Anterra:Orientation

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This page is intended to help you with getting your bearings in Anterra, understand how to become a member, and what are expectations are. We have a worldbuilding community that is looking for both realistic concepts mesh with Anterra as well as people who are willing to collaborate, accept critique, and be flexible. Our membership process is selective, so you are not guaranteed to get in. Applicants will be judged on both content and character. Arguably content issues can be worked through, but character issues are much harder to fix.

The Process

Before you get started, the server roles to look out for. Godkings (blue names) are admins who in part deal with the application process, but first and foremost deal with any disciplinary issues and conflict resolution. Processors (light blue names) are mods who primarily help with the application process and editing the map, but don't deal with discipline or setting server rules. Members (yellow names) are individuals who have gone through the application process and are on the map, but do not process applications. Probationary Members (green names) are applicants who have gone through most of the application process, but are still on probation and not yet on the map. At this point yellows and greens can talk to and help you out, but blue names are the ones who are deciding on your application.

  1. Join the Discord server and Introduce Yourself. Communication only occurs on the Discord. We recommend that you do some reading of the Anterra Wiki beforehand so you're somewhat familiar with the players and some events (see Reading Recommendations). However, you shouldn't have a solid concept yet because you're probably not fully oriented.
  2. Read the Following
    1. Reading Recommendations. These are articles that are identified as important for understanding Anterra's geopolitics.
    2. Pinned Maps in #map_stuff Discord Channel. These include the most up-to-date political map (in the channel description), climate maps, a rough language map, plate tectonics, and some basic topography. This will help you get a feel for the geography, where people are, and the rough linguistic distribution. Certain things like climate are tied a plot and can't be changed.
    3. The remainder of this guide, which has some tips to help you develop a concept.
  3. Define your Concept in the Discord. After you've done some reading and observing, you'll want to jot down some basic ideas that you could move forward with. Come up with 2 or 3 basic ideas, not too heavily developed, so that if one doesn't fit with Anterra you can shift to another. Do not settle on a map plot, we will help you select one based on your concept. Here are some things that could factor in, but are by no means exhaustive.
    1. Political System. If you want to write about a certain political system, include that. Consider more than just the vibe. For example, if you really want to write about political party coalition-building dynamics, voting law, or elections, you probably want to go with a democracy. If that doesn't sound fun for you, maybe do something else. If you want to explore ideology, the institutions in an illiberal state, royal family trees, religion's role in a theocracy, etc. then those desires should help guide you. If you don't have that desire though, maybe reconsider if this sort of writing is for you.
    2. Relationship with Colonialism and the New World. Do you want to be a post-colonial state (e.g. Colombia)? Do you want to be an indigenous state that's in the New World but was never colonized? This was a lot more common in Avalonia than in the real-life Americas. Do you want to be an Old World state that didn't engage in colonialism? In my opinion you should think about these sorts of relationships with colonialism and New vs. Old Worldism because it will be a big factor in deciding where you will go. Certain decisions will kind of slot you in one way or the other. For example, if you want to speak a natively Artemian language in Kesh or Avalonia, this will probably require some degree of colonialism. However, this requires the consent of whichever player runs the nation of the language you'd like. See Anterra:Orientation#Colonial_Languages.
    3. Geography. If you really want to be an island nation, in a desert, have a lot of greenery, in a mountain, make it known. It will help find a place for you on the map. Don't pick a map plot by yourself though, because you might come to find out that it's a cool looking island, but it doesn't have a picturesque tropical climate or it's near a state or language group that you don't really want to be next to. Just know that certain climate types or being an island will limit things like productivity, water resources, and population depending on the context. Those types of details will be worked through. If you're really into climate, geology, geography, flora and fauna, etc. you are free to lean into this aspect aswell. It must be realistic, although we do allow things like original or modified-extinct plants and animals (within reason).
    4. Relationship with Other States. Before you go all-in on being a hermit kingdom or a bunker state or something that doesn't like dealing with other states, consider how that might impact your interaction with others. If you write into your concept that you don't play nice with others, this will probably limit your opportunities to take part in things overseas which might cause you to get bored or frustrated. However, if you find writing about the tensions with other players and your internal dynamics that cause such a situation to be more compelling than participating in overseas wars, trade deals and intergovernmental organizations, then feel free. Perhaps think about ways that others can be involved so you're not just sitting in your own corner unintegrated with the Anterran community (from an out-of-character perspective).
    5. Economic System. If writing about something like your financial institutions or communist ideology is something you're into, then go for it as part of your basic concept. However, if you don't find this enjoyable, don't feel pressured into listing this in the basic concept (you should probably figure it out though). Let it be known though if you want to have good relations with URSA, Veikaia and Goetia (the Western Artemian socialist states) you're probably going to have to be communist. If you want to have good relations with Akiteiwa, you probably can't be socialist and ideally not an Artemian colonizer taking its islands. So again, it's an intersection of what you enjoy to write about (not the ideology you personally agree with) and how it impacts your relationships with others.
    6. Do Not Focus on the Military. We get it, a lot of us are very interested in the military. However, going super hard into this before you're a member is seen as distracting you from worldbuilding the fundamentals. At its worst it can be perceived as creating an Anterra nation just to build your fantasy super powerful army. However, if you have an interesting angle to incorporate the military into politics and culture, that sort of stuff is welcome.
  4. Get Permission to Wiki. To edit on the Wiki you must get whitelisted. After your concept is sufficiently developed (with help from others!) create an account on the Wiki and ask a blue name to whitelist you. You may now create one wiki article, the one for your nation. Please work on just this article for now.
  5. Keep Participating and Asking Questions while you create your wiki.
  6. Tag the Processors to Review Your Wiki for eligibility for Probationary Membership. We generally won't grant Probationary Membership any sooner than 2-3 weeks from the start of your concept. Here are some factors that could result in the review being sent back for further work:
    1. You have not met the Minimum Content standard of what must be written to be considered a viable concept. More must be written.
    2. Aspects of your wiki are unrealistic, contradict Anterran history, or are unoriginal. Specific changes must be made which will be listed for you.
    3. You have demonstrated an attitude that is uncollaborative or unreceptive towards feedback. Make sure that you make a good first impression, because if you come off as having a bad attitude at the start it's hard to change people's minds.
  7. Complete Probation. The length of Probationary Membership varies, because some people are more busy than others and have less time to devote to this fun project. For some it can be speedy (a minimum of a few weeks), but for others much longer. Once you have probationary membership you have all the posting and Wiking privileges of a full member, so you should try and collaborate with others, participate in Discord conversations, and keep worldbuilding. If you feel like after 1 month you've done enough to earn the yellow name, tag a blue name to review it. However, if you've been MIA from the Discord for a couple months and haven't really done any Wiking, chances are you aren't being moved up and placed on the map at that time.

Getting Probationary Membership

Enjoy It

First and foremost you should enjoy writing and working with others. If you don't enjoy writing in a worldbuilding setting (especially about non-military things) you should probably reconsider applying. As well, you should develop a concept that you genuinely enjoy writing about and not feel like it's a drag to put pen to paper. If you don't enjoy it, you won't want to do it on your own volition and this is supposed to be fun after all. The concept must fit within the bounds of Anterra and what's realistic, and people will tell you if there are issues in that regard, but otherwise the content should be something you're interested in exploring because then it'll come naturely.

Minimum Content

Here is a guideline for the minimum content on a national wiki page required for us to consider you for Probationary Membership. Note that this is just a guideline. You are allowed to write more, but not less. If the quality of the content itself is lacking or there is a problem with relating it to Anterra or realism it'll be sent back to you for revision. Also, if it is believed that you have not been active enough on the Discord this may result in "talk more on the Discord" feedback

  • A completed infobox, with at least a flag (map and coat of arms optional)
  • 3 introduction paragraphs in the Wikipedia style
  • At least 1-2 paragraphs for in a Politics or Culture section
  • At least 1-2 paragraphs for 2 other sections on the wiki (e.g. History, Politics, Food, etc.). One of the 2 additional sections may be substituted with 2x 500-1000 word domestic news posts or vignette done in a Google Doc. News posts are basically formatted like online news articles with vignettes are more short stories that you can write about anything, although it has to be set in your country. This will be reviewed by an admin for posting in the News: or Vignette: namespace once probationary membership is granted
  • Add the Anterra template to the bottom of the article.
  • Words written about the military, unless it's mostly about politics, will not be considered towards meeting the minimum requirement. For example, details about your military organization, military equipment, etc. are not considered when reviewing applications. However, if for example your military is deeply ingrained into your political scene and you talk about the dynamics between the two, that may be considered.

Wiki Etiquette

After you've been cleared to edit on Discord, please follow these basic principles:

  • Do not plagiarize people's work.
  • Do not edit other people's articles on the wiki unless you are directly involved or you've gotten permission to do so from someone involved.
  • Do not involve other people's nations without consulting them first and getting their consent.
  • Do not upload gore or pornography.
  • Always make the work you do on the wiki known on the Discord. This is we know you are still around, people can get acquainted with your nation, and people can point out any issues in your work that conflict with other parts of Anterra lore.

Basic Wiki Formatting

Now onto the learning! The Anterra Wiki is ran on the same engine as Wikipedia, so if something technical isn't covered here you will probably be able to fine your answer by Googling how you do certain things on Wikipedia.

Creating a page

To create your page in the first place, there is an inputbox on our Home Page with a button that says "Create Page". Type in the page title you're after, click the button and you're off to the races.

Basic text styling

Here's how you do some things with text.

  • ''Double apostrophes'' around text will italicize text like this: Double apostrophes
  • '''Triple apostrophes''' around text will look bold text like this: Triple apostrophes
  • '''''Quintuple apostrophes''''' around text will both bold and italicize text like this: Quintuple apostrophes
  • [[Article Name]] will link to an article within the Anterra wiki.
  • {{wpl|Article Name}} will link to an article on Wikipedia.
  • [https://anterra.miraheze.org/ Your Text Here] will link to an external URL.
  • [[Category:Category Name]] will categorize an article as the category you choose.
  • [[:Category:Category Name]] will link to a Category page. If you want to change the name that displays when you link, you can add a vertical bar and type the display name you want. Like this: [[:Category:Category Name|What I Really Want]]
  • <sup>Superscript</sup> will give you superscript text. A common use for this is to show square kilometers in areas, like this: 2,400 km2
  • <small>Small Text</small> will give you small text like this: Small Text
  • * when starting a new line will give you a bullet point. You can indent the next line in a bulleted list by starting that line with **
  • : when starting a new line will indent that paragraph of text. Repeating the : will indent it more.

Upload and using images

To upload images on the wiki, first you must be logged your account that has been whitelisted.

Once logged in, you will see the "Upload file" hyperlink on the leftside toolbar. After clicking, you will be brought to a page to upload and give your file a summary. This can be a description of the image (but that's optional). However, it is highly, highly encouraged that you give you categorize your images so they're easier to find for people navigating your content. For example, an image showing a military vehicle from the nation of Tiperyn should have [[Category:Tiperyn military vehicles]] in its summary, which effectively categorizes it. That way, it will show up in that category page along with any other files or articles you've also categorized as such. We want the wiki to be as navigable as possible, so please make sure you do this!

After uploading, you can find out how to place images on your wiki with this Wikipedia Help Article on Doing Just That.

It is possible for you to use images already hosted on Wikipedia as well. You just use the filename of a photo on Wikimedia in the format. It is highly recommended that if possible, you should use Wikimedia photos is you were about to reupload that same photo or a photo very similar. This is so you don't clutter the wiki unnecessarily and put an unnecessary load on Miraheze's servers.

Country infobox

Every country page needs an infobox, which is the box at the top right of every nation page on the wiki with key information. You basically copy the text from here, paste it at the top of your nation article and start filling in the values. Additional guidance and examples can be found on Wikipedia's template page.

Note, when placing an image in the infobox in a place specifically meant for it, like the image_flag input for example, you just need to put the file name. Don't put the [[Image:xxx]] or [[File:xxx]] stuff around the file name in this infobox.

Appendix

Reading Recommendations

Colonial Languages

If you are going to be a post-colonial state with a colonial language, these are the real-life languages, what they're called in-lore, and who you must seek consent from before using. This table only covers real-world languages, some Artemian players use a conlang that you could also pick. "Reverse" colonialism, such as indigenously Avalonian empires colonizing West Kesh for example, is also something you may explore with the Avalonian country's consent. Also note that the person in charge of the origin country can decline being your colonizer for lore or personal reasons.

Caption text
Real Language In-Lore Name Origin Colonial Power Who to Ask
German Goetic Goetic Empire (now Goetia) ersatzzz / Bunsen (NPC Manager)
French Ovannois Ovancian Empire suekablyat / Sue (NPC Manager)
Dutch Insennian Ovancian Empire suekablyat / Sue (NPC Manager)
Occitan d'Lis Ovancian Empire suekablyat / Sue (NPC Manager)
English Anglic Tiperyn bcmatsuyama / Brendan (Owner)
Breton Brittanic Tiperyn bcmatsuyama / Brendan (Owner)
Irish Goidelic Tiperyn bcmatsuyama / Brendan (Owner)
Spanish Tiberico Agrana y Griegro justatiedyedragon / Roche (Owner)
Portuguese Jungastian Jungastia justjung / Jung (Owner)
Norwegian Norsk Ringerike comradejoe. / Joe (Owner)
Chinese Guoyu Kodeshia rk38 / Anikatia (Owner)
Japanese Akitei Akiteiwa at_supe / Supe (Owner)
Russian Yarovan Yarova misesian_maoist / Osorra (Manager)
English/Anglic co-exists within Tiperyn as an equal to a conlang called Tipsprek which is also an option to be used.