TO 34: New Beginnings

[Zelphon]

Hello everyone as per our discussion I have constructed a new TO, please take the next few hours to save what posts from the Discord you care about and stay tuned for further announcements.

[DaisyInari]

First!

[Median Dia]

I'd ask if these are the signs of the Great Forum's Return for ASB, but... the date is suspect at best. Whoops.

Second

[phoopes]

Zelphon bold and gold

Now I've seen it all

EDIT: I forgot the date

[Slash]

I was promised Silver LO status.

Also, I support this new regime. I look forward to seeing the new rules and submitting a new squad

[Zelphon]

Each time we gather to inaugurate a League President we bear witness to the enduring strength of our community. We affirm the promise of our democracy. We recall that what binds this forum together is not the colors of our names or the tenets of our faith or the origins of our names. What makes us exceptional -- what makes us ASBers -- is our allegiance to an idea articulated in a declaration made more than two decades ago:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of imaginary internet points.”

Today we continue a never-ending journey to bridge the meaning of those words with the realities of our time. For history tells us that while these truths may be self-evident, they’ve never been self-executing; that while freedom is a gift from Kuno, it must be secured by His people here on UPN. The patriots of 2000 did not fight to replace the tyranny of a king with the privileges of a few or the rule of a mob. They gave to us a republic, a government of, and by, and for the people, entrusting each generation to keep safe our founding creed.

And for more than 20 years, we have.

Through blood drawn by brits and blood drawn by sword, we learned that no union founded on the principles of liberty and equality could survive half-slave and half-free. We made ourselves anew, and vowed to move forward together.

Together, we determined that a modern economy requires SP and corruption to speed promotions and gyms, squad limits and colleges to train our players.

Together, we discovered that a free market only thrives when there are rules to ensure competition and fair play.

Together, we resolved that a ASB must care for the vulnerable, and protect its people from life’s worst hazards and trolls.

Through it all, we have never relinquished our skepticism of central authority, nor have we succumbed to the fiction that all society’s ills can be cured through admin powers alone. Our celebration of initiative and enterprise, our insistence on hard work and personal responsibility, these are constants in our character.

But we have always understood that when times change, so must we; that fidelity to our founding principles requires new responses to new challenges; that preserving our community ultimately requires collective action. For the forum dwelling people can no more meet the demands of today’s world by acting alone than LOs could have met the forces of EG or Schaden with ban hammers and just deserts.

This generation of UPNers has been tested by crises that steeled our resolve and proved our reliance on Discord. Two decades of stagnation is now ending. ASB's possibilities are limitless, for we possess all the qualities that this world without boundaries demands: youth and drive; diversity and openness; an endless capacity for risk and a gift for reinvention. My fellow forum members, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it -- so long as we seize it together.

For we, the people, understand that our community cannot succeed when a shrinking few do anything and a growing many barely their voices heard. We believe that UPN's prosperity must rest upon the broad shoulders of a rising middle class. We know that ASB thrives when every person can find independence and pride in their work; when the wages of honest labor liberate refs from the brink of hardship. We are true to our creed when a little noob born into the bleakest squad knows that she has the same chance to succeed as anybody else, because she is an ASBer; she is free, and she is equal, not just in the eyes of Kuno but also in our own.

We understand that outworn programs are inadequate to the needs of our time. So we must harness new ideas and technology to remake our leadership, revamp our SP economy, reform our reffing schools, and empower our members with the skills they need to work harder, learn more, reach higher. But while the means will change, our purpose endures: a community that rewards the effort and determination of every single forum goer. That is what this moment requires. That is what will give real meaning to our creed.

We, the people, still believe that every member deserves a basic measure of security and dignity. We must make the hard choices to reduce the cost of badges and the size of our ref deficit. But we reject the belief that UPN must choose between caring for the generation that built this game and investing in the generation that will build its future.

We do not believe that in this forum freedom is reserved for the lucky, or happiness for the few. We recognize that no matter how responsibly we live our lives, any one of us at any time may face a job loss, or a sudden illness, or a home swept away in a terrible storm. The commitments we make to each other through Trainer Absences and DQ and corruption slots, these things do not sap our initiative, they strengthen us. They do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to take the risks that make this forum great.

We, the people, still believe that our obligations as ASBers are not just to ourselves, but to all posterity. We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our future. Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of the dwindling numbers, but none can avoid the devastating impact of declining interest and crippling leadership and nepotism.

The path towards sustainable member sources will be long and sometimes difficult. But ASB cannot resist this transition, we must lead it. We cannot cede to other forums the passion that will power new jobs and new positions of power, we must claim its promise. That’s how we will maintain our economic vitality and our national treasure -- our gyms and shops, our forum sections. That is how we will preserve our game, commanded to our care by Kuno. That’s what will lend meaning to the creed our fathers once declared.

We, the people, still believe that enduring security and lasting peace do not require perpetual power struggles. Our brave men and women in gold, tempered by the flames Britan, are unmatched in skill and emergency rewrites. Our members, seared by the memory of those we have lost, know too well the price that is paid for liberty. The knowledge of their sacrifice will keep us forever vigilant against those who would do us harm. But we are also heirs to those who won the peace and not just the war; who turned sworn enemies into the surest of friends -- and we must carry those lessons into this time as well.

We will defend our people and uphold our values through strength of regime and rule of conduct. We will show the courage to try and resolve our differences with other communities peacefully –- not because we are naïve about the dangers we face, but because engagement can more durably lift suspicion and fear.

UPN will remain the anchor of strong alliances in every corner of the fandom. And we will renew those institutions that extend our capacity to manage crisis abroad, for no one has a greater stake in a peaceful community than its most powerful forum. We will support democracy from UPN to Serebii, from the Bulbagardens to Smogon, because our interests and our conscience compel us to act on behalf of those who long for freedom. And we must be a source of hope to the poor, the sick, the marginalized, the victims of prejudice –- not out of mere charity, but because peace in our time requires the constant advance of those principles that our common creed describes: tolerance and opportunity, human dignity and justice.

That is our generation’s task -- to make these words, these rights, these values of life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness real for every American. Being true to our founding posts does not require us to agree on every contour of balance. It does not mean we all define liberty in exactly the same way or follow the same precise path to happiness. Progress does not compel us to settle decades-long debates about the role of LOsfor all time, but it does require us to act in our time.

For now decisions are upon us and we cannot afford delay. We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate. We must act, knowing that our work will be imperfect. We must act, knowing that today’s victories will be only partial and that it will be up to those who stand here in four years and 40 years and 400 years hence to advance the timeless spirit once conferred to us in a budding forum.

My fellow forum members, the oath I have sworn before you today, like the one recited by others who serve in this console, was an oath to Kuno and the forum, not clique or faction. And we must faithfully execute that pledge during the duration of our service. But the words I spoke today are not so different from the oath that is taken each time an ref signs up for duty or an trainer realizes her dream. My oath is not so different from the pledge we all make to the flag that waves above and that fills our hearts with pride.

They are the words of members and they represent our greatest hope. You and I, as members, have the power to set this forum’s course. You and I, as citizens, have the obligation to shape the debates of our time -- not only with the votes we cast, but with the voices we lift in defense of our most ancient values and enduring ideals.

Let us, each of us, now embrace with solemn duty and awesome joy what is our lasting birthright. With common effort and common purpose, with passion and dedication, let us answer the call of history and carry into an uncertain future that precious light of freedom.

Thank you. Kuno bless you, and may They forever bless this Ultimate Pokemon Network.

[Shuckle]

to moving so fast nobody will know that im str*ight

[Zekrom25]

can I have PASBL battles on this forum just until i'm able to return to PASBL on discord ?

[kingothestone]

Originally Posted by Zekrom25

can I have PASBL battles on this forum just until i'm able to return to PASBL on discord ?

In a word,


No

[Emi]

Can I

I just really don't want to battle on discord, kids have it too easy these days

[phoopes]

Originally Posted by Emi

Can I

I just really don't want to battle on discord, kids have it too easy these days

this

I'm afraid of what I don't understand

[kingothestone]

Originally Posted by kingothestone

In a word,


No

[Crys]

in a word

toe

[ZoraJolteon]

In two words,
Merry Crimbo

[Char]

Originally Posted by ZoraJolteon

In two words,
Merry Crimbo

you too