Let's ditch Cultural Protocols

[EEL123]

I think that a Zulu nation in the middle of Europe is unrealistic (unless, of course, Aquinas produces a convincing backstory as he promises), and I would prefer for Particracy to become more realistic, but do we really have to act like such unmitigated asses? I mean, for Christ's sake, Farsun (et al.), it isn't necessary to throw a tantrum and attempt to ostracise someone (and anyone who refuses to follow suit) simply because what they're doing isn't realistic, or because you don't like it.

[Aquinas]

This is Earth:



And this is Terra:



This is Europe:



And this is Artania:



Hope that clears things up. There is nothing "unrealistic" about the Ibutho residing in Artania because the context of Earth and Europe does not apply to the context of Terra and Artania. And actually, it is rather ironic that the same people who complain loudly against "generic nations" are campaigning to get Terra's only black-majority nation banned. Your paucity of imagination and hostility to creativity is your problem, not mine.

[Amazeroth]

The first two things describe Ikradonia partly even before particracy time began, and are all describing a country as it was about 2500 years ago. Anything could have happened in the time between then and now. Nothing in there would force Dundorf or Vanuku to be any differently.

The bill has been defeated - a failed attempt to give Ikradon some culture will not be counted as reference to an already existing culture there. And a party can put whatever it wants into its description. There have been countless Islamic parties in all the nations of Terra, yet most of them would not be seen as having an Islamic (or it's particracy counterpart) background.

So that is your excuse for permitting a totally unrealistic nation from coming out of no where in the middle of a continent?

I don't permit or deny cultures. That's not part of my moderating job. If you had cared, at any time, about Ikradon culture, you should have gone over there and cemented it with a protocol. You didn't care enough, so don't get so upset now. There is nothing in the rules now, and there was nothing in the rules when the Pax was still here, that would suggest that cultures have to be approved by moderation. All we have are the protocols, and they weren't broken.
If you want to enforce your idea of continental continuity, which is something rather new to particracy, and would only work to make most continents completely bland (or just not work for Dovani that has French, Nordic, Austrian and Japanese culture on it), you'll have to do it the old fashioned way. By doing it yourself.

When people create a culture, more often than not it makes sense because it develops from the languages around there. There were bills discussing culture, discussing what the culture was and you deleted them without investigation.

Since I don't have the habit of telling you about all the investigations I do here, I wonder how you would know if I didn't look at the laws before I deleted them.

There was absolutely no RP to have a mass migration of Africans to Ikradon irrespective of cultural protocols Amazeroth, it is highly unrealistic and break the continuity of the continent not to mention has met outright opposition from players. Can you explain that?

It can't break a continuity that wasn't there before. Since Ikradon basically had no culture before, it could have been anything there - Zulu, Inuit, Germans, Aztecs, whatever. Artania already has non-"Europeans" on it. The reason most of the countries are Germanic is not because of some brilliant RP or because people wanted continuity, but because of the tendency of new players to make everything generically English, or, in the case of some Germans there, German. If you want to enforce this kind of thing, you'll have to do it alone.

[MichaelReilly]

Aquinas: of course it's unrealistic. It's the equivalent of Switzerland being a sub-Saharan nation.

There is absolutely no way you can justify it as realistic.

[Afrocentric]

A white guy playing the race card against other white people.....now I've seen everything. I think I've made my thoughts on this clear enough; provided you can give me a convincing back story, I would have no problem with Ibutho existing in Artania.

Good luck and don't let me down.

[Zongxian]

I think that a Zulu nation in the middle of Europe is unrealistic (unless, of course, Aquinas produces a convincing backstory as he promises), and I would prefer for Particracy to become more realistic, but do we really have to act like such unmitigated asses? I mean, for Christ's sake, Farsun (et al.), it isn't necessary to throw a tantrum and attempt to ostracise someone (and anyone who refuses to follow suit) simply because what they're doing isn't realistic, or because you don't like it.

The realism argument is irrelevant. As I stated earlier, there's never truly been realism in Particracy and there simply never will be. If we want to destroy the Ibutho culture for the sake of realism, then we also need to not recognize the eccentric and crazy RP that often happens in various parts of Terra. And we should also take up a stance of refusing to recognize election outcomes that favor certain political parties because its just not realistic for say, a party of extremist minorities to legitimately win the presidency and be the largest party.

Another point with the problem of continuity is that is have never existed. The Celtic/Welsh are all over the place and its makes no sense. And for some reason there was a Gao-Showa region in Beluzia. And the over-looked Asli are, in some narrations, native to Majatra, and in others, native to Talmoria. There are also the "Orang Asli," possible relatives of the Asli, and they're in Badara. And those are only a few long-standing and uncontroversial irregularities...

A white guy playing the race card against other white people.....now I've seen everything. I think I've made my thoughts on this clear enough; provided you can give me a convincing back story, I would have no problem with Ibutho existing in Artania.

And I agree with Aquinas. What is being said here is not a playing of the race card, but its a recognition of the reality in Particracy. And its not just about "black cultures," its true for most non-white cultures, excepting the Middle East. I reiterate my point that non-white cultures are mostly segregated off to the non-playable regions of Dovani, Squibble, and Vascania; and where they are present in playable nations, they're mostly powerless minorities against white cultures. And usually they're forgotten and ignored. And even where they have strong importance, like Hulstria (which used to be non-white), nowadays they're just obligations in which players every now and again make a prominent character who has a Gao-Showa name, and that's the extent of recognition for the culture.

---
With all that said, go to the list of nations and look at how many nations have a European, Mediterranean, and North African basis. This small portion of the RL world accounts for the majority of Particracy. Based on my count of the nations based on their current state (and by that I mean, regardless of the protocols, what culture is being used [ie, situations like Malivia or Tukarali]):

41 European-type nations
11 Mediterranean/Middle Eastern-type nations
3 Latin American-type nations
2 Asian-type nations
1 African-type nation

At this present moment, European-based cultures are 72% of the nations.
And if sticking with my grouping of the European and Mediterranean cultures, that number jumps to 91%!

Additionally, there are about TEN Germanic nations, with an addition of two Scandinavian nations. There are also NINE nations with an official basis with English/British-type culture and/or a strong attachment to usage of English (ie, no evidence of non-English culture).

And I also found other irregularities and locations of cultures that make absolutely no sense. Yet there's hardly any attention being given to these irregularities...despite an apparent opposition to such "lack of realism."

[SelucianCrusader]

If we would agree to restrict non-Scandinavian Western European cultures to Artania - and remove the French from Seleya, and other irregularities such as the Dutch in Vanuku (in the middle of the Jelbic-speaking belt), Hutori, Istalia and a few others, I could agree that there would be better places for an African nation.

But since this isn't the case, I don't mind it's position in Artania. I welcome Aquinas creativity. We need to avert the rise of more generic english-speaking countries, and we need to make place for a more culturally diverse Terra. I'd enjoy the addition of another African nation (perhaps based on Ethiopia?) as well.

[Opakidabar]

Talmoria used to be black. Need to check its cultural protocols now.

[Zongxian]

Talmoria used to be black. Need to check its cultural protocols now.

Under current protocols it is Pakistani/Indian. Though presently it looks Germanic or English. And it was indeed at one point African, with the Asli Sultanate of Talmoria. Oddly, the Asli are Majatran. Also, Utembo, an Indralan colony next to Talmoria is African I believe.

[Polites]

But since this isn't the case, I don't mind it's position in Artania. I welcome Aquinas creativity. We need to avert the rise of more generic english-speaking countries, and we need to make place for a more culturally diverse Terra. I'd enjoy the addition of another African nation (perhaps based on Ethiopia?) as well.

Cobura is partially based on Ethiopia.