The Presidium is the office of the NPL responsible for matters of State. Though its domestic powers are extremely limited and it is not a true executive body in that sense, it does exercise command over all branches of the Militia, and is wholly responsible for conducting diplomacy and negotiating foreign trade. It is, however, subject to a degree of review by the Grand Assembly, which is a combination of a cabinet for the Presidium and a national legislature.

It should be borne in mind that most all legislative power still devolves to the NPL's various local assemblies.

The Presidium consists of three members, who must have served in, successively, a local assembly and the Grand Assembly, though some current and recent members are considered to have served in a local assembly due to their participation in Revolutionary People's Assemblies and/or the post-Revolutionary provisional government, which drafted the NPL's constitution and established its electoral process.

A decision of any one may be overruled the other two, ensuring that no one individual may ever hold too much power, even under the other restrictions imposed by the constitution.

Traditionally, in order to maintain ties with Hokkaido, at least one member is a native of that territory.

***

President Laurel Kinney



Age: 31
Height: 5'6"
Weight: 116 lbs.
Medical conditions: Stiff right shoulder and minor chronic pain due to a poorly-healed bullet wound suffered in the defense of Seattle
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Blue

Education: M.A. Journalism and B.A. History from University of Cascadia, Seattle
Heritage: Irish-American (her name is derived from Kiernay, not the Scottish McKinney)
Religion: Catholic
Political affiliation: Jacobin Party
Professional history: Journalist for The Oregonian and anonymous (during the NPL Revolution) author of the revolutionary pamphlet Friend of the People; people's magistrate; Provisional Revolutionary Government and NPL Constitutional Committee member; grand assembly minister and deputy ambassador to Hokkaido; president of the NPL
Languages: English; Japanese (some); French (very little)

Most admired people: Victor Hugo; Jean-Paul Marat; Camille Desmoulins; Olympes de Gouges; Jean-Jacques Rousseau; Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst; Thomas Paine; John XXIII; Oscar Romero

Additional Information:

Laurel Kinney has been a rather extreme leftist idealogue and member of the (Revolutionary) Jacobin Party since her college years, but immediately after graduation dedicated herself far more to her career in journalism than to direct activism, which would later likely save her life. However, she found that the stories she was allowed to publish were quite limited and that she was often censored when they were critical of banks, the Oregon Territory government, major corporations, the police or military, or other mainstream media. She was frustrated, but abided for several years under these conditions, exposing hard truths as best she was able. According to both her political ideals and her faith, she was especially concerned with the plight of the poor, whose numbers were growing during her time as a mainstream journalist, and for whom conditions were worsening.

She took a chance in joining the enormous anti-government protest at the Hotel de Ville Seattle in 2003, which ended in a massacre of 223 protesters by terrified police, guarding the venue where powerful members of government, business, and the finance industry were discussing a response to burgeoning civil disobedience, ironically. After witnessing the horror, she began to call for violent revolution in her anonymous, self-published pamphlet, The Friend of the People. She was also impressed by Nathan Lee's speech at this event, which sought to avoid bloodshed without abandoning the rebel cause or compromising on its ideals -- she regarded it as the best effort possible and thus the police as not only having no excuse, but deserving reprisals. Her call of "blood for blood" was taken up widely and membership in the Revolutionary People's Militia swelled because of it.

Escaping and asserting that she had only been present as a member of the press, Kinney kept her position at The Oregonian, which was staunchly anti-Revolutionary, writing bland, token articles, but primarily using her press status to gain access to the police. In doing so she uncovered a great deal of evidence of atrocities such as summary executions en masse, detention under cruel conditions without trial, and torture. She publicized these findings in The Friend of the People, combined with powerful rhetoric, and support for Revolution surged again with each issue.

During this time she made Lee's acquaintance in person. He was quickly rising through the ranks of the Militia, having begun as a lieutenant and achieving the rank of general by the end of the fighting, though he had no clue of Kinney's subversive activities at the time. However, aside from her genuine admiration, she saw the propaganda value in holding up an exemplary hero of the Revolution, and portrayed him as such in her pamphlet. He had strongly mixed feelings, asserting that the real heroes all perished and he "only knew when to keep [his] head down", but his humility only made him the more popular amongst the masses.

After the military success of the Revolutionaries, Kinney revealed her identity as the author of the Friend of the People and was celebrated as a hero of the Revolution in her own right. Few dared to call her cowardly for remaining in the shadows, as it was well understood that had she done differently, she likely would have "disappeared" in the frightening purges she herself uncovered. She also became fast friends with Lee, and they worked together closely in establishing the NPL government system and Militia, though neither was amongst the most senior members of the Provisional Government.

The early legislative assemblies granted her a position as magistrate after she successfully stood for election, judging her unique insight into the crimes of the previous regime as indispensable to the task. In this position, she sentenced many members of that government to public execution, along with bankers and powerful businesspeople she knew had been complicit, by the new method of the guillotine or by firing squad. Though these acts were generally cheered, the reasoning behind public execution was that sentence passed in the name of the People should not be hidden from them when carried out, which principle remains part of the NPL Constitution.

Being devoutly Catholic, though she does not wear her faith on her sleeve, she has struggled desperately to reconcile these acts, and others taken as a member of the NPL government, with her religious beliefs, but rarely lets her inner turmoil surface.

Kinney subsequently was elected to the grand assembly, in which capacity she went on diplomatic missions to Hokkaido and, along with Lee -- who had made the trip to help organize a native Militia there -- became close friends with Hokkaido's young secessionist leader, Yamanouchi Tomoko. After a few more years in lower government positions, the three were elected together to the presidium and, though Kinney sees many of her actions as personal, moral failures, guided the NPL through a long period of peace and prosperity, until the Waldensian War.


Marshal-President Nathan Lee



Age: 32
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 146 lbs.
Medical conditions: PTSD with infrequent panic attacks, requiring anxiolytic medication in worst cases; right leg amputated beneath the knee after wound caused by a machine gun round in Waldensia, requiring an advanced prosthetic for continued physical activity with minimal impairment
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Brown

Education: B.A. History from University of Cascadia, Portland; Diploma Magna cum Laude, People's Militia Vanguard Officers' Academy
Heritage: Anglo-American
Religion: Agnostic
Political affiliation: Jacobin Party
Professional history: Substitute history instructor, Oregon Territory Public Schools; deputy of the First Revolutionary People's Assembly; lieutenant, captain and general of Revolutionary People's Militia (successively); general, officer-magistrate, first class, and marshal of the NPL Militia Vanguard (successively); grand assembly minister of defense; president of the NPL
Languages: English; Spanish; Japanese (moderate level); French (very little)

Most admired people: Victor Hugo; Louis-Antoine de Saint-Just; Lazare Hoche; Thomas Paine; Thomas Jefferson; John Stuart Mill; Vasily Chuikov; Georgy Zhukov; Vo Nguyen Giap; Robert E. Lee; Kuribayashi Tadamichi; (secretly) Napoleon Bonaparte

Additional Information:

Nathan Lee's story is the perfect example of how revolution can raise a person from the depths of obscurity to the heights of power, though in truth a president of the NPL has very little compared to other heads of state: He struggled to survive after his college graduation by working inconsistently as a substitute middle- and high-school teacher in the Oregon Territory's public schools, utterly unremarkable, though he was notably idealistic and taught history from controversial perspectives, as much as the school board would permit. After an economic crisis shook the country and led to skyrocketing unemployment, he found himself briefly homeless, living by charity in a tent in an urban camp.

At this point his leftist ideals came to the fore and he forcefully agitated amongst the poor for systemic reforms to bring about greater social and economic justice, proving to be a skilled orator and rousing many previously despairing individuals to political action. He was one of the first proponents of an alternate government, with members guaranteed to represent a cross-section of the general population, though, at the time, the concept was for it to exist alongside the establishment and check its powers. This led to his selection as a deputy of the very first People's Assembly, which garnered popular support in spite of the central government's refusal to recognize it.

When mass protests began to be suppressed by force in 2003, Lee formed a brigade cleverly employing historical pike formation tactics to hold riot squads at bay with dull poles, after noting the similarity between riot police tactics and those of the Roman legions. He also developed countermeasures against water cannon, teargas, and rubber bullets, repeatedly confounding police forces. He ensured that police officers would not be injured seriously, and instilled sufficient discipline not only to prevent protests from being broken up, but to keep the protesters from behaving aggressively. That they only defended themselves against riot squad attacks increased public backing, and showed Lee to be both sincerely benevolent and politically astute. His defensive brigades eventually become a permanent fixture of the rebel movement as the Revolutionary People's Militia, of which he was made lieutenant when they organized more permanently and along more paramilitary lines. Higher ranks were sensibly reserved for military veterans who had joined the resistance movement, though Lee's inventiveness and leadership skills were universally appreciated.

He did all he could to prevent the disaster of the Hotel de Ville Massacre, attempting to appeal to the police as fellow common workers who should join the anti-government movement, but to no avail. When Laurel Kinney's call for the People's Militia to use lethal force in response to lethal force was widely taken up, he reluctantly followed, and began adapting his tactics to the use of rifle and bayonet as he trained new recruits, now employing his historical knowledge of defensive urban warfare.

Afterward, events progressed faster than the revolutionaries had anticipated. Rebel leaders and any suspected sympathizers in Seattle were rounded up in lightning raids by the Oregon Territory's Special Police, never to be seen nor heard from again, as the established government and their allies panicked. Only Laurel Kinney's timely warnings allowed Lee and his fellow officers to prepare as they retreated to Portland. Seattle itself was left a ghost town, under martial law and 'round the clock curfew, its streets constantly patrolled by police and military vehicles.

Being forewarned, Lee and the other officers of the People's Militia posted defenses to prevent the same occurring in the South. The Special Police were met with ranks of rifles, taken captive, and their offices and armories swiftly raided and stripped bare, weapons turned against their former owners. Many members of the military, having received orders to fire on their countrymen and women, defected and joined the rebels, though not all. Lee and other officers of the Militia knew that a determined strike be coming from the North. At this point, for his leadership during these counter-raids, he was promoted to the rank of captain and admitted to the highest Militia councils.

He was amongst the foremost proponents of a daring and dangerous plan, which counted on the Militia being underestimated. Lee was well aware that this ran counter to every principle of military leadership, but reckoned that, under the circumstances, it was both a necessary and sensible gambit: It paid off, in the end.

It was assumed that the military and police attacking from Seattle would cross between Portland and Vancouver. There were other crossings over the Columbia, but this was the most direct, and widest. A cautious enemy may have taken another and attempted to approach Portland from east or west instead, but one expecting incompetent opposition would not, so he and a few others argued. Lee then volunteered to lead a force that would present itself as the whole opposition in Vancouver, whilst the Columbia Crossing was rigged with explosive.

He requested volunteers, carefully advising that the task was tantamount to suicide, but received enough. When Oregon Territory tanks rolled southward, they fired, displaced, and fired again, spread thin, so as to create the illusion that they were far more numerous than they were in truth. The bulk of the resistance waited in Portland.

When they could hold no more, Lee ordered a retreat over the highway bridge in seeming disarray and panic. The act wasn't hard to put on, as casualties had been horrific, but whatever the individual motives, it was done and convinced the Oregon Territory forces to pursue rapidly, armor in the lead. As soon as the surviving rebels had crossed, under withering enemy fire, and bridge was laden with tanks, the explosives were detonated and the majority of the loyalist armor sent to the bottom of the wide river.

Lee would later regard this as his most traumatic experience in command second only to Ismailabad, though he had scarce a day's rest before the ruse was exposed, pontoon bridges lain, and more mechanized elements were crossing whilst Portland was bombarded with artillery and air strikes.

A long and miserable siege set in, which would leave the rebels reduced to eating pigeons, rats and dogs. Lee later recounted that three things enabled him and the Militia to carry on: The refusal of the Oregon Territory's naval forces to take part; aid from Hokkaido, which thus couldn't be blockaded; and Laurel Kinney's exultations for continued resistance.

After three months, the remainder of the loyalist military had been consumed in the meat-grinder of urban warfare or had refused to carry on and revolted against the government as well, the Revolution was won, and Nathan Lee promoted to general and acknowledged as the finest leader of the Militia. He would qualify any praise by saying that he was, if he had to accept it, only the finest surviving leader.

Lee subsequently went on to occupy various positions in the NPL government and proved a valuable asset in unifying Cascadia and Hokkaido. His relationship with Yamanouchi Tomoko became more than professional and they became engaged to be married until her death in battle in Waldensia.


Admiral-President Furukawa Kumiko



Age: 29
Height: 5'4"
Weight: 108 lbs.
Medical conditions: None
Hair: Dark
Eyes: Brown

Education: Diploma with honors, Sapporo Prefectural High School; Diploma Summa cum Laude, Maritime Militia Officers' Academy, Otaru
Heritage: Japanese
Religion: Shinto
Political affiliation: Populist Party
Professional history: Lieutenant, captain, commodore, rear admiral, and admiral (successively), NPL Maritime Militia; deputy of the People's Assembly of Sapporo, grand assembly minister of defense; president of the NPL
Languages: Japanese; English; Korean (very little)

Most admired people: Themistocles; Tokugawa Ieyasu; Andrea Doria; Horatio Nelson; George Washington; Nathan Hale; Togo Heihachiro; Yamamoto Isoroku; Kuribayashi Tadamichi

Additional Information:

Though not politically-inclined one way or another before the secession of Hokkaido, Furukawa Kumiko, as a citizen of Sapporo, found herself supporting independence immediately after her high school graduation, out of pure patriotism. When Hokkaido seceded from Japan shortly thereafter, she found an opportunity to embark upon a course that had only been a wistful daydream before: A career in the navy, or Maritime Militia. Several of her ancestors had served on ships in the Russo-Japanese War and WWII, and she had always romantically envisioned battle on the seas in the name of her homeland as her destiny. The Japanese Self-Defense Forces offered little opportunity, but the NPL Maritime Militia was hungry for recruits. She joined as a deck-hand and petitioned for entrance to the newly-founded Maritime Militia Officers' Academy in Otaru Harbor, which she was granted.

Furukawa excelled in all her studies and, in her enthusiasm, found herself embarrassing her classmates with her scores, in the classroom day-to-day, and aboard ship in practical trials. She thus quickly became an unpopular loner, but paid little notice to social matters and scorned her adversaries with indifference. She cared only to be the best, and if it cost her would-be friends, she supposed they wouldn't have been good friends to begin.

She graduated at the top of her class, as all expected, and continued to distinguish herself in drills and maneuvers, though was frustrated by the lack of action afforded the Maritime Militia whilst Kinney, Lee, and Yamanouchi strove for peace and shunned military intervention anywhere. She rose through the ranks on exercises and tests alone, but the achievements felt empty. Fearing that her efforts in the Maritime Militia might be for naught, she presented herself for election to the Sapporo Assembly, since Maritime Militia officers were permitted to maintain their ranks while holding public office. Her career as a politician was unremarkable, though, accounting for her status as an officer, she was eventually elected to the grand assembly as a minister of defense.

When the grand assembly and local assemblies were exhorted by the presidium to take part in the civil war in the failed state of Waldensia, for humanitarian purposes and to form a stable government, Furukawa was amongst the foremost voices in favor. Being permitted, she eagerly abandoned her seat in Sapporo for the command of a fleet tasked with relieving the Militia Infantry under Marshal-President Lee. They had been besieged ruthlessly by a factional foreign force in the city of Ismailabad and struggled to break out and reach the shore for extraction. President Yamanouchi had been slain and Lee himself left in dire condition; as he struggled to regain consciousness and awareness, walking on a broken leg, only General Amelia Harwick held the Militia Infantry together.

Furukawa saw her opportunity and drove her destroyers, bearing some of the world's heaviest naval cannon, to their shallowest draft in the bay south of Ismailabad, bombarding enemy forces with 40cm and 20cm shells constantly. As she pushed her crews with a furious urgency, they reached nearly five rounds per minute per gun, churning enemy lines and negating the advantage of their armor. She could not, however, prevent the launch of chemical munitions against them, nor artillery against her own fleet, which claimed a ship and all hands. For that loss, she has yet to forgive herself, and at times has sunk to thinking she ought to sacrifice herself likewise.

Still, she is rightly regarded as a hero of the Waldensian War, as her fleet launched landing craft that evacuated some 1,500 souls who would otherwise have been condemned to death, including Marshal-President Lee. After President Yamanouchi Tomoko's death in the land battle was confirmed, she was hastily selected as president of the NPL, for her service and for her origin as a citizen of Hokkaido, at least one of whom is mandated by unofficial convention to hold one of the three presidential offices.

Furukawa now finds herself a loner again, displacing a member of a tightly-knit group of friends, but being no real replacement. She does not entirely appreciate the "honor" of her office, but accepts it as a duty. She struggles to find her place in the presidium even as she dreams of further glory -- and penance -- even at the cost of her life, on the sea.

((AR here btw ))

This is fine as far as I'm concerned, since I won't be registering two States on the forum, as per the rules and common courtesy.

Name of State: (The) North Pacific League

Name of Representative: Natalie Brannon

Link to NS Page: http://www.nationstates.net/nation=the_north_pacific_league