean energy 24 hours a day 365 days a year. The issue however is that it can not be stored during the night when very few people are actually utilising it. If we had a large scale means to store this then it is likely Lijiang and similar nations could all but cut the use of fossil fuels. We could even see nuclear fission benefit from the funds being devoted to fusion to make it even cleaner and safer and thus hand in hand with storage systems ensure our needs are meet."

Currently Professor Kristoffer is working on the final touches to the Alucard Ammonia Facility. This project is seeing a combination of solar panels and wind turbines utilised to create hydrogen through  electrolysis of water. This hydrogen is than passed through a Haber-Bosch reactor utilising more hydrogen for heating to produce ammonia. Around 150million tonnes of ammonia are used a year with 70% of this being used in fertilisers, however it could also be utilised as a potential zero-emissions fuel for energy intensive applications where batteries are not possible. Traditionally ammonia has been acquired by burning methane in the process and its manufacture is estimated to be responsible for 1.8% of global carbon emissions. If the project, which is likely to be fully operational by 2030, is successful the plant could produce 2.2million tonnes of ammonia a year. Dr. Kristoffer said, "It is our hope to do two things. First we can help clean up the planet by producing an important product needed across Mundus for very little carbon production. Second this could be a great boost to the national economy. We are currently living at a time to be very excited about advances being made in green technologies and I hope we can ensure the AAF is at the forefront."