Collab:Federal States

South Archanta Collaboratives

	Strong National	Weak National
Strong Territory	Federal States(c) Stateowners have somewhat high degrees of autonomy within their own states, but larger macro issues are either decided at the regional level or at the national level. Designated coordinators are responsible for overseeing the project, and states are expected to confirm with pre-existing plans and national initiatives.	Astrasian Confederacy(c) Each territory is nearly entirely autonomous, with minimal planning or guidance at the national level. Mappers are encouraged to communicate to ensure smooth transitions between the various territories, but inter-territory collaboration may be more limited.
Weak Territory	Ardencia(c) The project is mostly master-planned at the national level. Mappers are welcome to collaborate with each other, but the project coordinators are responsible for oversight and have wide-reaching veto power to guide mapping in line with established plans and are free to remove non-conforming mapping as they see fit.	Deodeca(c) The project functions more as a collective rather than a more traditional "collaborative". National plans are developed jointly and organically, with little to no standing leadership structure to guide the project. Mappers are extremely collaborative and continuously work together to move the project forward.

The territories of AR120^∈⊾ are not independent countries. They are states within the larger Federal States of Archanta. As in the real United States, there are smaller mountains in the east, larger mountains in the west, and plains in between. Historically, English ("Ingerish") speaking settlement began on the east coast, and made its way westward. It is thought that the northwestern areas previously belonged to the Spanish ("Castellanese") just like California and the southwestern USA, and perhaps there is still a large cultural influence there. The indigenous peoples of the area may be extremely diverse, perhaps sharing similarities with those of the real world USA, or those of nearby OGF countries. Some areas may have a strong native presence, others very little or none at all. Please keep in mind that the Federal States are in the southern hemisphere and slightly closer to the equator than the real FSA.

For territory owners here, declaring "independence" isn't an option, so before requesting a state, please be sure you understand the following points:

1. AR120 is like the USA. This is a highly developed country with a strong economy and a diverse culture formed by immigrants from around the globe, as well as the indigenous peoples of the continent. Just like in the United States, the dominant language is English ("Ingerish" in this world).
2. Teamwork is important. Any decisions about shared questions of economy, history, culture, etc, should be discussed as a team. Geographic coordination is also necessary — for example, every territory owner should be familiar with the sketch map below to help coordinate issues of climate, topography, etc. Before taking any action that affects your neighbor states, you should talk about it with them first.
3. Have fun! We expect it to be a dynamic new place with lots of mappers working together to build something really amazing. We urge everyone involved to have fun and help make it the best country anywhere.

Why should I join?

All mappers wanting to use a US-based theme are welcome and encouraged to join. ... Why?

• Because you can have more fun working with neighbors who share the same goal as you;
• Because you can experience greater satisfaction seeing your mapping develop as part of this huge megaproject;
• Because you can still help with the worldbuilding, which means you get to discuss and vote on interesting stuff, like:

• Names of major physical features
• Sketch for the layout of the national capital
• List of famous national historical figures (as a resource for naming things)

How can I claim a state?

States may be obtained in several ways:

a.) Mappers who do not own a territory may request a state as their first territory.

b.) Mappers who own a well-developed territory may request a state as their second territory (see continental application guidelines).

c.) Mappers who wish to move their mapping to AR120 are encouraged to do so, by trading in their current territory for a state in AR120. Technical assistance with the moving process is available.

d.) Mappers who wish to start over are also welcome, as they are free to relinquish their current territory and request a state in AR120 instead.

In addition, there are multiple collaborative states for mappers who want to build in the country without owning a state themselves. Collaboratives are a great place for those that just want to try out the project, have a side-project in a new theme, or to get heavily involved without having to worry about territory-ownership responsibilities.

Project management

The project has previously had coordinators but is overseen right now by the two continental admin team members, TheMayor and wangi. The project is driven by the state-owners themselves, with the two admin team members providing oversight and guiding the project when necessary. Their oversight includes:

• Coordinating regional and national questions among active users: geology, hydrology, infrastructure, cultural institutions, economy, etc.
• Assisting the coordinators of collaborative ("purple") states to keep the projects on track.
• Maintaining wiki documentation pages.
• Keeping the project visible to the community and promote engagement in the active forum discussions and votes.

Previous FSA Coordinators

Username	State	Role	Term	Notes
Luciano	Makaska	FSA Coordinator	2018-Mar 2019	First project coordinator. Stepped down in Feb 2019. Also serves on the OGF admin team.
TheMayor	Minnonigan	FSA Coordinator	Mar 2019-Feb 2021	Declined to run for a fifth term in January 2021. Currently serves as one of Archanta's continental OGF admins.
yoyo21	Fellshire	FSA Coordinator	Feb 2021-Aug 2021	Declined to run for a second term in July 2021.
varnel_maiser, CartographerKing	Nishowigan	FSA Coordinator (partnership)	Aug 2021-Feb 2022	Declined to run for a second term in January 2022.
Fluffr_Nuttr	Ruppacke, Eustacia	FSA Eastern Coordinator	Aug 2021-Aug 2025	Declined to run for a ninth term in July 2025.
Alessa	Mennowa, West Massodeya	FSA Southern Coordinator	May 2022-August 2025	Term ended in August 2025 with project restructuring. Also serves on the OGF admin team.
ruadh	Alormen	FSA Northern Coordinator	May 2022-August 2025	Term ended in August 2025 with project restructuring.

Rights and Responsibilities of FSA Mappers

The following is an overview of the expectations of mappers in the Federal States. All state owners are expected to adhere to these rights and responsibilities, in addition to the standard OGF community rules.

1. The project is an United States–style country that is also one of the OGF community's largest collaborative mapping projects. All mappers of any skill level are welcome and encouraged to participate.
2. State owners are expected to participate actively, maintain the national cohesion of the country, and coordinate with neighboring state owners on interstate issues.
3. Matters of national importance are determined by discussion and consensus of the various state owners in a dedicated forum. In these discussions, each mapper is treated fairly and equally, and each mapper is able to have their opinion heard, respected, and considered; however, all mappers are expected to abide by the final consensus.
4. State owners are expected to vote on omnibus ballots (project management) and forum discussions (worldbuilding). (See voting below for details.)
5. When a new mapper takes ownership of a state that was previously mapped, all existing mapping that the mapper does not wish to retain must be offered for adoption and relocation by other mappers before being deleted. Some mapped areas may be deemed areas of national interest whose alteration or removal may be restricted or prohibited as determined by the admin team.
6. All mapping is expected to be in a realistic United States-derived theme, mapped in Ingerish (English). Areas with historic influences may be mapped in indigenous or other colonial languages along side but not supplanting Ingerish (English).
7. The sovereignty of each state mapper is an essential part of this unique national collaborative. Any mapping that otherwise complies with the above rights and responsibilities is encouraged and should be protected from any outside interference.
8. The right to own a state is not absolute. Ownership of a state can be revoked by the OGF admin team at any time for just cause. All matters of state ownership, including adoption and expulsion procedures, are exclusively the responsibility of the OGF admin team. The admin team is not bound by the rights and responsibilities included in this list with regards to project and site management.

Voting

Major decision points for the Federal States project that require voting take place on either publicly on the FSA forum or on the semi-annual, omnibus secret ballot, which is made available every February and August. Generally, the forums are used to help decide on things that impact the map itself including the project's lore and history, while the omnibus ballot is used for more meta aspects of the project, such as aspects of project structure and approving nominations for sites of national importance.

FSA collaborative-state mappers who meet the same activity requirements as stateowners (regularly-active FSA mappers throughout the three months before the vote in question) are welcome to participate in forum votes and can request an omnibus ballot. To ensure fairness, omnibus votes are weighted based on the "stake" a particular mapper has in the FSA project:

• Each owned state is allocated four (4) votes. In the case of partnership states, these votes are allocated proportionally between the stateowners.
• Each collaborative state is allocated six (6) votes, with votes allocated proportionally between the state's coordinators.
• Mappers who contribute to collaborative states and meet the aforementioned activity requirements receive one (1) vote, regardless of how many states the mapper maps in.
• Votes can be combined, but no individual mapper can have more than four (4) votes.

In practice, generally individual stateowners receive 4 votes; collaborative state coordinators receive 3 votes (+1 if they actively map in the state as well); partnership stateowners each receive 2 votes; and active non-stateowners receive 1 vote.

Turnover Procedure and "Green State" Etiquette

For various reasons, occasionally a state may "turnover" and revert from an owned state to a vacant state. As the FSA is a unique large collaborative project, there are additional guidelines for dealing with mapping from previous stateowners in a vacant state. When a state does become vacant, the following steps occur:

1. The state will be reviewed to determine if any parts of the existing mapping should be considered areas of national interest that the next mapper will be required to maintain in some way. "Areas of national interest" include, but are not limited to, major map features that have a direct impact on other states or the FSA's history as a whole (large cities, military facilities, significant topography, etc.) and areas that are mapped in detail and high quality.
2. If the mapper vacates a state while in good standing (generally meaning not due to inactivity or an admin team eviction decision), the vacated mapper may be permitted to take some of their mapping with them to their new state or territory. Areas of national interest will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
3. While the state is vacant, existing mapping will remain and is not to be edited or changed. State-owners are not permitted to edit in vacant territories. Essential, regionally-agreed infrastructure projects may be added, removed, or altered in a non-invasive way solely at the direction of the admin team. Vacant states with little or no existing development should remain a "blank slate" for the next mapper.
4. When a new stateowner has been identified, they are permitted to keep any and all existing mapping and are generally welcome to add, edit, change, or delete existing mapping as they see fit, except any previously identified areas of national or regional interest. New stateowners should consult with neighboring states and the FSA community as a whole before significantly changing interstate facilities such as motorways and railways.
5. If the new stateowner chooses to do any large-scale deletion of mapped features, the new stateowner is required to offer said mapping to other FSA stateowners before final deletion, preferably via the FSA forum. Adopted mapping is allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. If no mappers wish to claim the affected areas within a reasonable amount of time (a week is recommended, but no less than three days), the mapping can be deleted.

Mappers who are interested in requesting a vacant state are welcome and encouraged to directly contact the FSA Coordinator for more information and recommendations before officially submitting a request to the OGF admin team.

New User Invitation

Stateowners or other FSA mappers who notice new mappers working in Michisaukee are welcome to use the following script to welcome the new mapper into the FSA.

Hello, and welcome to OpenGeofiction! I noticed your mapping in Michisaukee and wanted to introduce myself. I'm also one of the stateowners in the [Federal States](https://wiki.opengeofiction.net/index.php/Federal_States), the country you've been mapping in.

Once your edit history is a bit more robust and once you get more acclimated to OGF, you're welcome to request access to one of our [collaborative states](https://wiki.opengeofiction.net/index.php/OpenGeofiction:List_of_collaborative_projects#Archanta) or, if you are interested in something other than American-style mapping, a [beginner territory](https://wiki.opengeofiction.net/index.php/OpenGeofiction:Territory_application#Beginner).

We're always looking for new FSA stateowners as well, so once you become more of an advanced mapper, you can have the opportunity to request a state of your own. Stateowners play important roles in moving the larger FSA project forward, coordinating and collaborating on regional and national issues with other stateowners.

If you have any questions about the Federal States project, or about OGF as a whole, please don't hesitate to ask me.

Once again, welcome, and happy mapping!

-[name]

State Directory

For more information regarding "state types", see below. States listed in italics are names of vacant states that still show up on the map but should not be considered official until a new mapper adopts the state. Land area relations shown with a warning () were broken when this list was last updated; mappers in these states should repair the relation and then remove the warning from this page.

OGF-ID	State Name	State Type	Region	Owner/Coordinator(s)	Land Area	Notes
AR120-01∈⊾	Huntington(c)	Guided Collaborative	Mid-Ardentic	No current coordinator	AR120-01∈⊾	Capital of the Federal States. See collab page for more information and how to get involved.
AR120-04∈⊾		vacant	Mid-Ardentic		AR120-04∈⊾
AR120-05∈⊾	Ponquin	Owned	Mid-Ardentic	ThePhrogianOverlord	AR120-05∈⊾
AR120-06∈⊾	Whitestone	Owned	Mid-Ardentic	Infrarrojo	AR120-06∈⊾
AR120-07∈⊾	Ruppacke	Owned	Southeast	Fluffr_Nuttr	AR120-07∈⊾
AR120-08∈⊾	Ardelia	Owned	Mid-Ardentic	Lemuria	AR120-08∈⊾
AR120-09∈⊾	Penquisset	Owned	Southeast	Zytik	AR120-09∈⊾
AR120-11∈⊾	New Carnaby(c)	Guided Collaborative	Southeast	Easky30, Fluffr_Nuttr	AR120-11∈⊾	See collab page for more information and how to get involved.
AR120-12∈⊾	Wiarni	Owned	Southeast	Thunderbird	AR120-12∈⊾
AR120-13∈⊾		vacant	Southeast		AR120-13∈⊾
AR120-15∈⊾	Passamaqueets	Owned	Southeast	Template:Jr000	AR120-15∈⊾
AR120-16∈⊾	Hyde	Owned	Southeast	CharlieG	AR120-16∈⊾
AR120-17∈⊾	Astrantia	Owned	Southeast	Marcello	AR120-17∈⊾
AR120-19∈⊾	Rougemont	Owned	Southeast	waffledogefern	None
AR120-21∈⊾	Opelika	Owned	Northeast	JustSomeMapper	AR120-21∈⊾
AR120-23∈⊾	Orange Coast	Owned	Northeast	BMSOUZA	AR120-23∈⊾
AR120-24∈⊾	Laine	Owned	Northeast	ifgus	AR120-24∈⊾
AR120-25∈⊾	Eustacia(c)	Guided Collaborative	Southeast	Infrarrojo	AR120-25∈⊾	This state is accepting new applicants. See collab page for more information and how to get involved.
AR120-26∈⊾	Ogdalen	Owned	Northeast	Icefur2	AR120-26∈⊾
AR120-27∈⊾		vacant	Northeast
AR120-28∈⊾		vacant	Northeast		AR120-28∈⊾
AR120-31∈⊾	Michisaukee(c)	Open Collaborative	Massodeyas	Glauber	None	This state is open for anyone to edit, per the constraints listed on the collab page.
AR120-32∈⊾	East Massodeya	Reserved	Massodeyas		None	Reserved for a future collaborative project.
AR120-33∈⊾	West Massodeya(c)	Guided Collaborative	Massodeyas	Alessa	None	See collab page for more information and how to get involved.
AR120-34∈⊾	Gnaerey	Owned	Central	Toadwart	None
AR120-35∈⊾	Passitania	Owned	Central	PoisonDog522	AR120-35∈⊾
AR120-36∈⊾	Wauseka	Owned	Central	Stephenplays	AR120-36∈⊾
AR120-37∈⊾		vacant	Central		None	Reserved for advanced users only. Contact admin for more information.
AR120-38∈⊾	Minnesaugiaw	Owned	Central	Berdly	None
AR120-39∈⊾		Reserved	Central		None	Reserved for future community project.
AR120-41∈⊾		vacant	Heartland		AR120-41∈⊾
AR120-42∈⊾	Des Plaines	Owned	Heartland	RhodeIslandWV	AR120-42∈⊾
AR120-43∈⊾	Mennowa	Closed Collaborative	Heartland	Alessa, Leowezy	AR120-43∈⊾	This is a partnership state and is not accepting new mappers.
AR120-44∈⊾	Zakahigan	Owned	Heartland	ItsTybear	AR120-44∈⊾
AR120-45∈⊾	Tennewa	Owned	Heartland	oneofbeatlefan	AR120-45∈⊾
AR120-46∈⊾	Wychelle	Owned	West Lakes	Arlo	AR120-46∈⊾
AR120-47∈⊾	Illuvia	Owned	West Lakes	RobertTBS	AR120-47∈⊾
AR120-52∈⊾	Mishota	vacant	Heartland	MiniMapper	AR120-52∈⊾
AR120-53∈⊾	Iroquesia	Owned	West Lakes	Aces California	AR120-53∈⊾
AR120-54∈⊾	Seneppi	Owned	West Lakes	hallowed_embers	AR120-54∈⊾
AR120-55∈⊾	Minnonigan	Owned	West Lakes	TheMayor	AR120-55∈⊾
AR120-56∈⊾		vacant	West Lakes		AR120-56∈⊾
AR120-57∈⊾	Venary	vacant	West Lakes	Mantan	AR120-57∈⊾
AR120-58∈⊾	Makaska	Owned	Central	Luciano	AR120-58∈⊾
AR120-59∈⊾	Wisecota	Owned	Heartland	Canada_LaVearn	None
AR120-71∈⊾	Riopoderos	Owned	Heartland	Geoc3ladus	None
AR120-72∈⊾	Apawiland	Owned	Northwest	iiEarth	AR120-72∈⊾
AR120-73∈⊾		vacant	Northwest		AR120-73∈⊾
AR120-74∈⊾	Alcortez	Owned	Northwest	forkymapper	AR120-74∈⊾
AR120-75∈⊾	Sierra	Owned	Northwest	Brunanter	None
AR120-76∈⊾	Clamash	Owned	Northwest, West Lakes (southern portion)	Glauber	AR120-76∈⊾
AR120-81∈⊾	Tauhon	Owned	Northwest	htx	AR120-81∈⊾
AR120-82∈⊾	Atascadera	vacant	Northwest		AR120-82∈⊾
AR120-84∈⊾	Cosperica(c)	Guided Collaborative	Northwest	wangi, oneofbeatlefan	AR120-84∈⊾	See collab page for more information and how to get involved.
AR120-86∈⊾	Tempache	Owned	Northwest	infinatious	AR120-86∈⊾
AR120-87∈⊾		vacant	Northwest		AR120-87∈⊾
AR120-91∈⊾	Alormen(c)	Guided Collaborative	Alormen	ruadh, newflanders	AR120-91∈⊾	See collab page for more information and how to get involved.
AR120-95∈⊾	Hartford Islands	vacant	Overseas		None	Reserved for advanced users only. Contact admin for more information.
AR335∈⊾	Arecales(c)	Guided Collaborative	Overseas	Brunanter	AR335∈⊾	See collab page for more information and how to get involved.
UL05l∈⊾	Nahuwa Atoll	Owned	Overseas	wangi	None

Open Collaboratives

Open Collaboratives are open to all OGF mappers, with the following constraints:

• All mappers are encouraged to check the existing state plans before editing to ensure new mapping complies with the overall vision for the state.
• Motorways, railways, and major waterways should not be altered, except to add more detail.
• New cities with a population larger than 100,000 are not permitted. New cities with a population larger than 50,000 must be approved by a state coordinator first.
• Coordinators may revert edits of non-conforming changes.

Guided Collaboratives

Guided Collaboratives are official FSA collaborative projects, most of which date back to the FSA's launch and are intended to showcase the best collaborative mapping in the nation. Coordinators oversee the planning and mapping of each Guided Collaborative state, although some decisions may be considered national issues decided by the FSA community as a whole. New mappers must contact state coordinators before mapping in these states.

Closed Collaboratives

Closed Collaboratives are private FSA collaborative projects that are fully organized, planned, and mapped by two or more mappers, with (applicant state) or without (partnership state) the opportunity for other mappers to potentially join the project. In Applicant States, new mappers must apply to map in the state and may be approved or denied by the state's coordinators.

Federal States on the Wiki

A complete set of project pages can be found in the category page.

In-Universe Pages

• Federal States - Official, in-universe wiki page for the Federal States of Archanta. State-owners should make sure the information regarding their state is correct.
• Index:States of the Federal States - Official, in-universe information about each state, from each state's owner(s).

Discussions

• Forum:Federal States - Official forum section for Federal States discussions.
• Collab:Federal States/Archive - Previous important decisions and discussions from the development of the FSA project.

Natural Environment

• Collab:Federal States/National Parks - A listing of our (future) National Park System and current nominees.
• Collab:Federal States/Natural features - Collaboration page for naming large natural features (mountain ranges, significant rivers, the lakes, etc.) in the FSA.

Commerce

• Collab:Federal States/Franchises - List of franchises in the FSA to aid in mapping.
• Collab:Federal States/Industries - List of centrally-planned industries in the FSA to aid in mapping.

Infrastructure

• Collab:Federal States/Government - Information about the government structure of the FSA, including past chief executives.
• Collab:Federal States/Military - Information on military installations in the FSA and how to apply for a location to be an official military facility.
• Collab:Federal States/Transportation - Information on interstate transportation throughout the FSA including motorways, railways, and aviation.

Worldbuilding

• Collab:Federal States/History - Information and collaboration regarding the history of the FSA.
• Collab:Federal States/Important persons - List of important persons in FSA history.
• Collab:Federal States/International relations - Information about embassies and consulates in the FSA and the FSA's diplomatic presence abroad.
• Collab:Federal States/Sports - List of sports teams in the FSA.
• Collab:Federal States/NGOs - Information about non-governmental organizations (NGO) around the FSA and list of its locations.