The Roleplay Reel - Issue III

[El Fiji Grande]

 

[El Fiji Grande]

FA Distribution Code [full text]
Contains smaller images.

[hr][box][center]We are aware that not everyone is equally appreciative of image-based NS newspapers. As such, we've included the standard format mostly plain-text version of the newspaper in the spoiler below. We hope you enjoy reading this month's issue! If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or suggestions, feel free to telegram the current TNP Minister of Communications [nation]Kaschovia[/nation] or Minister of Culture [nation]Prydania[/nation].[spoiler=Standard Version][hr][hr][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/9brILVO.png[/img][/center]

[size=140]Editors' Note: The NS RP Symposium[/size]
In this Issue of The Roleplay Reel, we're trying something a bit different. Instead of hosting articles specific to Strangereal and Eras, this Issue is a special edition that focuses on the recent events of the NS RP Symposium. An annual event, the Symposium was hosted by Greater Dienstad and The North Pacific, and featured a wide variety of discussions, lectures, and meetings on a diverse set of topics and ideas relating to roleplay. In case you didn't get the chance to attend the Symposium, we'd like to give you the opportunity to read each of the lectures presented. 

The Editors of the Roleplay Reel
Prydania, Syrixia, Kaschovia, and El Fiji Grande

[hr][size=140]Vexillology in Roleplay[/size]
[align=right][i]with Highton, TNP Deputy Minister of Culture[/i][/align]
Hello! My name is Highton, and I am an RPer in TNP’s forum continuity, Eras. This article will go into the role of vexillology in RP, and some aspects of flagmaking that can be important in an RP setting. I have designed many flags over the past few years, whether they be for aspects of my own nations or for others on Discord or the RMB.

A flag is arguably the most important piece of worldbuilding a nation. It is a symbol of the nation, and it represents it on a global stage. The flag will often be the first thing you associate with a country, and it can be the first impression of you on others. For these reasons, it is important to have a good flag, both aesthetically beautiful and representative of the nation. There are a few well known basic rules of flag design, plus a few more tips that I will also go into later relating to the RP side of things.

[b]The Basic Rules of Flag Design[/b]

[b]1. Keep it simple[/b]

Keeping the design simple is always an important aspect of flag design. While it is usually specified that you should be able to distinguish a flag flying in the wind, in the case of RP is should be simple enough that you could distinguish it in a small size such as an emoji on Discord or as a part of a worldbuilding image. In addition, do not make elements and symbols so small that they are hardly visible. A good idea is to use a simple background, either a field, bicolor, or tricolor, and include one striking and recognizable, yet simple, symbol in the middle.

[b]2. Use meaningful symbolism[/b]

Using meaningful symbolism is perhaps one of the most important of these rules; if what is on the flag represents nothing, then the national symbol lacks meaning. Consider which colors make sense based on the culture and government of your nation. In RP, you also have the ability to give symbols a new meaning as they relate to your nation: feel free to include these on flags and explain what they represent in your nation. Ideally, do not use more than one major symbol on your flag, as it will make it less distinctive. Once you have designed your flag, you should be able to explain the meaning of every element of the flag.

[b]3. Use no more than a few basic colors[/b]

It is import for flag designs to be kept simple, as shown in the first rule; for similar reasons, it is important to keep the colors simple. It is very important to make sure that the colors contrast well. If you are using three colors, I recommend one light color, one dark color, and one neutral color. As mentioned previously, each color should have meaning. There are certainly exceptions, and some flags can look good with more than three colors, but in general, limiting their number is a safe bet. It is best not to use multiple shades of the same color.

[b]4. No lettering or seals[/b]

In general, keeping letters and seals/coats of arms off of flags is a key rule. Seals can be overly complex compared to the simple nature of good flags. In addition, it is pretty much impossible to make out the seals in a smaller size as mentioned in the first rule. One of the worst types of flags are the infamous “shield on field” flags, which are simply a blank field with a coat of arms or seal in the center. These should be avoided at all costs. For the most part lettering should be avoided as well as it cannot be read in a smaller size. On NationStates, there are many flags which not only use text on the flag but also use unorthodox or silly fonts. At all costs, avoid Comic Sans, Brush Script, Arial, Impact, American Typewriter, and other inappropriate fonts if you absolutely must include lettering.

[b]5. Be distinctive or be related[/b]

Your flag is an opportunity to stand out amongst the rest. Make it something interesting. Experiment with different designs before settling on your final choice. Make it unique and symbolic of your nation. Try a set of colors not resembling any real-life country- these can sometimes work out very well. It should be distinctive and not resemble any real-life flag too closely. Be creative! You can collaborate with other RPers to use common symbols or even similar designs but only do this if it makes sense from an in-character standpoint.

[b]Other tips for RP flags[/b]
[list][*]Try several different arrangements of the colors that you have chosen- this can be done by using the color randomizes function of FlagMaker. You never know which combination will look great.
[*]Be realistic: if you are creating a flag of a government department or low-level subdivision, it may simply be a “shield on field” flag or an ugly design since these flags tend to be this way.
[*]Try looking at your flag on a FlagWaver- this shows you how it would look flying in the wind. Some flags do not work as well flying in the wind, so this is a useful tool. https://krikienoid.github.io/flagwaver/
[*]If creating a tricolor, try a light or neutral color if the sides are both darker colors.
[*]If you use two similar colors, make sure there is a border which contrasts both so that you can tell where the colors’ boundaries are.
[*]Have fun. Be creative. Take inspiration but do not plagiarize. Making flags can be an enjoyable experience to create a symbol of a nation and create a work of art.[/list][hr][size=140]On IC/OOC Separation[/size]
[align=right][i]by Ghant, NS RP Symposium Chair[/i][/align]
This is a topic that I feel very strongly about, as in my personal opinion this is the largest problem in the NS RP community that I’ve experienced over the years, and on a near daily basis. I’ve seen it cause the death of many roleplaying communities, cause years-long personal rifts, destroy roleplays and ruin the reputations of many writers. In other words, this is a very serious topic, and one that I feel is an essential subject to lecture about.

I should note that throughout the course of this lecture I'll often be referring to both nations and characters (really the only two things that a person can RP on NS). However certain things specifically pertain to roleplaying characters (such as emotions). The distinction between Nation and Character RP is a topic for another day, but alas the key issue of IC/OOC separation applies to both.

The beginning of this lecture consists of explaining what the difference between In Character and Out of Character is. Please keep these in mind throughout the course of the lecture, because the distinction between these two forms the core of this topic.

[b]In Character[/b]- Anything pertaining to the fictional world where your nation and characters exist.

[b]Out of Character[/b]- Anything pertaining to the real world, and you as a person.

[b]The Mythical Line Between Writer and Nation[/b]

Lots of people have a hard time understanding the separation between writer and nation. They have for years, as long as I’ve been on NS. Many guides have been written on the subject, and yet there’s a lack of understanding in the roleplaying community, especially among novices. So I’ll state it plainly right here and now. The writer is not the nation. Don’t confuse the two.

Let’s get one thing straight: you do not exist ICly. You’re not being a nation or a character. You’re attempting to make choices for a nation or character based on your understanding of their motivations and the world and the consequences. Everything you choose for your nation or character is warped through the lens of your own perception, your own understanding, your own experiences, your own biases. And, a lot of the time, you’re guessing. You’re guessing what it would be like to be this completely different person in completely different circumstances in a world that doesn’t exist. Two players writing identical nations or characters in identical situations will still arrive at different choices because their choices are skewed through the lens of their own perceptions and experiences. Even actors – who don’t have to make decisions for their characters because some screenwriter already made the decisions – even actors bring something of themselves to every role they play.

But, here’s the weird thing: it’s kind of crazy to expect people to remove themselves from the equation all together. You are “playing the game” because some part of you wants to play the game. Some part of you wants to be in the story. You want to make the decisions. You don’t actually want to just find out how some person who isn’t you would handle things. You want the agency over the decisions. If you didn’t, you’d just read books or watch movies. Of course, the game and the story have to satisfy you. They have to appeal to your sense of what makes a good story, what makes interesting characters, and what makes a fun gaming experience. You want to win the battles through your nation. You want to make the choices through your nation. You want to solve puzzles through your nation. Whatever.

Have you ever cried during the sad part in a movie? Have you ever felt excited when something awesome was happening in a book? Have you ever been scared or freaked out at something you saw and had a hard time going to sleep that night? I’ve experienced all of these things, and I’m sure most of you have too. It’s a natural emotional response.

Stories are meant to evoke emotions. By and large that's how you tell whether it's a good story: by how it affects you and engages you, emotionally. Roleplay stories are no different. We are playing (or should try to be playing) well-rounded characters with depth, fears, and passions. We involve them in complex, dramatic stories. We live vicariously, to various degrees. It is both to be expected, and very normal, that sometimes we feel real life emotions due to in-game developments and events. That we are so much into our character's heads that we not only know what they think, but feel how they feel. This blurring of emotional lines between what the character feels, IC, and what you the player feel, OOC, is what is referred to as IC/OOC Separation.

[b]First Person Versus Third Person Pronouns[/b]

A bad habit I’ve observed over the years (and perhaps the most commonplace) is the use of first person pronouns in reference to people’s work. This really gets on my nerves (I consider this my greatest pet peeve on NS) because it is a habit that inevitably blurs the lines by virtue of the nature of pronouns. Specifically, this is the use of the terms “I, me, my, mine, we, ours, etc.” in reference to someone’s nation or characters. I wrote about this topic previously in the MT Advice and Assistance thread, and you can find that discussion topic here: First versus Third Person pronouns.

Examples:

“I’m sending a diplomat to you.”
“Why are you attacking me?”
“My nation is going to attack you.”
“We do not like X nation’s actions.”
“This disputed border territory is mine.”

By now you see where I’m going with this. This type of language makes it seem as though the writer is inserting themselves into the IC world, in the form of their nation or character. This of course sets a dangerous precedent, because if you believe that your IC creative assets are extensions of yourself or your ego, then you’re going to take things a lot more personally (instead of treating it like fiction, which almost always gives you things you don’t like in the course of the story). Whenever I refer to my nation or characters, I always make sure that I refer to them in the third person.

Examples:

“Ghant is sending a diplomat to Nation X.”
“Why is Nation X attacking Ghant?”
“Ghant is going to attack Nation X.”
“Ghant does not like Nation X’s actions.”
“This disputed border territory is Ghant’s.”

I specifically word my sentences that way so that the person I’m talking to understands quite clearly that Ghant the nation and Ghant the person are two different things that exist in two different universes. Ghant the person is me, the guy writing this lecture. Ghant the nation is a fictional setting that exists within a collaborative fiction writing community. I am not it, and it is not me. I merely write about it. Yet a lot of roleplayers don't get this, and that leads to the next part of the lecture.

[b]Self-Insertion[/b]

It is very important in roleplay to understand that IC (in character) is not OOC (out of character) and vice versa. You aren't your character. Your character isn't you. If someone thinks your nation is ran by assholes, that doesn't mean they don't like you. If your character is in love with another character, it doesn't mean you are in love with that character (or that character's writer). The wall there, that understanding that IC is not OOC, is important to have.

The lack of IC/OOC separation becomes a problem when people project their real-life feelings onto their nation (or other peoples’ nations), or when they allow their nation’s actions or their character's feelings to change how they behave in real life.

For example:

Imagine that you think that homosexuality is wrong (OOC), but you play a nation that is ambivalent about the issue with no strong feelings either way. You interact with a nation, ICly, that is very accepting of homosexuality. If you RP your nation to lecture the other on how homosexuality is immoral, you're failing to separate IC and OOC. You feel that way; your nation doesn't care. Or, vice versa, perhaps you strongly feel that homosexuality is perfectly fine (OOC), and you interact with a nation that is homophobic. Because the nation holds views that you as a person don't agree with, you become hostile or unfriendly towards the other nation's player (I see this happen all the time). That's failure to separate IC/OOC.

Another example:

Your character is dating Character A, in a roleplay. If you become possessive or jealous of the player, and begin feeling jealous or giving them a hard time about playing with other people, that's a huge OOC/IC failure (this is based on a personal experience of mine right here on NS). The fact that your characters are involved, doesn't mean that you, the players, are. The same thing applies for 'negative' feelings as well. Your character and another character might hate each other! But when you hate the person behind the keyboard, just because they're mean to your character...that's an IC/OOC failure. That's you not being able to tell where fantasy ends and reality begins.

[b]Emotional Entanglement[/b]

Roleplaying in the context of NS is an exercise in creating a nation that is convincing. It's a bit like an acting exercise; convincing roleplay requires you to sink yourself into your characters and see the world through their eyes, to react to situations and other characters just as a real person would. When you pull this off, a character turns into a realistic avatar that appears to have just as many emotions and feelings as any real person would.

But roleplaying emotions and experiencing emotions are two very, very different things. For some, it's hard to separate real emotion from character emotion -- they seem like one and the same. Actors are experts in identifying that line between what is fiction and what is reality. They can slip into convincing emotional states and out again with relative ease. Roleplayers may seem like actors, but while actors are trained to see that line, roleplayers have to find that line for themselves.

Many roleplayers never find that line or even think about it. For some, what they roleplay and the emotions they feel while they roleplay translates and crosses over to how they are feeling in real life. If they roleplay a scene and their character gets angry, they feel anger even after they've walked away from the computer. If they roleplay a romance with another character, they begin to think they have genuine feelings for the person they are roleplaying with -- even if they've never exchanged any details about their out-of-game lives with each other (you’d be surprised how often stuff like this happens on NS).

It can be hard to spot when a roleplayer is taking events a little too seriously. As a roleplayer, you're looking for genuine bits of emotion from those you roleplay with, but those genuine bits of emotion are an in-character thing. If you notice that your roleplaying partner is acting strangely, carrying anger out of character or treating you as more than a roleplay partner, this may be a warning sign. And if that's the case, you may want to stop the roleplay between the two of you and let things go before it gets too serious.

If you are having issues with emotional entanglements in game, don't beat yourself up over it. Actors are trained to separate that line; roleplayers are not. However, if you feel that your emotions are getting the better of you -- if you begin to feel those emotions carry over even after you log off and say goodbye for the evening -- you may want to examine how seriously you're taking your roleplay.

If you're still angry, ask yourself why exactly you're angry and who you are angry at. If you're feeling a romantic connection with a roleplay partner, ask yourself how well, really, do you know them? Are those things you fancy traits of the roleplayer or just traits of the character? If your emotions are getting the better of you, you may want to consider taking a break and stepping back from roleplaying until you evaluate the situation.

[b]Emotional Manipulation[/b]

I had a friend who joined a region with the best intentions of simply getting out there and roleplaying his nation and his characters. He quickly worked his way up the ladder within the roleplaying group and found himself an “officer” in it. But after he became an officer, one of his fellow officers began making advances on his character, and it quickly became apparent she wanted to roleplay some sort of relationship with him. He wasn't interested in roleplaying romances with his character; what he wanted out of roleplay was more serious story and less soap opera romance.

This was all well and good, but when he politely informed her of this out of character and had his character gently turn her character down, she didn't care for it at all. And thus began weeks upon weeks of her character slowly sinking into depression and experiencing all sorts of horrible situations, all because his character had refused her advances. Not only did this make him feel guilty for not giving in to her demands, but it brought the mood of the rest of the region down as well. Having a roleplaying officer do nothing but roleplay her character's misery wasn't really anyone's idea of a good time.

Any attempt to cheer her character up was met with yet another wave of misery. Any attempt to make her character happy failed miserably. It was becoming incredibly clear that the only way her character would ever cheer up and snap out of her pit of woe was if his character consented, gave in, and agreed to be in a relationship with hers. Until then, the region would be forced to deal with a character who did nothing to further the region's fun factor and instead deliberately dragged it down.

Let me be clear here: This was not a situation where a character was being played as true to character. This was a situation where one roleplayer decided to make another feel incredibly guilty in order to get her way. She had no respect for how he wished to play his character, and she had no intention of allowing him to play his character the way he intended to play it. Not only was she completely dismissing everything his character was, she was trying to personally guilt him into giving in.

And he felt terrible about it. He felt horrible that her character was so depressed. He hated seeing what fun new bout of depression she was going through in each subsequent post. He felt incredibly guilty that he didn't give in. Attempting to write roleplay was like entering an tense battlefield, and every roleplayer in the region was simply walking on eggshells and waiting for the explosion. Needless to say, the explosion happened, and the entire region detonated as a result.

If you ever, ever feel pressured to have your nation or character act in a way that is contrary to how you think your character should act, get out. Don't feel badly about it, and certainly don't give in to it. If your roleplaying partners have that little respect for your style of roleplay, if they are so obsessed with giving their nation and characters what they want, that is emotional manipulation, not roleplay. That is metagaming taken to the extreme. Get out. Don't look back.

[b]Threatening Behavior[/b]

In fact, if you're ever feeling uncomfortable in a roleplay situation, no matter what that situation, that's a gigantic red flag you shouldn't ignore. In-character threats should never make you feel threatened in real life, and if you feel like things are spinning out of control-- if you feel the slightest bit uncomfortable with what is happening to your nation or character -- you should immediately call a halt to the roleplay. Have a discussion with your roleplaying partner, and let them know that you aren't comfortable with how the situation is turning out (sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn’t. If it doesn’t, then it’s time to reevaluate your roleplaying partnership).

There is a certain degree of give-and-take with roleplay. Your nation isn’t always going to be experiencing a wave of good feelings, and your character isn't always going to have a life of sunshine and roses. Occasionally, they're going to run across a nation or person that doesn't care for them. This isn't a reflection on you as a person; it's one fictional character disliking another fictional character. But just because it's all fictional doesn't mean that every roleplay situation needs to be played out. It doesn't mean that you have to be comfortable with everything that happens to your character.

And it certainly doesn't mean you're required to roleplay any experience you run into, especially if it's emotionally taxing or repugnant. Situations like these require some out-of-character conversation to clear up. If your roleplay partner isn't willing to compromise on roleplay situations you're uncomfortable with, it may be time to find another roleplay partner (it’s as simple as that).

[b]In Conclusion[/b]

Roleplaying can be incredibly fun, but it can also lead to some incredibly intense situations. Human emotion is a volatile thing, and it's sometimes hard to separate reality from fiction. But the emotion that two fictional characters experience should always be between those characters and never between the players (some of my best NS friends RP nations that are enemies with nations that I RP). Keeping a watchful eye for these red flags will help you avoid the drama, and embrace the fun.

IC/OOC separation is hard, and it takes practice to get it down to an art. A lot of roleplayers are either unaware of the issue, or simply don’t care about it. Which is fine, but at the same time, I’ve often found that if you don’t do the things I’ve warned you not to do, and you do the things that I’ve encouraged throughout the lecture, the less likely you’ll be to encounter problems associated with a lack of IC/OOC separation.[hr][size=140]Roleplaying Non-Western Cultures[/size]
[align=right][i]by Syrixia, TNP Deputy Minister of Culture[/i][/align]
Hello! My name is Syrixia. I am one of TNP’s two Deputy Ministers of Culture and an RPer in the world of Eras, the primary setting of TNP’s Forum RP. It’s a modern-tech, realistic (mostly) world of vibrant cultures and complicated politics!

Now, often times we’re more prone to associate ourselves with concepts and ideas we’re familiar with. After all, if we know more about them, the logical next step is that we can execute them better. One sunny day in 2016, after being fed up with the creative direction in which my Eras nation was going, I took that concept and turned it on its head. Today I’m going to tell you why I did that, what it taught me, and what it can teach you; and in doing so, my hope is to tell you and get you thinking about the ups and downs of roleplaying a nation with a culture that very much does not hail from the West.

[b]The Experience Effect[/b]

So, why did I do it? And more importantly, what did I do? Well, up until that point, my nation was as generic as they come. The entirety of its substance lay in what it did on the world stage, in active National RP, and that simply was not enough for me. I wanted to give my nation a foundation rather than just using it, with all its potential, as a mere jumping-off point for foreign policy. Put simply, I wanted to worldbuild my nation. I wanted to better understand and establish it.

One thing I want to say, first and foremost, is that non-Western-inspired nations are not inherently more creative than ones with more Western-inspired cultures, and entirely original cultures are not inherently more creative than cultures inspired by real life ones. The creativity lies in the handling of the material. Building a culture is like working on ceramics; regardless of what the clay is, the creativity lies in how it’s sculpted.

When it comes to RPing non-Western cultures, consider the Experience Effect. The best way to learn anything is through experiencing it. You’re gonna want to get a basic idea of the culture and then just jump right in. Immerse yourself before you get too far into the intricacies.

For example? On that day in 2016, I chose to mold my main nation, the Syrixian Empire, on the Indian culture. Being part Indian myself I knew a decent bit about the culture, but only what I had learned through osmosis. Another person I know made a Chinese country because he’s learning the language and is learning about the culture through his classes. However, you really don’t need to already know a specific culture to pick it. If you’re not significantly familiar with most or even all non-Western cultures, that’s fine. If anything it just makes it more fun.

As well, as mentioned before, an entirely original, constructed culture also counts as a non-Western culture because it’s not inspired by anything. When it comes to them? The Experience Effect is a bit trickier because there’s nothing to immerse yourself into. You can’t just get settled in.

[b]The Three Steps[/b]

Regardless of whether your nation is inspired or original, there are always three things you need to figure out when it comes to non-Western cultures: 1) how your people see themselves, 2) how their history and religion/morals impact that vision, and 3) how that ties into what they do on the world stage.

Firstly and most fundamentally, you need to establish how your people see themselves and their society. The European nation-state model does not automatically work here, unless your nation was a colony of a Western-inspired nation- like India- or was heavily exposed to Western-inspired ideas and concepts, like Japan. And even then; what came before? Cultural inspiration can give insight into how you answer this question, however.

With China, for example, before Western ideas helped found the Republic of China, the Chinese during the Qing Dynasty saw themselves as Han people living within the Qing State which happened to include Zhongguo, or China Proper, which the Chinese saw as the heart of civilization.

When it comes to original countries, meanwhile? There’s an easy and a hard method. You can either cherrypick ideas from various cultures and tweak them to fit yours, or you can go for the true scratch method and base it entirely, specifically, and uniquely on the early historical developments you set out for your country. Though, I should note: for any nation, wholly original or not, if you like the cherrypicking method? Don’t be afraid to cherrypick cultural bits you like. We’ll get back to that later.

Secondly, you need to establish how your nation’s history and religion/morals impact how its people see themselves. If you have a basic idea of how the nation works and how its culture works, justify it with a history. Don’t be afraid to make changes to the core cultural fundamentals from the previous step, based on the history you’re planning, during this phase either.

As well, you need to factor in religion and morals. If your country is entirely original, try making up a native religion based on your vision for your nation’s early history as well as your environment. For example, if your nation is mostly tundra? Perhaps a god of wind or snow. If your country is more inspired by an existing non-Western culture, though, don’t let that stop you. There are a myriad of deific entities in Eastern religions, from Indra to Kuanyin and more, to take inspiration from; and through religion, you can give your culture morals. (Or vice versa!) These morals can, in turn, impact your religion’s mythology and history because the people will, naturally, largely shape their perspectives around them.

Thirdly, once both these things are mostly settled- and again, you can change anything at any time if you want- you should consider how what you’ve created ties into your nation’s actions on the world stage. This is where I return to cherrypicking aspects of cultures that you may find interesting and want to use.

My nation, for example, has a broadly Indian culture; but despite this it sees itself politically in a more similar way to Imperial-era China. There are various ethnicities within the Syrixian Empire, all part of one state; and it is the state that the people identify with, not any nationalistic ideal. Indeed, I even adapted the name “Syrixia”, which had existed before the culture change, to fit that change. Now? It’s a Mercanti- Eras’ version of English- corruption of the word “Samraajya”, which simply means “the Empire”.

And so? The people of my nation largely call themselves “Imperials” and their state “the Empire”. It’s ingrained in their culture just like the idea of a nation-state is ingrained in Western cultures. It’s what they know; and in foreign correspondence, they refer to themselves as such. Other nations, too, will sometimes refer to it as such, especially its former colonies.

This, in turn, leads me to another example of how you can tie these things into everyday RP: the culture’s impact on your nation’s foreign policy. Going back to the Syrixian Empire? Imperials- or Syrixians- are by and large a conservative people. This ethos shapes their foreign policy goals, which rely on the notions of stability and harmony. The Empire wants the international order of Eras to be stable and harmonious, so its massive retail market can thrive and grow.

Another example would be Ming China. Alongside the fact that Zheng He’s treasure fleets were expensive, later Ming Emperors closed off foreign trade because they didn’t think they needed it. The Ming State held Zhongguo, the heart of all civilization. They saw themselves as, inherently, the greatest state in the world. Why bother?

Keep in mind, as well, though, that a pragmatic foreign policy; and really, any form of political ideology when it comes to your nation’s government, is fair game, especially in modern tech settings. In past tech settings, since the world is less connected, then you may have to rely on more native-based ideas, though by no means is this the case as exemplified by things such as Greco-Buddhism and the vast Lapis Lazuli trade across the Ancient Near East. Either way, with non-Western-based nations, it’s almost always quite fun to explore.

[b]In Conclusion[/b]

Finally, there’s the universal rule of RP- have fun! Worldbuilding a non-Western culture and RPing as it is a great way to explore and learn about other cultures, enjoy yourself, and step out of your comfort zone; and, ever since that day in 2016, I’ve made many changes here and there, but I’ve loved every minute. [hr][size=140]Death of a Region[/size]
[align=right][i]by Luziyca, Grim Reaper of Esquarium[/i][/align]
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this afternoon's lecture. I am Luziyca.

This lecture is going to be somewhat different than all the others, since while almost everyone else will be giving lectures on how to improve your skills and what not, this is about how regions die, and in effect, what we can learn from Esquarium. And as someone who has been in two regions that died out, Illuscinora in 2011, and Esquarium just a few months ago, I feel I am more than qualified to talk about how regions die.

As I remember far more of Esquarium's death, I will be using this as a case study. With all this in mind, let's begin.

If you want the very short version of how it died, then to paraphrase Mr. Hemingway, it died in two ways. "Gradually, then suddenly."

That obviously doesn't help much. So... let's dig deeper into how it died.

The seeds were very much planted when Sjalhaven left the region, and Esquarium became a diarchy. The problem was that the two people running the region at the time were not all that interested in running the region. Thus, we can see increasing levels of what people call edginess and memeiness, which of course greatly hampered actually roleplaying and worldbuilding.

At this point, what one should have done would have been to replace the delegates with people who had the time to actually care about the roleplaying and worldbuilding communities in Esquarium, instead of caring only about memes. But we did not, which allowed things to go further downhill.

Members who have been in Esquarium for many years left, which included major nations. This greatly affected Esquarium's canon, because with so many nations leaving the region in such a short space of time, it left a significant vacuum that needed to be filled. To make things worse, we did not really do much in the way of recruiting new members, which in hindsight made things worse.

Thus, what one should have done would be to intensify recruitment of new nations: encourage the best and brightest newbies to come to Esquarium, to take the place of longtime nations who have abandoned Esquarium, so we could at least have a chance to fill up that void before it becomes to large to manage.

We did not do that, however. Instead, ten of us decided to try and start their own thing: to build a better Esquarium, based on our canon, but with a "new map, new leadership, and better oversight." This would be a great idea, especially as their plans, as outlined by Qian here, made a lot of sense and would be actually great ways to fix the region's problems as it stood.

The problem, however, was that everyone in Esquarium jumped on board with that, which while it may be a good idea if they were actually serious in working to improve Esquarium, was not the case, as according to Qian, "it turns out when a substantial portion of your membership is there solely to shitpost, to be edgy, or to lurk, changing the map and the approval panel doesn’t really help, and in fact makes it worse because of the old canon that gets ditched, so several months or even years of steady decline accelerated and Esquarians just went elsewhere." Plus, we did not really recruit, and the one person that got recruited here was pushed to another region.

However, I don't think this is quite it: for about a month, it actually was working. We were developing lore, and we were worldbuilding, and we were even discussing whether Esquarium should be worldbuilding, roleplaying, or both. But when one of the key members of our approval board, and our lore, left the region, that was when Esquarium began to die again.

What we could take away from the departure of a key member is that it might be a bad idea to have so much of a region's canon depend on X nation. And it wasn't like we didn't experience it before Esquarium started to die, honestly: Mich leaving the region should have been a warning bell that placing all your eggs in one basket is a terrible idea.

However, with the departure of that member, other members started to go, and Esquarium became much more insular. While there were still those who wanted to try and develop lore and what not, others were not as interested in keeping Esquarium around, which helped reduce activity to literally infrastructure between Ainin, Mespalia, and Montecara. Around that time, some members were discussing establishing another worldbuilding group where they would plan everything from the beginning of humanity, and our attentions shifted to that. And with many of the approval panel no longer interested in the region, we were essentially back to where we started, minus a lot of people, and all of our old canon.

At this point, what can you really do?

You could have replaced those in charge before you let it get this bad, you could have recruited the best and brightest and not send them off to other regions as soon as they get here, you could have taken the opportunity to prune all those who weren't here to worldbuild and roleplay, and you could have not put all your eggs in one basket.

If they had done all of them early enough, maybe Esquarium would still be thriving, and I would not be giving this talk in front of you guys today. But they didn't do that in time, and when they did it, it was generally a case of "too little, too late."

And as I look back at Illuscinora, while it did not die in the same way as Esquarium did, I can see parallels: just like how Ainin and Tuthina were too busy to care about Esquarium's roleplaying and worldbuilding, which led to its death, Arumdaum were too busy to care about Illuscinora's roleplaying and worldbuilding. We could have increased our recruiting, and we could have not put all eggs in one basket. And to think, they are not the only RP regions to have died on NationStates: I would not be surprised if they followed a similar process to that of my old region.

If there is one thing we can learn from Esquarium's demise, it is that you cannot rest on your laurels forever. You have to maintain your region, you have to bring new blood to replace the old, you have to remove the dead weight, and you have to make sure that everything isn't being placed on one nation, for that nation will one day leave.

Thank you. [hr][size=140]On IIWiki Writing and Roleplaying[/size]
[align=right][i]by Latin, Founder of Ajax[/i][/align]
Greetings all, I’m Latin and my home region is Ajax. Today I’ll be talking about IIwiki – an online encyclopedia. IIwiki is much like Wikipedia, except that it is written by NSers. Articles are written on a plethora of topics. These articles may provide a broad overview of a player’s nation in the form of a traditional nation page, or expand on specific topics relating to a player’s concepts – such as internal politics, war and military, or characters.

[b]Getting Started[/b]

The best way to get started writing an IIwiki article, after reading the site’s Standards and Conventions,(1) is simply to read Wikipedia articles or Featured Articles on IIwiki. These articles provide great examples, and oftentimes prove a great source of inspiration on how to format your articles, writing styles, and demonstrate what makes a good wiki article to help set your article apart. For example, if you’re writing a nation page, check out some nation pages on Wikipedia, get a feel for what sort of information is included and the style of the writing. If you’re writing about character articles, be sure to look at some biographical pages. Note that I’m not telling you to just copy and paste the information – that is plagiarism. Instead, you are analyzing the page to see what is included; this could be the types of information included or tables or infoboxes. Once you have done this, compare that to what details you would include from your own nation when you begin writing your own articles.

This is often intimidating when first looking at a Wikipage’s editing code, especially custom tables.(2) Often times, my first suggestion to people is to start small with a factbook-like page on their nation. This allows the writer to get their first taste of working with infoboxes,(3) which in this instance is very straightforward by placing information – whether statistics, names of national leaders, dates of national importance or formation, etc. – next to a specific marker such as “|capital =”, for example.

One will often notice that, generally, all nation articles on Wikipedia follow a similar structure. Naturally, there is an introductory section where relevant information is placed. I find that a basic introduction can be handled in at least four paragraphs. These opening introductory paragraphs often include very basic descriptions of location, government structure, history, economy and any international organizations that the nation holds membership. Once complete, other topics often included in the article are: History, Geography and Climate, Politics and Government, Military, Economy, Culture, etc.(4) Often times these headings will include subtopics, with suggestions that are linked below.

[b]Expanding your articles[/b]

Though it is always my recommended first step, nation pages are a very small set of what wiki-writing entails. After completing a nation page or getting a feel for IIwiki, the next direction is one that is entirely in your control as the writer. It is one of the best things about this style of writing. You might choose to write an article about the nation’s legislature, its military, language – really whatever interests you or is most relevant to your style of writing on NS.

Knowing when to give a topic its own page is sometimes an issue you can come across. Even this week, I found myself asking whether I should search for a format that would allow me to show the composition and details of at least eight sub-national legislatures, or if each deserved an article of its own. This led me to search for a page that included information on all US state legislatures, or if local councils in the United Kingdom were compiled into one Wikipedia article. Luckily both articles exist, but I'm still yet to decide which approach to take.

This is a major part of my process for a few reasons. First, it is a strong method to ensure that you comply with the site’s Standards and Conventions, while keeping your writing in a neutral point-of-view. Second, by searching around its possible to expand your ideas through exposure or stumble upon the perfect format style that you might otherwise not have thought was available.

[b]Wiki-writing and Roleplaying[/b]

While wiki-writing is great for worldbuilding, it also has a use as a supplemental source for roleplaying. This might be in the form of a character biography page or an ongoing narrative where the article is created over the course of an RP. There are useful to provide a quick guide to either the major (or even minor) characters in a story or to give a brief overview of a conflict or major event.

Aside from the obvious articles detailing a conflict that plays out in RP, one of my preferred methods is using IIwiki to create character pages. This allows me to have a quick reference for major characters that appear in my RP writing, and offer it to my writing partners for the same thing.

[b]Final Thoughts[/b]

In summary, wiki-writing is an excellent tool to worldbuild your concepts or to help support an RP. All of the tools are easily accessible and when in doubt, ask around. I always find that there is someone willing to lend a hand or offer suggestions.

[b]Footnotes[/b]
(1) IIWiki Standards and Conventions: https://iiwiki.us/wiki/IIWiki:Standards_and_Conventions
(2) Table information can be found here.
(3) “An infobox is a fixed-format table usually added to the top right-hand corner of articles to consistently present a summary of some unifying aspect that the articles share and sometimes to improve navigation to other interrelated articles.” Help:infobox; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Infobox.
(4) Link to the iiwiki help page providing assistance on starting your nation page. [hr][size=140]Theologia: Religion, Mythology, and the Essence of Belief in World Creation[/size]
[align=right][i]by Kylarnatia, National and International Roleplay Mentor[/i][/align]
[b]Introduction[/b]

Hello everyone. I’m Kylarnatia - though most people know me as Kyle - and I’ve been playing NationStates for just over eleven years. I’m a long-time resident of the roleplay region of Gholgoth and I’m a member of the National and International RP Mentor Team on the NationStates forums. This is the third lecture I’ve given on the subject of NS roleplaying - the first was on the [url=https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=347336]‘Art of NS Empires’[/url] and the second on the [url=https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=761023]‘Rabbit Hole of Worldbuilding’[/url] - but since I am now much older and (I hope) much wiser, I’d like to take a more specific focus with my topic this year: the concept of Theologia and its value as a tool in worldbuilding.

Allow me to provide some context. When I was approached by Ghant a few months ago and asked to give a lecture at this year’s Roleplay Symposium, I was neck deep in the closing stages of my thesis. I’ve been studying Egyptology at university for several years, through undergraduate to postgraduate, and I specialise in the subjects of Religion, Magic and Identity. These are areas that have interested me ever since I was young and have become a greater focus of my life since I started on the long road into academia. This has bled into my creative pursuits, including NationStates: the Ancient Empire of Kylarnatia is strongly defined and shaped by its religious beliefs and institutions. Despite not being a religious person myself - though I do define as spiritual - I hold the firm belief that having a strong understanding of one’s spiritualism is key to your personal and social development as a human being. I believe the same applies also when creating characters and cultures in writing: spiritual beliefs (and by extension, larger strands of abstract thought) formed a part of “behavioural modernity” in homo sapiens, and led to the world we live in today. The same would likely be true of a fictional setting that takes many hallmarks from our own world.

So why write on this topic for NationStates? I’ve witnessed many cases during my time on the site of religion in roleplay being used as a key theme in a story arc or in the portrayal of a player’s nation or individual characters where I can’t help but feel there’s something fundamentally missing, or perhaps even misunderstood on the part of either the original author or their respondents. It can come down to a number of things, including but not limited to:

[list][*]A lack of understanding of where the ideas that form the basis of a religion come from and how they influence - either directly or indirectly - much broader ideas;
[*]A lack of religious performance and utilisation of ritual and magic in scenes to express the lived experience of a religious person or state beyond just their belief in some form of the divine;
[*]Failure to consider the impact of religious belief on the psychology of a character, or indeed an entire culture, beyond rather binary trends of being either devoutly good or zealously evil.[/list]

This is by no means meant to be a criticism of those players. I appreciate that I hold a degree of academic knowledge on the subject not often encountered in the everyday lest you go looking for it, and that by and large most people’s conception and exposure to religion these days is shaped by their exposure to it and the modern discourse on it, which I think is fair to say isn’t overwhelmingly positive. Therefore it’s understandable why those things would shape the way it gets portrayed in most narratives on the site: either as a source of divine judgement and moral good, or as the epitome of corruption and decadence. That’s not for me to judge in this lecture.

This lecture - which, depending on the response it receives, could see itself expanded into a much larger guide on religious worldbuilding - aims to provide players with useful knowledge on the substance of religious beliefs in the hopes of opening the door to a rich facet of worldbuilding which I think deserves to be utilised more, either on the basis of individual characters or an entire culture as a whole. Whether you’re creating something entirely unique or running with one of the world’s many present or historical faiths or something in between, I hope this lecture gives you - whatever your thoughts are on religion - a greater grasp of the concept and with that another useful tool to help give your NationStates nation the sense of being a living, breathing space.

[b]A (Very Brief) Explanation of Theologia[/b]

Let me start by asking you all to consider this: What do the poetic epics of Homer, Virgil, Dante and John Milton as well as the philosophical works and teachings of Plato, Cicero, Hypatia, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas and Martin Luther - just to name a small few - have in common? They are all, in one way or another, theologia. I use the Greek word theologia (θεολογία) - “discourse on god” - specifically because I believe it presents a way of considering the advent and development of religious ideas beyond the scope of pure religious tradition.

Religious tradition, as we’ll refer to it, is where you often find the religious canon and institutional framework that is accepted by the established authority/ies of the faith and therefore is often where most people first look when they either decide to build their own religion or indeed work with one that already exists presently or historically. Religious canon consists of such sources as:

[list][*]Sacred Scriptures: The Bible, The Qur’an, The Tanakh etc. - sacred scriptures are a special case as they’re seen as the supreme authority in their faiths, either because they’re believed to come directly from divine mandate or were compiled with divine inference. They often serve as the basis for the religion’s “official” canon in the eyes of it’s institution/gatekeepers, and as the basis from which laws and most other communal and state (in the case of state religions) actions can be carried out.
[*]Religious texts: Separate from sacred scriptures in the sense that there is a much wider corpus as to what this can entail. Ranges from things like prayers and hymns, proverbs and literature produced by or attributed to canonised saints or other important figures of the faith, to texts that concern a certain aspect of the faith’s beliefs and/or traditions (e.g. the Egyptian Book of the Dead can be considered a religious text of it’s day, due to its significance in funerary tradition and belief). What relates all these texts is that they have in some way been ‘ratified’ and ‘enforced’ by those with religious authority.
[*]Religious Laws and Decrees: A similarly broad corpus, but the important distinction here is that religious laws and decrees are often decided upon and published by the official institution of the faith and in some cases actively enforced in law by the institution (or the state in cases of state sponsorship). These are created, voted upon and ratified in most cases by the most powerful members of the faith’s hierarchy (e.g. see the Ecumenical Councils of Christianity as just one example and the laws/decrees born from them).[/list]

Theologia, by contrast, is where you will find the discourses that characterise the nature of the god(s) and the laws of the universe that comprise the very meat, if you will, of the faith for the faithful. The concepts that these works have presented throughout history are things with which we’re all familiar I’m sure, but I don’t often see these things being implemented or considered when roleplaying larger religious cultures. Theologia consists of such sources as:

[list][*]Myth, Folklore and Literature: In a nutshell, stories. Be it the poetic epics of the Illiad and the Odyssey which are often credited with having given the Greek Gods their popular characterizations, to stories such as Paradise Lost, which takes the idea of “the fallen angel” which is canonised in the Sacred Scripture, yet turns it into what is now popularly conceived as the belief: that the Devil, and by extension his followers, are those who reject the laws of God and seek to establish their own. Not all stories begin as physical sources, much more often they find their roots in the oral tradition, but over time they often become ‘semi-canonised’ through being put down in writing.
[*]Philosophical treatises: This one I find can often catch people by surprise, because when people often think of the works of Plato, Cicero and much later philosophers who write on a wide variety of concepts, religion isn’t always the first thing that comes to mind for them. What, after all, does a work on the ideal state have to do with religion? Well, context is important. It’s from these works, say Plato’s Republic or Cicero’s On the Nature of Gods that we get the definitive belief that all natural laws in the universe ‘descend from the heavens’ or from Gods, who in their day were believed to be much more powerful and greater beings than them. The point being, is that philosophical works can often serve as a framework from which discussion about the concepts put forth in religious canon are tested and effectively rationalised, the rationale of which still lasts in some cases to this day. Even if the treatise challenges the status quo of the religious institution - such as Martin Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses - they can be in and of themselves a recontextualising of the belief system for present concerns, therefore giving it new life and keeping it relevant.
[*]Grimoires and Codexes: These works often comprise of spells or rituals with which the faithful can perform for a number of functional purposes. Codexes in particular serve as an almost lexiconical resource for certain aspects of the faith and it’s canon (e.g. think the Lesser Key of King Solomon which names and systematically describes the demons of hell). While not always written by their attested authors, as whoever authored them decided that attributing them to a certain name might lend it greater credence within the faith, grimoires and codexes provide an almost pseudo-to-near-scientific level of explanation for certain aspects of the faith or the tools which it uses in it’s everyday activities (e.g. magic and ritual, which we’ll talk more about shortly).[/list]

To put all perhaps more simply: whereas the religious canon will show you what a faith establishes as it’s foundation and lays out how it operates, the wide scope of theologia gives you a sense of the faith as a living, breathing idea. When we look at just the religion as an institution, it’s easy to convince ourselves that religion’s are very highly codified and are very rigid in their mindset - while this is true to a great extent (dogma is a key principle of most modern organised faiths), the works I define to you as theologia present the more real and organically developing facets of what gives a faith relevance to so many of its followers. It’s very often the case that, just as the theologia draw knowledge from the religious canon in order to formulate their ideas, those ideas will then in some way feed back into the religious canon and help shape it throughout time, if not having already provided the base of it to begin with: it’s for this reason that Plato, despite not being widely remembered as a religious figure, is often attributed as the origin for many of the philosophical ideas that form the basis of the modern Abrahamic faiths.

Therefore, when either building a religion your worldbuilding or trying to incorporate an already existing one into your nation or into the backstory of a character / subset of characters, it’s worthwhile considering where they draw their ideas from and the context in which those ideas were presented and why they have so much longevity: the works of Plato, Cicero and Martin Luther were all written within the context of times of great social and political change for their respective ages, and the focus on or use of religious themes was a way of rationalising their solutions to the upheavals they witnessed (e.g. Plato’s “philosopher-king” is very much a response to the Tyrants of Athens and their eventual downfall). When you do this, it helps to provide the basis for a religion that is more than just defined by what it believes in; it also gives you the chance to express how it believes in it and just how much that feeds into their view of the everyday world.

[b]Religious Ritual, Magic and the Art of Storytelling[/b]

So now we have a grasp of where the ideas come from, how do they play out in practice? This is perhaps one of the bigger areas in which I think, if you’re aiming to tell the story of a character who is highly religious or intending to worldbuild a culture that is highly religious, a lot of focus deserves to be put both in terms of your own creating but also in terms of how you communicate that story to your fellow participants in a roleplay or readers if you’re writing something solo.

Religion comprises not just of a system of beliefs and ideas, but another key element of their function is the practice of rituals which helps establish a set order to the way in which things are done in a society or indeed the wider world, and that provides you another useful tool to help give your creations a sense of flair and character. A Religious ritual is often carried out with the purpose of attaining something for the participants in a transaction with whomever the ritual is a focus of - be it a deity or some other conceptualised form - but also serves as a way of justifying what has either come before or what comes after the ceremony. To use an ancient example, the Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt would partake in a ritual known as the heb-sed, in which s/he would “rejuvenate” their rule after thirty years on the throne by partaking in physical activities and commission the construction of religious monuments dedicated to this idea of eternal strength and life. These themes stem directly from the ideas of the faith - that the universe is a cyclical force of life and death in an eternal bind - and by conducting and partaking in the ritual, the participants effectively become one with those ideas and in effect, experience them.

To put it simply, religious ritual is the process of taking the ideas established in the faith - either by canon or theologia or both - and creating a practice by which they can be tangentially expressed and/or measured in and by the congregation. Take the more present day example of the Eucharist: in participating in what is effectively a reenactment of the Last Supper, Christians feel closer to Christ and in that moment reflect on his sacrifice and the charge he gave to his Apostles, who they take the place of in this ritual and thus the charge is now given to them. Religious ritual and practice is therefore a key component of any faith, and can take a huge variety of forms, thus giving you as the creator a means through which to explore a character or culture’s attitudes and mannerisms.

Magic is another element, which while often overlapping with ritual, can be treated separately in terms of how the participant acts and in the aims it’s trying to achieve. Anthropologically speaking, whereas religious ritual seeks to justify or explain an accepted truth within the faith, magic is very much a tool by which the active participant(s) is looking to rationalise one’s course of action in the face of a particular challenge. The fisherman who must go out to fish in treacherous waters in order to feed his community will pray to the God(dess) of those waters in order to dispel the anxieties of the upcoming voyage and may bind his contract by treating his boat as the temple; the warrior who is about to go into battle will pray to the God(dess) of war for strength in battle and will express their readiness by drawing blood or by taking devout care of their weapons and armour; the healer will evoke the God(dess) of healing when treating a patient and their meticulous method in treatment is an expression of their devotion. Therefore magic often occupies this interesting sphere of religious thought where there is this tangential crossing of religious belief and empirical knowledge, where the science of the craft or skill is further emboldened by the belief. If you’re planning on writing a character or indeed a culture in which religion is a key feature, it is worth considering how and in what way they use ‘magic’ to face certain challenges and what effect that has on them.

Then of course it is worth considering how the faithful transmit their faith, and how through storytelling both they themselves and you as an author capture the scope of their beliefs and how that plays into their own rationalisation of themselves and the world around them. Very often I find that our characters and cultures are only ever reactionary to whatever happens within a roleplay. Somewhat unavoidable, admittedly, due to the way in which telling the story goes (Player A does something, Players B and C will naturally have to react). Yet I think there is plenty of opportunity, particularly when you’re playing a highly religious character or culture, to be reflective on the narrative and to almost tell a story within a story. To go back and look at one of the examples of literature I listed earlier under theologia, one of the reasons that the Illiad has had such longevity is because it’s not just a story about gods and heroes; it’s a story about the gap that exists between gods, heroes and men and how that in itself feeds into the destructive nature of the tragedy of war and conflict, a tragedy that we have continually experienced throughout history. Human beings create stories as a way to reflect either upon their own nature, the nature of others and the relationship of those things to concepts both tangential and abstract. For a religious person or culture in particular, the personification of these concepts into deities or other beings helps to create some form of meaningful interaction with them, and the process of telling stories with them as characters is a way of reflecting upon the status quo of their time and space. Point being: think of how your character and cultures rationalise themselves and their place not just in the established world but also in the events at hand, and how the stories and parables that they’ve been raised on - and which they may go to tell - reflect on whatever it is that’s going down in a roleplay and what that means to them. Too often I find players only go as far as to say what their character thinks without expressing what it is that makes them think that way, especially with religious characters, and doing so would lend itself to giving the sense of what you’re creating being an organic world.

[b]The Psychology of Belief[/b]

This brings me lastly to the psychological effects that religious beliefs can have on a character or culture and vice-versa, and this is something I think often gets overlooked when writing them beyond just very simple binaries of being a “good” person or an “evil” person. I’m particularly inspired to write this part after having read this article, and for the more acute science of what I’m about to say, I suggest you look there as a starting point.

It’s a natural part of the human condition to ask questions and to seek answers. This has been true ever since the process of “behavioural modernity” began and it is that which has brought us as incredibly far as we have gotten. Though as we’ve gotten further and answered many questions, we find ourselves not only with more questions, but over time we’ve built up a number of them that - for all intents and purposes - are simply unanswerable either in the present time or indeed truly ever. Where do we go when we die? Why are we here? What’s out there in the great vastness of the universe? Who could be out there? When will I know? Questions like these present a situation where the sheer scope can be overwhelming, and indeed very unsettling when considering the possibilities. These anxieties play a key factor in the way in which systems of belief - both religious and non-religious alike - seek to dispel them and bring a sense of finality to one’s own mind on the subject as well as a purpose or resolve going forward.

In religious ecstasy in particular, there is an aim to attain a certain level of oneness or closeness with the divine or a set of ideas. When one takes part in a religious communion or ritual, doing so can be an attempt to obtain a collective experience of ecstasy which creates a bond within that communion. As the often misquoted saying goes: “the blood of the commune is thicker than the water of the womb”. On a more personal level, religious ecstasy can be a form of personal realisation in the context of the religious doctrine: defining one’s purpose in the context of the whole, or finding answers to one’s personal challenges and indeed flaws. What matters then, psychologically speaking, is the openness of the individual and the communion: in the transmission and sharing of these experiences, the way in which they’re handled and subsequently treated often defines most explicitly the attitudes which the character and/or their commune adopt. Very often, those on the more ‘extreme’ end of the spectrum in terms of their interpretation and experience of those beliefs have ended up there either because they were rejected from the whole or because the whole dictates an iron-cast set of truths within which your experiences must fit, and they often conduct their communions/rituals in such a way as to guarantee it.

Whether that is entirely “good” or “evil”, however, not only depends on the perspective given to the participant (both in the sense of the player but also the player’s character) but also in the actions taken thereafter. Yet if their religious tradition states that heresy is intolerable, theologia has extrapolated that and rationalised ways in which heresy manifests and must be dealt with, ritual has emblazoned them to face it and ‘magic’ provided them the tools and stories the means by which to reflect on their own struggles against said heresy, at what point does that character consider themselves “good” or “evil”, if even such a binary exists in their frame of reference?

The point I’m trying to make, therefore, is that if you’re attempting to express the psychological state of a religious character and their culture, you will want to consider how all the pieces which we’ve previously discussed fit into the wider whole as your character/culture would see it, and then capture it from that perspective and emphasise the thoughts and emotions that causes them to experience and therefore justifies their actions. A lot to get one’s head around, for sure, but if you’re attempting to make your character or culture one which your fellow roleplay participants or audience someone which they can see into the mind of and properly understand, you must go beyond just describing their actions: you want to show them what it is they’re thinking, why that leads them to where they are and how that affects them both emotionally and otherwise. Sometimes I believe that we focus so much on objectivity that we forget that subjectivity itself has a purpose, particularly in storytelling, and that incorporating those things help to create not only more believable characters but also a whole sandbox through which we as creatives can explore those questions we all ask ourselves.

[b]Conclusion[/b]

In conclusion, I hope that this lecture has proven useful to those of you interested in the subject matter as a focus for your storytelling, and that I have been able to effectively demonstrate to you how, by utilising wider sources of theological discussion and debate and by using more aspects of religious performance in scenery and in the actions of a character, and how all those things combined will come to help shape that character or cultures psychology, you will be able to go forward with ideas to consider and a framework with which to go on a deeper exploration of your world building - either individually or together as a group of players - and create something that will act as another source of storytelling ideas or at the very least to provide another dimension to your creation and give them a sense of being a living, breathing world.[hr][size=140]Roleplaying on a Regional Message Board[/size]
[align=right][i]by Friently, Lead TNP RMB RP Moderator[/i][/align]
Greetings, my name is Friently and I am the Lead RMB RP Moderator and the author of the RMB RP Ruleset Today my lecture will be about Roleplaying on a Region Message Board, aka RMB RP, it’s history in TNP as well as its good and bad aspects.

In its most primal form RMB Roleplaying is the result of people deciding to roleplay without yet having chosen/found another place to do it. Places such as the NS Forums, Regional off-site Forums, discords, etc. The easiest place ofcourse is the first place they will stumble upon: the Regional Message Board. This causes the influx of new players to generally be higher than on the other platforms.

It often occurs that people’s first roleplay posts consist of their leader responding to something that happen(ed/s) in someone else’s roleplay post.

This is usually called Banter RP due to their often short and humorous nature.

After I myself had made my first post in TNP’s RMB after finding out it existed, and then using it to complain about NS issues, I read up several of the posts in the RMB. And what i found was someone making a post about how in their nation people were generally treated as slaves, cannon fodder, test subjects, etc. My response to this was short, with my leader only sarcastically remarking how his people thought he didn’t love them enough. Back and forth posts no longer than 10 words roleplays like these became the foundation of what eventually became TNP’s RMB Roleplay Community. The advantages of it were that it was short, quick, and you could get a post out in less than a minute, receive a response in less than a minute after that and on it went. The downside of it however was that leaders obviously are not near each other all the time, are not telepathic and are not connected by a video call 24/7, usually that is.

And this posed an issue once the community grew large enough that an official “canon” map came to be. With the consequence that Banter RP’s did not make much sense anymore because of it. This causing posts to become larger, rarer and generally more serious in comparison. Posts now however took up big parts of the screen, requiring people to “keep it down” as to not block other peoples RMB view with big ‘walls of text’. This problem was solved after the community was informed of the ability to use the spoiler tag, thereby keeping posts small. This also had the added bonus of enabling people to warn people of the content inside, allowing people sensitive to certain subjects(death, torture, etc) to not be confronted by them. This is called the “Wall of Text” style, very original naming, I know. The advantage to this style is that due to the nature of the RMB being only one place, there is a bigger chance people see your post. Compared to forums where often you need to go to specific areas for roleplaying. The disadvantage comes from the same thing as the advantage did: the nature of the RMB. Being that due to it being one place, everything goes there, real life conversations, discussions, memes, etc, etc causing one’s post to often be quickly buried beneath other posts. This can lead to a feeling of dread when it is a post you have worked on for a very long time, however if you have access to a discord you can make a channel you can post the links to your post in. And if you roleplay with another person the knowledge they read it will often be enough to negate this.

In conclusion it has its advantages and disadvantages, but it is often the first place people roleplay, and in some cases, remain.

Thank you for reading this rather short lecture, any questions can be asked and answered either in the Q&A on discord, the TNP's RMB, or in VC. [hr][size=140]On Roleplaying Fascism[/size]
[align=right][i]by Prydania, TNP Minister of Culture[/i][/align]
I've been roleplaying in NationStates on and off since 2006. And one joke, back when I started, was that there were only three types of nations in NS. Nazi Germany expies, Imperial Japan expies, and USSR expies. That joke was as inaccurate then as it is now, but it does serve to illustrate that RPing a fascist nation has been a notion as old as NS itself. And I was very much a part of that trend.

My first NS nation was Inglo-Scotia. Culturally it was clearly an expy of Great Britain. It eventually became a full-on British mirror in terms of culture and government but at first? It was a fascist state that melded a bit of Ingsoc from 1984, a bit of Norsefire from V for Vendetta, and a bit of the heavy-handed aspects of Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth/Protectorate regime of 1649-1660. I rebooted IS to be a properly British constitutional monarchy a few years later, but then I decided I needed more freedom. IS locked me into squarely British culture and I created Prydania to allow for more creativity. Perhaps inspired by some nostalgia for the early IS years? I opted to centre my first RP with Prydania around a fascist seizure of power.
I tell you that to explain that I have first-hand experience RPing a fascist nation. A fascist world power at that. I do not come to this topic from an outsider's perspective.

[b]What is Fascism?[/b]
We need to define our terms before we jump into the how's and why's of RPing a fascist state. So what is fascism?
It's a difficult question. Fascism is usually placed on the extreme right of the political spectrum, the opposite to communism's place on the extreme left. This isn't particularly helpful though, for two reasons. The first is the horseshoe theory, which describes why fascism and communism both employ similar tactics despite being ideological opposites. The second reason this description isn't helpful is that unlike communism? Fascism has no "founding text."
All communist movements follow the principles of Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto at the core. Fascism, for all the influence it's had on political theory, is frustratingly lacking. Even the writings of the two major fascist leaders in world history, Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler, are vague on broader details and seem like mere glimpses of an ideology rather than a fully fleshed-out program.

That being said, various fascist regimes have allowed for a set of criteria we can go off of. Fascist regimes will generally...

-Promotes hyper-nationalism.
-Have a disdain for democracy...this could be naked disdain for the democratic process as a whole, or it could be conveyed through coded language that criticizes the democratic process' shortcomings. Usually the latter evolves into the former as the regime or movement becomes emboldened.
-Is obsessed with the idea of the racial and moral degeneration of the nation and sees a "rebirth" as necessary to stave it off or reverse it.
-In line with that it claims ethnic "others" or other marginalized peoples and people of centre-left to left wing views are "enemies of the nation" who are aiding said degeneration.
-Places an emphasis on the military and violence as a means of achieving goals.
-Obsesses over the need to "preserve" culture and tradition from imagined leftist/racial/globalist "enemies."
-In line with the above, fascists will place value on individuals placing their will, or even lives, beneath the needs of the state, glorifying "heroic sacrifice."
-Glorification of a strong, central leader whose "will" is central to seeing the above-mentioned "rebirth" through. Common rhetoric involves the idea that "only" this leader is capable of "fixing" or "saving" the nation.

[b]Why RP Fascism?[/b]
It's an interesting question. Why RP as a type of nation that draws on an ideology responsible for so much death? Why represent your nation as such?
There are a few reasons.

First? It's fun to be the bad guy. RP is about writing fiction above all else, and often fiction needs a villain. This will vary depending on your RP community of course, but it could be that playing a fascist state allows you to shake up your RP world's dynamic. Are the liberal democratic republics and constitutional monarchies getting too comfortable? A fascist state is a great way to introduce an antagonistic element.

Secondly? History. Germany and Italy are both functioning democracies today, but they were the two most prominent fascist states in history. So while your nation may be a liberal democratic state today? A fascist period in your history can allow you to both flesh out that history and allow you to demonstrate that your state was not always so well-balanced. Mary Sue nations continue to be an issue in NS-based RP, and a fascist period is a good way to demonstrate that your nation has not always been a force for good, even if it's depicted positively in the present.

Finally? The didactic qualities of writing. RP is, as I said, an exercise in writing fiction. And fiction can be used to impart a lesson to its audience. RPing a fascist state can be used to explore themes such as the dangers in surrendering too many political freedoms, the extreme conclusions that racial prejudices can lead to, the pitfalls of unchecked aggressive territorial expansion, etc. It can also be used to explore the human condition under such a regime.

Chances are that either the first or second reasons mentioned will include the third if the fascist state is RP'd correctly. So how do you RP fascism correctly?

[b]Have Empathy[/b]
This cannot be stressed enough. Fascism is an actual ideology responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of people. Even if you or your family has never been victimized by a fascist government? Chances are someone else in your community has. You're going to want to be sensitive to the concerns they might have, as your RP could remind them if actual tragedies that befell their families. RP communities are about collaboration above all else, so be receptive to these concerns. Chances are no one is out to stifle you creativity. Just remember that this particular issue can be loaded and treat it accordingly.

Beyond that? Consider the human cost to decisions your fascist state makes. Too often RPers who want a fascist state will say something akin to "there was an ethnic genocide at this point in history" or "insert ethnic group here is to my country what Jews were to Nazi Germany" and leave it at that. Ethnic cleansing/genocide is a very serious issue. And it's one that, in line with the first point of this topic, has probably effected the family of someone else you're RPing with.
If this is a topic you're going to broach? You need to do it properly. Explore the trials and hardships of people who are being dispossessed. Highlight their humanity in the face of oppression. Don't be afraid to paint your government as villainous for their actions because in actuality? RPing as a fascist state makes you a villain. The key to writing a good villain is to understand the effects their actions have on the world around them.

[b]Be Realistic[/b]
There are many ways fascist regimes can come to power. An insidious coup from within. A civil war. Victory at the ballot box during a time of crisis. Chances are that however it occurs? The fascist regime/party/movement will have a good deal of public support.
What is important to keep in mind is that this support is not, and never, absolute. Nations aren't singular hive-minds. They're made up of individuals. And so you cannot expect ANY sort of government to enjoy universal, or even near universal, approval ratings. Yes, your fascist government/strongman may be popular but there's going to be resistance.

This could range from ordinary citizens who keep their heads down as they lack the means to resist to active opposition, such as the White Rose movement in Nazi Germany.

[b]Symbolism AKA the Swastika Problem[/b]
The swastika is banned on NationStates. Even more Nazi/fascist symbolism (SS runes, the Totenkopf, black sun, fasces, etc...) may be banned in your region/RP community.
This is, to be frank, a blessing in disguise. Let us consider the point about having empathy. Using the emblems of actual fascist regimes runs the risk of justifiably offending someone. So say you wish to RP a fascist regime. What should you use if the standard fascist symbols are not available? Well this is roleplay. It's a creative endeavour. So get creative!

I will use two TNP forum-based RP nations from Eras as examples. Andrenne and Prydania. Both states were members of the fascist Dominion alliance during Eras' equivalent of WWII known as the Fascist Wars. And each were governed by fascist movements. The Valkja movement in Andrenne and the Þjóðþjóðveldið (Social Commonwealth) movement in Prydania.
As both Prydania and Andrenne are based on Nordic cultures it would have been easy to perhaps to default to emblems used by the real life Norwegian Nasjonal Samling regime. This could have run into the above issues, however. Instead both RPers created distinct emblems for their fascist movements.

Andy created a distinct saltire for the Valkja movement, and used the Vergina Sun as the Valkja's central emblem. The Vergina Sun is a real life symbol, but only as the historical emblem of the ancient Kingdom of Macedonia and a symbol for the Greek region of the same name. As neither exist in Eras? Andy was able to use it as the emblem for the Valkja movement. The sun's real life connotations have nothing to do with fascism and therefore the issues of using fascist symbolism are sidestepped. He's created a distinct fascist emblem for the world of Eras that does not offend the sensibilities of anyone in the real world.

I decided to use a boar for the Prydanian fascist Social Commonwealth movement inspired by the movie Richard III, which re-imagines the Shakespeare play in a fictional version of 1930s Britain. Richard's ascension to the throne is re-interpreted as a fascist movement coming to power and the real life Richard of York's boar heraldry was re-worked into something that could be a fascist party's emblem.
I took that concept and re-worked it myself, tying it into Prydanian cultural traditions centred around home and hearth. My thinking was that a fascist movement in Prydania would co-opt that sort of symbolism to present itself as an authentic nationalist movement.

In both cases the RPers involved mined other symbolism to represent fascist movements. Thus the baggage associated with those symbols- swastikas, SS runes, the Totenkopf, black sun, fasces, etc- was avoided. It also spurred creativity, forcing the RPers in question to work these symbols into national histories to justify their use by fascist movements. And creative worldbuilding should be a key part of RPing.

So what should you do for your nation's fascist movement should you decide to RP one? Look at your nation. The culture you've worked out for it. Reflect on what we've talked about here re: the elements of fascism. What would a fascist in your country value? What symbols would they gravitate towards?
Using the emblems of actual fascist regimes or actual neo-fascist groups is both offensive and un-creative. Use the opportunity to create symbols for your IC fascists that mean something to them but which are devoid of the baggage that comes with using actual fascist symbolism.

[b]Final Thoughts[/b]
It should be obvious to anyone paying attention during this lecture that I do not have a high opinion of fascism. And it's because of this obvious fact that I want to state that I am not saying you shouldn't RP a fascist nation. If that were the case I would have come out and said it. Instead I wish to use this lecture to inform.
As I have said, I've been RPing on and off in NS since 2006. I've seen it all, and I can say that many NS RPers skew towards the younger side of things. Kids in their early and mid teens who are attracted to the aesthetics of fascism. The projections of strength, the supposed military might, the sharp, imposing, and cool uniforms. Often kids who RP these regimes have limited understandings of the cruelties inherent in them and the real life historical baggage they bring.
I do not wish to tell anyone, young or not, that they can't play a fascist regime. I do hope, however, that this lecture has helped inform people as to what RPing a fascist regime entails. And to provide tips and suggestions that can make RPing a fascist regime more well-rounded, realistic, and respectful to fascism's real life victims and their descendants.

Thank you all. [hr][size=140]The Art of Worldbuilding[/size]
[align=right][i]by Goyanes, TNP Forum RP Moderator and Attorney General[/i][/align]
Hi, I'm Goy. I am proudly known in TNP's Roleplay scene for my prolific worldbuilding, and I'm here to share with you my thoughts on it. By far the most common question/response I get to my worldbulding is "LMAO Goy, why???!?!?!?" Here's why: I find worldbuilding fun. It's definitely not for everyone, but I feel that I've achieved my goal of RP when I can envision a place with so much detail and realism, that you could basically put it in our modern world and nothing would seem out of place. Some people have other goals in RP, but this is mine, and hopefully it can be yours too.

How do you decide what to worldbuild? My best answer is that you should stay away from worldbuilding checklists, per se. Yes, you schould cover the basics, like a flag, currency name, etc., but I feel worldbuilding should be treated like a conversation. Worldbuild things as they are relevant, or you could always start something, which then leads your peers to worldbuild as well. I find that the best inspiration for the most realistic worldbuilding is our everyday experiences. They can really capture what the average citizenry in your country would experience. An example: I go to the department store to shop for clothes. I come home, and I'm thinking, hmmmmmm, what would a department store be like in Goyanes? and then I dive into that. Wether it be actually worldbuilding the store, or maybe the brands that they sell, it all adds to the realism of your country, IMO.

How do I design and worldbuild for realism? I start by looking at real life counterparts. That informs how I make a design decision that makes the most sense. For example: if I'm making an airline logo, I look at existing airline logos for inspiration. It helps to choose color palettes, font choices, etc. In addition, making bad logos is part of making things realistic. Not all logos are design masterpieces. As a matter of fact, they're atrocities that fly in the face of all design rules. But to ensure realism, you should have the ugly duckling, because that ugly duckling will transform your country into a beautiful, realistic swan.

But I'm bad at graphic design, what should I do? Just try anyways. Download gimp or paint.net and watch some tutorials. If you keep using it, you WILL get better, trust me. When I first signed up for TNP RP, I could barely sketch out a map claim. But, through trial and error, I've learned how to succeed in GIMP, and how to make designs that stand out and enhance my worldbuilding.

Posting pictures. I don't like posting pictures alone. Yes, stating "this is XYZ tank that was used by the Nationlandian army in the XYZ War" is fine. You got the point across, but I always try to elaborate. Add some history or some cool facts about it. It adds to the quality of your work, and you are simultaneously worldbuilding things you might not have considered. Remember, any worldbuilding, for the most part, is good. (Unless you're like seriosly doing topics that are nonos. Like 18+ crap. Don't do that.

In conclusion, these concepts influence my worldbuilding, and I hope you can take something from it. Feel free to ask my questions during my lecture Saturday, September 28 in the evening.

~Goy 
[hr][size=140]Losing is Fun: The Art of Losing in NS Roleplay[/size]
[align=right][i]by Vetalia[/i][/align]
[b]Introduction[/b]

First of all, let me preface this lecture with a thank you to all of those involved in orchestrating the NS Roleplay Symposium and their gracious invitation to myself to lecture on this particular topic, which is arguably one of the most challenging in NS-Roleplay: Losing. Should anyone have questions you're free to refer to me as Vetalia or Vet, whichever suits you best.

[b]Backstory[/b]

At its origin in 2005, Vetalia was originally conceived as a peaceful PMT nation heavily focused on trade and capitalism with the incredible wealth that flows from such a nation, along the lines of the Spacing Guild or Trade Federation. Starting in 2008, back in the days when we were still part of Meditarranica rather than Gholgoth, we formed an alliance with the People's Sovereign Republic of British Londinium (henceforth the "Londinians" given our mutual desire for territorial expansion.

It was also at this time that Vetalia was transformed from a PMT nation to an MT nation with an interesting quirk - its entire culture was based on its own interpretation of the 1950s in the United States, with tailfinned cars, 50's pop music, copious cigarette smoking and the sickly-sweet advertising and culture of the era despite possessing entirely modern, even post-modern technology. The intense capitalism and trade foci remained in place but it was now expanded by a desire to expand our territory and gain colonies, a sentiment eagerly shared by the Londinians.

During the "Golden Age", the joint Vetalian-Londinian forces achieved incredible success, picking up numerous overseas territories and colonies. There were early rifts in our alliance due to the benevolent treatment by the Vetalian administration of the colonial subjects and defeated nations versus the Londinian, which were by any stretch horrific, including the use of giant blenders to execute enemies. But nonetheless, our alliance remained strong and by mid-2009 our alliance was at the height of its power.

That all changed in mid-2009, with the Vivicide (or the War) as it is called in Vetalian and Londinian circles. Long story short, the Londinians pissed off the Freeks of Gholgoth and the response was a nuclear strike of such force that it turned the Londinian home island into a slab of radioactive glass. The Vetalian fleet sailing to assist them were destroyed by kinetic orbital weapons as were the conventional armed forces, but not before launching the Vetalian biological weapons in response, which killed many of the Crimm but were not sufficient to stop the final invasion.

In the end, Vetalia was invaded and occupied by Crimmond and our nation shattered to its core. Vetalia had lost, and it had lost big time.

[b]The Art of Losing[/b]

This brings us to the meat of the lecture, which is how to lose in a way that is both fun for you and everyone else and acceptable in NS roleplay. This is embodied in a few key points that I will use for the structure of this lecture:

[list=1][*]Be Willing to Lose
[*]Your People Are People
[*]Remember You Can Win Again
[*]Have fun![/list]

[b]Be Willing to Lose[/b]

This is the first and arguably most important aspect of NS RP. Sometimes you screw up and make a mistake, sometimes you underestimate the enemy, in any case you lose a battle or even the entire war. The most important thing in this case is to accept the defeat and plan accordingly. Unless you are totally crippled by the enemy's strike you can regroup and fight again; the most important thing in this case is to accept the loss and RP it effectively regarding the impact on your remaining forces: does it demoralize them? does it make them desert? or does it make them fight more than ever?

None of these options are wrong, in fact if properly RPed they might provide opportunity for a rich character RP where you expand on the thoughts and actions of a single character in the face of defeat. The point is to always keep in mind how your people would feel and act in these circumstances as well as to accept the fact that you lost and need to address the consequences thereof.

Also keep in mind that any foreign occupation is temporary unless the goal is annexation or total extermination, in which case there are numerous opportunities to interact with other nations to aid the resistance. A war of extermination against a given ethnicity will be very problematic in modern-day NS and should be leveraged. A foreign occupation without these factors would be easy to deal with indeed.

Another consequence of losing is demographic; in the case of Vetalia, every single living Londinian after the War was granted immediate Vetalian citizenship and the right to immigrate. As a result, our population was both significantly expanded and changed by the arrival of two billion Londinians. If you find yourself in a situation where you survive the war but your partner doesn't, be prepared for significant demographic changes as they will naturally desire to live in your nation. If you refuse them, be prepared for serious resistance.

[b]Your People Are People[/b]

This one is rather short and to the point but the simple fact is that your nation's citizens are people with their own goals and desires. In the face of a loss they may become unruly and prone to rebellion, especially if they're not an accepted population in your culture, which is an issue in itself, but otherwise you must be able to deal with the realities of a population at war...rationing and censorship are realities for a nation at war and you must be able to RP this in a realistic way, particularly smuggling and the emergence of organized crime in the case of a nation whose war isn't going well.

Also keep in mind the psychological effect of attacks on the homeland; if the enemy is bombing your home territories, that has a much stronger effect than some random outpost being attacked. It may inspire greater efforts to defend the homeland or a fatalism that leads people to be resigned and passive. There will also be political impacts as a result of the circumstances if your nation has free elections; incorporating these elements in your posts regarding the homeland will add that much more flavor than simply having your people bear the war with unrealistic grim stoicism.

And after defeat, also remember the fact that your people are really pissed off and most likely want nothing more than revenge on the enemy. Revanchism may also lead to the rise of fascist or communist movements in your nation, both of which are fun to RP.

In Vetalia after the war, corruption and disorder surged in the aftermath and more radical parties gained power, resulting in the ultimately disastrous election of the National Democratic Party and its ill-fated deal with the Reich. The aftermath has been an ongoing RP where Vetalia has literally no nation to speak of aside from a small government in exile.

[b]Remember That You Can Win Again[/b]

Unless you've been nuked into oblivion, you have a chance to win again. Nationstates has existed for nearly 20 years now and during that time countless nations have risen and fallen, their territories shifting across the map as they wax and wane.

It may take time, and your military capabilities may be impaired by occupation but it will eventually end and you can rebuild yourself and finally win the war. Indeed, a rearmament RP by a nation may produce more interest than the original war, with lots of fun to come. The point is to take your loss in stride and leverage the aftermath as best you can.

Just keep in mind what your people would honestly feel if they were in these circumstances.

[b]Have Fun![/b]

Remember, if you're not all dead this is an opportunity to explore the darkest emotions your people have and bring them to a conclusion. Whether pursuing revenge, escape or doubling down on your nation's virtues to the point of extremism the point is to have fun. If it's not fun RPing your losing nation, it's not worth your time.

Also remember that when the dust settles we're all just RPing fictional nations on an internet forum.

Thank you and I appreciate your attention.
-Vetalia 

[hr][center][u][b]The Roleplay Reel[/b][/u][b]:[/b] [i]Showing the Beauty of Storytelling[/i]
Publisher: McMasterdonia :: Executive Editors: Prydania, Syrixia, Kaschovia, and El Fiji Grande

[i]The Roleplay Reel is produced by the Ministries of Communications and Culture on behalf of the RP Community of The North Pacific.[/i][/center][hr][hr][/spoiler][/center][/box][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/JniD6MS.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/yOsWzXL.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/TC2ku5H.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/dAU6ukC.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/RIye5mS.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/FNKqCiG.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/9J8iTkB.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/pWaAcnZ.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/ykhCwF5.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/HrTb6Sf.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/jhk4Tnh.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/otzNGI7.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/mkqxxki.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/JRQLVyt.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/Lc1DIqm.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/10x6rsu.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/hw3x86K.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/g0kaVGn.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/HzihC2u.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/JGkaCqa.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/ozFK5RI.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/0qeP5c6.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/eJJ8pIm.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/88zx1Yq.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/ntVUZbi.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/3CBDNCa.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/rM5bAuo.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/tIFxpTc.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/FwkrJJ7.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/OUWuR7H.png[/img]

 

[El Fiji Grande]

Dispatch Code
Contains smaller images.

[hr][box][center]We are aware that not everyone is equally appreciative of image-based NS newspapers. As such, we've included links in the spoiler below to our offsite forum, where each article is provided in full. We hope you enjoy reading this month's issue! If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or suggestions, feel free to telegram the current TNP Minister of Communications [nation]Kaschovia[/nation] or Minister of Culture [nation]Prydania[/nation].[spoiler=Standard Version][hr][hr]
[size=140]Editors' Note: The NS RP Symposium[/size]
In this Issue of The Roleplay Reel, we're trying something a bit different. Instead of hosting articles specific to Strangereal and Eras, this Issue is a special edition that focuses on the recent events of the NS RP Symposium. An annual event, the Symposium was hosted by Greater Dienstad and The North Pacific, and featured a wide variety of discussions, lectures, and meetings on a diverse set of topics and ideas relating to roleplay. In case you didn't get the chance to attend the Symposium, we'd like to give you the opportunity to read each of the lectures presented. 

The Editors of the Roleplay Reel
Prydania, Syrixia, Kaschovia, and El Fiji Grande

[hr][size=140]Vexillology in Roleplay[/size]
[align=right][i]with Highton, TNP Deputy Minister of Culture[/i][/align]

Link to article: https://forum.thenorthpacific.org/topic/9191031/
[/list][hr][size=140]On IC/OOC Separation[/size]
[align=right][i]by Ghant, NS RP Symposium Chair[/i][/align]

Link to article: https://forum.thenorthpacific.org/topic/9191039/
[hr][size=140]Roleplaying Non-Western Cultures[/size]
[align=right][i]by Syrixia, TNP Deputy Minister of Culture[/i][/align]

Link to article: https://forum.thenorthpacific.org/topic/9191050/
[hr][size=140]Death of a Region[/size]
[align=right][i]by Luziyca, Grim Reaper of Esquarium[/i][/align]

Link to article: https://forum.thenorthpacific.org/topic/9191030/
[hr][size=140]On IIWiki Writing and Roleplaying[/size]
[align=right][i]by Latin, Founder of Ajax[/i][/align]

Link to article: https://forum.thenorthpacific.org/topic/9191053/
[hr][size=140]Theologia: Religion, Mythology, and the Essence of Belief in World Creation[/size]
[align=right][i]by Kylarnatia, National and International Roleplay Mentor[/i][/align]

Link to article: https://forum.thenorthpacific.org/topic/9191063/
[hr][size=140]Roleplaying on a Regional Message Board[/size]
[align=right][i]by Friently, Lead TNP RMB RP Moderator[/i][/align]

Link to article: https://forum.thenorthpacific.org/topic/9191062/
[hr][size=140]On Roleplaying Fascism[/size]
[align=right][i]by Prydania, TNP Minister of Culture[/i][/align]

Link to article: https://forum.thenorthpacific.org/topic/9191065/
[hr][size=140]The Art of Worldbuilding[/size]
[align=right][i]by Goyanes, TNP Forum RP Moderator and Attorney General[/i][/align]

Link to article: https://forum.thenorthpacific.org/topic/9191066/
[hr][size=140]Losing is Fun: The Art of Losing in NS Roleplay[/size]
[align=right][i]by Vetalia[/i][/align]
 
Link to article: https://forum.thenorthpacific.org/topic/9191064/
[hr][center][u][b]The Roleplay Reel[/b][/u][b]:[/b] [i]Showing the Beauty of Storytelling[/i]
Publisher: McMasterdonia :: Executive Editors: Prydania, Syrixia, Kaschovia, and El Fiji Grande

[i]The Roleplay Reel is produced by the Ministries of Communications and Culture on behalf of the RP Community of The North Pacific.[/i][/center][hr][hr][/spoiler][/center][/box][hr][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/JniD6MS.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/yOsWzXL.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/TC2ku5H.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/dAU6ukC.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/RIye5mS.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/FNKqCiG.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/9J8iTkB.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/pWaAcnZ.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/ykhCwF5.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/HrTb6Sf.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/jhk4Tnh.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/otzNGI7.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/mkqxxki.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/JRQLVyt.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/Lc1DIqm.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/10x6rsu.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/hw3x86K.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/g0kaVGn.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/HzihC2u.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/JGkaCqa.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/ozFK5RI.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/0qeP5c6.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/eJJ8pIm.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/88zx1Yq.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/ntVUZbi.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/3CBDNCa.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/rM5bAuo.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/tIFxpTc.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/FwkrJJ7.png[/img][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/OUWuR7H.png[/img][/center]

 

[El Fiji Grande]

Contains smaller images.
Link to RPR III PDF:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S1FcKjKXAY8mYrAwKrCn4J4SOOREP_b-/view?usp=sharing