Archipelago Intro / FAQ / Resources

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Scott Alexander
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Archipelago Intro / FAQ / Resources

Post by Scott Alexander »

WHAT IS ARCHIPELAGO?

Archipelago is a collaborative conworlding project originally populated by current and former micronationalists, but now open to everyone.

Conworlding is the hobby of imagining fictional cultures and planets. In Archipelago, you invent a civilization ("statelet"), develop its culture and background, and guide it through "history" by interacting with other statelets and the wider world.

Actually it's not nearly so formal as all of that and mostly you just make stuff up and write stories and have fun.

WHAT'S THE BACKGROUND?

The old world, "Micras", was destroyed by a sudden catastrophic failure of all technology and magic, and the resulting cataclysm reshaped the planet beyond all recognition. Five hundred years later, the mysterious disruptive force has settled unevenly across the landscape, permitting technological development of some areas but not others, and banning magic from parts of the world entirely.

The new world, "Pelagia", has formed small pockets of civilization, each shaped by the technological and magical possibilities of its homeland. Now Bronze Age theocracies coexist side by side with Space Age data havens and places stranger still. All gave token allegiance to Autokrator Omi Oitherion, a half-insane survivor of the old world who seemed to be able to control the disruptive force, and to the Senate he set up as a limited global government.

In practice the background is eminently ignorable as long as you realize that you may have some neighbors from the weirder side of speculative fiction, and that when the game moderator calls himself the Autokrator and says "jump", you jump.

WHAT DO I DO?

Join and create your ideal civilization.

Everything's pretty free-form. We give you a forum. You post as much or as little as you want. History, holy books, city maps, language dictionaries. Whatever.

At some point, most people tend to branch out into stories about characters from their civilization, or about important events going on in the "present" of their civilization's history. These then tie together with other people's stories, characters, and civilizations. Sometimes issues make it to the Senate and have to be resolved diplomatically.

There are also the occasional conworlding contests. Every so often, someone will announce a competition to see who can come up with the best street map of their capital, or epic poem, or set of military insignia. The winner will get some sort of interesting in-game prize, most of which are utterly useless because the game is too free-form to require resources.

People also socialize, chat, and meet other Pelagians - most notably in #micronations on IRC.

HOW DO I JOIN?

1. Register an account on Bastion, a forum hosting several conworlding and micronational projects including the Archipelago. You can change the forum skin and appearance for your account after you register.
2. Come up with a name and a plan for your statelet, then register it on the Statelet Registration Thread.
3. Decide where on the map of Pelagia you want your statelet located, then request a land claim on the Map Request Thread. Your statelet should be about the same size as other statelets; the island in the far northwest is a convenient benchmark. Protip: NOT EVERYONE NEEDS TO CLAIM ISLANDS. SERIOUSLY, THE MAINLAND ISN'T POISONOUS OR ANYTHING.
4. Introduce yourself to everyone in #micronations while you're waiting for a forum. You can get there with a minimum of fuss by just going to this web page..

OKAY, I'VE JOINED, NOW WHAT?

1. Consider embellishing your map claim with a capital city. Although making too many complicated additions to your map claim requires you to bribe the cartographer, everyone is permitted a capital for free.
2. Add your flag to the side of the forum. You can either ask the Autokrator to deal with it, or resize it to 60x36 and post it directly to forum admin.
3. Consider writing a brief introduction to your statelet for outsiders, something like this or this.
4. Each week there are one or two active Conworlding Competitions in the Center of the World. Take a look at them and see if you want to enter.
5. Write some stories or consider joining in other peoples'.
6. Chat with the Archipelago community on #micronations, especially around 11 PM GST when the room starts getting busy.

USEFUL RESOURCES:

1. Map of Pelagia
2. Archipelago Forum

You can contact the Autokrator by email at scott [at symbol] shireroth [period] org, or on MSN at the same address.

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Kallinn Ynnetrrr
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Re: Archipelago Intro / FAQ / Resources

Post by Kallinn Ynnetrrr »

Behold!

Image
Last edited by Kallinn Ynnetrrr on Wed May 11, 2011 5:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Image

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Kallinn Ynnetrrr
Posts: 388
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Re: Archipelago Intro / FAQ / Resources

Post by Kallinn Ynnetrrr »

Ok, so, it's kinda like a barcode. Scanning it with an app on a cell phone (or just clicking on it in my signature) opens this FAQ on the mobile browser (they can do other stuff too, really).

I'm bad at describing things, the following is from their website:
Microsoft Tag transforms almost anything in the real world into a live link to more information or an interactive experience on your mobile phone. A Tag is a new kind of bar code, designed specifically to be scanned by a mobile phone. You can print, stick, or display Tags almost anywhere. When you scan it with your phone, it automatically opens a webpage, dials a phone number, or takes some other action on the phone. Simply scan a Tag anywhere you see it - on advertisements, signage, magazine articles, retail shelving, product packages, and storefronts - and gain access to websites, videos, reviews, contact information, social networks, discounts, promotions and more! You just have to download the free Tag Reader on your web enabled camera phone and you can start scanning Tags to interact with the world around you in new ways!
Image

Carl Jackson

Re: Archipelago Intro / FAQ / Resources

Post by Carl Jackson »

Dump that Microslop and use a QR code, please.

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Kallinn Ynnetrrr
Posts: 388
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Re: Archipelago Intro / FAQ / Resources

Post by Kallinn Ynnetrrr »

But this one is nice and colourful :C
Image

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Kallinn Ynnetrrr
Posts: 388
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Re: Archipelago Intro / FAQ / Resources

Post by Kallinn Ynnetrrr »

Image
Image

Carl Jackson

Re: Archipelago Intro / FAQ / Resources

Post by Carl Jackson »

Thank you.

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Orion
Full of shi... err.. stars!
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Re: Archipelago Intro / FAQ / Resources

Post by Orion »

Any particular reasoning behind the mysterious lack of lakes on the map, or is it just an oversight?

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Scott Alexander
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Re: Archipelago Intro / FAQ / Resources

Post by Scott Alexander »

Oversight; map adopted in a hurry to satisfy people who were about to leave because things were taking too long to get set up. One day I shall replace it with a prettier map, and anyone who complains about the new map not being pixel-perfect, I shall smite.

For now, if you want a small lake for a claim, tell me and I'll stick a lake there. If you want a large lake, we can talk.

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ari
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Re: Archipelago Intro / FAQ / Resources

Post by ari »

Speaking of which, every time I look at the map I think of TWSW as a big lake, what with the colour being just right for a lake on this map's colour scheme, and that river coming out of it...
Lord Furniture
Not even partially responsible for Malarboria; will take the blame for Caverden, though!
Tallest and therefore Greatest of the Janitors
Eternal Watcher of #micronations

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Orion
Full of shi... err.. stars!
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Re: Archipelago Intro / FAQ / Resources

Post by Orion »

Yeah, I thought the same thing at first...

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