Your World: Getting Started

Note: before continuing, I suggest reading the https://tspforums.xyz/thread-7636.html thread first.

Now after you've claimed a plot, you might wonder what type of country do you roleplay as. There are so many options, and most players have been heavily influenced by their own political views, or their own country of origin. Some would also wish to pour an idea they had in their minds of if their "ideal" country would exist, or if a country had them as its "ruler", how would it turn out.

Exploring these options would prove useful, and vital to become detailed later in your roleplay. It is also understood that not every player would be awfully detailed in their worldbuilding, nevertheless, having a basic idea on what your country is like will be ideal for roleplaying moves and negotiations.

Also keep in mind that your country in TSP-RP does not have to be a picture perfect copy of your NationStates country. Although useful if you already have a basic infrastructure there, the results from answering issues in NS doesn't always reflect how we want our country to be, and its data is severely unrealistic. So, it's alright if you want to start from the beginning.

Now, let's get started!

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There are many countries that exist in this world, each with its own unique cultures and traditions, they evolve and devolve as time flies. Some acceptable in others, some are not, and that's alright!. The fact is, be as creative as you want!

If you'd like to reimagine how the Mayans could turn up if the Spanish are gone and if they are instead Hindu, or if you'd like to reimagine how Louisiana France still existed, or if you'd like to roleplay if India instead enslaved Britain with an iron fist, or if you'd like to roleplay Russia, and just Russia. Be creative, and know that you can inspire your country however you please.

Let's practice.

I've chosen a certain country that I'd like to roleplay for this exercise, Turkey.



Now Turkey is a country in the Middle East and Europe. With it, a large number of ethnicity and a diverse society. Turkey itself, before, became The Ottoman Empire, and before that, became the Byzantine Empire. Both with great differences in its culture and its beliefs.


Now I'm also interested of Sufism, a form of Islam that's considered a minority and sometimes hated in Sunni-majority turkey. I am also interested in Swiss clothing and culture of which is predominantly French and German. I decided to incorporate it in this country. Also, Turkey is a Presidential Republic, so I wonder how it would fare if it has a Venetian-esque government, The Council of Ten!


A Turkish inspired Country with some Swiss Culture, it is principally and religiously Sufi. The country is run by a select 10 members of a council, 5 elected officials, the other 3 are from Lottocracy and the remaining 2 are military generals. One of the member of the council, "The Mentor", is the Head of State.

At this point, although I haven't made an ultra detailed country. I already have a denomination to use when talking to other countries.

Instead of saying

"Our leader would like to voice its disagreement to country A."

You could now say:

"Gopfetori! the council of 10 could not agree with such edicts habib!" Shouted The Mentor

You must also know that your Head of State, is usually your main character in RP. But I'm going to divulge player characters in the next post.


Now normally, for worldbuilding, you could start with how your country is formed and its history. Some players would suggest going to history first, however I'd suggest that before divulging to details of how your country is formed, to start with simpler details. A famous food journalist once said that "Food is the best way to explore culture."

So once you have an idea of how your country is like. You can start by writing the type of foods that exist in your country. I'll make it clear later.

I've chosen a couple of foods that would exist in my country.


Greek Chicken Kebab

Indian Chickpea Curry

Korean Fried Chicken

Southern-Style Cornmeal Bread

Now these four meals exist in different countries. I've chosen them because they inspire how my country is going to be made and told. Let me tell you how this works, by introducing you four of those dishes.

Now firstly the chicken kebab. The Chicken kebab is grilled spiced chicken skewers with yogurt. I've chosen this chicken kebab because this country usually grills its meals and farms chickens. It also has yogurt, which means this country also has dairy cows and pasteurization. This would mean that this country consumes milk, and if a country consumes milk and has many dairy, it would be unlikely tha tthis country would not be heavy in its agriculture, and the amount of land needed for cows to graze also mean that this country may be large, and live in fields.

Second, Chickpea curry, or Chana Masala. Chickpeas is one of the earliest forms of legumes and beans, and high of protein. They only exist in mediterranean, arabic and indian climates. Usually countries that have chickpeas are in warmer climates. Furthermore, the curry meant that this country has an abundant of spices, including curry. Countries that have a lot of curry and spices are countries that are usually flourish in early developments and mostly would find themselves colonized. This would definitely inspire shared history where other countries would try to take my country for spices. This could also inspire a story, in which since my country is inspired by Venice and Turkey, they would be powerful merchants. I've chosen the chickpea curry with rice, because my country would choose Rice as its staple food. Usually countries that eat rice would not eat much wheat bread, and would either eat with their hands or chopsticks. You could also imagine that countries that eat rice as a staple would have many rice fields scattered across the country.

Third, Korean Fried Chicken. Not only this would reinforce the chicken as the common meat eaten in my country, korean fried chicken sauce is made with sugar, honey and sesame oil. Korean fried chicken uses heavy spices and reiterates the modern tastes, that is sweet and tangy dishes. What's interesting is that the fried chicken is a relatively modern dish, and although the Americans claimed it as their national dish from the Scots, various countries have made its own varieties. I chose korean fried chicken not only because what it could represent, I chose korean fried chicken because one of our players, Bzerneleg, had invented Fried Chicken, and by introducing Saucey fried chicken, it could be a precedence of early bilateral relations, a colonization perhaps?

Last, Cornbread. Cornbread introduces another staple, corn. Corn is also used with cornflour, which could inspire the formulation of many light breads and fried meals. Not only it would reinforce the importance of dairy milk, it introduces the usage of baking. Which reinforces the idea that the country does not fry its food until the 19th century, ergo would most likely cook with low amount of oils. Found in sesame, olive and chickpea, as palm oil would yield too much. I can also make that cornbread's colour is like the sun, like the gold, and that cornbread is the meal for aristocrats and patricians. That would mean that corn is a luxurious commodity, its luxury maybe inspired because it has significant cultural value. It also mean that I could write that rice is the staple of the poor, and corn is the staple of the rich.

The various taste, color and recipes of these dishes would inspire me on those little things about my country. How the cornbread's golden color inspires its people's demands and eye for gold and riches. How the sweet fried chicken is rooted by foreign colonialism and the modern wishes for the people to fry, instead of a traditional grill. How the chickpea curry shows that spices move the nation's economy for nearly 7000 years, and how the chicken kebab and yogurt describes the entire country. Simple, fresh and grilled!

Now from these four foods. I could describe my country.


This country would be agricultural country with deep mercantilism that spans for centuries, it used to become the gates for the spice trades, where the spices of The South Pacific are cheapest there.

Behind the rich-ruled spice trade are the citizens and the peasants that seed the land with rice that are plowed by bulls and cows produce the milk. They coop chickens and they have wide lands for cows to graze, the cows are made for sacrifice in Ramadhan.


The different dishes and staples between the aristocrats and the peasants mean that there is large segregation. Call it, the Buergers and Patriziers. The spices are grown and cultivated by the buergers and their boss are the patriziers.

Therefore, we now have their alignments. How the Buergers may be warm towards communism when it enters, how the people of this country would not like take nicely of countries with diverse races. This country may also not look kindly for "poor" countries, and would make large and profitable deals.

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Now of course, what's left in the name. Sometimes I use https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/ or google translate if you don't have an idea. Since we are turkish with swiss-german lingo. Since the merchantilism areas are near the river, I shall call it Pazar Am Fluss, Turkish for market and German for (By the River). Therefore, the Country, which is run by a merchant council of a select 10, shall be known as

The Market Republic of Pazar Am Fluss. Or Die Republik Pazar Am Fluss. For now, I've chosen a temporary flag. We will go on with designing later.