Oh Hi Mark.
I’m Val, and I represent the as-yet uncoagulated nation of Curupiri. Damn glad to meet you.
I love good RP, good martinis, and obscure movie references. I’ve already made two in this post alone.
I look forward to meeting everyone!
Val
Welcome, welcome! What you need to do is head straight through the barriers between platforms 9 and 10, best do it at a bit of a rush if you know what I mean…
Welcome to The East Pacific.
Welcome!
So… yeah. Thanks for the welcome. Guess I’ll just sit back and wait till the election is over.
I appreciate the Harry Potter ref, Raven. Any able to name the movies I referenced in my intro? Winner gets five free internets!
The room and animal house
pushes glasses up to sit better
pretends didn’t Google
Hey! 
Whoops! I just realized I never did the requested question/answers in my intro. Allow me to rectify that whilst y’all do your election bit:
How did you find NationStates?
- Honestly I don’t remember. It likely came through another forum or game, though it might have been through a writing forum back when Jennifer Government first came out. I think I made it about 50 pages into that book but it just didn’t hook me.
How long have you played NationStates?
- I’m only a month or so into my current run, but I’ve played on and off for several years now. This is my third nation, and I don’t even remembered what the first two were called. My interest has waxed and waned over time, but I think what pulled me back is a few projects I’ve been writing that get into national politics. It’s mostly fantasy stuff, but thanks to Game of Thrones I think that the bar has been raised to the amount of political reality that’s acceptable in fantasy stories.
I’ll also qualify that I’m a very casual player at best. I don’t care for stats or achievements, I just love a good story. To that end, I’m far more interested in role-play than raiding or any of the in-game stuff and usually only pop onto the game for my issue and get my daily dose of schadenfreude from the general forums. I get much more involved in good RP, but I’ve never gotten into the NS role-play front so this is new territory for me.
What inspired the name of your nation?
- The Curupiri idea actually comes from a previous RP done on the Diplomacy game forums. If you ever want your faith in humanity abused and betrayed, Diplomacy is a great game for it. I got Ned Stark’d in the first half of what was my first and what will be my only game.
I might move the concept to this RP, but the Curupiri were not a ‘nation’ in the traditional sense. It was part of a Sci-Fi/Fantasy ‘Create Your Own Country’ game that took place on a near-future Earth with magic and demi-humans. I created a race of Dryads that began to emerge from the Amazon in Brazil. The locals called them the Curupiri, after a nature spirit from Brazilian folklore. They had a slight hive-mind, much like the Sylvari from Guild Wars 2, and refused to deal with anyone other than Dr. Sharon Rosenberg, the head of a large multi-national research team that had been sent to study them. So I had a ‘country’ that consisted of the Curupiri, the lab staff, locals and refugees, and leadership under Dr. Rosenberg and her personnel. The RP took a turn for the supernatural (especially once the sudden and inevitable betrayals began), so it did get much bigger than just national RP, but that was much more character driven than anything else.
I would love to reboot the Curupiri idea, but I understand if that might not be a good fit for the RP style of TEP. I have other ideas, but that’s the story behind my nation’s current name.
Have you joined the World Assembly?
- I have, and I vote, but that’s likely as far as I’ll get involved. That’s way to hard poli-sci-fi for me, and while I’d love to learn more about effective policy and legislating, this is still the internet and things often go awry and end in flame wars. To borrow a phrase from Doug Benson, I’m not about to dip my toe into that pool of stupid.
What country are you from?
- Texas. If you lived here you’d understand.
Do you like watching the news?
- Depends on the network, but I like comparing how different news stations report the same issue. It’s part of why I love Stewart, Colbert, and Oliver’s shows so much. They help point out the absurdity of most news reporting in the US.
Do you like studying the government?
- I’ve gotten into it more as a mental exercise after I had a few VERY enlightening debates with a Libertarian friend. I’m also a huge fan of Dan Carlin’s ‘Hardcore History’ podcast, which is probably what first got me interested. Government history is as much a drama as it is an epic, with amazing characters and stories unfolding in the face of legendary challenges. The Roman Triumvirate, the fall of feudalism, WWI and the Weimar Republic, all amazing stories of people. There’s both a cold, systematic logic and an emotional irrationality that makes up leadership and government policy and it’s fascinating to see how things have succeeded or failed throughout history.
I am the type of person who will always prefer a diplomatic solution both in and out of character.