Collab:Federal States

File:AR120EastCoast.png

Highly detailed coastline of AR120

The territories of AR120 are not independent countries. They are states within the larger Federal States of Archanta, AR120.

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! This is the first real "superpower" of the OGF world and 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 "USA-style" mappers 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 help make our world more realistic, by reducing the number of "mini-USA's" everywhere; and
• Because if you claim a state at the beginning, you can be one of the Founders of AR120, which means you get to discuss and vote on interesting stuff, like:

Country name National flag Names of major rivers Names of major lakes Names of major mountain ranges Name of the national capital (a collaborative project open to all state owners) Sketch for the layout of the national capital Numbering plan for national freeway system Numbering plan for other national highways Designs for national route shields and signage 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; see: OGF:Territory assignment#North and South Archanta

b.) Mappers who own a well-developed territory may request a state as their second territory, following the guidelines at OpenGeofiction:Territory assignment.

c.) Mappers who wish to move their mapping to AR120 are highly 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, at least three collaborative states will be established, for mappers who want to build in the country without owning a state themselves: AR120-11, on the east coast; AR120-43, in the center of the country; and AR120-84, on the west coast. These will become available for the general community to edit as soon as coordinators can be selected.

Sketch map

The purpose of the sketch map below is to help coordinate planning across the country, by suggesting broad patterns of climate, terrain and history. Since this land is in the southern hemisphere, the warmer parts are in the north, and the cooler parts are in the south.

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.

The red labels below may be considered "potential areas of inspiration," regions of the USA that might be similar to these parts of the map.

File:AR120-PotentialAreasOfInspiration.png

Management

The project as a whole is overseen by one or more FSA Coordinators, each of whom are subject to a stateowner vote of confidence every six months. In the current term (Sep 2021-Feb 2022), varnel_maiser and CartographerKing jointly serve as the FSA Coordinator; additionally, Fluffr_Nuttr serves as a special FSA Eastern Coordinator, tasked with overseeing interstate issues that affect the high density of states along the FSA's eastern seaboard. Project updates and key information can be found at Collab:Federal States/Dashboard.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate regional and national questions among active users - geology, hydrology, infrastructure, cultural institutions, economy, etc.
• Make sure that the collaborative ("purple") states are on track under their respective management teams.
• Keep this and other AR120 Project wiki discussion pages up-to-date.
• Keep the AR120 Project visible to the community through periodic updates and discussions on the wiki forums and the User Diaries.
• Develop a country portal on the wiki: a "country portal" would be an "in character" page for the FSA - an OGF example is the Ardisphere Portal (sandboxed), a real-world example is Wikipedia's USA Portal.
• The AR120 Project Manager is not responsible for assigning territories - that remains under OGF:Territory assignment.

Questions

New users may ask questions in User Diaries. Others may ask in the AR120 forum.