NS Cliches: Rebooted

[New Carthagea]

• Benevolent (or not) immortal multiversal leaders that have been alive for eons. (All with great users and diverse concepts; it is something I have not personally encountered in fiction beyond actual deities and thus stands out to me.)
• Leaders who are...too perfect, I guess?
• Nations with no explicit stance on whether or not they are Kenneth Branagh

This. Kenneth Branagh is the decisive factor which divided the nations of F7. Also, Christophe is an android run by Kenneth Branagh.

[Western Fardelshufflestein]

• Benevolent (or not) immortal multiversal leaders that have been alive for eons. (All with great users and diverse concepts; it is something I have not personally encountered in fiction beyond actual deities and thus stands out to me.)
• Leaders who are...too perfect, I guess?
• Nations with no explicit stance on whether or not they are Kenneth Branagh

This. Kenneth Branagh is the decisive factor which divided the nations of F7. Also, Christophe is an android run by Kenneth Branagh.

And the only way to escape Kenneth Branagh is to wear silly hats.

Thus, the King of Sweden sets and example we all should follow.

[The Cosmic Mainframe]

• Benevolent (or not) immortal multiversal leaders that have been alive for eons. (All with great users and diverse concepts; it is something I have not personally encountered in fiction beyond actual deities and thus stands out to me.)

While not quite comparable to this, there have been plenty of instances of godlike aliens in science fiction outside of NS, for example Star Trek's Q, Doctor Who's Time Lords, and the monoliths in 2001: A Space Odyssey. The Time Lords in particular are the closest parallel I can think of. So the idea is not entirely unique to NS.

[The Cult of Xil]

• Benevolent (or not) immortal multiversal leaders that have been alive for eons. (All with great users and diverse concepts; it is something I have not personally encountered in fiction beyond actual deities and thus stands out to me.)

While not quite comparable to this, there have been plenty of instances of godlike aliens in science fiction outside of NS, for example Star Trek's Q, Doctor Who's Time Lords, and the monoliths in 2001: A Space Odyssey. The Time Lords in particular are the closest parallel I can think of. So the idea is not entirely unique to NS.

GENERIC_SUPERADVANCED_UTOPIAN_SPACE_SOCIETY_5713.txt

[The Cosmic Mainframe]

While not quite comparable to this, there have been plenty of instances of godlike aliens in science fiction outside of NS, for example Star Trek's Q, Doctor Who's Time Lords, and the monoliths in 2001: A Space Odyssey. The Time Lords in particular are the closest parallel I can think of. So the idea is not entirely unique to NS.

GENERIC_SUPERADVANCED_UTOPIAN_SPACE_SOCIETY_5713.txt

All of the examples I mentioned are far from generic, and the Time Lords are far from being utopian. My nation is a dystopia and I try to make it unique. So I am not sure what point you are trying to make here.

[New Carthagea]

(Image)

Thus, the King of Sweden sets and example we all should follow.[/strike]

Prince Carl Philip AKA IRL Christophe II is not impressed of what you have done to his father.

[Western Fardelshufflestein]

(Image)

Thus, the King of Sweden sets and example we all should follow.[/strike]

Prince Carl Philip AKA IRL Christophe II is not impressed of what you have done to his father.

His father is a legend.

[New Carthagea]

Prince Carl Philip AKA IRL Christophe II is not impressed of what you have done to his father.

His father is a legend.

I agree. One of the finer and more transparent monarchs of Europe.

[The Cult of Xil]

GENERIC_SUPERADVANCED_UTOPIAN_SPACE_SOCIETY_5713.txt

All of the examples I mentioned are far from generic, and the Time Lords are far from being utopian. My nation is a dystopia and I try to make it unique. So I am not sure what point you are trying to make here.

I thought we were making cliche memes about the nation above you. My guess was that most players who see a big space empire with a bright or blue-colored flag tend to automatically think it's some kind of generic utopian fantasyland.

[Valentine Z]

I should have saved what I have written on the third one. I think I titled it as "NS Cliches III: Attack of the Phantom Menace"... or something.

-----

A cliche/trope that I myself am trying to avoid - one-dimensional characters in terms of emotions and responses. I can definitely show happiness in a character, that is for sure, and that is how Valentine Z got its rep. However, I am, at the same time, trying my best to improve on how my characters respond to someone else - not just pure elation, but with many other traits - both shown and hidden. For instance, you don't just happily meet someone knowing that he's a genocidal maniac. As Clarissa, I can still pull off the same energy of happiness, but have doubts about that character - doubts, worries, look at other traits and comment on them.

Here's to hoping that I am doing my best on this department of 2+ dimensional characters. ^^

[Aeritai]

I'm sure you'll be able to make your characters two dimensional after all you do have a creative mind!

[Valentine Z]

I'm sure you'll be able to make your characters two dimensional after all you do have a creative mind!

Aww, thank you! ♥

I have 60,000 character limit for each of my characters' posts in The Sixty, I might as well use all the space I can get!

[Kyoki Chudoku]

Based upon all of TWO DAYS worth of recent observation:

The World-Shifting Leader!: You know, one of those leaders who basically turned the entire nation around and who is largely if not entirely responsible for its present state. Ahem. Often occurs in alternate historical nations, often which magical influence involved somewhere. As with any cliche, not necessarily bad- I mean I basically have one of these, I’d be a hypocrite to complain. Just noting how common it is. It’s easy to understand why.

[New Carthagea]

Based upon all of TWO DAYS worth of recent observation:

The World-Shifting Leader!: You know, one of those leaders who basically turned the entire nation around and who is largely if not entirely responsible for its present state. Ahem. Often occurs in alternate historical nations, often which magical influence involved somewhere. As with any cliche, not necessarily bad- I mean I basically have one of these, I’d be a hypocrite to complain. Just noting how common it is. It’s easy to understand why.

Nods in approval

[Zitravgrad]

While I believe in LGBT rights, I find it weird that it is being used as a stepping stone in writing a "progressive" leader. Or perhaps is it the first-world thing in which there is no more issue to solve?

[Brettenwald]

Ginormous Autocratic Authoritarian Hellscape™ is something that's honestly just boring and overdone.

[Khoronzon]

The World-Shifting Leader!: You know, one of those leaders who basically turned the entire nation around and who is largely if not entirely responsible for its present state. Ahem. Often occurs in alternate historical nations, often which magical influence involved somewhere. As with any cliche, not necessarily bad- I mean I basically have one of these, I’d be a hypocrite to complain. Just noting how common it is. It’s easy to understand why.

In all fairness, it's rather boring to write characters with little narrative impact. The more someone does, the more story there is to tell and the more interesting things can happen, and when that someone is a political leader, "doing stuff" in a narrative typically translates to political change. I know you aren't complaining and probably don't disagree with this, but I do think it's somewhat worth noting.

[Kyoki Chudoku]

The World-Shifting Leader!: You know, one of those leaders who basically turned the entire nation around and who is largely if not entirely responsible for its present state. Ahem. Often occurs in alternate historical nations, often which magical influence involved somewhere. As with any cliche, not necessarily bad- I mean I basically have one of these, I’d be a hypocrite to complain. Just noting how common it is. It’s easy to understand why.

In all fairness, it's rather boring to write characters with little narrative impact. The more someone does, the more story there is to tell and the more interesting things can happen, and when that someone is a political leader, "doing stuff" in a narrative typically translates to political change. I know you aren't complaining and probably don't disagree with this, but I do think it's somewhat worth noting.

Indeed! It’s perfectly fair to want the main representative of one’s nation to be a dynamic figure with many things worth mentioning about them, and with as much possibility for interesting outcomes as possible. Kyoki Chudoku is very much the result of just going along with insanity for the sake of making something utterly unrealistic but fun to work with, as opposed to a more grounded approach. It’s certainly understandable why one would want to set their nation in such a place as when radical shifts are ongoing or have just occurred, and why leaders would be so dramatic in their approaches. It makes things interesting that way.

[Valentine Z]

Ahh, yes, one cliche! NS Stats hatred. I mean sure, there are those that embraces it fully, or even use it with modified numbers.

But come on, it's not evil, it won't bite. #JusticeForNSStats.

[New Carthagea]

Ahh, yes, one cliche! NS Stats hatred. I mean sure, there are those that embraces it fully, or even use it with modified numbers.

But come on, it's not evil, it won't bite. #JusticeForNSStats.

Yes ! I've been here for a long time, and one of the most interesting things in this game is adjusting your NS stats by solving issues ! Sure, you can make some adjustments to it, but completely disregarding them sickens me.

#JusticeForNSStats

[Kyoki Chudoku]

Ahh, yes, one cliche! NS Stats hatred. I mean sure, there are those that embraces it fully, or even use it with modified numbers.

But come on, it's not evil, it won't bite. #JusticeForNSStats.

I’m afraid my perspective on NS stats is basically...I kind of tend to ignore them. I don’t answer issues much.

[Zitravgrad]

Imagine answering issues for 10 puppets? I'd rather die twice.

That said, I tend to the NSstats of my main pretty well... and I made a custom NSstats table if y'all don't want to do issues but want to define yourself with the stats.

[Greater Cosmicium]

Ahh, yes, one cliche! NS Stats hatred. I mean sure, there are those that embraces it fully, or even use it with modified numbers.

But come on, it's not evil, it won't bite. #JusticeForNSStats.

Hey, did you forget that NS stats ate my first-born child and killed 600000 bazillion people?

[Tea Chuggers]

While I believe in LGBT rights, I find it weird that it is being used as a stepping stone in writing a "progressive" leader. Or perhaps is it the first-world thing in which there is no more issue to solve?

Ooh, that reminds me, the countries that claim to be progressives but didn't decriminalize homosexuality until 2018 or so, just in time for the current leader who actually really quite seems like the player to have come to power, when the earliest countries to have decriminalized it did so in the 19th century.

Ahh, yes, one cliche! NS Stats hatred. I mean sure, there are those that embraces it fully, or even use it with modified numbers.

But come on, it's not evil, it won't bite. #JusticeForNSStats.

I can get behind the sentiment, but sometimes they just completely disconnect unless you're a catgirl """communist""" FT space empire nazis. Like, TC's total population is 32,000, which... is far lower than the population that it started out with, 5 million, because it's an island chain not too terribly larger than Hawai'i. Statistics that take into account the... particularly laughably off population number are invalid by default. And sometimes you just completely make a mistake; I didn't mean to totally block immigration but I picked the wrong option and I'm stuck with it.

[Khoronzon]

Yes ! I've been here for a long time, and one of the most interesting things in this game is adjusting your NS stats by solving issues ! Sure, you can make some adjustments to it, but completely disregarding them sickens me.

The main problem with NS stats, aside from the obvious question of whether you actually want to commit to building up your gameside nation on top of written worldbuilding (though admittedly it isn't much of a commitment given issue frequency, but that depends on how many puppets you're trying to manage and how much you care to analyse options), is that they don't always make sense in context. If you're an MT/PMT nation-state or similar polity, they mostly work, but the further removed your nation is from a relatively standard country, the more problems NS stats start to have in terms of lining up with its actual canon.

That being said, I do answer issues somewhat actively on all the puppets I care to maintain, even when applying them to their lore doesn't make much sense. Boredom and force of habit, I suppose.