State Opening of Parliament

This Speech was originally given by the King, in the Storting of Balder, but is reproduced here for all Nations and Friends of Balder

"Dear Talman of the Odelsting, President of the Lagting, Members of the Storting, and Citizens of the Realm;

My first announcement today is the appointment of upc, as Statsminister, under The Instrument of State and Government Act, with the unanimous support of both Chambers of the Storting. Having served as Minister of War, and WA Minister this last term, and also with experience in high office abroad, he is both qualified and capable to serve the Realm in this position.

The past term I believe has been a hugely successful one, particularly from a cultural and diplomatic point of view. The term started with a festival with TSP to celebrate our treaty with them signed earlier in the year, and was followed by a festival with TNP to celebrate Pride Month, and now we are participating in the ongoing Percy Jackson & The Carnival of Celebrations, a massive endeavour involving The South Pacific, Balder, The East Pacific, The Grey Wardens and 10000 Islands. For her key role in organising these events, and similar events in terms prior, I would like to pay tribute to Sarah Bread by bestowing upon her the chivalric order of Mimir (KM).

Indeed, a particular highlight early in the term was the signing of The Pact of Runes and Tacos, with 10000 Islands. To have such a distinguished and historied region as a partner, would have been almost unthinkable years ago, due to the baggage and obstructions of the past. But to their credit, and our calm resolve, we have overcome such challenges with both them and our other new partners, over the past year. We have forged from the glowing embers of the past, not a sword to pursue further conflict, but a scythe to reap the harvest of our consistently constructive diplomatic engagements. That is to say, it has taken a lot of groundwork to bring to fruition the positive changes that we have recently achieved with some of our new partners and allies.

On the subject of the overdue harvest of what was sowed some time ago, we also saw this occurring recently with some of our primary detractors. For some time they have entertained this rather childish delusion, that they were going to criticise Balder, and we would never respond. For a long time they put this rather naive theory into operation, but the public relations disaster that unfolded after the revelations of Operation Ragnarok by Quebecshire, has shown their folly. They sowed the wind, and now they have reaped a diplomatic whirlwind of consequences. As per usual, and I have personally experienced this firsthand, the 'meritocratic' leadership of Osiris proved totally inept and incompetent in handling the consequences of this situation, their only merit seemingly being unrequited loyalty to those that put them in power. Indeed, on the question of their Pharaoh's inclusion, I recall asking in the Power20 panel discussion in June; "lets wait and see if they are any less of a stooge than other recent Osiran delegates". It did not take long to answer that question! To update our laws to reflect this situation, members of the Storting recently voted to remove The Rejected Realms, Founderless and Empire of Mare Nostrum from the proscribed regions registry and add Osiris and The Brotherhood of Malice to it. And deservedly so.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the regions that stood in solidarity with Balder, especially those that made specific public statements of support in their embassy threads on the gameplay forums; The East Pacific, The South Pacific, The North Pacific, Europeia, Thaecia and Free New Regions, amongst others.

These recent events have also given us a chance to reset relations with Lazarus, with which we already had an extant treaty on our books, but that was not recognised under the present Lazarene Mandate. Given all that has transpired in Lazarus over the years, in the various destabilising events of 2013-18, as they are after all on their twelfth mandate I believe - I have long wished to build a bridge between our regions, and make a fresh start. So it gives me great pleasure personally that the Treaty of Alfheim with Lazarus negiotiated during this term, will be signed shortly. Lazarus is an historic GCR in which we have played a deeply intertwined role in as a fellow sinker, and I believe we can seize this opportunity to move forwards together.

And then, last but not least, a joint initiative was unveiled yesterday: the Modern Gameplay Compact. This is a new multilateral alliance involving Balder, Europeia, The North Pacific, The Pacific and The West Pacific. Not only was it a pleasure to work with all the other signatories and thrash out our common goals and purpose. But what a great achievement it is to be able at the end of that process to sit at the table with some of our oldest allies, as one of the five founding partners of this initiative. I look forwards to working with all the other signatories in passing the treaty through the relevant legislatures in the coming term, and then putting the initiative into action. I hope will live up to it's great potential.

With all the treaty changes and such matters it was a relatively busy term for the legislature, and for his long service as Talman including during this term, I would like to acknowledge Theoden Sebastian, the Duke of Aalborg, with the chivalric order of Forseti (KF). But none of the above would not have even been brought to the Storting, without the dedication and hard work of the Statsminister Kazaman, who I think thoroughly deserves the chivalric order of Thor (KH) which I bestow upon him for the spectacular feats he has achieved this term as outlined above. The Executive leadership team of both the Statsminister and Deputy Statsminister, Kazaman and Sarah Bread, has proven a great combination, and they have excelled in their respective areas during the term. For their service both this term, and previously in the Statsraadet, I think it appropriate to raise Kazaman to the title of Jarl of Karlstad, and I also confer upon Sarah Bread the title of Baroness of Borgeby. Congratulations to them!

And so I shall end by thanking everyone else; citizens, residents, and our friends abroad, for your support, and your contributions to Balder, both this last term and going forwards.

Fram!"

North East Somerset

King of Balder