(Clarification, I am larping to some degree here. I do not actually think anything I'm writing about here is all that serious beyond a video game world. It has not had any impact on my personal life, and is not a reflection on the out of game character of others. An AI summary will be at the bottom of my post, read that if you do not have the time or initial interest in my writing, but please consider reading the whole post if you decide to engage with it beyond reading)
I have in recent months began to critically reflect on my time I've spent in Icenia. It was my home for at least a few years, and to this day many still tie my identity to that nation there instead of where I play now. I think most critically about my failure to accomplish any real systematic change mostly, and why I was not able to prevent the nation to fall to the status of where currently is. This is not to imply I had the ability to single-handedly save things, but an admission that there were at the very least viable paths towards preventing the decline that I could have taken to contribute meaningfully in steering the nation on the right track post grasslands gambit.
I'm not particularly interested in delving into the decline, or arguing with people who deny the nation has not fallen drastically from where it was when I first arrive to where it is now. At this point, anyone who was not a loyalist to the current administration has left or at the very least dissociated their people away from Icenia (the bloomians, the icarians, the nations which have left the icenian sphere of influence like Nara). Those who remain either have deeper personal connections with the leadership and their continued support is not based on material or political gain, are opportunists taking advantage of the personal relationships with people in power to seek refuge from the rest of the world they've pissed off, or play sparingly/symbolically more or less out of tradition or disinterest in starting anew in a new nation. I will contain the criticism of the current administration to this paragraph alone and avoid pointing fingers at specific people who fall in this group as they are not the subject of this essay (nonetheless, If they read this I expect them to make themselves present in commentary about this essay with particular focus on this paragraph lmao).
The solution in hindsight was deceptively simple: meaningful, careful, strategical, disciplined action against the status quo. It is no secret to anyone aware of how Icenia is structured that Icenia is not a democracy where people make change primarily at the ballot box (or voter chest in this case). I believe it would be more effective and accurate to view Icenia as a constitutional monarchy with American aesthetics (present in both building style and governance: instead of a King or a monarch it is a "President" to use one example). All peoples who wish to challenge this establishment must accept this for what it is, else you will fall into the same traps I did and repeat my failures. You cannot simply vote structural change into the system, beyond everything it is a system focused on maintaining stability above all else.
Like a machine, it is built of gears. Without gears, a clock is incapable of fulfilling its purpose and without the gears of Icenia the nation cannot function. The gears are given authority to turn and function by the leader, an administrator who themselves does not do the necessary material work to keep the nation alive but instead grants permission for the gears to function. In this way, the gears and the administrator have a symbiotic relationship. Without the gears, the administrator does not have a working machine to administrate over. Without the administrator, the gears do not have the authority to become active agents in maintaining and operating the system.
A clock has hands powered by the motion of the gears. Whilst they are given the ability to move, they can only do so through the power of the gears. The gears work is often difficult, time consuming, and requires a higher degree of skill or knowledge (Maintaining and refreshing snitches, designed and constructing defensive infrastructure, programming tools and designing farms etc). The hands of the clock are the easiest of these parts to replace. Their purpose is still necessary, but their function can be replaced the easiest and they have the lowest level of power in the system because of this. This represents your average Icenian senator, the judge etc. Change does not come from their authority, it is granted ultimately from the administrator powered by the action of the gears.
In my time, I would place myself firmly in the category of the hand. Sometimes my work could be challenging, the laws I would write would require some level of understanding of how things work and I would occasionally need to do some manual labor to accomplish things but ultimately my material impact could have been easily accomplished by another person (and currently is). I don't disagree with the ideals of my movements (pro-democracy, pro transparency in government, anti-estalianism etc) but I have concluded that my work in achieving these things ultimately lacked direction.
In retrospect, I failed to act like a gear and believed that my role as a hand alone could bring the changes I fought for simply because I could secure the roles I did through democratic systems (senate elections). What I failed to realize was that consent of the masses alone was not enough to make change in a system that is ultimately non-democratic (i'm not going to delve into the pros and cons of democracy in civ nations in this essay). I was not refreshing the snitches, I was not building the farms, I was not fighting the wars, and thus I was not a gear.
Failure provides us lessons and wisdom for those who are willing to learn from them. I want all peoples who wish to seek change in their system (or other non-democratic systems) to avoid falling into the slump of becoming an ineffective bureaucrat, else you will inevitably fail like I have and loose the energy to make change whilst you still can. In order to replace the gears, you must become one. A revolutionary who cannot practically contribute is nothing more than a hand on a clock. You must make yourself irreplaceable in the machine, you must make yourself useful. It is not only your moral obligation to your cause, it is your material obligation. You must not let yourself become comfortable with failure, content with the collective agreement of your people that you were "in the right".
Ultimately, it means nothing to have been right without having made the changes you wish to seek. It is easy to win a debate when your ideas have good fundamentals, but you are the agent of your ideas. You cannot vote your way into change, nor do you possess the power to redirect the ship with your words alone (this is a right only granted to the administrator). If you think your government is failing you and your people, you must replace the functions of the gears maintaining the system. You must mold and refine yourself through difficult political and material work even when it is not always immediately rewarding to do so.
You must become a gear.
SUMMARY: I’ve spent recent months reflecting on my time in Icenia and my failure to contribute to meaningful systemic change or help prevent its decline after the Grasslands Gambit. In hindsight, I believe I misunderstood how power operates within Icenia, treating it as a democracy where change could be achieved through elections and political advocacy when it functions more like a constitutional monarchy that prioritizes stability and relies on an administrator to empower the people who keep the nation running. While I still support the ideals I fought for, including democracy, government transparency, and opposition to Estalianism, I recognize that my efforts lacked direction because I focused on political roles rather than the practical work necessary to sustain and influence the system. I failed to become one of the essential “gears” of the machine, instead remaining a replaceable “hand” whose authority depended on others. My experience has taught me that those seeking change must do more than win elections, make compelling arguments, or prove themselves morally right; they must become materially useful, develop practical skills, and take disciplined, strategic action to challenge the status quo. Ultimately, being right means little without achieving results, and anyone who genuinely wants to reform a failing system must be willing to do the difficult, often unrewarding work necessary to make that change possible. You must become a gear.
