Welcome to Gaia! ::

An Empire crowded with millions of beautiful men & women, thousands of miles of roadways and railways; and the occasional airport or so is just several keystrokes away! Before one can jump right into the action of conquering entire swaths of land, however, it is imperative that one posts a nation factbook in the Factbooks subforum. Before one can write a factbook outline for submission, however, there are several questions one must bear in his or her mind as he or she plots out the history, geography, and culture of the population. What will grab our interest is the following:

~ Flag: (This is crucial here, folks. Do not upload anything that violates the ToS of GaiaOnline. Keep it age-approrpiate. Please. Swastikas and flags bearing offensive slogans will likely get one reported for trolling / flaming. Don't. Do. It.)

~ Map Claim: (Just feel free to copy-paste the map in the Introduction thread to MS Paint, shade in what region you want, and I will shade it accordingly. However, do not claim an entire continent. emo )

~ Geography: ( Provide a brief description of your nation's climate and terrain, if you will. Remember that nations in the deep interior tend to have minimal rainfall while those along the coasts of continents are prone to hurricanes / typhoons / cyclones. Also, feel free to include information regarding soil fertility, mountain features, etc... )

- Population: (Keep it reasonable. Two hundred million people cannot comfortably reside within a Vatican City-sized island. emo On the other extreme, it would be exceedingly difficult to defend a territory the size of Soyuz Russiya with a population of just under 20,000. Find a middle-ground for one's population- Heck, feel free to use wikipedia for real-life examples of population-to-land ratios. In addition, it would be nice to specify the birth-death rates for one's nation, though again it must be realistic. A developing society will tend to have a fertility rate above 3 children per woman while a top-of-the-line nation will have an elderly population barely eking out one child per woman... )

- GDP: ( Again, keep it reasonable. Only the most-highly advanced nations will even hope to achieve a GDP worth trillions of USD.... Most nations might only, at least during their early years; achieve a GDP of a few billion USD-equivalent funds. GDP will be compared with one's military size to judge whether or not the latter is kept realistic.)

~ State Government: ( There should be no problem with rationality here. Just state your government type, and all will proceed from there. wink Just be sure to roleplay as your government type. For instance, a military dictatorship will not hold elections in most circumstances. Keep it simple yet standard. )

- State Language(s): ( As Tierra is but an alternate Earth.... DO NOT use real-life language names! One can call English another name while using the exact-same conventions, but it must be another name of the other language.)

- State Religion(s) (If Applicable): ( This section is even /MORE/ important than languages. If one wishes to list their nation's religion(s), he or she is NOT to utilize real-life religions. In fact, we are more strict about religion than language due to the relative sensitivity of religious mores. Please refrain from making Tierra-parallels of any Abrahamic / Vedic / other RL religion, for doing so may offend some concerned readers.... And potentially costing you a factbook review if it is deemed necessary. If one /must/ base a religion off a real-life one, it would be preferable if one bases the religion off of an extinct belief system believed to be of neutral tone to every audience. The Roman pantheon, for instance, would be an acceptable model for creating a parallel religion within the Tierran universe.)

~ A Brief History / Description of The Nation: (Recommended. In providing a backstory for one's nation, one is able to further elaborate not only on what one's nation is about, but why such a power / protectorate / empire came into being in the first place. Be creative, and be sure to steer clear of any real-life parallels if possible. ^^)

- Expenditures:
~ Administration: ( Federal employee payrolls, etc...)
~ Public Defense: ( R&D Funding, missile maintenance, artillery/ navy maintenance, etc... )
~ Public Health: ( Medicare / Medicaid funding, epidemic control, hospital expenditures, lawsuit settlements, etc... )
~ Public Education: ( University funding, R&D financing, Primary / Secondary funding, etc... )
~ Transportation: (Highway / road upkeep, airport security, etc... )

It should be emphasized, again and again, that expenditures are to be kept realistic in tune with tax rates. If a nation creating 600 billion USD worth of goods were to have a 10% sales tax for every dollar exchanged, that nation would have only 60 billion USD to expend.... At the maximum, of course, since not all goods change hands frequently. Plan accordingly, and do not project an unrealistic number.





Alright. So you've included your preferably-moderate population, government type, public expenditures.... Wait! You're missing something! Did you forget your shoes back at the pool? Wait, no.... You are missing military information! Before you can conquer the high seas off your nation's coast, ye must create a military section in your factbook:

No. of Soldiers: ( A nation's soldier population should range from no less than 0.5 % to no more than 5%. Too few soldiers, and you're just asking for trouble. If you have too many troops, however, there will be adverse effects on your economy if all soldiers are on active duty... )

Standard Issue: (An inventory of what the typical infantryman will carry on his person to the battlefield. Again, be reasonable with your nation's tech level. A 3rd world nation will not be able to outfit their troops very effectively, so plan ahead.)

No. & Description of Road Vehicles: (A general list of vehicles followed by their quantity. A short description of their appearance and function would be greatly appreciated. wink )

No. & Description of Naval / Merchant Vessels: (Keep it reasonable. Thirid world nations, again, will not have access to Triton-class nuclear submarines... >.>)

Est. No. of Strategic Weapons: (NBC weapons fall under this category. Remember that Nuclear weapons are, even on Tierra, extremely difficult for developing nations to come by due to their relative difficulty in transmutating / mining enough uranium / plutonium for a simple warhead. Biochemical weapons, though considerably greater in latitude, must have a general basis behind their structure / effects. A mutated virus transforming all people into chickens is automatically disqualified from being deployed. talk2hand )



Finally, it should be remembered that these are suggestions to convince the reader of one's national security and infrastructure. Include as much, or little, as you wish, but let it be known that additional details tend to lend for greater understanding among the readers (And fewer "justification" posts on your behalf, whew!)