ALEXANDRIA VALLEY

[Russ93Plyr 1]

~*~

Hello!

I'm Russ93Plyr (cheesy SN, eh? ) and i'm back with a new CJ.

I did have one running before but that one fell into the dumps.

So, without further ado, I present my brand new historical CJ,

♦ALEXANDRIA VALLEY♦

Est. 1863

Western North America,

Between the Border of USA and Canada, 

Facing the Pacific Ocean

Founders:

James Porter and Elizabeth Dodd-Porter

Important Cities:

Alexandria, Surrey, Brantford

Population:

Roughly Six Million

Map of Most Populated Area

The areas of cities are outlined in different colors. As the distance from the Pacific increases, the size of cities and towns decreases. Areas without outlines are either uninhabitable mountain and hill ranges or farmland.

OUTLINED IN RED: Alexandria, the capital and largest city

GOLD: Surrey, home to the country's esteemed colleges as well as 

the first founding site and the Surrey Crater

DOTTED BLUE: Beaufort, a large city with a laid-back athmosphere

BRIGHT YELLOW: Gaspe, mining community in the Feirg Mountains

VIOLET: Brantford, large city, many factories as this was and still is

 the industrial focal point

TEAL: Oakley, quaint suburb, calm, relaxed

MUSTARD: Steckel Woods, one of many farming communities

LAVENDER: Grandarbres, beautiful sight-seeing, marshy wilderness, 

Victorian mansions

GRAY: Maury, quiet small town, known for it's delicious apples

PINK: Smith, largest town before the vast extent of farms and wilderness

~*~

P.S. Props to mrbisonm for the awesome region!

[Schulmanator 5,787]

Glad to see you back... and with a new CJ. Best wishes and I look forward to updates.

[edmonton_stinks 5]

Although I haven't really seen much yet, it looks amazing!

[jjune4991 1]

ok, i almost was going to ask if it was Nexis GRV! but you clarified that at the bottom. anyways, looks good so far. nice description of each area.

[AceofSpades 1]

Hey great work on the map! Sounds very promising!

[Russ93Plyr 1]

Thank you all for commenting!

Sorry this didn't come up sooner...I was having problems with my pic converter.

♦ALEXANDRIA VALLEY♦

It's May 17th, 1863. The Washington Post rolls out a new copy, and the revealing story reaches all breakfast tables of the rich and poor. That same Sunday, pageboys ran around the city, nailing flyers onto walls and electricity poles and doors.

A Fleeing Flyer, as they were nicknamed, found in the Porter's mansion:

President Lincoln, two months earlier, had been presented with an idea. The Porters, James and Elizabeth, a young and very wealthy couple from Washington, DC, had gone to Lincoln with complaints about the War's outcome and it's physical and mental mutilation. They worked together, along with many knowlegable people, to figure out a solution.

They decided that the Porters as well as a group well over 100 would journey across the vast American landscape and populate a region rich in resources in the Northwest. The idea was well funded but kept in secrecy, until this famed Sunday in 1863, in the midst of the Civil War.

That day 500+ people gathered their belongings to begin the journey which started that Wednesday. 

The trip across the barren desert was harsh, with many people losing lives to hunger, sickness, and Native Americans. Eventually they crossed the Feirg Mountains, named after the group's first and well educated doctor, Johann Feirg, and descended into Alexandria Valley.

A computerized and colored version of an antique photgraph

of their first view of Alexandria Vally;

The peninsula below would soon be named Surrey:

~*~

I promise, next post you'll get shots from the region

[edmonton_stinks 5]

All right, nice history! Interesting background.

[Russ93Plyr 1]

♦ALEXANDRIA VALLEY♦

Eventually, a somewhat large village was born on the banks of what they called the Great River. The village's name, as well as for the whole peninsula, was Surrey.

The town was based around a town square with a large park and plots of gardening land for the surrounding homes

Most of the homes around the square were built as townhomes and brownstones because of the brand new quarry upstream in a cove, and because buisnesses were placed on the first floors for efficency

Two grand buildings were built for the goverment, the first the Independent Council Hall, and the second Lawry Hall which was set back from the street on Lawry Square

~*~

Also, a Catholic church named the St.Eirene Church, after the greek godess of peace, was built on the western side of the square

On the eastern side of the village was a very wealthy port and much farmland in the rich soil

~*~

On the main road in town that led back to the Feirg Foothills, the Porter Mansion stood proud next to smaller, wooden homes. 

Inside, the Porters discussed with their cast of officials discussed the opportunity of a grand, huge capital down the river at the mouth into the Pacific, with smaller farming villages and industrialized towns along the river. As they were talking, letters were pouring in from America and Canada about the want to enter the new region of Alexandria Valley, so the want for a capital was not just a want, it was a need.

Little did they know that their measly plans for the city would blossom in the city of Alexandria, and in over 100 years a huge metropolis would be bustling, standing up to the ranks of grand cities like Boston, and Paris...and even New York City...

[Kiwi n Grapes 2]

Great pics and Great work! Looking forward to seeing how this one unfolds!

[edmonton_stinks 5]

Nice brownstone village, and I like your storyline. I'd love to see some pics of Alexandria.

[etherian 4]

Looking good, I like how Lawry Hall is situated behind a plaza - btw, what BAT is that?

[Criquette 0]

Well, i'll be back 100 years later to check out Alexandria huge metropolis Huh, seriously - a good start. I hope there will be a room for these historic areas in future metropolis. Keep it up!

[Russ93Plyr 1]

It's extremely late out here, but here's some...

♦REPLIES♦

Kiwi n Grapes: Thanks for the comment. I'm wondering how this will unfold myself...

edmonton_stinks: Thanks! Oh, and next update you'll get to see a bundle of pics of modern-day Alexandria. We shift about 140 years into the future to 2008!

etherian: Actually, i'm not positivily sure what a BAT is Sorry for my ignorance. 

If you mean the plaza, I believe the tiles (one is a 1x1 plaza, the other a 1x1 plaza w/ a well) come with a medieval town package or something. I'll look into that for you. 

If you mean Lawry Hall, I just plopped Fanueil Hall which is in-game and renamed it.

Criquette: Thanks! Actually, the old buildings eventually are left to rot, but then...well, that's another story for a post in the future

♦TEASERS♦

The cruise ship Queen Vic traveling under the Phoenix Bay Bridge

Residential boom in downtown Alexandria, near the ETL (it stands for something, any ideas?) and the Corinthian & Co. Building

[jacqulina 162]

very nice start and intro my friend looking great so far keep up the good work.

[lucky7 73]

Great storyline and wonderful historic buildings, looking forward to more,

lucky7

[jj88 23]

great start and interesting choice of names - surrey lol

Anyways looking forward to more

[etherian 4]

Thanks, ahahaha, I thought the Hall looked familiar!

[Russ93Plyr 1]

♦REPLIES♦

jacqulina: Thanks. I'm glad you like it!

lucky7:  Yeah, i'm trying to incorparate a good historic storyline to move us on.

jj88: Lol, well, you see, I was trying to think of names of a larger, but not the largest city, and the name of the area in the UK-Surrey-came to mind, so I used it.

etherian:Haha, I bet it did

♦ALEXANDRIA VALLEY♦

Now we move on years and years into the future to 2013, with the region of Alexandria Valley extremly populous and rich. Over the years hundreds and thousands of people immigrated to the region, expecially to the main city of Alexandria, incorparted in 1867, and set down roots. The large metropolitain area of Alexandria includes the cities of Alexandria and Surrey and parts of Beaufort. There are two other seperate areas in the city of Alexandria, known as West and East Alexandria, when in truth they should be named South and North Alexandria.

A view of the main metropolitain area of Alexandria at the mouth of the Great River into the Pacific

(sorry for the bluriness and smallness)

The city has many skycrapers and monuments similar to ones around the globe, reflecting Alexandria's 'melting pot' atmosphere.

The Phoenix Bay Bridge, Iron Street Truss, and Wacker Street Bridge at dusk with limited traffic because...

...most people that live and work in the city use the ETL which stands for Elevated Transit Line.

The ETL going under the ground to pass under Phoenix Bay

Many tall office buildings were built around the city, and all have a certain flair about them.

A new architectural style was born in Alexandria, known as the Neovic Style, as in Neo-Victorian.

 You can see it used on the green Alexandria Globe Buidling in this photo's center:

Another example of the Neovic Style is seen on Georgia & Co. Building, shown at dawn.

It's mirrored after New York's Chrysler Building.

Across the river is the Riverside District, known for its expanse of industrial workplace as well as beautiful brownstone architecture.

The industrialized Amude Peninsula in the lower portion of the picture, as well as part of the Riverside District

Many high-rise residential buildings are being built in Riverside, but thanks to a new order a large portion of the Riverside brownstones will never be torn down

Riverside is commonly referred to as Alexandria's Little Italy

A closer view of Riverside with St.John's Roman Catholic Church

More of Alexandria in the next post

~*~

[Kiwi n Grapes 2]

Cool update!

That last pic is cool and so is the third

Keep it up!

[WeekendCityPlanner 19]

I see the future Alexandria still has 19th century buildings. Good job with the historical preservation.

[The Big Z 103]

I like your style in buildings. The boat under the bridge is a great shot. Keep it up!

[anarchy0029 2]

Very interesting in neat. You designed it well my friend.

[Twenty20 28]

Excellent pics, very nice city, I like the firsts rural pictures, good work !

[nottheboss 1]

nice development

[Simtastico 0]

looks like a nice place to live.. looking forward to see some more!

[lucky7 73]

The zoomed-in view of Riverside w/the church is really awesome! The buildings do match the colours perfectly, or is it the other way round? Looking forward to more,

lucky7

[RJN 1]

Really nice so far! Nice story and good picks! Well done! looking forward this CJ!

[Russ93Plyr 1]

Sorry it's been a while. I'm having problems with converting my pics to Jpg so as soon as I figure this problem out i'll post.

[Schulmanator 5,787]

I use paint.net... open pix as is and save as and select jpg and done. It's a free program. Hope that helps.

[Russ93Plyr 1]

♦REPLIES♦

Kiwi n Grapes: Thanks again! I like the last pic also cause it really shows neighborhood life, and it's pretty

Nemesis666: Yeah, i'm trying to make Alexandria Valley a semi-realistic region cause i'm not the kind of person to make clean-cut, modern CJs even though I love looking at 'em

The Big Z: Thanks! I like that pic as well.

anarchy0029: Thanks. My seaside with ports and stuff isn't designed wonderfully though, but I tried to make it the best as I can. Pics'll be out soon of the Industrial Belt, as it's called.

Twenty20: Thanks also. We'll be returning to that site with the first buildings soon.

nottheboss: Thanks!

Simtastico: Thank you. I personally would rather live in Surrey 'cause it's much more up-to-date. Pics of the sister city soon, friend.

lucky7: I actually found myself daydreaming about living in one of those rowhouses...but I would HAVE to be a multi-millionaire, cause those Riverside houses are pricey. That's why there is so much high-rise development.

RJN: Thanks, i'm glad you like it!

Schulmanator: OH. MY. GOSH! You saved this CJ! Thanks so much!

Just a ♦TEASER♦ for now

Here you see The Joint Seat of the Alexandria Court