Difference between revisions of "NSWiki:Featured articles/Archive"

Revision as of 01:11, 14 May 2005

Featured articles frequently contain only an excerpt of the overall article. Those snippets are preserved here, along with the date they first appeared on the Main Page. See also instructions for changing the featured article

12 October 2004

On Tue, 12 Oct 2004, SalusaSecondus posted the following article on the main website News channel:

WikiWiki!

I'm always amazed at just what the players of this game do and once again something has been brought to my attention that I just have to share with the rest of you. NationStates has an (unofficial) encyclopedia! This is a WikiWiki which means that anyone can add and contribute to it (there are instructions). Have you always wanted to have an encyclopedia article dedicated to your nation, its history, military, trade, religion, language, etc.? This is a chance to do it. Enjoy and please wiki responsibly.

[Permanent link to this news item]

28 October 2004

Species: panNorm

An insectoid species originally found on the S-14 colony ship and now only found in the "S-14" nation, more accurately known as the Coordinated panNorm Hives. There are four main races of panNorm, mostly classified as to their carapace color: Blue, Red, Green, and Mini. While this would normally be considered racist, these races are actually nearly distinct species, each particularly adapted to specific tasks. The color of their carapaces are a secondary attribute, as they will be the first to admit, but it is also the most obvious.

Physical Attributes

Universal panNorm Traits

All panNorm are generally ant-like in appearance, insectoid, with hard chitinous outer shells that make up three major body segments (the head, thorax, and abdomen) and six appendages that extend from the thorax. The most forward of these appendages have three major joints and are equivalent to arms and end in bony manipulator claws, four to a 'hand.' The four appendages behind these have four major joints and act as legs and end in multi-clawed feet that can grip porous surfaces easily.

Culture due to Nature

PanNorm culture is self-admittedly self-limiting. The highest virtue in panNorm culture is efficiency, and all aspects of panNorm life reflect this. The panNorm do not play, at least not in ways that do not contribute directly and efficiently into work. The panNorm do not decorate, but everything they build has a geometric elegance and simplicity based directly on form following function. The panNorm have no visual, performing, or musical arts beyond those immediately necessary to facilitate use of displays and communications.

See the entire article at PanNorm

November 1, 2004

Region: Europe

Europe is a region that contains a NationStates roleplaying community.

Although NationStates roleplayers were very segmented in the beginning, spread among small regions, huge communities of united roleplayers have sprung up. They organize themselves in regions, some with offsite forums. Two of the larger communities are European Affairs and the Meritocracy. However, while regions such as The New Meritocracy or the Heartland are based on peace and dialogue between nations, Europe is a much more bellicose region, with common diplomatic conflicts and wars among its nations.

The level of dedication given by the European players to its region is well known. Fictional flags, imaginary countries based in real countries or in historical regimes, common sporting events like organized football championships, and even pictures of the fictional nations' licence plates can be found in Europe.

Analogies

Most of the fictional nations in Europe are analogies of historical regimes or real nations. Erlangen-Ansbach, for instance, is the image of an alternative Bavarian Constitutional Monarchy. The oppressive and militaristic Dominion of Sortain can be compared to Nazi Germany, Azores reflects Portuguese fascism and Nosterra Italian fascism. Twente is Europe's superpowered Vatican, Great Britannia is an allusion to the British Empire and Rumeli is based on the Ottoman Empire.

The Linguistic Communities

Europe is a land of cultural and linguistic diversity. Although the main language of the community is English, some linguistic communities have grown large enough to compose their own sub-communities, which even have private forums for exclusive conversation in those languages. That's the case of the Zwia˛zek S?owian´ski and the Nederlandse Taalunie.

See the entire article at Europe

November 7, 2004

Nation: Hell Bovines

At a Glance

The Ecotopian Grand Duchy of Hell Bovines is a large nation located on the western part of the Greenfields continent. The nation is mostly inhabited by Hell Bovines, a race of sapient, bovinoid, semi-humanoid creatures that resemble cows walking on their hinds.

Hell Bovines is also a nation remarcable for its unusual laws (such as compulsory vegetarianism) and its unique government system, labeled Ecotopia, which combines direct democratic, socialist and enviromentalist ideals. Though not a military or economic power , Hell Bovines has built a strong diplomatic reputation for itself, becoming one of the leading voices of Third World Unity and the promotion of Non-Human rights.

History

Hell Bovinian history is very old, starting with the migration of the primitive Hell Bovinian tribes from the South Pacific and their following decision to settle on the Greenfields continent. It is in this new land where Hell Bovines built a rich, sedentary culture, effectively abandoning nomadism and organizing themselves into city-states ruled by kings and monarchs. Things would change drastically, however, in the XVIII century, when soldiers and expeditionaries from Galdago would discover the coasts of what they called "Hell Bovines". Originaly a despective term to the land's inhabitants, it would later become a symbol of pride among the sapient bovinoids.

People and Culture

Hell Bovines, a race of semi-humanoid, sapient bovinoids conform more than 99% of the national population and so, are effectively the largest ethnic group in the country. The remaining percentage is mostly composed of human communities and groups, though there is an important presence of Biotopians and Catpeople. The main religion remains the native "Cult of The Holy Cow" (67%), though in the recent years other Neopagan religions have been gaining popularity. There are some minor christian communities, a legacy of the Galdagan rule, though they don't mantain very strong links with the vatican. The main spoken language is Spanish, but the traditional Mootish language is still widely spoken, specialy in rural areas. Though not official, English is widely understood as well.

See the entire article at Hell Bovines

November 14, 2004

Roleplaying: Wank

Wank

The derogatory term "wank", originally slang for masturbation, or hacker-speak for a particularly clever and quirky styling, has a special meaning in NationStates. In the NS usage, wank is the abusive over-use of a particular stratagem, technique, or style. The word "wank" is often hyphenated to form a specific type of wank, as shown below. Remember, wank is not always bad or a godmode, but some forms can be.

Tech-Wank

The most common and least offensive form of wank. It is abuse of high technology, either to break the laws of reality , or to enforce adherence to minutiae on an RP not concerned with technicalities of combat systems.

In general NS, most people are not technophiles, and will become irked when you proceed to explain to them exactly how your 8mm Tungsten-Carbide, Armor-Piercing, Fin-Stabilized, Discarding-Sabot fletchette firing assault rifles are perfectly designed to penetrate their mere level three kevlar vests. This would be considered wank because most players would not know about the benefits of TC/DU APFSDS Fletchettes, and would negate their infantry armor. This is NOT a godmode, however, since it does not change the rules of reality or break the roleplay. (And yes, I used my own weapon as an example of wank. It's the SAG ACR, if you want to know.)

However, announcing that, because your opponent only claimed to use "RPGs" on your tank, it did no damage (since the RPG-7 is incapable of piercing the glacis plate of a Main Battle Tank, and your opponent did not use an RPG-29 specifically) is tech wank AND a godmode, because it allows you to ignore their attack, and take no damage. Most players couldn't tell an RPG-7 from an SA-2, and they had the right idea (firing rockets at a tank), but not the intrinsic knowledge of weapons. In this case, assume that they are using the correct weapon.

Most blatant of tech-wank is the "impenetrable shield" and the "unstoppable bullet" syndrome, in which the technology becomes a get-out-of-jail-free card, allowing blatant godmoding to be disguised as legitimate gameplay. On a side note, the effect of an unstoppable bullet striking an impenetrable shield has proven catastrophic.

See the entire article at Wank

November 22, 2004

Nation:Falastur

Long-time leader (and now sole member) of the Falastur Alliance region, the Imperial Power (more commonly known as the Empire) of Falastur is a modern part-Monarchy part-Democracy. While it's capital lies on Falastur Island, in the Atlantic Ocean, the Empire is far-flung all across the world. It may, perhaps, even be one of the few nations which could arguably boast that never does the sun set upon its unladen lands. While its history dates back little more than three centuries, it has arisen as a world leader in economic and military might, yet intermittent but protracted periods of seclusion have induced it into a less than prevalent role on the international stage.

Starting life as a English pseudo-colony, and thus declaring allegiance to England as such, although eschewing involvement in their affairs Falastur grew to be a universally renowned and distinguished sanctuary for those seeking renewal of self in the eyes of others. Furthermore to this day maintains resolutely an uninhibited and cordial immigration policy. Economic power and beliefs in a free market economy within Falastur, have led it to become a signatory of the Knootian International Stabilisation Treaty (KIST). Through a great period of colonialism has it traversed, having moreover, in a different epoch played a minor role in the Napoleonic Wars, largely avoided the World Wars, concomitantly escaping Civil War and reluctantly was a staging ground for part of the Cold War, and by way all of these has Falastur emerged through precarious times only to grasp security as much more unyielding, established as a relatively, considerably, extensive political unit.

Government

In order to maintain control over such a large political body, Government in Falastur is very much decentralised, and focuses on a series of tiers of Government down to the local level. Furthermore comprised of two divisions - the Monarchist half of the Government headed by Emperor Matthew VI of Falastur, and the Democratic side, directed by Anthony DeMoins. These two leaders have equal rights to power, and a strong friendship, despite the age gap between them. There is rarely any conflict between the two sides of the Government, and they are largely supportive of each other.

For more information about the Falasturian Government, see the Falasturian Government page.

See the entire article at Falastur

January 6, 2005

United Nations

Many players never go beyond the gameplay aspect of the UN. The UN is a cornerstone of the invading/defending game, due to the UN Delegate position.

Some players use the UN as a place to exercise their political muscles and propose resolutions that will impact other UN member nations to better reflect the author's ideology. Others see an intellectual challenge in using the proposal process to understand compromise and consensus. Some just enjoy the act of writing up proposals in legalistic language that will nonetheless be acceptable to the majority of players.

Another aspect of UN play manifests in active attempts to manipulate the voter pools. Proposal writers will present their case on the forums, actively campaign via telegram, or use the offsite forums to bring their case to the Delegates. There have also been hints of organized groups splitting into multiple regions and electing multiple delegates, expressly for the purpose of influencing the UN approval process.

A nation's national statistics are also affected by UN resolutions. A large group of nations are not members of the UN for this reason, as they don't want UN activity to "destroy" the nations they've built. Another reason for the low overall percentage of nations in the UN is puppet activity, though there is probably no way to determine the actual ratios of Anti-UN activity versus the various puppets nations.

The UN in Roleplay

UN members may create and vote upon proposals, which upon passage become resolutions. Passed resolutions have the force of law in all UN member nations, regardless of when they joined the UN. Using the UN forums, Civil Headquarters posts, and a variety of offsite forums; UN members can roleplay their national interests towards these laws that affect their nations.

The UN also has a number of standing UN Committees, some of which are managed by the UN Secretariat. Unlike the RL United Nations, the NS UN does not have a Secretary General or a Security Council. The NationStates United Nations is also forbidden from maintaining an army or directly intervening in wars, though its members are encouraged to aid each other in time of need.

16 January 2005

World Cup

The NationStates World Cup is NationStates' longest-running recurring sporting event, dating back to the spring of 2003. As of this writing, World Cup 20 qualifying has finished.

Each World Cup since the third has begun with a qualifying stage including anywhere from approximately fifty to one hundred nations, with eighty being the customary number. These nations are typically divided into eight to fifteen qualifying groups of six to ten nations, depending on the exact number entered. Each nation in a qualifying group plays each other nation in that group once at home and once away (the exception to this rule was World Cup V, where nations in the qualifiers played each other only once). After all matches have been played, thirty qualifiers are determined based on placement in their groups. The first criterion for placement is the number of points earned (three for a win, one for a draw, and zero for a loss). If this results in a tie, the first tiebreaker is goal difference (the number of goals conceded subtracted from the number of goals scored). The next tiebreaker is the number of goals scored. In almost all situations, this is enough to resolve any tie. (If it is not, the results of matches between the tied teams would act as a tiebreaker, and a playoff match would occur if the teams are still tied. This has never been required in the qualifying, although it has been required haphazardly in the group phase, first occurring in World Cup 12 when Halfassedstates beat Liverpool England 2-1.)

The thirty qualifiers in addition to the two host nations advance to play in the World Cup proper. The first round (or the group stage, as it is also known) is made up of eight groups of four nations. Routinely, four of these groups play in one host nation, while the other four groups compete in the second. Each nation in a group plays each other nation in that group once. The top two nations in each group advance to the second round, using the same rules as with qualifying. Beginning with the second round (also known as the round of sixteen), a single-elimination format is used. The exception to this is in the semifinals, as the two losing nations in the semifinals still move on to face off in the third-place playoff.

Results are determined by using a scorinator of some sort. Excel spreadsheets are the most common method, with the Java program Leagion increasingly used since World Cup 14. The early versions were created in the time of WC14 by World Cup 13 co-host Rejistania. However, World Cup 13 was not scorinated with leagion but by another Java-coded scorinator called wc13.java. The primary influence on the results is the rank of each nation, though roleplay bonus can also have a moderate effect (the exact influence of each depends on the formula used and hence varies between World Cups).

14 May 2005

Nation:Knootoss

The Dutch Democratic Republic of Knootoss is a post-modern developed democracy on the European continent, inhabited by a highly educated population of almost four billion.

Knootians are a socially libertarian people who have grown used to the many visiting foreigners, including many non-humans. Knootoss is noted by many foreigners for its liberal social policies including legal drugs, prostitution and gambling. The nation sees itself as part of the Western world: its people are oriented on free and open trade, and there is a wide consensus on the advantages of the free market. The nation is run by coalition governments usually involving liberals. Currently a conservative/liberal coalition is in power under the Elvish Prime Minister Galadriël Táralóm nos Círdan.

The Knootian people are peaceful to the point of pacifism even if their (sometimes militantly capitalizt) government has been known to engage in foreign adventures. The Knootian Defence Force used to have a feeble reputation, but it has grown more effective since the Shadow War devastated the country.

Foreign policy

Knootoss pursues its foreign policy largely within the framework of multilateral organisations, such as the Knootian International Stabilisation Treaty (KIST) and the Vinyatírion Economic/Readiness/Intelligence Treaty of Allied States (VERITAS). It has taken part regularly in peacekeeping operations and is a member of the Human Rights Council. The government cooperates with the United Nations wherever this is thought possible using a UN office as its formal representative.

Knootian Culture

Knootoss is not famous for its celebrated heroes, brave soldiers and charismatic revolutionaries, nor are Knootians a people of profound philosophers and great thinkers. Rather, it is a nation of painters, lawyers, politicians and writers, and of course a nation of merchants.

Economy

Knootoss has a prosperous and open powerhouse economy depending heavily o-n foreign trade. The service-oriented economy is noted for stable industrial relations, moderate inflation, and a small current account deficit. Benefiting from the complete absence of drug laws, an extremely prosperous export sector is up and running. Due to scale advantages, the prices are significantly lower then illegal produce, making Knootoss extremely competitive in this industry. Other industrial activity is predominantly in Information Technology (IT) and various media but o-n the whole the industrial sector is very diverse and competitive in areas from arms manufacturing to cheese exports. Research and development is o-ne of the main service industries in Knootoss and great emphasis is placed o-n R&D by the government.

See main article at: Knootoss