How to claim land on Micras
Moderator: Staff
How to claim land on Micras
How to claim land on Micras
Ask yourself if you can claim.
The Charter of the Micronational Cartography Society states:
Ask yourself how much you can and want to claim.
There will be a vote on your claim, and the Council members who will do so will take the following into consideration, again from the Charter of the Micronational Cartography Society:
Ask yourself where you want to claim.
In theory, most of the green territory on the map is free to claim. An exception to this is when the nation that was previously located in that area was removed in the preceding month due to inactivity, or if the land has been reserved. But just because you can claim somewhere does not mean it is the best place for your nation. It is best to pick a location where you can expand in the future, if you want to do so, and have access to the sea if you want to build a navy. Also take a look at the nations that are already located where you want to claim, if you want to have friendly relations with them it might be best to discuss your claim with them.
Making the claim image.
If you have trouble completing the following steps, do not hesitate to ask for help. Many people in the community are more than happy to assist you in preparing the claim image.
Step 1 - Download the map
Download the latest version of the MCS Claimsmap from: https://micras.org/maps/claimsmap.png
Step 2 - Open the map in an image editor
Open the image in either old versions of Microsoft Paint, Paint.NET, GIMP or another suitable image editor. Take note that some other image editors alter the colours of the image, this causes troubles so avoid those. In the recent versions of Microsoft Paint, all text is automatically anti-aliased, which does not work well with our map.
Step 3 - Selecting the area
Find the area where you want to claim and crop the image to that general area. In the following example we are going to claim in Keltia. Do not scale the image, but zoom in to work on the image.
Step 4 - Creating the outline for your nation
Create an outline (border) for your nation. The outline should be 1 pixel wide and in black.
Step 5 - Colouring in your nation
Fill the outline of your nation with the colour of your choice. If you pick a suitable colour that is not in use by another nation currently on the map or the unclaimed or water areas, there is a good chance that your nation will keep this colour on the official map.
Step 6 - Placing cities and internal borders
Take a look at the legend in the bottom right corner of the map.
This includes the symbols you can use for your nations. Since you're just starting out we recommend adding a few cities to your claim. Always include a capital city! Do not change the color of the cities, they are always #fe0000 (red). Name all your cities too, use Times New Roman, font size of 8 point (or 11 px), color #fe0000, with the "anti-aliasing" turned off.
If you're unable to use the right font, you can always copy and paste your letters and symbols from the guide below.
If you want your nation to have different provinces, you can use the regional capital symbol for the different province capitals. Provinces are divided by a single pixel dotted black border.
Step 7 - Upload your claim image
You could use your own web space, imgur.com or another host of your choice. Make sure that you upload your images to a site that allows hot-linking.
Submit the claim
You are now ready to submit your claim to the MCS!
Step 1 - Go to the relevant forum
Open a new thread in the Claims & Modifications forum of the MCS.
Step 2 - Fill in the form
Step 3 - ???
The MCS Council will review your claim and will vote on it. You might be asked to provide more information or change some aspects of your claim so keep an eye on the thread.
Step 4 - Profit
If a majority of the Council votes in favour of your claim, it will be included in a future update of the MCS Claimsmap. Welcome to Micras! If you are successful in reserving land... See you soon?
Unsuccessful?
The Council usually explains why your claim was not successful. Perhaps your nation was not old enough, or not developed enough to warrant the land you want. You can usually find this information in the thread you started or in the voting thread. Finished votes can be found here. Try to take the advice on board, and ask questions if anything is unclear. Then you must either wait until you are eligible to claim, improve your nation, or adjust your claim. But just because your first claim was unsuccessful, does not mean the door to Micras is closed for your nation. When you are ready, you can always submit a new claim again.
Ask yourself if you can claim.
The Charter of the Micronational Cartography Society states:
If your nation is independent, meaning that it is not part of any other nation on the map, AND you can show that you have a forum or wiki-page with posts or articles dating back at least 30 days, you are ready to claim. Otherwise, you can reserve land. If you want to reserve land, you can continue with this tutorial like you would if you could claim.9. Qualification
(1) A state may, at the discretion of the Council, become a member of the Society if they can prove to the satisfaction of the Council that they: (a) are independent of every other member, and (b) have established a documented online existence for a period exceeding 30 days prior to their initial application.
(2) States which do not meet the criteria in subsection (1)(b) may reserve land at the Council's discretion until they reach the age stated in the aforementioned criteria.
Ask yourself how much you can and want to claim.
There will be a vote on your claim, and the Council members who will do so will take the following into consideration, again from the Charter of the Micronational Cartography Society:
In the case of a wiki-based nation, just an infobox just doesn't cut it, neither does a slowchat thread in a forum-based nation. Apart from the quality of your posts and articles, it is common in our hobby to count activity in posts per day (PPD). Making one post every two days, on average, is considered the average. An example of a common size for a new nation can be seen in the following image, which includes Alrig, Los Liberados, Pacificonia and Thracistan. There are much larger nations on the map, but they are usually much older and have expanded to that size over the years.4. Operation of the Council
[...]
(4) A Council Member should, when voting on a claim request, consider whether the overall development of the nation in question merits the addition of the area being claimed, taking into particular account:
- activity,
- culture,
- military development,
- economic development,
- history and
- use of current claims.
Ask yourself where you want to claim.
In theory, most of the green territory on the map is free to claim. An exception to this is when the nation that was previously located in that area was removed in the preceding month due to inactivity, or if the land has been reserved. But just because you can claim somewhere does not mean it is the best place for your nation. It is best to pick a location where you can expand in the future, if you want to do so, and have access to the sea if you want to build a navy. Also take a look at the nations that are already located where you want to claim, if you want to have friendly relations with them it might be best to discuss your claim with them.
Making the claim image.
If you have trouble completing the following steps, do not hesitate to ask for help. Many people in the community are more than happy to assist you in preparing the claim image.
Step 1 - Download the map
Download the latest version of the MCS Claimsmap from: https://micras.org/maps/claimsmap.png
Step 2 - Open the map in an image editor
Open the image in either old versions of Microsoft Paint, Paint.NET, GIMP or another suitable image editor. Take note that some other image editors alter the colours of the image, this causes troubles so avoid those. In the recent versions of Microsoft Paint, all text is automatically anti-aliased, which does not work well with our map.
Step 3 - Selecting the area
Find the area where you want to claim and crop the image to that general area. In the following example we are going to claim in Keltia. Do not scale the image, but zoom in to work on the image.
Step 4 - Creating the outline for your nation
Create an outline (border) for your nation. The outline should be 1 pixel wide and in black.
Step 5 - Colouring in your nation
Fill the outline of your nation with the colour of your choice. If you pick a suitable colour that is not in use by another nation currently on the map or the unclaimed or water areas, there is a good chance that your nation will keep this colour on the official map.
Step 6 - Placing cities and internal borders
Take a look at the legend in the bottom right corner of the map.
This includes the symbols you can use for your nations. Since you're just starting out we recommend adding a few cities to your claim. Always include a capital city! Do not change the color of the cities, they are always #fe0000 (red). Name all your cities too, use Times New Roman, font size of 8 point (or 11 px), color #fe0000, with the "anti-aliasing" turned off.
If you're unable to use the right font, you can always copy and paste your letters and symbols from the guide below.
If you want your nation to have different provinces, you can use the regional capital symbol for the different province capitals. Provinces are divided by a single pixel dotted black border.
Step 7 - Upload your claim image
You could use your own web space, imgur.com or another host of your choice. Make sure that you upload your images to a site that allows hot-linking.
Submit the claim
You are now ready to submit your claim to the MCS!
Step 1 - Go to the relevant forum
Open a new thread in the Claims & Modifications forum of the MCS.
Step 2 - Fill in the form
If you just want to reserve land, make that clear in your notes!!!MCS Addition Request Form (Claims)
Use this form to place a claim on some empty land if you are a new nation.
Name & Title: (Your name and title in the nation you come from)
E-Mail/Contact: (e-mail or other form of contact)
Nation: (your micronation of origin)
No. of Citizens: (how many active citizens your micronation has)
MN URL: (the web address of your micronation, forums and website)
Flag Image: (required for the key. No flag - No claim)
Claim: (a detailed map of your claim - in PNG format - use [img] tags, do not attach)*
Notes: (any additional notes not part of the claim)
Step 3 - ???
The MCS Council will review your claim and will vote on it. You might be asked to provide more information or change some aspects of your claim so keep an eye on the thread.
Step 4 - Profit
If a majority of the Council votes in favour of your claim, it will be included in a future update of the MCS Claimsmap. Welcome to Micras! If you are successful in reserving land... See you soon?
Unsuccessful?
The Council usually explains why your claim was not successful. Perhaps your nation was not old enough, or not developed enough to warrant the land you want. You can usually find this information in the thread you started or in the voting thread. Finished votes can be found here. Try to take the advice on board, and ask questions if anything is unclear. Then you must either wait until you are eligible to claim, improve your nation, or adjust your claim. But just because your first claim was unsuccessful, does not mean the door to Micras is closed for your nation. When you are ready, you can always submit a new claim again.