Commonwealth of Independent Cities

Commonwealth of Independent Cities

Organization of Virtual Paradise

Leader(s)	General-Secretary Graystripe (2023-present)
Founded	2018
Government	Intergovernmental organization
Members	Victoria, Summerville, Lynnfeld, Cannaville, NCH, Sparta, Centralia
VP Suite	?

The Commonwealth of Independent Cities or Commonwealth is a regional intergovernmental organization and quasi-government for Blizzard (by extension, the community of Virtual Paradise at large).

History

The Commonwealth was birthed in response to the collapse of the original government of Victoria in 2018, and to an extent, to combat the growing dormancy of the community from 2018 to 2020 after fallout from the visit of Vinesauce, a popular gaming streamer. While all the main cities of the time had agreed to join the Commonwealth nominally, the organization itself largely existed only in name. The leaders of each main community within the Commonwealth wanted a more holistic approach based on an emphasis of improving the experience of VP through the foundation of contributing towards a network of cities united under common infrastructure, lore, and general inclusiveness. There was also an desire to replace the dormant Parliament system as the de-facto means of organizing regular community meetings.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, general interest in interaction with the VP platform slowly grew back on top of the pre-existing Discord server having kept the community connected with one another. Calls to give the Commonwealth actual power (thus formally resurrecting the project) were made in 2020, to little avail, and were only largely echoed by the city of Victoria which itself had fallen into decline due to IRL obligations by Courier and OptimumPx. Fortunes for the organization would quickly change three years later, as turmoil in AW plus an strengthen interest by the VP community to revitalize allowed for the formal adoption of a proper charter in 2022. Only the cities of Cannaville, Victoria, Lynnfeld, NCH, and Summerville would sign onto the new charter; Rezdog, Chimerock, and Phoenix City collectively were abandoned by their leaders, while Wayside was accidentally added in despite not being a true community.

The first formal governmental meeting of the Commonwealth was hosted at Summerville City Hall in March 11th, 2023, five years after the Commonwealth was established. Graystripe was elected as the General-Secretary of the Commonwealth a week before, replacing the "previous leader" Rei who was elected under a different charter system.

On April 3, 2023, the village of Sparta as well as Centralia (formerly Downtown Blizzard) joined the Commonwealth, uniting all active areas of Blizzard for the first time since the inception of that world.

Charter of the Commonwealth

Article One – Roles and Administration

• (1.1 – Definition) - The Commonwealth of Independent Cities is a voluntary union of city communities within Virtual Paradise with each community holding one seat represented by one Governor (or lore equivalent title). One Governor (or lore equivalent title) will hold the title of General-Secretary and additional rights & privileges. Each Governor owns their community, able to freely administrate itself and/or participate within/establish a nation.
• (1.2 – Roles & Rights of the General-Secretary) – 1. The General-Secretary of the Commonwealth holds all rights and privileges afforded to the Governors as the office holder must also remain a Governor while acting in their duties. 2. The General-Secretary is responsible for the organization and heading of government affairs, regulating community meetings, and helping to organize voting procedures. 3. Acts as the primary decision maker among governmental affairs that are not in conflict with this charter. 4. The term limit of General-Secretary will be subject to debate within VP at a date to be defined after ratification of the Constitution.
• (1.3 – Roles and Rights of the Governors) – 1. Governors must represent a well-defined community and remain in active standing within the Virtual Paradise community. 2. Governors are allowed to submit their community and secede/withdraw from the Commonwealth at their community’s discretion. 3. Each Governor has a vote towards picking a General-Secretary, regardless of what system of election/voting is determined by the body to select a General-Secretary. 4. In the event that a community is led by a council or any system involving multiple leaders, that community must declare one leader as a delegate (designated governor) to represent them.
• (1.4 – Frequency of Meetings) – - The General-Secretary must provide for regular, monthly community meetings at the first Saturday of each month starting 7/1/23 via adopted amendment. It is entirely within the purview of the General-Secretary to pick a time that works best for the maximum amount of participants.

Article Two – Inactivity

• (2.1 – Governor Resignation & Inactivity) – The departure or resigning of a Governor without a replacement put forth by the community they represent will result in a community temporarily leaving the Commonwealth.
• (2.2 – General-Secretary Resignation & Inactivity) – The departure or resigning of a General-Secretary will result in an immediate election among the communities.

Article Three – Amendments

• (3.1) – Any governor may call for a vote on an amendment to the Constitution of the Commonwealth. Minor amendments involve adding a subsection to existing Articles, whereas major amendments involve the creation of new Articles.

General-Secretaries of the Commonwealth

• The first leader, Rei of Chimerock, was elected as the original leader. However, this was under the 2018 version of the Commonwealth, and Rei effectively pursued no formal agenda.
• Graystripe was elected as the first leader of the 2023 version of the Commonwealth, and is currently the representative for Summerville.