Mostly Harmless Alliance


 * "MHA" redirects here. For the Tournament Edition alliance, see Mostly Harmful Alliance.

The Mostly Harmless Alliance, also known as MHA, is a sanctioned Aqua team alliance founded on September 9, 2006 by JimmyK, R11ch, and VinnyP. The MHA is run by a democratically-elected Triumvirate, along with a group of five Ministries, each run by an appointed Minister. The MHA prides itself on putting peace and diplomacy before war, and works diligently to improve and develop all nations within the alliance.

The MHA was founded by two former NPO and a former NAAC member which was reflected by the MHA's strong bonds with the NPO for more than two years. The core principles of the alliance are based on respect and friendship towards fellow hitchhikers; loyalty and dedication to the alliance's allies; and peace and unity for their home sphere of Aqua. These are the guiding factors of the alliance and the MHA exists today as a proudly strong and friendly group of nations—dedicated to the advancement, security, and prosperity of each individual nation and to the alliance as a whole.

After the dust settled from the Karma War, the Mostly Harmless Alliance found itself ranked 3rd in the alliance standings. It soon rose above Sparta and TOP to become the most powerful alliance, and is currently the number five alliance in the alliance standings.

Don't Panic!
The MHA uses the philosophies and mindless quotes from . Our namesake and Charters have been based on the writings of Douglas Adams and the general outlook is one of tongue-in-cheek fun, much like the famed radio, book, and television series. They're hoopy froods who sip Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters while attempting to fly by falling and missing the ground. Above all else—they don't panic.

The MHA Way
The MHA exists as an alliance of both friendship, respect, and dignity. We are the ones taking it easy and never panicking. Our membership respect the MHA Way as being one of freedom of speech, respect for each other, having a laugh, and enjoying the cyberverse. The MHA Way is not to serve yourself. Every opinion is sacred, but we shall always respect the needs of the many. The nations of the MHA work together in trade, friendship, and mutual support in difficult times. We are beacons of prosperity, growth, joy, and strength. You shall never be alone in the MHA, as long as you are ready to be involved. We are an alliance. We are a family. We are the MHA.

History
The Mostly Harmless Alliance has a strong history of building foreign relations, honoring its treaties, assisting its allies to victory in war, and being a major player in their home sphere of Aqua. Since its inception as an alliance in September 2006, the MHA has entered and won many major conflicts along side their allies, signed several mutual defense-based treaties, joined two alliance blocs (the Continuum and the Trident), and remained united and collaborative with the Aqua trading sphere. Since January 2007, MHA has been a proud member of Aqua, one of the first alliances to adopt the color as its team, as well as the first Aqua alliance ever to achieve sanction status (in January 2008). From November 2007, the MHA completely updated and improved their government operations through a three-month change-over called the Harmless Revolution. MHA remains today as one of the top sanctioned alliances, as well as the strongest and largest alliance in Aqua, and, more recently, the game.

Triumvirate


The Triumvirate is a three-member executive council, elected by the members of the alliance. As the alliance's collective head of state, the Triumvirate is responsible for legislating alliance policy, the ratification of all treaties, overseeing all internal departments, the deployment of alliance military, and the management of all alliance affairs. It is the main decision-making body and the Triumvirate's members are the leaders of the Mostly Harmless Alliance. The position of Triumvir is considered one of honor and privilege; as such, it receives the utmost respect from every member of the Mostly Harmless Alliance.

Triumvirs are elected to terms of three months, with one Triumvir being up for election each month. When vacancies arise on the Triumvirate, the remaining Triumvirs, and the Ministers, nominate a replacement who is then approved by the Hitchhiker's Assembly. The Triumvirate is the successor to the Overseers and Senate that used to run the Mostly Harmless Alliance, and was first established by the First Harmless Revolution. Today, the Triumvirate is prescribed for by the Charter of the Mostly Harmless Alliance and by the Second Harmless Revolution.

Ministries


There are five Ministries of the Mostly Harmless Alliance, each led by a Minister who is appointed by a unanimous vote of the Triumvirate. Each Ministry is responsible for one of five key areas of alliance operations—War (Destructor Fleets), Economic Affairs (Towels), Communications (Bad Poetry), Foreign Affairs (Babel Fish), and Internal Affairs (Hitchhikers). Each Minister also appoints a Deputy Minister. Deputy Ministers are the apparent successors of their respective Minister, and are generally responsible for helping in their Ministry in general and for taking over in the absence of their Minister.

Each Ministry also employs teams of staff to help them carry out their responsibilities. The Minister of the respective Ministry appoints members of a Ministry's staff. Ministers themselves serve indefinite terms, though the Triumvirate or Hitchhiker's Assembly can remove them at any time. In addition, the Ministers act as a recommendatory body to the Triumvirate and assist in discussions and decisions relating to alliance affairs.

Assembly
The Hitchhiker's Assembly is the legislative and direct democratic body of the Mostly Harmless Alliance. The Hitchhiker's Assembly is comprised of all members of the alliance, and is lead by a democratically elected representative called the Speaker. Two of the original goals of the Hitchhiker's Assembly were to get the general membership of the Mostly Harmless Alliance more involved in the government of the alliance, and to allow the Mostly Harmless Alliance to be a true, directly democratic body where all hitchhikers could speak their mind and have a say in their alliance. The assembly has the power to make amendments to the official documents of the alliance, to elect government officials, to remove officials, and to overrule officials.

MHA Charter
The Charter of the Mostly Harmless Alliance is the official constitution of the Mostly Harmless Alliance, ratified on Saturday, September 26, 2009. It outlines the three organizational bodies of the alliance known as the Executive (the Triumvirate and the Ministries), the Legislative (the Assembly), and the Judicial (the MHA Court) bodies, as well as basic procedures of the alliance. The Charter is supported by three other official documents, known as the Supporting Document Policies. These documents outline in more specific detail the organization, procedure, structure, rights and rules of the alliance.

The Harmless Revolution (Executive Government)


Describing every single detail of the Government, the Harmless Revolution was the first of the three documents to be compiled, as the MHA changed to a new Government system with a Triumvirate head of state in 2007. The Revolution also details the responsibilities and operations of the five Ministries, the team of Government Advisors, Administrators, and all other official positions. At the fundamental heart of this document is the preservation of democracy in the alliance, and the protection of the people's will, which is central to MHA internal policy and a major factor in the alliance's beliefs. The Harmless Revolution began in November 2007, when the original idea was proposed by Working Class Ruler to move to a new Government system, starting with the Triumvirs in December. The Ministries came in January 2008 and the Court was completed in late March, with elections in April.

In 2009, as part of a major overhaul of the MHA Charter, the Revolution was updated and improved. The updated version was ratified on Thursday, September 24, 2009.

The Hitchhiker's Assembly (Legislative and Judicial)


The Hitchhiker's Assembly is a powerful new organizational body in the MHA that empowers each and every Hitchhiker together to govern, legislate, and retain control of the alliance. Through the Assembly, the Hitchhikers' voices are promoted, making it simpler for them to enact change and pass motions. In addition to this, two new positions were created to ensure Hitchhikers' voices are heard: the Speaker of the Assembly, empowered by the people to organize and manage our democracy and enact all Assembly decisions; and the Legislator, responsible for maintaining and protecting the Charter—appointed to give the Assembly the guidance and organization that democracy needs to be effective. The Assembly also now includes the Judicial Body of the alliance (the MHA Court). The Assembly was ratified on Thursday, September 24, 2009.

The Hitchhiker's Code (Code of Conduct)


Written by the members of the MHA, the Hitchhiker's Code is a code of conduct for all members, detailing their rights, responsibilities, freedoms, and rules. This document is unique as it was compiled by various contributions from the MHA membership, not being written for them like a typical charter. This means the document truly belongs to the Hitchhikers of the alliance. The Code was opened for contributions on February 22, 2008, and for the next few months, members of the alliance added their own segments to the treaty, which were composed together into the final document we have today. The Code is summarized in the Guide, which gives a dot-point explanation of each of the Code's main articles, in order to give an overview of the alliance's main principles and beliefs. The Code was finally ratified on November 24, 2008.

Military History
* other merits also exist for this war

Joining
To become a member nation of the Mostly Harmless Alliance, a nation must be a member of the Aqua Trading Sphere, though exemptions to that requirement may be made. A nation must also place "Mostly Harmless Alliance" as their Alliance Affiliation, display the flag of the Mostly Harmless Alliance, and register on the MHA Forums and post an application. After a candidate posts an application, they are checked to ensure that they have complied with the aforementioned requirements, are not in any wars, and do not have any suspicious history or aid. After which, they are admitted to the MHAcademy where they learn the basics of Cyber Nations. Should an applicant pass the academy, then they become a full member with all rights and privileges granted to members.

Summary:

To join the MHA, a new hitchhiker (member) needs to:


 * Place "Mostly Harmless Alliance" as their Alliance Affiliation
 * Display the MHA Flag (Mostly Harmless Alliance), on their nation
 * Join the Aqua trading sphere (exemptions are allowed)
 * Register on The MHA Forums and be approved by the MHA.