Thalassia

IMPORTANT: IGNORE ANYTHING IN THIS GUIDE CONCERNING RP STATS BEING A REQUIREMENT FOR ROLE PLAY! THE STATS SYSTEM IS CURRENTLY SUSPENDED, SO STATS ARE NOT REQUIRED.

Getting Started
To begin role playing on the Thalassian RMB, a nation needs to have its official role play stats (given by the Ministry of Culture upon request) in a dispatch. In addition, it's recommended that nations apply for a slot on the regional role play map, as it is necessary to do so for a nation to participate in wars in role play.

Role Play Stats
As mentioned previously, nations must have their official role play stats typed out in a dispatch. To receive those stats, a nation needs to telegram a Stats Distributor (see here) asking for them. Then, those stats must be typed into a dispatch. The dispatch can range from being empty but for the nation's stats, copied straight from the telegram, to being a Wikipedia-style information page. The most important thing is that the stats are somehow written out in the dispatch. Once that's done, the nation must deliver a telegram to the Stats Distributor that gave them their stats containing a link to that dispatch. Once the Stats Distributor checks the dispatch and approves it, the nation is ready to role play on the Thalassian RMB. Nations may telegram a Stats Distributor once a week to receive an updated version of their stats if they wish.

Role Play Map
Map A:

Map B:

These two maps connect (with Map A directly north of Map B) to form the regional role play map. Nations can place themselves on this map (and must do so if they wish to participate in wars in role play) by telegramming a Map Operator (see here) with the following format filled out:

Nation Name:
Desired Capital City Name:
Desired Nation Slot:
Desired Capital Position [Optional]:

Role Play Rules
Nations wanting to participate in role play on the Thalassian RMB shall:
1.) Have a dispatch containing their role play stats, which has been checked and declared valid by a Stats Distributor.
2.) Always follow official RP stats when participating in role play (for example by not exaggerating their nation's military size beyond its actual, official size) and use NationStates stats as a guideline for other areas of RP (for example by making sure their population's average IQ in RP is somewhat close to their NationStates IQ stat).
3.) Abide by RMB rules.
4.)Type "RP" or something similar, like the title of an RP event, at the top of each of their RP posts on the RMB to differentiate from Out-of-Character writing.
5.) Try to maintain realism while role playing by:
a. Transporting troops realistically (not moving hundreds of thousands of troops at a time).
b. Keeping their technology at or below a level of advancement coinciding with the loosely modern time period that Thalassia's RP is set in.
c. Accepting defeat in war and not writing the plot in their favor when it is unrealistic to do so.
d. Listening to RP Moderators when told that their actions in RP are unrealistic.
6.)Write RP posts in the third person by default or, if they wish to write an RP post in the first person, indicate at the top of the post the perspective it is being told from, and never write from the perspective of their nation in the first person. (Third person is "The nation of [blank] declares war on [blank]," while first person is "I run down the street." Role players may not write as their nations in first person.)
7.) Not perform RP actions on behalf of other nations such as, if fighting a battle on another nation's soil, declaring the weather conditions in that location, since the weather in a nation is in the domain of that nation only.
8.) Follow all orders given by RP Moderators, and deliver to the Minister of Culture or Prime Minister any complaints they may have in relation to those orders after they are followed.
9.) Only participate in wars if they are on the regional role play map.

Role Play Rewards
The Ministry of Culture runs an RP Rewards system which rewards nations for following RP standards in role play. RP standards are different from RP rules in that rules must be followed, with a penalty applied if nations do not comply with them, whereas RP standards are encouraged and optional, with rewards given out to those who are observed to be following them and no penalty delivered to those who are not. The Ministry of Culture runs this program by appointing Observers (which are listed in the last section of this guide) to watch all RP posts on the RMB and take note of role play that can be rewarded. Each week, Observers will report to the Ministry of Culture and judge the nations they saw roleplaying in order to pick weekly winners to receive RP Points. An unlimited number of winners may be chosen per week (and it's even possible for no winners to be chosen at all), but each winner may receive only one point weekly. Nations may spend those points for any of the following rewards:

• >(Price: 4 Points) A customized role on the public Discord server.
Request Template:
Role Color -
Role Name -
-
• ^(Price: 1 Point) A map of your nation's religions. Up to five separate religions may be mapped.
Request Template:
Name of Religion -
Extent of Religion (Location) -
Desired Color -
-
Repeat for each religion as necessary.
-
• ^(Price: 1 Point) A map of your nation's groups with differing cultures, such as ethnic groups or tribes. Up to five of these may be mapped.
Request Template:
Name of Culture/Group -
Extent of Culture/Group (Location -
Desired Color -
-
Repeat for each cultural group as necessary.
-
• ^(Price: 1 Point) Two cities plotted on your nation's map
Request Template:
Name -
Population -
Location -
-
Repeat for each city as necessary.
-
•^(Price: 1 Point) Up to two roads plotted on your map, connecting two cities each. (Note: Two is not the max number of roads! It's just the max you can get for 1 Point.)
Request Template:
Route (Two cities being connected):
Name (Optional):
Type (Motorway, road, other):
-
Repeat as necessary for each route.
-
•^(Price: 2 Points) A map of your nation divided into provinces.
Request Template:
Name:
Area/Location:
Capital(if there's already a city in the province):
-
Repeat for each province, rough max of 10. Could be more depending on the country.

To redeem map rewards (marked with an "^"), nations must contact a Map Operator either by NS telegram or, more preferably, Discord direct message. To redeem Discord server rewards (marked with an ">"), nations must contact the Founder on Discord.

Nations will be rewarded for following behavioral role play standards such as:

•Using extensive detail in role play posts, describing events, characters, and settings in a clear and concise way.

•Using countries as settings instead of characters. The Ministry of Culture discourages role play in the form of, "[nation] approves of [other nation]'s response to..." We would like role players to focus more on the people in their nations and detail their governments as being made up of realistic, conflicting politicians.

•Actively writing lots of role play posts that follow the rules.

(NOTE: The Ministry of Culture does not care about spelling and grammar at all, so long as role play posts are legible.)

A record of all RP-eligible nations' RP point balances is kept in this dispatch: page=dispatch/id=1367825

Useful Guides
•Useful NS Sites and Utilities
•The Complete List of NSCodes
•Ponderosa's Guide to a Wiki Style Factbook
Culture Team
•Arenado - Prime Minister, RP Moderator
•Czech Germania - Minister of Culture, RP Moderator, Stats Distributor
•Zentata - Deputy Minister of Culture, RP Observer and Moderator, Map Operator
•Yaldian Territories - RP Observer and Moderator