by Max Barry

Latest Forum Topics

Advertisement

Post

Region: Lazarus

Kefoia wrote:Hello, I'm a new nation. I'd love if anyone could give me tips on how to make good factbooks that share my country's Culture.

Let's help develop your country's culture first, then work on your factbook. I'll start by asking some very basic questions -- do not answer with the first thought that was drilled into your mind early in your education. Think first, then reply.

Q1: When does your day actually start in your country?
Hint: This is usually an observable event. It might be at the first sun ray, or when the sun is first fully seen above the horizon. Perhaps at local noon, when the shadow of a stick is at its shortest and points either true north, or true south, or there is no shadow on a day when the sun is directly overhead. Or maybe you're a night owl, and your "day" starts when the sun first touches the setting horizon, or the last ray of light is extinguished as the sun sets. All of these are far less arbitrary than "midnight." You can also be ambiguous and just specify something like dusk, dawn or midday, as long as it repeatable and easily observable.

Q2: When you turn to face the sun at your local noon in your country, is east on your left, or on your right?
Hint: This relates to which hemisphere your country is in. If a northern country, east will be on your left when you face the sun at noon. If your country is clearly in the southern hemisphere, east will be on your right when you face the noon sun. If your country straddles or lies between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer (or their equivalents), you'll likely choose the answer that is correct most of the year. An equatorial country would likely answer with: "Both." Your answer will impact how you view angles and angular sweep, read clocks, and whether you consider the North Pole or the South Pole to be the primary pole, so choose carefully.

Q3: When you first start counting a group of objects, do you start with zero, or with one?
Hint: Most cultures start with an equivalence for "one." Zero is a much more difficult concept, but it was known to the Babylonians, Indians and the Mayans. In North America, for example, the ground floor is the first floor -- in Europe, the ground floor is the ground floor, and the first floor is directly above it. Whether you started with zero or with one may impact your numbering system and what base you count in.

Q4: What number base do you use when counting integers?
Hint: Number representation can matter here. Think of the Roman numerals versus the modern positional notation now widely used. Perhaps you tallied sticks (I, II, III), then recognized some bundles (V, X, L, C, M). One might note that modern Swiss watches use "IIII" to represent "four" as it gives a patina of a long-lived industry since medieval clock towers used it (they did so because the town burgers were too numerically illiterate to comprehend "IV" as "5 - 1.") Regardless, you don't have to use base 10, or decimal. Alunya uses a senary (base six) system, with a clenched fist representing zero, and each digit on a hand representing a number. Two hands gets us to thirty-five, for example. Or maybe you use a complex number system, or p-adics.

Q5: What is your primary, secondary, and tertiary axis?
Hint: You are typically taught that positive "X" is to the right, "Y" is up the page, and "Z" out of the page towards you. This defines a right-hand coordinate system. You don't have to look at the world that way. You can change the order, or perhaps adopt a left-hand coordinate system (like the Society of Automotive Engineers does), or even use polar or spherical coordinate systems instead.

Q6: For any given commodity, do you have a fixed price and varying measures, or do you have fixed measures and varying prices?
Hint: In Europe, up until King Henry VIII (love those Roman numerals) beheaded Anne Boleyn, securng a divorce the hard way, establishing the Church of England and seizing the lands of many a Catholic abbey, the norm was to have fixed prices and varying measures. The quantity of actual money in circulation was very low, and barter the norm. Measures were established and held by the local lord, and there were plenty of measures (and lords). This all started to change when King Henry wanted maps delineating exactly what he had seized from the Catholic Church. Thus started property as we now understand it, properly surveyed and delineated. We now have a system where measures are fixed and prices vary. Are your bushels all the same? Is a daywerk also an acre?

Q7: What denominations does your currency come in?
Hint: There are coins, paper notes, checks, credit/debit cards, and electronic currencies like BitCoin. You may, or may not, have denominations depending on which are in use. Denominations, especially coins and paper notes, do allow you to feature prominent individuals, places, and events on them. Not all demoninations are in circulation, and some may no longer be minted or printed with the same icons. Keep in mind that a "zero" dollar is very useful when counteracting bribery and corruption, and may well be worth the printing cost.

Q8: What types of postage stamps do you have?
Hint: Prices may be affixed, or not. Stamps may have different uses as well, designating ground vs. air travel, local mail vs. national mail vs. international mail, etc. And they are ideal for displaying other persons, places, and events in your nation.

These questions will give you a start. From these, we can work out a calendar, or one (or more) system(s) of weights and measures. Your functions may be graphed differently, you might use different measures of time, and the numerology associated with your religions and sciences may differ from the international norms. Even "Keep right side up" may mean something entirely else. This bottle says, "Shake well before using" -- now how long do I have to wait?!!

>^,,^<
Alunya

Doperland, The united states of saints, Amerion, Wyrmaeus, and 4 othersOrdonoxeo, Daybreak13, Old world loyalists, and Kefoia

ContextReport