Founded in 2011, Esquarium is a realistic, closed-world, modern-tech worldbuilding and roleplaying community.
We're home to a fun, active community of both worldbuilders and roleplayers that is always looking for new members to join the community. With an extensive regional lore and things for both roleplayers and worldbuilders, Esquarium is dedicated to creating a vivid, dynamic world with a unique twist on the world that we are used to.
Esquarium is also a place of firsts, proudly boasting:
- A regional News Thread that is the longest of any NS region, featuring almost six years and over two hundred pages of happenings from across the region;
- The most extensively-documented region canon on IIwiki, where we do much of our worldbuilding;
- One of the longest-running region-based supranational organisations with a significant body of law, the Esquarian Community;
- The OG Twitter Thread.
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Esquarium strives to create a plausible, yet unique, world.
Esquarium makes a concerted effort to create reasonable nations rooted in the same institutions and technologies that we are familiar with on Earth. This means that the large and sprawling empires of billions of citizens that are omnipresent in International Incidents are unheard of in Esquarium. Rather, the user is encouraged to create a nation that could conceivably exist in a realistic setting, with real people, a coherent identity and a nuanced history.
As such, Esquarium is a much more multipolar world than most regions, without any true superpowers but rather featuring several continental and multinational groupings based on geopolitical interest and ideology, from the Borean Imperial Tributary System to the democratic Esquarian Community.
Esquarium strives to create a plausible, yet unique, world.
Esquarium makes a concerted effort to create reasonable nations rooted in the same institutions and technologies that we are familiar with on Earth. This means that the large and sprawling empires of billions of citizens that are omnipresent in International Incidents are unheard of in Esquarium. Rather, the user is encouraged to create a nation that could conceivably exist in a realistic setting, with real people, a coherent identity and a nuanced history.
As such, Esquarium is a much more multipolar world than most regions, without any true superpowers but rather featuring several continental and multinational groupings based on geopolitical interest and ideology, from the Borean Imperial Tributary System to the democratic Esquarian Community.
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Esquarium is separate from the NS multiverse.
Like our much-beloved planet Earth, Esquarium is its own world, created, written and maintained by us Esquarians. As a closed-world region, we do not share a canon with the greater NationStates multiverse or with other regions, which allows us greater creative freedom in shaping our world. Instead, we inhabit our own planet: Esquarium.
Orbiting around the gas giant Aurorum, Esquarium has a long and storied history spanning thousands of years, featuring the rise and fall of grand empires, fabulous trading kingdoms, and great conquerors. From the Great Monic Migration that peopled the continent of Borea to the Great War of the North that changed the face of Nordania, Esquarian history is a fabulous saga made possible by the creative canvas of a closed world.
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Esquarium is situated in the present.
Esquarium is a modern tech region, operating within the confines of 2018 technology. As such, there are no musketeers or railguns in our world, in order to give people a level playing field and a basic guideline for worldbuilding, since it is easier to worldbuild and roleplay in a familiar world than an entirely alien one. As such, while some futuristic products do exist in Esquarium, everything remains within both the confines of feasibility and practicality.
Esquarium subscribes to a strict definition of modern tech (hard MT) based on practical modern uses, as opposed to the looser concepts of NSMT based on hypothetical conceivability. As such, fleets of guided-missile nuclear battleships and other impractical technologies, although possible, will not be found in Esquarium.
Esquarium is situated in the present.
Esquarium is a modern tech region, operating within the confines of 2018 technology. As such, there are no musketeers or railguns in our world, in order to give people a level playing field and a basic guideline for worldbuilding, since it is easier to worldbuild and roleplay in a familiar world than an entirely alien one. As such, while some futuristic products do exist in Esquarium, everything remains within both the confines of feasibility and practicality.
Esquarium subscribes to a strict definition of modern tech (hard MT) based on practical modern uses, as opposed to the looser concepts of NSMT based on hypothetical conceivability. As such, fleets of guided-missile nuclear battleships and other impractical technologies, although possible, will not be found in Esquarium.
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Esquarium has a rich and constantly-growing lore.
Esquarium focuses heavily on hashing out our nations, not only as a means of enhancing roleplay but as an end unto itself, as it allows us to create a more vibrant world that could very much come to life, with real, three-dimensional places, cultures and peoples. We strive to create a living, breathing world with unique settings, characters and events both by ourselves and through collaboration with the region on creating a unified canon. This can be a daunting task at first, but with the support of the other members and with your own imagination you can help us develop Esquarium to something entirely its own.
We do much of this work offsite on IIWiki, where we create articles on everything from airlines and cities to transports and sexy fun times. Inexperienced in working on a collaborative wiki? Don't worry, we'll be more than happy to lend a helping hand.
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Esquarium has roleplays of all genres and styles.
Our roleplays are not confined to any one genre, but rather are spread all across many genres. From tourists visiting other countries, to sporting events, to international incidents between other countries that could lead up to war, all the way to people testing the limits of technology and human ingenuity, and everything in between, you have an endless pool of ideas to choose from. If you don't like any of the current roleplays, or just want to inject something fresh into Esquarium, you may start your own roleplay.
Examples of our past roleplays have been as diverse as the interests of our community. As a preview, they include:
• The biannual Coupe d'Esquarium, a football (soccer) tournament for all nations in the region;
• Someone Set Us Up the Bomb, an action roleplay where an airliner carrying 364 souls is hijacked by a radical separatist group;
• The Esquarian Summit, an annual, G20-like meeting of global leaders to discuss the most pressing crises and issues facing the planet;
• That Sinking Feeling, a character-based roleplay where a multinational group of researchers are locked together in a submersible habitat... for science!
Esquarium has roleplays of all genres and styles.
Our roleplays are not confined to any one genre, but rather are spread all across many genres. From tourists visiting other countries, to sporting events, to international incidents between other countries that could lead up to war, all the way to people testing the limits of technology and human ingenuity, and everything in between, you have an endless pool of ideas to choose from. If you don't like any of the current roleplays, or just want to inject something fresh into Esquarium, you may start your own roleplay.
Examples of our past roleplays have been as diverse as the interests of our community. As a preview, they include:
• The biannual Coupe d'Esquarium, a football (soccer) tournament for all nations in the region;
• Someone Set Us Up the Bomb, an action roleplay where an airliner carrying 364 souls is hijacked by a radical separatist group;
• The Esquarian Summit, an annual, G20-like meeting of global leaders to discuss the most pressing crises and issues facing the planet;
• That Sinking Feeling, a character-based roleplay where a multinational group of researchers are locked together in a submersible habitat... for science!
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Esquarium is always looking for new members, like you.
We have a colourful collection of people from all races, backgrounds, religions, and political views: from Denmark to New Zealand, and everywhere in between, we are a diverse and welcoming region. Each of us has our own abilities, and special niches, meaning that even if you may not feel like you fit in any one particular niche, you will eventually find your own area of expertise: from military to linguistics, from religions to history, from graphic design to humour, and anywhere in between. And if you need help, we are willing to help you with what we have: if you want a good Chinese-speaking nation, we've got people who speak Chinese;
if you want your maps to look less terrible, we've got graphic designers who can help you; if you want to improve your networking skills, we have that too.
So, what are you waiting for? Feel free to hop on board! We are always looking for new members to help us build an interesting world. We don't expect you to be active every day and in every aspect of the region. More interested in writing IIwiki articles than character RPs? No problem. We welcome new and experienced players alike and we'd be glad to have any style of play.
Notice to other regions: Please have the courtesy not use the format or text of this thread without asking for permission first. We'll be glad to give it, but please don't copy-paste!
