Arhet

Arhet is the name of a planet. And the name of a geofiction project. Tag-line: "Imaginary real estate doesn't need to be a scarce resource."

Alternate tag-line: "Sometimes you want to just toss verisimilitude out the window and map something crazy!"

The planet Arhet is the planet currently hosted on the map portion of the Geofictician site.

Loading map...

{"center":{"lat":-0.1,"lon":0.1},"zoom":"3","maxzoom":"19","minzoom":"1","layer":"Arhet"}

The server structure is similar to, but not identical to, that found at OpenGeofiction.

I have decided to try an experiment. I am intending to open Arhet to a limited number of other mappers. In principle, this is no different from the OpenGeofiction model. However, in implementation, I plan to take a different route. Here is a first draft of planned rules.

This project is "live", now. I have added my first user. I'm hoping for feedback about the proposed ideas, below, and to gauge interest.

Rules

1. Luciano is god in Arhet. My word is law. Period.
2. Arhet is not "open" in the way that OpenGeofiction is "open." Participation is by invitation. If you wish to request an invitation, you should contact me via email. My email is easy to figure out. Hint: my name, at my domain.
3. For now, invites will only be offered to OGF participants in good standing. Anyone with a history of sockpuppetry, disrespectful mapping, etc., on that site will not be considered.
   • For now, I will ask users to use the same username as on OGF. This just makes it easier for me to decide if you're a decent person or not.
   • This might change in the future.
4. Arhet is not to be the same kind of planet as OGF, however. I currently expect it will be quite a bit more chaotic. That's because...
   • There will be no wiki. This wiki, that you are reading, is mine. For my projects. If you want to wikify your mapping on Arhet, find or build your own wiki elsewhere.
   • There will be no verisimilitude rule. Map what you like - in your assigned area.
   • There will be no plan for a planet-wide coherent geology, ecology, history, culture, or language. Those things were neglected on OGF at the beginning, and efforts to retcon them later are depressing. We avoid the problem by stating at the outset that these things are irrelevant.
   • There will be no user diaries. If you want to write about your mapping, start a blog or something.
5. There aren't that many rules, but there is zero tolerance for rule violations. Immediate banning, no discussion. Period.
6. Mappers can be asked to leave for any reason, or for no reason. In general, if your map is interesting and you keep in your assigned area, I won't object.
7. Just because the site is by invitation, doesn't mean it's hard to get in or get territory. The lack of a "verisimilitude rule," combined with the vast amount of space available when parceled out by degree square, means that basically I'll accept anyone. And as long as you're mapping something coherent, I'll probably be happy to expand your territory too.

Implementation

1. Users are expected to connect to Arhet using JOSM. I have seen very little evidence that high-quality geofiction is possible using iD or Potlatch. So deal with it.
2. For now, because I can't be bothered, there will be no automated map update. I'll set a job to run updates a few times through the day. I may get organized and implement something if things go well and the site becomes popular. So you won't get immediate feedback on the map for your work.
   • I will happily kick off the update manually on a request basis, if you ask politely and I'm not busy with something else. But I am often busy with something else...
3. Users will be assigned territory by "degree square." This means exactly one degree of width, longitude, by one degree of height, latitude. You get open ocean. Build islands, collaborate with neighbors to build continents, whatever. If you map outside your assigned degree square (except with permission in one owned by another person), that's instant banning.
4. Currently users will be granted any open degree square in Southern Hemisphere. I'm keeping the Northern Hemisphere in reserve.
5. That's a lot of degree squares. Between 0 and 80 south, and from 180 west to 180 east, that's 28800 possible squares. So... additional degree squares will be granted to users who do something interesting to their first ones.
6. The above doesn't mean I have tolerance for grandiose or megalomaniacal projects ("Hey can I have 2000 degree squares I wanna build a continent"). My own experience shows that we geoficticians generally bite off more than we can chew.

Territory List

Territories below are specified (for the most part) by coordinates: southwest corner to northeast corner.

Area	User
30°N 78°W to 47°N 61°W	luciano
2°S 148°E to 0°S 155°E	luciano
10°N 150°E to 11°N 151°E	sockpuppet
5°S 150°E to 4°S 151°E	Infrarrojo
6°S 150°E to 5°S 151°E	Rhiney boi
6°S 151°E to 5°S 152°E	Trombonist2003
7°S 150°E to 6°S 151°E	plainoldbread
6°S 160°E to 5°S 161°E	JoJoBa
34°S 58°W to 35°S 59°W	Tito_zz
6°S 151°E to 5°S 152°E	diamantschiff
1°S 1°W to 0°S 0°W	<example>