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O mors apprehendite wrote:Just trying to see if your region is accommodating to a Angel of Death like me tis all :p

As long as Lady Zaharra can have the skeletons of the dead, she will welcome your presence.

Treadwellia, Cianlandia, and Your imaginary friend

O mors apprehendite

Loftegen 2 wrote:As long as Lady Zaharra can have the skeletons of the dead, she will welcome your presence.

Awesome ^_^

Loftegen 2

Your imaginary friend

O mors apprehendite wrote:Just trying to see if your region is accommodating to a Angel of Death like me tis all :p

Tch, u sound scary tho go away :P <3

Treadwellia and Loftegen 2

O mors apprehendite

Your imaginary friend wrote:Tch, u sound scary tho go away :P <3

I only come for people who are dying :)
*Hugs you*

Treadwellia, Your imaginary friend, and Loftegen 2

Your imaginary friend

O mors apprehendite wrote:I only come for people who are dying :)
*Hugs you*

;-; I don't know if I'm dying or not though!

Treadwellia and Loftegen 2

what is all this about?

Your imaginary friend and Loftegen 2

Your imaginary friend

Isla trum wrote:what is all this about?

Love and death! :) What are you all about?

Loftegen 2

Adelsin wrote:Sneyland I'm travelling to Finland for a Moose farmers convention. You'll need to mind our farm in the interim. It'll only be two nights. In my absence I've taken the time to create a list of rules to assist with your decision making on teh farm.

1. Each Lazarean is entitled to one bowl of moose stew (except for mr Mzeusia as per the competition agreement)

2. Take note of the list of.... concerned individuals... make sure we're giving them half stew portions.... we need to be seen as caring for the health and fitness of the community.

3. Make sure people refrain from using naughty words around the farm and wearing offensive things. Words like 'darn' and 'hollar' should mean automatical removal from the premesis

4. Make sure with the petting farm people don't linger around the baby meece too much.... we want to ensure their safety and wellbeing. Maximum 1 minute pets.

and finally 5. I want you to keep a close eye on Mr Guiness Freaks. He's the main suspect in my ongoing investigation into the mystery drunk moose and vodka filled troughs.

Take care bud. I'm on my cell k?

ok

Your imaginary friend, Guiness Freaks, and Loftegen 2

Well, it looks like Mzeusia is about to hit four billion. I'm getting old.

Anyway, I'll save the speech for my two year anniversary so it's now just time for a toast.

Here's to another four billion. *Drinks Mzeusian tea*

Treadwellia, Your imaginary friend, Loftegen 2, and Leonism

Your imaginary friend

Mzeusia wrote:Well, it looks like Mzeusia is about to hit four billion. I'm getting old.

Anyway, I'll save the speech for my two year anniversary so it's now just time for a toast.

Here's to another four billion. *Drinks Mzeusian tea*

To Mzeusia! :) *gulps down Imaginary gin*

Treadwellia, Mzeusia, and Loftegen 2

For General Release

UnWholesome Foods, Inc, makers of Skeleton Flakes™, are proud to introduce Strawberry Skeleton Flakes™, the nutritionally incomplete cereal with marshmallow skulls and brains that will turn your milk fully oxygenated blood red!

Please note that, whatever the Health Ministry says, those crunchy chips of white scattered amongst flakes of whole wheat are almost certainly not Real Human Bone™ (a good source of calcium).

Skeleton Flakes™ (and now Strawberry Skeleton Flakes™) the 666th best selling cereal in Treadwellia, the nation that loves to eat!

O mors apprehendite wrote:Just trying to see if your region is accommodating to a Angel of Death like me tis all :p

We have Santa in charge. It's all good!

Loftegen 2

Warmth! A happy Tubbius is now drying off after getting out of His hot tub, and warm, fluffy pajamas fresh from the dryer await. Mmph MMPH!

Zazumo and Loftegen 2

Howdy neighbors! o/

Treadwellia, The Sigometh Dynasty, Your imaginary friend, and Loftegen 2

Zazumo wrote:Howdy neighbors! o/

Well hello there

Treadwellia, Zazumo, Your imaginary friend, and Loftegen 2

Zazumo wrote:Howdy neighbors! o/

His Rotundity, now dressed to rest, mmphs a happy hello.

Zazumo, Your imaginary friend, and Loftegen 2

The Sigometh Dynasty wrote:Well hello there

Treadwellia wrote:His Rotundity, now dressed to rest, mmphs a happy hello.

Tell Mzeusia to stop ignoring us plz.

And to thank me for the pings.

Your imaginary friend, Mzeusia, and Loftegen 2

Western Leonism

The man and woman from Loftegen 2 were walking along one of the long abandoned streets of the ancient city when a voice hailed them.

"Hello there. Just who might you be, and what are you doing?" the voice said.

"Oh, hallo, Herr...Doktor?" the man said.

"Professor," the voice replied. An older man stepped down the ruined walls of a building onto the old street.

"Herr Professor, how can we help you?" the woman said.

"I've seen you walking through these ruins for weeks now, and I'm wondering what it is you are doing?" the Professor said.

"Herr Professor, I'm Mark Sawk from Loftegen 2. I teach logic back home, but archaeology is my hobby. This," 'Mark' said, "is my wife, Mary."

"I teach mathematics," 'Mary' offered.

"She shares my interest," 'Mark' said.

"Well," the Professor said, "There's no harm in walking around, but I've seen you looking at a map. What is that about?"

"Take a look, Herr Professor," 'Mark' invited. He unrolled his map on top of a fairly flat rock.

The Professor bent over the map and examined it closely.

"Where did you get this?" he finally asked.

"This map," 'Mark' answered, "Has fascinated me for years. It's in the ancient documents collection of the University of Altenburg." Anticipating the Professor's question, 'Mark' said, "No, we don't know when or how it came to be in the University's possession. As you can see, the map claims to represent this city as it was in the mid 5th century CE (if I have my dates right), but it was made in the 10th Century. According to our experts, it 'is' 1000 years old, but whether it's an accurate copy of a real document...who knows?"

"What have you discovered so far?" the Professor asked.

"We think we've located a reference point, here," 'Mary' said, indicating an obelisk, "but nothing else lines up."

The Professor frowned thoughtfully, then said, "Why don't you come 'round for dinner tonight? I want to show your map to my people. Perhaps together we can hammer out some ideas?"

Aigania, Your imaginary friend, Marthizer, and Leonism

Sneyland wrote:ok

My dude beer leader sends the beer for free. He wouldn't dispose of it in the troughs like some ruffian.

Your imaginary friend and Loftegen 2

Villagers keep escaping my minecraft village, yet I cannot punish the criminals because the whole village threatens trade sanctions (they increase their prices) if I damage any of them. I own this land, yet these scheming swine have the audacity to challenge my absolute authority! Maybe they’ll learn if I burn a few of their houses (yes, the ones that I built) down.

Treadwellia, Your imaginary friend, Loftegen 2, and Leonism

Kappan wrote:Villagers keep escaping my minecraft village, yet I cannot punish the criminals because the whole village threatens trade sanctions (they increase their prices) if I damage any of them. I own this land, yet these scheming swine have the audacity to challenge my absolute authority! Maybe they’ll learn if I burn a few of their houses (yes, the ones that I built) down.

Welcome to freedom, you tyrannical B$#$pp! God save America!

Kappan

Kappan wrote:Villagers keep escaping my minecraft village, yet I cannot punish the criminals because the whole village threatens trade sanctions (they increase their prices) if I damage any of them. I own this land, yet these scheming swine have the audacity to challenge my absolute authority! Maybe they’ll learn if I burn a few of their houses (yes, the ones that I built) down.

Maybe you should build a bigger wall around the village, to prevent them from escaping your glorious land keep the fascists out that abduct them! I hear that worked well in East Germany...

Your imaginary friend, Kappan, and Loftegen 2

Hats off to Your imaginary friend for a great new edition of the Lazarene Gazette, including a great interview with Kingdom of Napels and a flattering description of me :)


Issue 8 • September 2019
Contents: Interview with JoW • Thoughts on Roleplaying • Illustrating our Region • Comic

Interview with JoWhatup
Questions by Imaginary

Many today know you as that one fancy raider dude… Could you tell our readers about the journey that got you to where you are today?

I created my first nation in November 2017. I clicked a recruitment telegram of Kingdom of Alexandria, but I never really got involved and left after a day. I joined the region of an rl friend of mine. We never got it off the ground, and I followed another friend of mine to The Hole To Hide In, a role-play region. That’s where I really got involved. After finding out about raiding, I joined The Invaders under a new nation, which was a bad choice in hindsight. Eventually I joined Unknown. After having heard of Lazarus being coup’d from the Khanate, I decided to check the region out, curious what the new community would look like.

When and why did you join Lazarus? What’s your favorite thing about the region?

I joined Lazarus in August 2018, I think. I was curious to see what Lazarus would look like now that the Khanate was gone. As for what I find the best thing about Lazarus, I’m really not sure. Maybe it’s the great people on our RMB? Maybe the awesome people of the Guard? The great people composing our regional government? There’s just so many things to choose from.

How was your experience as Director of the Regional Guard? What did you learn from it and why did you decide to move on?

In one word: great. At first, getting people to join the Guard was hard. With the restrictions placed on it, it was also difficult to think of operations to do with so few people. As time went on, more people joined up, and we did some really fun operations: from the liberation of The Red States with Antifa, to the various operations in Warzone Airspace to close the NPO’s embassies, it was a fun experience, and I learned many things which I will forever keep in mind. As to why I decided to resign: my rl schedule had been busy for a while and wouldn’t allow me to do much, and was about to become even busier. Fearing I may keep the Guard down because of it, I stepped down.

Recently our new Director has been pushing for reform of the Guard from Shareholders, bringing up the option of choosing an r/d alignment for Lazarus in order to broaden the Guard’s ability to operate. What are your views on this?

That is a tricky question. On the one hand, I found out how hard the restrictions of the Guard makes running operations. The job of Director of the Guard would be infinitely easier, if we were to be allowed to do more things. On the other, Lazarus has a long history of being torn up over arguments related to R/D. In the end, I believe it could work, if we decide, as a region, what values we want to stick to generally. While I understand people’s fears of a new civil war, I also believe we can’t keep shying away from it for fear of a repeat. We just have to figure out how to appease both sides of the debate.

Do you have any particular future goals as a member of Lazarus? As an NSer in general?

As a Lazarene, I hope to be able to make a meaningful contribution to the region’s internal affairs and activity. As an NSer: see the regions I’m involved in thrive. That is really all I desire.

If NS died, what would you do with all your new-found free time?

...find another backwater browser game to spend my time on :P

About the Interviewee:

JoWhatup (Kingdom of Napels) is a renowned raider and served as the first Director of the Lazarene Regional Guard. A reliable Shareholder, he often acts as a mediator when tensions are high in the government and is currently a member of the Internal Management team.



Thoughts on Roleplaying (RP) in Lazarus - Part 1
by Leonism

The following text contains my thoughts on how to best conduct roleplaying in Lazarus. It may not be applicable to other regions and does not constitute a guideline or rule unless officially endorsed by the government of Lazarus. I will focus on roleplaying on the RMB, acknowledging that other ways to conduct roleplay, such as offsite forums and Discord, can be equally rewarding, and may follow similar principles in many cases.

What is roleplay?
Roleplaying means acting as if you were somebody other than yourself, for the purpose of entertainment, storytelling and interaction with other roleplayers. In NationStates, many players roleplay as the leader of their nation by default, without ever explicitly thinking this to be roleplay, but it already is. Whenever you are not posting as yourself - i.e. the person sitting behind the PC or holding the smartphone/tablet in your hands - you are roleplaying.

OOC and IC...what does it mean?
The abbreviations OOC and IC are used often in RMB posts. OOC means out of character, while IC means in character. These prefixes help other players to understand whether what you are saying constitutes your own opinion/thoughts on a matter or that of your character. This is especially important when giving descriptions about your nation. Your character may often not have the knowledge that you - as the nations player - possess; for example when you are explaining a trait of your nation by comparing it with a real-world nation, your in-game character may likely have no knowledge of that nation, if it even exists in the same universe.

Single Player and Multi Player roleplay
Roleplaying can be conducted on your own, without actively involving other players, or it can be conducted with them. Both are valid choices. If you decide to play all the characters, you are basically becoming a storyteller or an author. You may switch between different viewpoint characters or even nations (or not), but the story will be told by you only. Roleplay conducted in this way can be quite thrilling for other players to follow - if you are good at storytelling. The main advantage of this form of roleplay is that it can be preplanned. Unless you deliberately decide to add random elements, you will have full control of all aspects of your roleplay. This can be used to showcase the history, present or even future of your nation, or specific aspects of it. It is also well suited to conduct wars against non-player entities this way - fictional nations that are not controlled by other players, which you may create as puppets if you like, but don't have to.
Single Player roleplay is also excellent for exposition. This is even true in Multi Player settings were other players do take part in the same story.

This leads us to Multi Player roleplay. If the character(s) you roleplay interact with the character(s) of one or more other players, you are roleplaying with them. This changes the underlying principles: You are no longer in full control of how the story develops. This requires caution, empathy and restraint. Since all interesting stories involve some kind of conflict (not necessarily violent conflict or military conflict; in NationStates economic, religious or political conflict may do just as well, or even a competition of some kind) you need to find an agreement with the other player(s) on how to interact in a way that is enjoyable for all. More on the various techniques of interaction later.

The Introduction - Or Inviting Other Players to Roleplay
The invite to roleplay may be either made directly by you or - even better in my view - by your character. Whether you want to engage with others or just tell your own story, you will need an introduction. This introduction should describe the basic setting of your roleplay. It should be written in a way that encourages other players to participate, either by directly mentioning their nations or allowing them to react to an event - be it a catastrophe, a plea for help or even a threat.

Characters
You should first decide whether you introduce the scene by one of the viewpoint characters or by an omniscient narrator. Let us compare:

Viewpoint character Zuneon Herakles:

As I crossed the ridgeline, I could finally see the devastation wrought upon my hometown by the invading X'rleks. The town was burning; the air was full of smoke and the stench of blood. The villagers - many of whom I knew - lay between their burning homes, slain by the aggressors. My heart filled with sorrow and rage as I descended from the hill and into the chaos the X'rleks had left, looking for survivors.

Omniscient Narrator:

Zuneon Herakles had reached the ridge and could finally see his destroyed hometown. The X'rlek Army had continued their march just hours earlier and left only devastation in their wake. Zuneon walked towards the ruins of the village, finding the slain bodies of the villagers strewn everywhere between broken buildings. Little did he know that he would get the opportunity for revenge only a few hours later.

A clever variant of this, especially suited for NationStates, is by reporting from a third person perspective, such as a journalist or government official, who usually knows more about the event at large, but may be less knowledgeable about the specifics as experienced by on-scene characters.

Minister of Defense:

Your Majesty, we have just received a report that the village of Umbran, on our northeastern border, was destroyed by the X'rleks. Zuneon Herakles, Hero of the War of the North three years ago, has returned to his hometown to investigate, but found only destruction and no survivors. With you permission, I'd like to give marching orders to the 3rd Royal Cavalry Regiment, have them meet Herakles at Umbran and put them under his command to give pursuit to these wrenched invaders!

There are even more variants of this. I personally prefer the third person perspective, where you follow named characters closely but describe their actions and feelings from a third person perspective. Multiple examples can be found in my RMB RP posts, along the lines of:

Zenturio Marcus Höfner hit the floor as the windows in front of him suddenly erupted with incoming gunfire. "Scheiße!" he thought to himself. His only way out was now for Beka and her unit to find a way around the compound and flank their enemies. While pressed to the floor, Marcus searched his backpack for smoke grenades. He did pack some, didn't he?

Note that the main difference from the Omniscient Narrator is that I only describe what the character can reasonably know, including their feelings.

It is of course possible to switch characters - even within the same scene - to give the reader a broader perspective. When roleplaying with others, it is especially interactive to play with their characters. This requires lots of caution though because if you play characters from another player's nation, their behaviour should not contradict the way the other player would have their characters act.

If done correctly, the feeling of really roleplaying together instead of alongside each other grows exponentially. In my most epic RP yet, which was together with Loftegen 2, I often made up minor Loftegen characters - of the innocent bystander type, for example - to describe their reaction to events that were set in motion by my nation’s characters. This reserves the reaction of the other player's main characters to themselves, while also giving the other player an extra opportunity to take over characters that you just created for them, and have them use for their own purpose. As a neat side effect, such characters can be more easily sacrificed (i.e. die in a conflict) than named characters created by oneself whom you grew attached to, giving them LinkPlot Armour.

How to treat foreign nations and their characters in RP
This is probably the most important aspect to civilised roleplay in Lazarus. Generally, unless agreed on previously, one should not

  • Kill off major named characters of other players - at least not without giving the other player a chance to move the character out of harm’s way

  • Destroy major buildings, landmarks or cities of the other nation - with the same qualifier as above

  • Establish a romantic connection between one of your characters and their character without a logical lead up - and the opportunity for the other character to refute any romantic advances

  • Destroy the internal consistency of the other player's roleplay - that means you have to read up on how they present their nation and act accordingly.

The last point means that if you interact with a nation that is set in Antiquity, you cannot just go and talk about their drive-through shopping malls - which they evidently won't have. A good roleplayer will try to be as knowledgeable about the nation(s) he interacts with as his own. Do not hesitate to ask the other player questions about their nation via telegram or discord if you are uncertain about an aspect of their nation.

Of course by mutual agreement, all the "rules" above can be discarded at will.

Setting
All these points do of course depend on the setting. A player may place his nation in different settings according to their own liking, and change this at any time. A notable example is Mzeusia which has in the past roleplayed in different timelines.

Geographically, the default setting for roleplay in Lazarus is based on the Map of Lazarus, although being on the map is not required for roleplay. It will give you a rough guide on who borders whom and where nations are in relation to each other. The distances have not been determined, which allows for some flexibility in how far one has to travel from one nation to the next. Reasonably, with most nations numbering billions of citizens and thus probably being very large, Lazarus is probably the size of a planet larger than Earth. However, this is purely my own interpretation and may be interpreted differently subject to agreement by you and the nations you are RPing with.

Consistency
Personally I strive for maximum internal consistency. That means that my nation is always in the same timeline and new developments progress with a realistic speed. Scientific Advancements are not made overnight and I personally connect the tech level, economy and military strength of my nation to its corresponding NationStates stats. It also means that if I wanted to roleplay in another setting, I would create a puppet for this purpose.

None of these are fixed rules that need to be observed by everyone roleplaying in Lazarus, but they definitely make roleplaying easier in my eyes. It also means that - unless your nation is really maxed out perfect in all regards - you should allow it to have flaws. Flaws make your nation and your characters more interesting. Deliberately allow others to exploit those flaws, for the benefit of a more interesting story.

Golden Rule
Ultimately, it all comes down to this: Interact with others just like you would want them to interact with you, your nations and your characters.

Never hesitate to simplify things for everyone involved by delivering OOC explanations for your actions, write fact books and dispatches to allow others a deeper insight into your nation, tell an interesting story.

Roleplaying is ultimately what you want it to be, and if that syncs well with what someone else wants it to be, the results can be truly epic!

About the Author:

Leonism is an avid roleplayer whose talents one can often see in action on the Regional Message Board of Lazarus. An engaged Shareholder, he serves as a member of the Regional Guard and is the creator of LazWorld, the region's MineCraft server.



LazART: Illustrating our Region
by Imaginary

The LazART project, originally conceived in May 2019, has gained a lot of popularity over the first few months of its existence. The last contest was hosted by Leonism and prompted participants to draw a representation of Penelope phoenix, LazCorp's mascot. When the submission time ended, seven phoenix images had been collected in Leonism's LazART dispatch. WA residents were asked to decide the contest's outcome, and Snoodum's "hardcore imperial phoenix" (shown below with other high-voted entries) ended up being voted the winner!


(by Snoodum, The illusian empire, Kappan and Mzeusia respectively)

Snoodum's comments afterwards:

Snoodum wrote:I just want to say thank you to everyone who helped make this a reality and to the other competitors. I loved looking at all your different interpretations of Penelope! It's an honour to win and thank you to everyone who voted!

Such high levels of community support and engagement is why I love Lazarus!

Snoodum's attitude is not only charming; it showcases the creative, competitive and undyingly friendly culture of Lazarus's game-side community. Long may it continue! =)

Our next event is already well under way, and the entries are even more interesting this time. Check out others' art and consider adding your own (whether you're in Lazarus or not) to the contest HERE!

About the Author:

Your imaginary friend is passionate about developing Lazarus into a beautiful and enjoyable place for those returning to the game to get restarted in. The founder of Laz OS currently holds the position of Director of Internal Management, serves as an ambassador abroad and is an officer in the Regional Guard.



A badly drawn and not particularly funny comic
at least I tried, ok? x)

by Imaginary


Thank you for reading this month's Gazette! If you have any questions or concerns about the publication please shoot us a telegram. Cheers! :D

Read dispatch

Galiantus iii, Treadwellia, The Sigometh Dynasty, Your imaginary friend, and 4 othersKappan, Marthizer, Mzeusia, and Kingdom of Napels

Good work Your imaginary friend. I'll read more later but it's very detailed.

Treadwellia, Your imaginary friend, Marthizer, and Kingdom of Napels

So whats up with endorsements, what does the cap mean, is it a cap on how many nations I can endorse?

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