10. (Game Master Guide) Governments

    Governments are organizations of characters that rule nations within The Sandbox. They fulfill a role similar to Groups, of allowing characters to interact and network as part of an organization. However, Governments are larger than groups, and always preside over some amount of land to form their kingdom or empire. There are two types of governments on The Fantasy Sandbox, known as City States and Nations. City States are for those GMs who would like to have a state-type setting, while Nations are for groups of players too large for the City State Structure.

    All governments require a high degree of leadership and commitment on behalf of their leaders and often, key members as well. As the leader of a government, it will be your responsibility to keep your members and citizens entertained and provided with RP. This means you will need to have enough time and dedication to create quests or stories for the setting that you write and the characters in it. Creating and leading a government is no small task and a responsibility that isn’t to be undertaken lightly. You will need to plan strategically for the survival of your government, both in-character and out, and dedicate much time to it. However, it can be a highly rewarding experience for individuals who enjoy organizing teams, narrating stories, and roleplaying on a grand scale.

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    City states are political communities organized under a single government, governing a large town or city and potentially the territory around it. Note that the term "city-state" is used here as a category and can include entities that may not technically fit the traditional definition.

Prerequisites:
1. A flag. (Images are displayed as 100x100 square; it is recommended that a square image is provided.)
2. At least three character accounts. One should be the "government" account, as detailed below.

    To create a city state you must do the following:

1. Create a "government" character.
    ○ Its display name should be the name of your government. (ex. "The Kingdom of Examplia")
    ○ Its avatar should be the flag of your government.
    ○ This account will be used to post your threads and represent the setting and NPCs of your state.

    2. Create a location thread in the Open Lands board to represent the city itself.

It must include:
   ○ A basic description of the city
   ○ Information about how one is meant to enter the city and if it is open to visitors
   ○ A link to the informational thread
   ○ Links to all secondary threads
You may wish to include:
   ○ An image
   ○ Details about your city's defenses
   ○ Mood music
   ○ What a new character entering the city might first see

    3. Create an informational thread in the Governments board to provide OOC information about your state.

It must include:
   ○ The flag
   ○ A link to the city thread
   ○ Some basic information about your state, such as the type of government, a description of its citizens, and its ruler.
You may wish to include:
   ○ A map, showing your state's territory or the layout of your city. (Inkarnate is a good tool to use.)
   ○ Information about your state's relationships with other states. Treaties, trade deals, rivalries, and so on.
   ○ Details about the history of your state, such as how and when it was formed.
   ○ A list of your state's citizens.
   ○ Information about how players should go about joining your state.

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    The second type of government, called a nation, may be created when a city state grows too large for its threads. Nations are not in the Open Lands board, but rather in boards of their own on the Overworld page.

    Creating a nation is a large undertaking. To begin the process, the leader of a citystate must post on the Requests of Staff thread. A member of staff will then reach out to assist you in creating a nation.

    Upon creation, each nation will be made a corresponding sub-board in the government category on the front page, and a nation board in the Overworld. It is the responsibility of the government’s leaders to populate their government information sub-board with information and statistics regarding their government. The following information is required on the informational government board.

• A point of contact for the government. If another government would like to speak with your government, how can they do that? Who should they meet, where should they send their representative? Most of the time, this will be obvious, as the majority of governments have a publicly visible head of state and seat of government. However, if it’s not obvious, it must exist and be stated.
• A description of your government. At least a single, short paragraph that speaks to what exactly, your government is. What form does the ruling body take? Is there a king? Is there a parliament? Speak briefly about the structure of your government, how power is divided within it, and its policies for running the nation.
  How to become a citizen of the nation. If it is possible to join the nation and become a citizen, you should detail how to do so. Tell players if it is acceptable to create existing citizens of your nation, and if so, what the requirements would be of those characters.

    Additionally, nation boards have a few requirements:

• Border threads. All nations are required to have at least one thread representing the outer peripheries of their nation's land, as well as any defenses or fortifications around them. These are known as border threads, and may also be used for the gates of castles, cities, or other important locations worth having a gate. After the creation of the nation board, it is the responsibility of the nation account to create these threads, and ask for them to be stickied.
• On the border threads, state if your borders are open or closed, and any protocol relating to how you’d like characters to handle border threads. Some nations allow characters with no ill-intent to pass through the borders freely, and others prefer to have all characters wait and be inspected by the border control. Some others have their borders unconditionally closed. State the default status of your borders, and be prepared for visitors.
  

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Protectorates

    Through conquest or diplomacy, it may end up that one government is subservient to, or the vassal of another. In this case, the appropriate boards and threads may be moved to reflect this change. To have threads moved, contact the staff.

NPCs

    Governments have the privilege of controlling NPCs that can be used for all purposes in the story, including conflict.

    Read about how NPCs work here: 8. (Game Master Guide) Using NPCs

    It is a good idea to maintain a list of the characters who have consented being counted as part of your state and note that all NPCs must be allocated before use, as detailed on the NPC page linked above.


    In the event that you find a primary thread of yours (such as your city-state) is consistently filled with posts, you may choose to create secondary threads to represent specific portions of the primary thread. For example, if meetings with your state's ruler are frequently occurring and hogging the your city state thread, you may wish to create a secondary thread to represent your royal palace.

    To do this, create a new thread in the board that the thread is in and prefix it with the name of the primary thread in brackets. For example, if your state is "The City of Examplia," you could make a second thread called "[Examplia] The Royal Palace," or if you would prefer, "[The City of Examplia] The Royal Palace." It should include a description of the location it represents and a link back to the primary thread.

    Upon creation of a city-state, you may only start with two secondary threads.

    It is recommended that you only create additional threads when they are necessary. It may seem tempting to make many threads preemptively, but time has shown that this serves only to add clutter and spread activity within your state thin.

    Instead, detail notable locations in your primary thread.  That way, you have the option of later moving that description to its own thread. If this results in an exceedingly long thread, you might use spoiler tags to break up the content. Read more about settings on the 2. Settings (link!) page.

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