How to Play

Magna Terra does not introduce mechanics which are difficult to grasp. However, a thorough understanding of the system in place will certainly help any player in their journey, whatever it be, no matter if they are a mayor, citizen, nation leader, diplomat, trader etc.

## The Map

One of Magna Terra's most important features is, of course, its massive **1:90 world map**, which takes transport from a mostly useless element to an incredibly important one, adding depth to the server and emphasizing the development of infrastructure. Due to the great size of the map, big groups of players are required to control even otherwise small territories such as, for instance, Great Britain - all in Zenith's own words, though paraphrased. Of course, this is the norm for more or less "complete" control of a region; though improbable and spurious at best, even a group of 4 can technically claim all of the United States, though settling every corner of the country is practically not an option for such a collective due to the massive distance between each hypothetical settlement they would make. Thus, both to add depth to the server and overcome these difficulties, it is recommendable for groups to carefully consider the region they will settle. For a lone player, this decision is all the more important, as creating a nation alone is, while completely possible, a difficult task due to recruitment issues which will be covered later. The main options are, no matter if one considers the prospect for a group or for their lone self, to join a nation or to found a nation/town.

### The Spawn Area and Teleporting

The spawn for Iteration 3 will most probably be somewhere in West Africa; namely, in Ghana, though this is difficult to confirm as of 6/12/23. While this may make reaching far away territories impossible, in order to assure that everyone arrives in their homelands quickly and safely, the server owner, Zenith, will teleport everyone to their desired locations, in this way making the creation of a nation/town easy and equitable for everyone.

### The Dynamic Map and Its Uses

**The dynamic map** (dynmap) is a public asset found on a site which showcases the world map, notably including limited renders of the in-game map's geography and of player-made constructions, as well as claims of nations and towns. This makes it very important in regards to communication between players and transportation.

## The Economy, Nations and Towns

Magna Terra's Iteration 2 functioned on a modified version of the plugin xKingdoms. Basically, in its simplest form, a nation is comprised of towns in this plugin. Each town must have at least a mayor, though there are no limits on town or nation members: thus, it is possible for a nation to have 10 towns, with its capital having 10 members and all other towns having 1, or to have a capital of 1 member (the nation leader, most often) and all other cities of 3 members. This all depends on the internal development of the nation in question, which is completely up to the players themselves. Towns can be independent of a nation and function almost like one. Among the most important functions of a town is the **Town Nexus**, which allows all town members and players with given permissions to teleport to said nexus. Moreover, certain powerful buffs could be bought to enhance a town's function. This is equally valid for a nation, which can have a **Nation Nexus** to which people can teleport - this nexus can be independent of the nation's capital, though in most cases a National Nexus will be placed in a country's capital (at least so it is known). The aforementioned abilities were bought with **resource points**, which could be obtained in a nexus' interface. For "trading" items of any type, raging from mushrooms to dirt to iron to netherite, a nexus will be given resource points which allow it to buy said powerful buffs. Moreover, resource points are an excellent indication of a country's economic power, as they can be found both using in-game commands and on the dynamic map, by merely clicking on a nation/town.

## Expanding a Polity

Once one has decided what nation they are going to create/join, one of the biggest services they can make to said polity is to bring new people to it, massively increasing its prestige and power. To that extent, either advertising on the **Magna Terra Official Discord server** or inviting one's friends may prove fruitful, though both options have their limitations. For instance, while advertising is free and available to everyone, stereotypes and even racism may interfere with one's opinion on a country or a country's ideology, and newer players may be warded off from joining smaller nations due to wanting to partake in a bigger community, thus giving a sadly very unfair advantages to more populated nations. The disadvantage related to inviting friends is the obvious fact that one cannot have infinite friends and that even if one's friends invite their own, at one point this chain will have to stop, leading to a population stagnation which can greatly damper a nation's morale.

## Politics

Magna Terra's politics have thankfully been quite turbulent throughout time, leading to a fluid environment which allows even new nations to slowly rise to prominence, though activity in the community is needed to realize such a feat. It is best to check the list of nations if one wishes to get a grasp of server politics. Moreover, knowing the server's alliances might help understand the political and historical motivations of some countries/groups of countries.

## The Discord Server

The Magna Terra Official Discord is the main communications relay of the community. You can find it using the following link -> https://discord.gg/u5fRU6TZyf.