Nomination Day: Adjustments to Election Routine

(Year 233, Winter) As the Year 235 election gets closer, it's time to take a look at some changes that will affect both the political system and the electional routine. Most changes are minor, and all were approved by all three Chambers already. The four political parties were involved with most of the proccess, and got all details in time to plan for their upcoming nominations and political program.

Mrs Anita Ferny from Oasis Springs is our current High Judge, leading the Court Chamber.

Nomination Day is next week already, on 1st day of Spring, and this is exactly 1 year before the next election. Right here and now High Judge Anita Ferny (72), leader of the Court Chamber, will shed som light on the most important adjustments.

Photo leak: Flock People Baby was born!

(Year 233, Winter) Earlier this year we learned that Landgraab Science Lab attempted to secure the mythical Flock People by making a science baby based on DNA from the old Flock man. The project was successful, much thank to Edith Mox (47), a local Flock People enthusiast who volunteered to carry the baby and give birth. The birth took place already, and today the first photos were leaked!

The baby obviously has the green skin of the Flock People, and hair is red. It's a bit early to tell the facial structures, but we can definitely conclude that the ears will be bigger than  normal!

Winner announced: Mazaloom Achievement Award Year 233

(Year 233, Winter) They say that it takes three times to make a new tradition, and this week a tradition was sealed! The annual Mazaloom Achievement Reward for maxing a skill was handed out for the third time. The committee, lead my HRH Crown Princess Emireza, searched high and low for this year's awarded resident. She was found in Brindleton Bay and her great achievement is maxing the Cooking skill.

HRH Crown Princess Emireza (22) and Emma Sherwood (87).

Emma Sherwood (87) served House de Cavalier for decades, cooking their everyay meals. But she also prepared food for large parties, and she was a trusted support for the duke's three children - today all grown up. When Emma retired, she was offered to move in at Hindquarter Manor, an estate owneed privately by the duke. She would stay there for as long as she wanted, and without serving the household - unless she felt like giving a hand occasionally.

Preparing for the Mazaloom Census

(Year 233, Winter) The nation is facing a very interesting period! The political landscape is changing, not only thanks to a fourth party joining the 5 years election. The political sysem has been slightly adjusted and also the past regional reform will bring minor changes to the number of seats at People Chamber, representing each region. And on top of all this, we had a strong population growth in several regions!

Minister Rebekah Starks leads the Ministry of Health & Welfare. She represents the MIDDLE party and district of Gloomville.

Rebekah Starks (46), Minister of Health & Welfare, took a moment to remind us all to update your information if you moved or switched career, or recently gave birth at home!

Salon Orchid: New Owner

(Year 233, Winter) At Starlight Boulevard in Del Sol Valley, everyone with a foot in showbiz knows where to go when they want to freshen up, or perhaps winding down. The salon offers both outfits, makeup and massages. And now there is a new owner!

This little style business was founded by Anaya Jang (67), better known as Minister of Culture & Entertainment. She needed something creative to focus on aside of her strong and lasting political engagement. Anaya had a seat at People Chamber for multiple periods, based on her tireless involvement with Arts Quarter in San Myshuno, where her little family resides. Anaya was the Hood Contact representing the LEFT party for "as long as she can remember". Now that her daughter, Billie, is a young adult, Anaya found it time to let go of the salon.

Greetings from the Stone Family (at home)

A step out of the box today. My Stone family were thrilled to find the picture seen below. Sarah Stone (right), partner Alexander Meshram, and teen son John Stone (left). Posing at a square in Nordhaven was more than they could dream of.

- We reside at Spice Market in San Myshunio, Sarah explains. - We are quite poor, and would never afford 3 tickets up north to Nordhaven. Airplane would be out of the question, so we would need to go by buss via Magnolia Promenade, Brightchester, Henford, Newcrest, and Windenburg to reach Nordhaven. That would sum up to quite a bit, so we are not likely to travel this far, making it nice seeing this "postcard" from a travel that we can only dream of.

Royal Court - Investitures

(Year 233, Winter) First day of Winter is Investiture Day, also known as the annual Royal Court. On this day HRM King Tarriot, or a member of the royal family in his place, will knight new members of the high orders of the kingdom, or confirm a new Peerage holder. In addition other members of the large peerage will be officially announced. It is a day with long treaditions, including a gala dinner in the evening.

This year four persons got the main attention. Houses of Kaching, Cavalier, Croismare and Crumplebottom, all entered the Throne Room podium to receive their royal blessing.

Skill Lectures and National Mentors

(Year 234, Spring) Ministry of Science & Education is currently debating a better national routine for education aimed towards young adults and older. Both elementary and secondary students already have options including privat schools - including boarding schools, in addition to the free national school system. We also have university and institutes which are popular for career specializing, but normally takes 4 years to complete. Now the time has come for grown-ups who want building a single skill in a less formal setting. Ministry of Science & Education will focus on venues for learning specific skills, covering personal interests and beyond.

While the target group will be grown-ups, many teenagers will also find this interesting, especially those in need of building certain skills to be accepted for a chosen private high school. Many teenagers have hobbies, too.

New Royal Portraits

(Year 233, Fall) Royal Palace Office (RPO) has released four brand new portraits of central members of the royal family. It's been a while since the previopus updates, but with a new royal photographer on board, the future updates might get more frequent. Read more about the new photographer below. First we'll take a look at some of the new portraits.

They all come in multiple versions, all certified by the RPO. The most interesting to most Mazaloom residents is of course the portraits of HRM King Tarriot and HRH Queen Venezia.

Nordhaven admitted District status

(Year 233, Fall) Today Council House announced that the Nordhaven community has been granted status as a district of Mazaloom kingdom. Having district status means they will elect their Mayor come the Year 235 election.

Nordhaven, located just north of Windenburg, is a quite old community. Founded in Year 84, while the area was still property of the Crown, it was a popular off-trail destination for hunting royals. King Wizar established a new harbor up here, and also had a small estate, Haven Herrenhaus, built to oversee the increased business with SimNation farther north.

Free download: N.A.P. posters

I wanted to make more out of the in game votings (ECO Lifestyle EP required), so I added a bunch of custom mini posters for sims to drag attention to their point of view. There is one poster for each Neighborhood Action Plan (NAP), and they are perfect on a sim's office wall - being a Politician or just an individual supporter, or to the typical "no posters allowed here" walls that you find around town . at the bus stop, speaker's corner, or recycling station wall, or where ever posters get displayed. Perhaps you alreay have a set up in a corner of the public park with a debate station (Discover University EP required) where locals can speak up?

Text is in Simlish, and the lay-out varies just enough. The icons are from the game. These posters are easy to position, but if you allow them to overlap, they will be flickering.

Mazaloom Super Bowler

(Year 233, Fall) The annual bowling cup took place in Gloomville this weekend, and the bowling club has proven that this event has come to stay. This year no true celebrities qualified for the 8 available start numbers, so the problem from last year when fans and photographers occationally disturbed the contenders was avoided.

Left to right: Polly Prescott (Copperdale), Ramona Talcom (Brindleton), Bill Loffertop (Copperdale), Garvin Clump (Newcrest), Bianca Sterner (Copperdale), Bertel Dougham (Brindleton), Roger Lockerbud (Copperdale) and Konrad Wooblershield (Windenburg).

Club leader Bill Loffertop (66) said that advertising had been sparse in order to make the tournament more effective. For the first time all sets except qualifications tok place during the same weekend. It would not have been possible with a bigger audience. The challenge is that some of the audience walk in to talk with contenders during the set. We have no international venue where the audience is seated separately from the bowling lanes.

High Note Talent Agency for Musicians

(Year 233, Fall) Today the last, but not the least important - new webpage from Mazaloom kingdom's many talent agencies went public. If you work with music you should check out High Note Talent Agency!

From Olivia Clump's Farewell Concert at Museum of Classical Music in San Sequoia.

This agency signs with Musicians and Singers. They help building a career, through marketing and a wide network of consert venues - small and huge.

Royal Teens observed in Chestnut Ridge

(Year 233, Fall) Guests at the local «Canter Dinery & Nectary» probably had to look twice to believe what they saw: The Crown Princess of Mazaloom walking in to place an order! No stylish outfit? Not even her hair properly done? No security? Or wait, was her bodyguards in disquis as regular restaurant guests? No wonder everyone stopped eating!

She placed her order and walked outside. And the guests were unsure whether the quick event actually took place at all.

Latest News from the Snorthia Conflict

(Year 233, Fall) There has been very few news regarding the ongoing Snorthia-Mazaloom culture conflict. Early Spring the Royal Palace Chief Attendant, Miss Patricia Maiden (52), accepted an invitation from Emperor Orchor of Snorthia. She has been accused for starting the conflict by recognizing her late mother as the mothel of a paintet portrait, «Moon Liza», that was claimed by the Emperor to be a very old national treasure. Now they claimed Miss Maiden to travel to Snorthia to help solving the problem. She was warned, but insisted on going. And now it seems like nobody heard from her ever since.

No, it is not Miss Maiden in that hopscotch.

As result of the conflict, Mazaloonians is no longer granted access to the empire, to which we share a long border. Our Winter sports athletes can still not visit Mt Komorebi to practice - Miss Maiden was a rare exception.

Maps galore

(Year 233, Fall) There is a new page in the Community section, namely a page providing a set of maps covering a wide range of topics.

The plan was to reveal the maps one by one, but there are currently so much going on that you get all those maps in one go, and well - maybe there will be more details in future articles here on the blog. Or maybe not.

The map page is linked from the start page of the community section.

Stately Estate for the Prime Minister?

(Year 233, Fall) Up to this day, the Prime Minister of Mazaloom was never offered a stately owned estate suited for the duties coming with the position. Former prime ministers did stay with their family, just like they did before winning the election. The subject has now been debated by People Chamber, and changes are coming!

Prime Minister Rob Wilder (72) is the one who introduced this case. Staying with your family makes the job harder because the security must be considered constantly, and your spouse and children might be dragged into whatever consequencies following your political battles and statements.

Showbiz: The Talent Agencies (part 2 of 2)

(Year 233, Summer) Here comes the second part of the biggest talent agencies. Mazaloom's recent focus on showbiz lead to new webpages to secure transparency and a minimum of public information.

This time we're releasng the pages for the top notch agencies - those signing with the more famous actors and actresses. Goldie Ruthfield Acting Network (G.R.A.N.) is currently the goal for many actors. Those even more ambitious might sign with Well Suited Talent Agency.

Agnes Crumplebottom's 100th birthday Celebrations

(Year 233, Summer) This year Mrs Agnes Crumplebottom celebrates her 100th birthday! Come jpin the celebrations! Agnes resides at her cousin Agatha's place, a rather small apple cottage rented from the Rossie dukedom. Not quite what you might expect from one of Mazaloom's wealthiest residents, owning 15% of Landgraab Industries, Inc. easily places her in the top 10 list. Some years ago she said that at her age a large mansion is no longer of interest due to all the walking.

Pictured above are (left to right) Agatha Crumplebottom, Mr Angus Crumplebottom (Agnes' only child), Agnes Crumplebottom, Bertha (Honeydew) Crumplebottom (Angus' wife), and Miss Agnella Crumplebottom (5, Agnes' only grandchild).

The grey grand lady has been joking about that she hopes to live to join her party, but she never laught of her own joke. She obviously made it, and today the entire household was set for celebrations, not without a couple surprises. First a local get together at the Armed Gnome pub, to be followed by a special birthday stage performance at Fun Factory in Magnolia Promenade, before a late dinner at Hotel Roadstead.

Showbiz: The Talent Agencies (part 1 of 2)

(Year 233, Summer) We are currently focusing on showbiz, and time has come to release two more new webpages! You can now learn more about two of the many talent agencies; A.I. Staffing Talent Agency and Everyday Extras Talent Agency. These are often referred to as the newcomers' agencies, and two top notch agencies will be released shortly.

Signing up as an Extra, you might find yourself in an TV-show audience before you can count to ten.

So, lets get to know those agencies a little better!

Gossips #15

(Year 233, Summer) Tune in for the 15th issue of my gossips column! It's a massive read, so please bring that tea mug! Welcome!

This time I have some long awaited and super hot gossips involving Judith Ward! But we will stop by in every corner of the kingdom, because there is so much going on everywhere! Juhuuu! What more can you ask for?

Graveyards

(Year 233, Summer) Church of Similius, being the stately religion of Mazaloom kingdom, has refined the routine for funeral services. This has now been approved by Ministry of Health & Welfare - and Ministry of Culture & Entertainment, where the church actually sorts.

High Priest Ansgar Profedius (69) informs that the adjustments were overdue, but that the changes are not massive. The one time fee for a grave larger than the standard 2 ground tiles will be of interest to some families. Also, the memorial ceremony service is now better explained on the church's webpage.

The small district graveyard in Oasis Springs is home to the old Donnersmalt Crypt.

The kingdom's five parishes were not affected by the Regional Reform Y233, but some districts now belong to a different parish anyway. This affects Oasis Springs, switching to Advorton parish from Meadows parish, meaning they will still relate to the same old district graveyard in Oasis Springs, but now be administrated by a different parish Priest. San Myshuno broke out from the old Region Mazaloom to form its own region, but still belongs to the Meadows parish.

Noldus the Clown decorating the Nation

(Year 233, Summer) Once again the mysterious Noldus the Clown grabs everyone's attention. His popularity seems to grow even when he is not showing up in persona. It's been a while since he appeared in San Sequoia, and most fans accepted that he had done the 8 locations that were expected. Yet nobody did reveal the clown's identity, but it seems like most followers care less.

- His identity is Noldus the Clown! says one fan. - That's all I need to know!

But then, this morning something unexpected happened!

Political parties - Spring gatherings

(Year 233, Spring) Every year in Spring, our political parties arrange their annual gatherings. Most years they will debate the current political situation and perhaps serve a couple tidbits to the press in order to drag attention to their political program, but this year is different: The parties must work on their political program to have a final version ready in time for Nomination Day, a little less than one year ahead.

Four political parties are preparing for the upcoming Y235 election.

A party's political program can stay unchanged for many periods, but this time there are numerous changes to the entire system, some as a result of the Regional Reform Y233. But there is also a new political party, WORLD party, facing their first election ever. On top of this numerous long time Politicians can not run for another 5 years period due to age. Candidates can not be elderly on Nomination Day. This time both Prime Minister Wilder (RIGHT) and Vice-PM Silverbone (LEFT) are too old!