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  1. Premiera

    A City Journal by Dukestoner

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    Dukestoner
    Hello everyone, it's a wonderful day in Primiera. Primiera's map is a changing. I've downloaded the 25 tiles mod as well as taken on some landscaping projects to extend Primiera's buildable area. The first step is to extend some land on the bottom of the cliff near the south side. This was pretty convenient because I used some soil from the top of the hill - which flattened the hill. Here is the progression of the aptly named Cliffbottom The development includes a subway line with 2 stops. The green space at the end is now turned into a park.  This is what the site used to look like:    Now let's get to the top of the cliff. I wanted it to be a commercial center and have the first real university (the Campus DLC one). Here it is:  I love these atlas statues. I used the medium sized ones on this central plaza but the mod comes with bigger and smaller ones. It also includes a metro stop. The line climbs up cliffside with a stop in the mansions. You can see it in purple below and it only goes to the large subway below and doesn't go all the way to downtown or the CBD. The higher ground across from the large avenue will hold the university. Surprisingly the district grew fast! I kind of like the low rise look, i might put a no high rise policy on it.    I will put a video of the university build out after I make it so be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel! There was a bit of land I put even further out but I'm not sure what to do with it. You guys should give me suggestions!   Cliffbottom a day later:  That's all for now. Have a great day from this Croatian plane and I  

  2. New Humboldt Files

    A City Journal by CityNut607

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    CityNut607
    Phase 2 of Highway Upgrades!!!  Hello again! Last time we saw phase 1 of the new upgrades to the East/West mainline highway through Fairway. Today we will focus on Phase 2!  Phase 2's plan was to lower the grade of the highway through the downtown as well as complete reconstruction of "The Beast" interchange. (it really isn't a beast anymore) as well as change the grade of the North/South Highway. The aim of this project was to not only upgrade the highway system downtown, but it was to allow a more aesthetic appeal to the area. The old highway was raised and was beginning to become an eyesore to the downtown. This project was big and a lot of changes took place. Without further ado, lets dive in!  Our first stop is this interchange: Everything leveled and prepped for new: (left grid on to emphasize terrain changes) Interchange has been replaced with a simple sunken diamond. This saves a lot of space and allows development to grow around the area. Other side of sunken Diamond heading into the T interchange: "T" interchange before: (sorry, I realized that I did not get a good picture of it...) New grade work: After: This interchange mostly kept its old configuration.    Death of "The Beast" We are now moving into the former "Beast" interchange.  Before: After: (not final configuration)   This next interchange did not change much either. Mostly coordinating the new sunken levels. Before: (this pic is turned a different direction) After:   Project Complete!  Here are overviews of the same areas we just saw with completed features:   And lastly, pics of after development:    That concludes the presentation of this project. Questions can now be taken!    Future Plans Preview of things to come: The two circled areas are where I want to focus my attention to next!  Lower left corner is the final leg of the ring road to be finished, and the upper box includes the newest development of the region. I am thinking about maybe streaming live the work on the final leg of the ring road if anyone would be interested. I want to allow people to see the way I plan and build in full detail that I cannot capture in a CJ.  Another project I am going to work on is creating a detailed map of Fairway Metro and actually label the highways and major arteries. Its not a small task, but it needs to be done. To help you all better know where you are at when I am showcasing. Any tips are appreciated.    Thank you all for viewing and your support of Fairway. The region continues to grow and I plan to keep going with this CJ for a while.  Until next time,  -- CityNut607

  3. Okaiken V5

    A City Journal by RipRap

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    RipRap

    Happy 20 Years, SimCity 4! Back in 2012, Okaiken Version 1 was just beginning and that year I hosted the USNW's Adonian Games and was at the top of Benedict's "Ben's Top 10". 10 years later, I've landed here in Japan and living the time of my life. I feel like this is gonna be my retirement statement of sorts. Okaiken is definitely ready to go to the archive. If you want some お問い合わせ, please feel free to PM me on the site or in Discord.  だんだん、またおいでんか? Man, I have a knack of writing stories and not completing them! This may be the only entry in this series as I've actually moved on to other things here in Japan. I don't think I would be able to find time again to sit down and create an update and to be honest, I felt like I've spent my memory writing a good story then putting it in the trash. Don't expect this to be updated in the near future.   ---

    All over the land, nothing is ever constant aside from bloodshed. 

    It has been about a hundred years since the war broke out in the capital and spread over the provinces like a form of an infectious disease. The Imperial Family, usually tasked to bring a sense of unity and cooperation, could not do anything but to wait for the right moment to intervene. It had been quite a long time since they tried; it’s as if they have mostly given up on the idea of uniting the land. Instead, the court entertained themselves with theatre and poetry, while ordinary people begged for someone who could feed them and bring peace to the blood-stained land.  The Imperial Court remained relatively quiet and pampered; they tasked the provincial lords to construct the summer palace at Yuzawa so the family could leave the desperately putrid capital. Some lords were irked at the idea of building grand palaces in a period full of destruction and bloodshed. Outside the palace, however, was a completely different story; buildings fell into disrepair and whatever was left of law and order had simply vanished.  One of those lords that objected to the idea was Ogasawara Terumune, who owned the domain where the palace was being built. Teruhide’s domain bore the brunt of war; the once prosperous City of Ueno was destroyed by it, and now, the emperor wanted more land and conflict by using the aid of the rival Kitabake clan. After the destruction of Ueno in 1520, the Ogasawara moved to a small castle in Nagaya with a stipend of 10,000 koku. 

    In 1534, the Ogasawara were granted the small town of Suemori with an additional stipend of 1,000 koku, but the Ogasawara were not satisfied. Terumune wanted to exact revenge on the Kitabake clan for destroying his territory and in 1558 his clan set fire to the Imperial Palace at Yuzawa while the Imperial Family was staying. An officer in Terumune’s clan kidnapped the young prince Fumihito and then killed his uncle Mutsuhito, even though the consequences of this action would be severe. In order to protect the integrity of the Ogasawara clan, the officer abandoned the young Fumihito at Shoheiji, a small temple close to the town of Suemori.  This is where our story begins.

    I had been waiting.  I did not know what I had been waiting for, but it has been a number of years since I was left at the temple by an unknown person. I do not remember his voice or what he looked like, but I remember that he was wearing a black and red armour of a bushō. The elder priests told me that when the time is right, it will eventually reveal itself to me. I was a little bewildered, because until now this had been the only life that I knew: maintaining the temple and always chanting the nenbutsu. The temple priests from time to time usually remind me that I have been an orphan since I was about two hundred full moons. They did not know if I was a son of a deceased warrior or the son of a wealthy merchant, but they said that my destiny was not to become an abbot, a monk or a priest like them, simply because I do not belong to the temple.  But when is the right time? What is my destiny?  And what am I really waiting for? The temple priests were not sure of my real name, nor the officer that dropped me at the temple, even though I kept on insisting they reveal it to me as if they knew. Shinran, the temple head priest, would say that he was asleep when one of the monks found me inside a large pot. 

    I thought of Shinran as a very mysterious man, he did not say things often and when he did, his answers were usually short and simple. Shinran always kept a smug face and looked terrifying when someone was having a conversation with him. However, his look on his face brightens when he sees me every morning, after I pick up the broom and start sweeping the temple grounds. I talk to him from time to time to see if he would be able to reveal who I really was, though over the years it has not been successful. From time to time, his eyebrows would twitch a little bit and give me some clues about my identity. At one such moment, Shinran believed that I came from a nearby area and said that I had been wearing the finest quality silk the temple had ever found, so they were sure that I came from the most powerful clan of the area, which was either the Taketoyo, or the extinct Kitabake clan. 

    “Oh--Ichimatsu, you are daydreaming again,” said a man wearing a thick, white head cover. He is also wearing an armour of a bushō that signifies his status as a warrior monk.  They called me Ichimatsu, since I was abandoned at the temple and have been waiting for my eventual fate that day. “Ichimatsu” was meant to signify the day everything would be revealed to me. Sometimes, the priests would call me “Nabe”, since I was found abandoned inside a pot belonging to the temple when the officer left me. Rairen is more relaxed than the priests of the temple even though he is the sole member that could protect the temple from bandits. 

    “Rairen, you are looking sharp as ever,” I jokingly replied.  “Do not call me Rairen, It’s Shimotsuma-dono… Ah, I was just fooling around, of course you can call me Rairen,” he jokingly answered back, with his eyes and eyebrows slowly relaxing.  Rairen is the designated temple guardian. He was a very young, lively rōnin when he was found by the priests in town. His brother, Zeiren, did not want to be involved in any conflict, so he encouraged Rairen to be employed by the temple so they would be within each other once the conflict flared up again. He agreed, and has now been employed by the temple for more than 50 full moons. 

    Even though Rairen rarely takes off his head cover, I always think of him as a very fair looking man when he does take it off. His eyebrows were straight and his hair, although long, was neatly tied and organised. Rairen’s face always looked lively but can turn into a menacing figure in times of despair and frustration. His voice is unusually raspy and you can usually discern his voice during the chants at the temple.
    “So Ichimatsu, what are you doing today?” He asked. Rairen seemingly looked bored, as if he had never left the temple in seven temple sweeps. 
    They would usually have me in charge of cleaning the floorboards of the temple every morning, sweeping the fallen leaves and travelling to the town of Suemori to buy vegetables for the temple from the merchants. Though the temple specialises in growing the tastiest vegetables such as radishes, not everything can be grown all at once and I would have to walk two ris to the centre of town.
    “I’m going to get some vegetables for tomorrow”
    “Wait -- you’re going to town? Let me walk with you,” Rairen asked. 
    “Ee, I was also going to get miso and ask for donations,” I responded back affirmatively
    “Agh, donations? That is tiring Nabe. Shouldn’t you be doing more masculine things, like practising with spears?” Rairen complained, while handing me his spear he uses for combat.  We walked away from the temple and crossed the wooden bridge that would take us to the town of Suemori. After the bridge, there is a small patch of bushes that Rairen and I used to practise. We stopped there so Rairen could show some new tricks that he learned from the Ogasawara retainers at Suemori. Rairen sat on a rock and took out an onigiri (rice cake), and used his right hand to signal me to begin swinging his spear. 

    I swung his spear towards a bush and hit a branch hard. I heard a loud thud as if I just hit a metal object like one of the hokuban armours the people from Awaji are selling. The vibrations of the spear rattled throughout my body and I let go of the spear.
    “Nabe-h Ichimatsu-h, looking wooden as ever,” Rairen teased. I rolled my eyes in frustration. I do not think I would be good enough at weapons. Whenever I see spears or swords it just reminds me of suffering and pain. 
    “Ichimatsu, sometimes you just have to be-- look out!”

    A pair of bandits appeared behind the bush. “Huh, monks. Easy prey,” one man said. He is a middle aged man with unkempt long hair and equally long facial hair. He had a big gash on his forehead. He was equipped with two swords and full armour even though it looked like it was in tatters; I believed he was a rōnin. The other person was younger but he also looked older than Rairen. He had grown a beard and a moustache and was wearing a blue yukata.  Rairen reached for his spear but his spear was kicked by one of the bandits. I stood in there, unable to move the limbs of my body due to fear of being killed by the two. 

    “Ichimatsu, pick up the spear-- Argh!” Rairen screamed as one of the bandits thrust his sword towards Rairen’s abdomen. The bandit missed his target but nevertheless managed to scrape Rairen’s right leg.  I could not remember correctly, but I just picked up the spear on the ground and swung it towards the younger bandit. The blade hit the bandit on the left side of his chest and he agonisingly screamed. He fell to the ground, face down. “Mototaka!” screamed the older bandit. Upon hearing his partner’s agonising scream, he faced me and attempted to kill me with a slash of his sword but somehow I managed to evade the slash and stabbed him in the stomach with Rairen’s spear. Small amounts of blood began to flow from his abdomen as he struggled to keep his composure. His arms weakened and his sword fell to the ground as I took the spear out.

    Rairen’s eyes opened wide, as if in a state of shock after seeing myself injure the two all by myself. 
    “Ichi...matsu?” Rairen asked, while tending his leg wound. 
    “O...no...re,” cried the older attacker. He then collapsed to the ground, with blood flowing from his nose and mouth. I tried to approach him but Rairen stood in the way. “No, we should not be helping him,” he reprimanded.  I looked at the man with a hint of concern. He was still breathing but not very rapidly. His mouth became blue and his eyes were trying to look upwards. I may be in fact, looking at a person that was about to pass away. 
    “But--” I answered.
    “Ichimatsu! They are armed and dangerous. Ugh!” Rairen cried while clutching his leg wound. 
    “Rairen!” I shouted. “You need help. Let’s hurry to town before it gets too dark” I answered with a trembling voice.

    I helped Rairen up but he could not move his right leg due to his wound. We left the bodies near the bush. I kept looking at the bodies as we walked away, and thought that I could help them as the older man was unconscious but still breathing; I turned my head towards the town and helped Rairen get up. Rairen looked at the two injured men and lowered his white head cover to reveal his face to them. Rairen then lowered his head as if he was ashamed and skimped his way forward. I could see a small trail of blood that was left from Rairen’s leg wound. 

    [At this portion I ran out of energy to produce photos, enjoy the rest of this story!] Usually it would take a short walk to town but since it was getting dark it felt like it took us an entire day to get there. Unusually, we did not meet anyone along the way towards the town.  While we were walking slowly, Rairen looked me in the eye and asked me with bewilderment. “Ichimatsu, how did you do that? I thought you said you are not good with weapons.” I looked at him with a little bit of curiosity. “I am not actually sure,” I answered, with a shrug. “I just… did it.” Rairen smiled a little. “I think you are going to be a good spearman one day. You just needed a little bit of practice. Just try not to be so wooden next time”  “Maybe it’s because I always sweep the temple?” I answered jokingly. I started giggling and it made Rairen laugh. We made it into town, where a number of people have just started to close their shops. The person usually selling vegetables, Masayoshi, noticed Rairen’s leg wound and went up to him. “Are you okay?” Masayoshi asked. He had a concerned look on his face but was a little inquisitive. “Here, let me help you with that,” he said while sitting down and reaching for a mint plant. He plucked the leaves off the mint plant and put it on the wound.  Rairen bit his lip in agony and reached for the mint on his leg wound but his hands were slapped by Masayoshi.  “Do not touch!” Masayoshi screamed, before giving . “You will feel a little better soon.” Masayoshi then moved his vegetable basket to the side of the road, and started brushing the earth off.  Rairen and I sat on a wooden bench from one of the stores that have already closed. Masayoshi then signalled me to stand up and move aside so he could tend Rairen’s wounds. While Masayoshi was tending Rairen, I looked outside and saw the Ogasawara troops returning from the castle. Leading the troops was Ogasawara Teruhide, the leader of this han. Teruhide is a very short man with an even shorter temper, in comparison to his brother Terumasa. Teruhide wears a bright orange armour laced with black thread. His kabuto, or helmet, is also bright orange but with a motif of a rabbit ear. He wears a golden fan sashimono in order to be identified by other commanders, and even though he is pretty short, you can spot him in the battlefield from the enemy’s side. When he removes his rabbit ear kabuto, it reveals a shaved head and his bushy eyebrows. His eyes looked it it’s in a constant state of tiredness but his beard and moustache looked clean shaved. Teruhide looked me in the eye and then looked away as if he was disgusted. His eyebrows twitched inwards, then he looked towards the gate of the castle.I always thought that the leaders of this han were kind of like a sham. They were never concerned for its citizens but rather concerned with control and their ego.  Rairen, who is more relaxed after the mint had worked its way through his leg wound, looked at me and mentioned, “It’s them that bothers you, huh?” He had a long pause and looked at his wounded leg. I have never seen this kind of resentment from him before. Rairen is usually upbeat even with the gravity of a situation.  Rairen then added, “They do not deserve this han. They have failed to bring peace even to this small patch of land.”  Masayoshi, who suddenly had a small frown on his face, nodded in agreement but did not say anything. He then looked back at the mints he put at Rairen’s leg, removed it, and applied a cloth bandage.  Behind Teruhide were about twenty-five to thirty foot soldiers, or ashigaru. One of them looked very concerned as his left hand was at his mouth while the right hand held the banner. He was carrying the banner of Teruhide, which was an orange circle with the character that I could not read from the bottom. It reminded me of the character for “life”, but I could not care less since his leadership was pretty lifeless. He was whispering something but I could not discern from what he was saying. The soldier’s face looked similar to the bandits from the earlier ambush, so I thought that they may be related to the two. A man wielding a spear suddenly came running towards the troops. He does not seem to come from a very wealthy family as he was covered with dirt and mud and was not wearing the armour of the bushou; He ran towards Teruhide. Teruhide looked back with a surprised look on his face. He squinted his eyes in suspicion of the man but relaxed when he realised it was one of his vassals, Torii Naoyuki.  Naoyuki reported to Teruhide. “Tono! I found two bodies outside of town today. They must be two of the bandits that have been terrorizing the town lately. I followed the trail of blood to town and it seemed to end with you.” Torii Naoyuki is a vassal of the Ogasawara clan, but to me, he looked like a regular farmer or a bandit, with his hair curled and unbrushed and looked like he had not managed to clean his beard a little. His face is usually covered with dirt and mud. His eyes are brown and has large ears. Like the bandit that I had killed earlier, Naoyuki likes to wear the bluest yukata. Shame that it’s always covered in dirt.  Teruhide responded. “Is that so? I do not think it was me-- there, look! The trail of blood continues to one of the shops.” He stared at the blood trail, which happened to trace itself at the end of my foot and the spear which still had a little bit of blood in it. Teruhide looked me in the eye again, though this time he had a sinister-looking smile on his face. He then looked at Rairen’s spear, which I was still holding.  “You there! Yes, young man, come closer,” he screamed in the beginning but changed his tone mid-sentence. “Come to the castle with me. We need to talk.” “But... I work for the temple, and need to be home tonight” I unsurely answered. Rairen looked at me but he seemed to be in disagreement with me.   “Ichimatsu, it’s okay. You can go with him,” he smiled a little bit. He then added a few words when I started walking towards Teruhide. “You can make a little difference, for the temple’s sake.” I was still unsure why Rairen had said “for the temple’s sake”. Earlier he was a little bitter of Teruhide, but suddenly had a change of heart when I got called to the castle. Maybe he knew something that I did not know.  Masayoshi added. “I will take care of Rairen. Take his spear and go with our lord. I will help Rairen get back tomorrow.”
     
    The castle gate was opened as we walked toward, and there was quite a way up to Teruhide’s residence. Trees and bushes cover the path at the foot of the hill, but it soon gave way to a large clearing with the castle’s crude defences. I saw many bushō with colourful armour in their residences seemingly preparing for battle, and it looked like I was about to be conscripted into a warrior. Is this really what I signed up for? In disappointment I started to frown and looked down at the dirt path.  Teruhide spoke to me from his horse and asked, “Those two bandits, what did they  say to you?”  “They said that since we were monks, we were weak,” I responded, while looking up and turning my head towards Teruhide.  “Is that so? Anything else that you wanted to add?” Teruhide seemed to be uninterested after I responded so I was hesitating to answer him again, but I mustered a little to respond, though I still frowned at Teruhide. “As I stabbed the younger guy, the older person said ‘Mototaka’. Mototaka, I do not--” “Moto-taka?” He interrupted, and looked at me in inquisition. His jaw dropped a little bit in awe and I did not understand why until he mentioned “We’re not just dealing with regular bandits then. Our territory has been compromised by the enemy clan.” “If I may ask, who is this Mototaka?” I asked. Teruhide looked me in the eye, looking a little furious.  “Mototaka is a rōnin that casually serves the Taketoyo if he wanted to,” he answered back. “That means that he was checking if the town can handle a few vagrants; if we could not handle it, our territory would be attacked in a siege.”

    He then added, just as we reached the top of the castle, “would you be willing to use your spear to protect the town with us?” I wanted to refuse his offer since I worked at the temple but I did not want to answer no as I could be killed on the spot if I refused. I think I placed myself in a lose-lose situation as if I was stuck between a rock and a palisade. I hesitatingly bowed my head in accordance. “Good,” he answered as if he really did not want to talk to me. “I can give you a sword and armour for you to use.” “Return to the temple and protect it. Hioki Sadahiro’s brother is there. I heard from him that you are not one of the temple monks or abbots, so I can use you to whatever I want,” he said, then had a short pause. “But for now, you must protect Shoheiji for me.” Teruhide then got off his horse, and went to his residence.  When Teruhide mentioned “Hioki Sadahiro”, I was a little confused since I have not yet known who he was or who in the temple is his brother. I was glad that I would be able to return to the temple and not have to deal with Teruhide as he really looked uninterested and just treated me with a lot of disrespect while we were on our way up the castle. I would rather have just betrayed him and joined the Taketoyo at this point.  That residence was of a crude build, with a thatched roof seemingly not replaced for many years and protected by two covered watchtowers made out of wood the clan had cut and cleared from the hill. Four flags of his clan were strewn on the ground. I followed Teruhide but was then stopped by two guards. “You cannot be with our lord from here on,” one of the guards responded. Stay here until he comes back. I waited for a couple of moments, then Teruhide, who now had taken off his armour to reveal his blue tinted yukata, was carrying a large brown wooden box. He then dropped it off in front of me. “Here, open the box and take whatever is inside. It is yours now.” He said. I opened the box to reveal a brown coloured armour, a headband (called a hachigane) and an old sword on a sheath. “I need the box so you cannot bring it home. Just wear the armour and the sword for now and return to the temple with it,” he added while I was picking up the armour. It made me realise that I actually am not sure who was more stingy, the temple monks? Or the daimyō of this land? “Now, you can get out of my sight,” Teruhide said, which was honestly a little more disrespectful than I thought but I just seemingly did not mind as he told me to return to the temple anyway.  The two guards then led me to an empty house on top of the hill for the night, and gave me some straw to sleep. The place that they sent me is supposedly the castle’s tenshū, or the keep of the castle. It is rarely used by the clan and usually it acts as the final form of defence if everything fails. The centre of the room is kept empty as it was usually reserved for the daimyō’s final moments: the seppuku. I really did wish that someday Teruhide would use this in his final moments. It would be a joy to see.  I prepared my room in order for me to sleep. There were a couple of textile sheets, and the tatami was soft enough. I closed my eyes and had a deep slumber. I woke up in the middle of the day.  I left the compound and made my way back to the temple.  Punishment probably awaits me at the temple for failing to get vegetables from Masayoshi. Hopefully they would understand once they see Rairen’s leg wound.  As I entered the temple, an unusual number of monks, all dressed in black, greeted me with joy. I then see Rairen without his head cover, seemingly trying to enjoy everyone’s presence but was still limping around due to his leg wound; he is followed by Zeiren who was trying to replace the bandage of Rairen’s leg wound. “Brother, stop, let me replace that bandage first then you can do as you please.” He then looked towards me; surprised since I was still wearing the armour that Teruhide had given me.  Shinran, who was at the centre preparing for the event, then approached me. He too is a little joyous today which is a nice change from his usual, serious self. “You had been waiting for a long time for this: Today is your coming-of-age ceremony! Go dress, young man.” Was I really waiting for this?

    Most likely not. ---
    Glossary of terms for this update

    石　koku = a theoretical measurement equalling five bushels of rice
    武将　bushō = warlord. Different from the word bushi, or samurai. 
    念仏　nenbutsu = a chant, usually from the Jōdo-shu or Jōdo-shinshu sect of Buddhism.
    浪人　rōnin = masterless warrior. 
    里　ri = a measurement of about 3.92 kilometres
    おにぎり　onigiri = rice cake. Yes, that rice cake.
    北蛮　hokuban = Northern armour. 
    浴衣　yukata = similar to kimono, but usually a simpler, more casual type of dress clothing. It is now associated with sleepwear or something you'd wear in a ryōkan (inn) in Japan.
    己　onore = an often derogatory expression of "you".
    藩　han = territory controlled by a lord.
    兜　kabuto = protective helmet of a bushi, usually adorned with decoration.
    指物　sashimono = identifier flag of a bushō.
    足軽　ashigaru = foot soldier.
    殿　tono = a respectful way to address the lord
    鉢がね　hachigane = protective headband
    天守　tenshu = main keep of a Japanese castle
    大名　daimyō = leader of a han or a territory; a lord
    切腹 seppuku = do not attempt, reserved for samurai only.

  4. Izzy City - A Ghost Town Exploration Story

    A City Journal by drocca

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    drocca
    October 24th came around, and the plans were the same as they had been four weeks earlier: meet at the McDonalds on the west side of Kallal City at 7 am. This time, Melissa was there first, at 6:35. Billy was next, at 6:38. He got his things out and got into Melissa’s van, just as he had four weeks earlier. “Hi, Billy.” said Melissa. “What would you like to explore today?” “Hmmm… we’ve seen a movie theater that sold airag, a hospital that was turned into makeshift apartments, a mansion with a shrine to ducks, and an apartment with a full collection of National Geographics. Everywhere you look, this place has personality. So, I have nothing to suggest, it’s all good.” said Billy. “I was thinking we head toward the volcano observatory and power plant. There’s a really interesting story I have to tell about it once everyone gets here.” said Melissa. A lime green 2012 Chevy Camaro SS arrived at 6:44. It was Dirk, sporting a visible scar on the left side of his forehead. Ugh… thought Billy, as Dirk walked toward the new van. “Hey guys!” said Dirk. “Hello, Dirk!” said Melissa. “Hey, Dirk.” said Billy, with annoyance in his voice. “I’m glad to see you made a full recovery.” At 6:48, a white 2014 Toyota 4Runner arrived and parked next to the Odyssey. A young man got out of the driver’s seat, Drew got out of the passenger seat, while Roger and Mikayla got out of the back seats. Drew introduced the unknown man. “Billy, Dirk, this is Philip. We’ve been friends since high school. He wanted to come on the trip with us.” said Drew. “Hi, Philip. Nice to meet you. Have you ever been to Izzy?” asked Billy. “No. I’ve always wanted to go. Melissa’s told me it’s a surreal place.” said Philip. “To say the least.” said Billy. “We’re just waiting on David and Megan.” said Melissa. Billy decided to show them his birthday weekday trick. “Melissa was born on April 28, 1964, a Tuesday. Roger, November 25, 1966, a Friday. David, September 30, 1981, a Wednesday. Dirk, April 18, 1990, a Wednesday. Drew, July 18, 1992, a Saturday. Me, December 24, 1995, a Sunday. Mikayla, April 1, 1996, a Monday. Megan, October 28, 1998, a Wednesday. If we had a Thursday baby, we’d have every day of the week.” “Believe it or not, I was born on a Thursday. August 26, 1993.” said Philip. “Ayyy, nice. Nice truck, too.” said Billy. “I’m driving it into Izzy, so you’ll be seeing plenty of it.” said Philip. Everyone was on time, for once; David arrived at 6:54 and Megan at 6:57. After they met the new party members, Melissa made her announcement for the day. “Today we’re going to be focusing on the northwest section of town, nearest the volcano. Most of this area was developed in the ‘70s, so these buildings were mostly 15 years and younger when the town was abandoned, quite a few were brand new. That being said, this section of town is in the worst condition, overall. It’s on the volcano itself, so there’s lots of unstable ground that’s shaken and shifted a little with each eruption. Add to that that many of these weren’t the best quality buildings – a lot of the ’70s houses didn’t use the best materials – and we’re going to be seeing quite a lot of collapse here. Hard hats, masks, and the no entry alone rule are going to be strictly enforced today.” Billy stuck with the Odyssey’s passenger seat; Melissa drove, David and Mikayla got in the middle row, and Megan got in the back right. Philip drove the 4Runner, with Drew in the passenger seat, and Roger and Dirk rode in the back seat. “I’m going to tell you a story that few know about Izzy. Billy, you might want to get your camera out.” said Melissa. Billy got his camera out and started filming. “Right now, we’re headed up to the old coal power plant in Izzy. It seems odd that Izzy would have still had a coal plant in 1987, but there’s a multitude of reasons. For one, our mayor had an ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ mentality, he wasn’t one to go on to pursue change for change’s sake. The mountain kept the pollution away from us, so there was no real pressing need for a cleaner power plant. I remember that the Izzy mayor said in the ‘60s to the mid ‘70s that ‘Izzy has no plans to go nuclear’. Eventually public pressure to ‘get with the times’ got him to change his mind, and in 1978 he announced that a nuclear plant would be built. The plan was for the plant to break ground, I think, in 1981 or so and be done somewhere around 1987 – right when the volcano actually ended up happening.” said Melissa. “How close were they? Are we going to find an almost completed nuclear plant up there?” asked Billy. “They never actually considered building it where the coal plant was, or on the mountain. They didn’t want to deal with the chance, however remote, of the volcano erupting and causing a meltdown. They had a site on the east side of town picked out, well out of the range of any eruption. They broke ground on the plant at that site, which was a few hundred feet away from a neighborhood, after they took a vote and found that 88% of the people were in favor. But of course, someone had to whine, and one of the residents filed a lawsuit, which put the plan on hold.” said Melissa. “Wait a minute, so you’re telling me that one lawsuit meant the town was still on coal instead of nuclear? I understand the town would have still been evacuated, but what effect would still having an operational power plant have had? And why didn’t they just quickly throw the lawsuit out as frivolous?” asked Billy. “Certainly, having power would have eased the evacuation and prevented that big plant explosion. It might have been kept on for a few months in case the volcano conditions became safe again. As for resettling the town, it’s possible that a portion of the town farthest from the volcano could have been resettled, but 70, 80 percent of it would have still been blocked off. Ultimately, for most of the town, it just wasn’t safe to resettle for over 30 years, and by then it had just deteriorated too much. As for your other question, it was already borderline on the plant being open by March of ’87 anyway, they did throw out the lawsuit as frivolous, but it still put construction behind several months, we were looking at late ’87. The plant was almost done, but they demolished it in 1994 due to the risks involved of keeping an unfinished nuclear plant around.” said Melissa. Soon, the explorers were back in Izzy, the 4Runner following the Odyssey. After entering the town, they drove north up an avenue that first ran through about 2/3 of a mile of a large high-tech industrial district before crossing into a commercial district. The avenue ran up a gradual slope – the base of the volcano itself. By the time they got to the commercial district, they were probably 300 feet higher in elevation than when they’d entered the town. As they got closer to the volcano, the buildings seemed to get in worsening condition, with most having severe foundation issues and about half in various states of collapse. “I’d guess the ground has moved over the years under these buildings.” said Billy. Then, they got to two buildings, each 38 stories tall – the Izydorczak Twin Towers. Although the small office building next to them was half collapsed, the towers – and their turquoise steel frame – looked to be dirty but intact. Both vehicles stopped, and the explorers got out. “The Twin Towers of Izzy. Raise your right hand if you want to explore it now, left if later.” said Melissa. All but Philip and Dirk raised their right hands. “All right, let’s see it.” Buckled concrete and “drifts” of earth pushed against the base of the towers, as if they were trying to pull it down to the same fate of the surrounding buildings. “How could the economy of a city this size support two office buildings this big?” asked Dirk. “Really, it couldn’t. This building was built in 1975 and wasn’t expected to be full for 20 or 30 years. It was meant to be Izzy’s answer to the World Trade Center, both in the type of businesses it attracted and as a tourist attraction.” said Melissa. “I read that it was also supposed to be a symbol of Izzy, that iconic building that dominated the skyline.” said Billy. “We were very proud to have it. It was just as much about the symbolism as the building’s use itself. It filled up faster than expected, it ended up full for several years preceding the volcano. For one, Izzy may have had 60,000 people, but it had the international trade presence of a typical city two or three times its size. Also, just like the real World Trade Center, a rather large proportion of the tenants weren’t strictly involved in world trade. Half of the south tower was a hotel. The newspaper, where yours truly worked, and the TV station were located here, because it was the tallest building in town and thus, they put the TV tower atop it. And of course, the usual touristy stuff like a mall and an observation deck.” said Melissa. “Didn’t you used to work in the real World Trade Center too? I’ve heard the layout of this one was based around it.” asked Billy. “Yup, same construction type and same banks of elevators that serviced different floors, but there were a few differences.” said Melissa. The explorers walked inside the lobby of the north tower through a revolving door. The still-intact lobby was 4 stories high, with gold marble floors broken up by green carpet pathways. The interior walls – which surrounded the building core – were finished in mahogany wood paneling. Large brass letters, each about 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide, which said “IZYDORCZAK TRADE CENTER” in a Times New Roman font, hung on the wall about 10 feet above ground level. 16 trees – four on each side, in planters, were still in perfect shape – obviously fake. Large fountains at the north and south end of the lobby, two identical sculptures – obsidian globes, with outlines of the continents carved into them, on marble plinths – and various paintings hung on the interior walls completed the décor. Billy filmed the lobby. “It’s obvious they spared no expense on this place.” “The company that developed it actually had to file for bankruptcy because it didn’t make money fast enough, because the economy was in a recession in the ‘70s. That’s why they turned the south tower into a hotel, as a last-ditch effort. After about ’82, this place made money hand over fist.” said Melissa. Billy looked at the directory, located on the wall underneath the word “CENTER”. The “T” in the word Directory was askew, the only sign of decay in the building. Everything interesting seemed to be on the upper floors of the building – the lower and middle floors were financial and insurance companies. Honda of Helmintoller’s regional headquarters were on the 28th floor. Nelson Exotic Meats, 26th floor. Mongolian-Helmintoller Import Alliance, 29th floor. And, of course, the Izydorczak Inquirer on the 34th and 35th floors, with WIZY-TV – and the mall on the 36th and 37th floors, and observation deck on the 38th. As Billy examined it, Melissa came over. “Here’s the building directory. When you’re done in the lobby, you can come over here and see what you want to explore in here.” said Melissa. “I want to see the TV station. We haven’t seen one of those yet. But I don’t really feel like climbing 35 floors.” said David. “We’re not in a hurry. We can take our time, visit other stuff on the way.” said Melissa. “TV station! Ooh.” said Billy. “Anyone that wants to go to the top of the tower, come with me. It is a 35-floor climb.” said Melissa. Billy, Roger, Dirk, and Philip decided to join Melissa on the climb. “I’m going to go get a 6-pack of waters.” said Billy. “Everyone else going up, you get water too.” said Melissa. The explorers turned on their flashlights to illuminate the dark stairwell. By the time they got to the 35th floor, 18 minutes later, Melissa and Philip still had the energy to go much farther; Roger and Dirk were a bit winded; and Billy was sweating bullets and hunched over, needing only another floor or two for him to flop on his butt and take a break right there. Billy staggered through the lobby, went down a hall to the right, and finally sat on an overstuffed chair inside a large weather forecasting room, which had dark blue walls, a dark blue carpet floor, and a tiled ceiling. On one wall of the room was a map, on white paper with black text, about 8’ wide by 6’ tall, with an outline of the city on it. At the top of the map, it said “Sunday Forecast”. Various numbers and letters were printed on the city area itself. “Am I seeing this right? High of 41 east side of town, 28 up toward the northwest?” asked Dirk. “Don’t forget the winter weather advisory for the west side of town only. Also, based on the elevation, I’d expect maybe a 3-4 degree difference, not 13.” said Billy. “I’d say it averaged out to more like 7, but it was very unpredictable. Also, the volcano was the only mountain for 60 miles, so clouds would lose their moisture over it, so it rained a lot more in this part of town than out east. Also, the snow would stay on the ground here into April sometimes, it was always gone by the end of March in the rest of town.” said Roger. “On the night of the volcano, I remember driving down from my house where there was a foot of snow on the ground, to the valley where it was 100% clear.” said Melissa. “Speaking of the volcano, look.” said Billy. A two-foot-tall sign on a wall said, “VOLCANO ALERT CONDITION” – from safest to most dangerous, it said “SAFE”, “NORMAL”, “CAUTION”, “ALERT”, and “EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY”, in Helvetica block letters. An arrow pointed at “SAFE”. “Wow, didn’t even have time to change it.” said Billy. On the other side of the room were the guts of the weather operation; a supercomputer doubled as the desk, with the computer unit itself being located under the left side of the wooden desktop. On the desk was the computer’s monitor – a 15-inch Commander unit – as well as a Commander keyboard. The camera was mounted atop a small pole facing the screen, and another keyboard, labeled “CAMERA CONTROLS” featured various buttons and switches, as well as a joystick. Several monitors were still hanging on a bar suspended from the ceiling, about 4 feet above the desktop. After resting for about ten minutes, Billy got up and began to film the room, making sure to include several seconds of footage of the volcano alert sign as well as the office chair that had been at the computer/camera desk, now lying on its side several feet away. “I think this was abandoned so fast that whoever was sitting here just yeeted the chair in their haste to get out.” said Billy. “That’s exactly what happened.” said Roger. The explorers went into a room to the right, a conference room. The room’s floor to ceiling windows illuminated the large cherry-wood table with well-padded chairs that had cherry wood frames and thick green cushions. All but Billy turned off their flashlights. There were two doors leaving the room; the one they’d just entered, and another at the other end. On the wall opposite the windows, between the doors, was a large whiteboard. On top of the whiteboard, in green marker, was “3/29/87”. The stories, written in blue underneath, included “WRESTLEMANIA”, “ACADEMY AWARDS”, and “THATCHER TRIP TO MOSCOW”. But what caught everyone’s attention was the 14th story: “CADILLAC MASSAGE PROMOTION FAILS”. “Wait a minute, what’s this Cadillac massage story? I seem to remember hearing my dad talk about that years ago.” asked Billy. “It was actually the last story I ever worked on in Izzy. I was in my office a few hours before the eruption and wrote it. Basically, the Cadillac dealer here in town was giving out free massage certificates for test driving an Allante. It didn’t go well.” said Melissa.   “Let me guess, a lot of people in their 20s who could never afford a Cadillac test driving them for the massage? Also, Cadillacs back then sucked.” said Billy. “Precisely.” said Melissa. A piece of paper, hung in a frame on a side wall, listed station policies. After filming the whiteboard and room surroundings, Billy went to it next. Aside from stuff like not using profanity or showing graphic violence, one of the rules stood out: Reporting that is detrimental to morality and interpersonal relations, such as polarized political reporting or excessive “bad things happening to good people” reporting, is not allowed by this station. Billy read this out loud. “So, people were left in the dark about reality?” asked Dirk. “No, but we didn’t follow the ‘if it bleeds, it leads’ mentality, and we didn’t try to dress it up as entertainment.” said Melissa. As Melissa, Roger, and Philip finished looking at the conference room, Dirk got bored and started looking at the window, which directly faced the volcano and northwest section of town. “Bruh. It’s all collapsed at the top of the hill. Didn’t you say you and David lived up there?” asked Dirk. Melissa and Billy went to the windows. They could see that a large house near the northwest corner of town – the mayor’s house – was reduced to little more than matchsticks. While most of the buildings in the immediate vicinity were similarly collapsed, areas further to the east – near where Melissa and David lived – still had mostly standing buildings, although about 25% were in a state of complete collapse. As Billy videoed the damage, Melissa charted out in her head a path that she could use to get the explorers into that section of town. After the conference room, the explorers went back through the weather room into another room with a studio – the overall look was similar, except instead of a weather screen, there was a window behind a news desk, with a view of a downtown section of Izzy. Retractable shutters, which would go over the windows when a view was not desired, were open. “How did that weather map work, anyway? Was it all black and white or was there some sort of computerized color?” asked Billy. “The outline, which we saw, was printed off on a giant dot-matrix printer, and the colors representing temperature and icons representing precipitation, wind, and that kind of thing were overlaid by a computer.” said Melissa. “High tech stuff for 1987.” said Philip. The news desk was fairly typical, with the grey desk featuring seats for three, facing a camera with a teleprompter next to it. At the back of the room was the control area, which featured a switcher labeled “TAPE”, “LIVE FIELD”, “LIVE STUDIO”, “WEATHER”, and “EBS”, and “V” connected to a similar setup as the control area of the weather room. The “V” switch, which was red instead of the white of the other switches, was pushed inward. “I’m going to guess this is where the alert went out.” said Billy. “Yup, it was broadcast from this exact room. They had a special tape that if you hit “V”, it would play the Emergency Broadcast System tone, followed by a pre-recorded message telling the people to evacuate the town. They had to test it once a month, you’d press the button for a test and hold it down for 5 seconds for an actual emergency announcement.” said Melissa. “Was this the only time they actually activated it?” asked Dirk. “Yes, although we came very close on August 16th, 1986. There was a minor earthquake under the volcano, luckily it stopped at the last second before anything happened.” said Melissa. “How did that change the way people acted?” asked Billy. “The scientists of the time were saying it was the biggest event in thousands of years and probably a one-off thing. People acted the exact same afterward.” said Melissa. “Wow, the warning went out from this very room, probably the most intact room in all of Izzy.” said Philip. The next room the explorers went in was the tape archives room, located in a large windowless room. As the explorers turned on their flashlights, all they saw were brown metal floor to ceiling shelves. There were 13 aisles of shelves in total, each aisle going about 40 feet back. On the fronts of the aisles were dates, written in Sharpie; 11/25/1946 – 8/31/1951 on the first shelf, labeled “Shelf A”, to “11/19/1986 –“ on Shelf P. Shelves Q – Z were empty. “They’d be full by now.” said Melissa. Billy seemed to get lost in the rows of tapes, each labeled with a date and time. There were the kinescope film reels of the 1940s and ‘50s, then the station had apparently switched to 2” quadruplex tape on October 3, 1958. Then there were the rows of tapes, which dated from September 27, 1965, to about 1970, with “COLOR” written in big, rainbow-colored letters on the spine. Billy seemed to bypass most of the U-Matic tapes – dated from August 5, 1974, to February 24, 1985 – to look at the lonely last few Betacam tapes on Shelf P. Only the very top rack of Shelf P had any tapes on it, which extended about two-thirds of the way back from the front of the room; the remaining 9 racks were empty. “I got you something.” said Billy. In his hand were the tapes for April 28, 1964, November 25, 1966, and September 30, 1981. “Aw, thank you! But I can’t take it. We must leave this place as we found it for now, but don’t worry, we’ll get these tapes all digitized.” said Melissa. Billy put the tapes back. After about 10 minutes in the room, the explorers were ready to move on to another area. “Do you all want to see my old office?” asked Melissa. “Is the sky blue?” asked Billy. “This way.” said Melissa. The explorers went back out through the newsroom, then the weather room, then back into the conference room where they used the other door, which led into a large room that covered the whole west half of the floor. This room had a stark appearance, with no ceiling and white tile flooring; the building clouds visible through the windows further compounded the bleak aesthetic. Rows of identical computers sat on long tables, in the style of an open-plan office, with identical Aeron-like chairs behind them. Various papers and decorations sat next to each computer, which had a number on its monitor. Billy panned his camera across the vast room. “There’s got to be 2 or 3 hundred computers in here.” he said. “The Inquirer was the only newspaper in all of Helmintoller that was fully laid-out by computer at this time.” said Melissa. “Can we see your desk?” asked Billy. Melissa led the explorers to desk 126, located on the north side of the building, facing the volcano. “Do you mind if I film your desk?” asked Billy. “You’re more than welcome to.” said Melissa. Around the desk, there was a Kappa Xi Delta medallion, a picture of Melissa and her parents, a cross, and a printed-out news article on the desk, written at the top of which was “FIRST DRAFT - DUE BY APRIL 1”. “RAX FAST FOOD RESTAURANT TO HAVE MORE STYLE IN JULY” Other than a couple of editor’s notes, the article looked almost ready to print. “Wait a minute, Rax… sounds vaguely familiar… no, I don’t think I remember them.” said Billy. “They were really good, they started out with roast beef but expanded into salads, Mexican and Chinese food later on.” said Melissa. “What? Roast beef and Chinese food under one roof? Sign me up! I don’t think I’d like the solarium they added in, though. Never was a fan of bright sunlight.” said Billy. “All I know about Rax are those Mr. Delicious commercials. Those were weird.” said Dirk. “Funny thing is, I liked those commercials. They’d work so well in today’s world.” said Roger. The explorers continued to explore the tables, Billy panning his camera across them. On table 131, the first bit of ‘bad’ news, aside from the volcano, appeared. “At Least Seven Sailors Killed in Iranian Attack on Tanker”.   “That’s really sad, hope their family and friends are doing well nowadays.” said Billy. The explorers left that table to go to others. Going over to some more computers, Billy found the automotive journalism section. Dirk walked over there with him. They found the glowing early reviews of certain cars humorous. “The new Volkswagen Fox brings a new standard of refinement to inexpensive cars.” “The Chevy Beretta has sleek styling.” “The sporty Renault Alliance Convertible” “Geeze, did they have no standards for cars at the time?” asked Dirk. After a little more exploring the computer room, the explorers decided to leave and go to the next destination. “My old house?” asked Melissa. “Let’s do it.” said Philip.

  5. Tenryu Prefecture　-Urban Development Records-

    A City Journal by reg

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    08 Ichigo Town

    08  Ichigo Town A town located in the northern part of the province.   Town center.   There is a Shinkansen station in the center of town. The Shinkansen connects to Koriyama City, the prefectural capital.   Outside the center, the area is dotted with fields and houses.   The many and varied faces of the town.

  6. Saving Magnasanti...

    A City Journal by TheMurderousCricket

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    Episode 5

    The creepy and satanic vibe of this video is appropriate, reflecting the nature of the dystopian secrets, the pain and suffering the city hides. - M Luminoth Episode 5 Welcome! It's another (hopefully beautiful) day in New Magnasanti and a time for another part of this interesting, if perilous, adventure. As no new entries (apart from the content recycled into the CJ format) have appeared for a long time, I believe you will like today's report which is a brand new part of New Magnasanti's story. Enjoy!   If you remember from last time, I have invited an external advisory firm to help me revitalize Magnasanti - "Vetinaris Clerk Urban Excellence Think Tank" (VCUETT). The amount of work continues to be so great that I simply need a few dozens of helping hands to wrap my mind around the city and the problems it has. One of the most valuable suggestions put forth by the VCUETT was to organize a new initiative named "Mayoral Meet & Greet". The idea was to invite random Magnasantians to have a walk with me - their new mayor - through the city so I can better know the history of their home and themselves while they can learn about my plans and the, hopefully, brighter future that awaits them. I was really excited with this project so once an agreement to carry it out landed on my desk, I signed it, you could say, with both hands. Thus "Mayoral Meet & Greet" had become a fact. After the residents selection process (which involved diving headfirst into a swimming pool full of numbered rubber balls) several lucky Sims have been chosen for the initiative and I spent a total of several days taking promenades across New Magnasanti in their company. These are the stories they told me during our meetings... Citizen #1
    Name: Stanislav Wilmot
    Occupation: Police civil servant - monitoring specialist
    Age: 45 The moment I saw Stanislav for the first time, I was astounded with... how old he looked. He had trouble walking, used a cane and was already balding at an age at which men outside Magnasanti were, so to say, taking hair for granted. Although I tried to hide my surprise, Stanislav probably knew what I was thinking and started a tirade about the weight of poor healthcare on the residents of Magnasanti. I was curious to hear what Stanislav had to say about his work in one of the very institutions which held the entire city captive for almost 50000 years . "It's not that simple. You see..." he started and I soon realized that it was actually very complicated... For untold millennia, as he informed me, people in Magnasanti were trapped behind a huge wall of concrete which separated them from the outside world and which has partially been toppled during the revolution. However, when the city had first started to grow, Imperar Omnika had maintained that he wished to construct a city of perfect efficiency and spatial distribution. The wall, according to him, was absolutely required to isolate Magnasanti from the outside world and even the view of it in order to maintain the city's pristine state and its success. Of course, as the time flew by, the initial goal become twisted and retold every century until, by 4500 A.D. nobody was able to recall why the wall was there and whether there has ever been anything beyond it... Magnasanti has become the only reality that have ever existed. However, by an incredible strike of luck, at the age of 20 when Stanislav visited one of the libraries in the city (one of the few entertainment facilities Magnasanti had) by accident, he found a couple of... postcards from some strange places that he had never heard of... Although the postcards were quite fragile and badly damaged, he could make out, what appeared to be, other cities imprinted on them...   Stanislav told me that he instantly knew these were genuine photographs of real places, because computer graphics and art were forbidden in Magnasanti as illogical and wasteful activities. There was no possibility of a forgery! Stanislav has also told me that after he found the postcards he tried to find a job that could help him unravel the secrets of the mysterious places illustrated... By the word of mouth, his own research and... certain illegal activities, he found out that a handful of Imperar Omnika's trusted police members, have occasionally been sent on top of the Magnasanti Wall to ensure that the dreaded barrier is in shape good enough to keep citizens trapped in his "perfect" city. As our "mayoral walk" drew to a close, Stanislav told me that he joined the police force in hopes that he can become one of the "trusted ones" who were allowed to climb atop that wall. As he said, at least once in his lifetime, he wanted to see the outside world with his own eyes. Perhaps spread the word of it further on or if not, at least fling himself from the top of the wall, knowing that he saw the most beautiful view he could ever hope to see after living his entire life in a lockdown...   Citizen #2
    Name: Remedy Chellston
    Occupation: Member of the R.E.B.U.I.L.D
    Age: 25 Stiff upper lip and the poker face of a born warrior was what stood right out when I first saw this young, blond-haired rebel for the first time. Remedy has struck me as an exceptionally intelligent and brave soul. Just like Stanislav, by some cosmic miracle she managed to obtain the wisdom of the generations long gone and knew that better and more reasonable life has once been possible despite all the evidence contrary. During our walk, Remedy told me that in R.E.B.U.I.L.D she played a role of the so-called "custodian" and she took care of the so-called "remembralls" - objects like Stanislav has managed to find... In other words, remembralls were proofs that the world outside the confines of Magnasanti still exists. Remedy went to great lengths to explain the story of remembralls and her role in preserving them. She told me that at some point between 2300 and 3800 AD - during the most brutal time of opression in Magnasanti - then resistance movement had realized that victory against Imperar Omnika was impossible within any reasonable timeframe. They determined that the only way to preserve the knowledge they had about their goals and the truth beyond the wall surrounding the city was by storing it in and conveying it through seemingly meaningless items. Like postcards, small pieces of embroidery, glass marbles etc. - anything that could point to creative thought, the little "imperfections" of life, or the world outside Magnasanti. As previously said, any items like these were considered wasteful and impractical in the mathematically and ideologically-perfect "utopia". Possession of such items was strictly forbidden and has sometimes been punishable with life in prison (as if being outside of prison in Magnasanti was anything better...) The plan, Remedy continued, has been put into motion and the resistance movement has managed to frantically collect around 5600 remembralls. The resistance movement of old ceased to exist in unknown circumstances by 4000 AD but the remembralls survived. Scattered throughout the city, they waited to be uncovered by the future generations. Remedy maintained that R.E.B.U.I.L.D has managed to confirm that the police forces of Magnasanti had a special unit which was involved in search & destroy raids against such items. In any case, out of 5600 remembralls, only 32... just 32 made it until today. I always knew that we have won Magnasanti back by a narrow margin. I just never realized just how narrow this margin was... In any case, Remedy told me that her role was to take care of and relocate items whenever a police raid was imminent. As a young person, she still had enough health and mobility to be able to outrun and outsmart most of the cops. However, as she defeatedly admitted, she "failed" two remembralls during her career. Were it not for the revolution, she would have spent the next 27 years in prison... In most cases - a life sentence given the average life expectancy in New Magnasanti. During our walk, the rebel took me to a rather regular, abandoned block of apartments which, as I have learned, had contained all of the surviving remembralls.   As she informed me, the building we have entered was R.E.B.U.I.L.D's former headquarters. Several armed guards have greeted us and one of them have led us to the main "display room" in which I was allowed to take a photo of some of the surviving items. Other items, as the rebels had informed me, were in a very bad condition and efforts were ongoing to preserve them. I have managed to closely inspect each of the available objects and did not know what to say. These, by our standards, were perfectly mundane objects... decorative espresso cups, small toys, artificial flowers, glass marbles or even hairbands with plastic "jewelry" pieces. None of these objects really stood out but they still had a near magical significance to the Magnasantians... * * * The first session of the mayoral "Meet & Greet" has been an interesting but also overwhelming experience. I returned to my office in the early evening and slumped into an armchair located next to my desk. Looking at the nightly sky and an overwhelming, darkening jungle of old, rundown sky-rises I tried to gather my thoughts, trying to decide what to do with this city next and how to help the brave but downtrodden, people unlucky enough to call New Magnasanti their home. I decided to put any big changes off for the time being and determined that it was already too late to take any reasonable decisions. The next day, however, I came to the conclusion that there is at least one good idea that I can quickly bring to life. Namely, turn the old R.E.B.U.I.L.D HQ into the "Remembrall Museum" in which all of the New Magnasantians' precious objects could be protected and put on permanent display. As a testament to the citizens' resilience and hope and a warning for the future generations... Although not really visible from the bird's view, the old R.E.B.U.I.L.D HQ has thus been surrounded by friendly greenery and became a significant part of the New Magnasanti's history. I even found some time to plant first-in-ages, free-growing trees in a different area of the city...   Before I called it a day, I also removed seven city jails from New Magnasanti as the number of criminals continues to steadily drop. It was sure a welcome sight for any New Magnasantians like Remedy who either served or faced a threat of serving most of their lives behind bars during the old regime... This is how New Magnasanti looks like by the end of today's episode:

  7. Ebeling - an Australian city from 1850 to now

    A City Journal by smashmouthrules

    • 2
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    smashmouthrules
     

  8. Metrosim

    A City Journal by simajor

    • 4
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    • 2
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    • 555
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    simajor
    The Downtown starts to grow

  9. Copper lake

    A City Journal by monkeywater

    • 3
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    monkeywater
    As the initial settlers explored the mostly uncharted region, they realized that their river delta was quite small, and it quickly progressed into very steep mountains.    To the north, they found a much larger river delta, essentially uncharted, and began to settle at its mouth in order to explore further upstream.  They knew that to control the region, they needed to control access to its drainage basin, given the dependency of their transit methods on waterways.  A new walled settlement began to be constructed, at the south most part of the larger delta   It was initially rather chaotic, with no formal government to speak of, people built small farms and houses very near the first dock that was established.  However the settlers were only just beginning to learn of the regions fertility.  Large farms for unique crops were quickly established including peaches, grapes, and agave, and individual farmers quickly took over the land just outside the wall that had been cleared for its construction. It began to get chaotic, and the settlers established a government to end the free for all within the town walls. They created a town square with town hall and multiple churches. Large farms for staple crops like wheat were also established, with wind mills to turn it into flour. The overall town began to look respectable, and with the resources being discovered in the mountains and forests nearby, would serve as a good gateway to the region

  10. Magenta Island Build

    A City Journal by Proob25

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    Proob25
    Latest Entry

    Magenta Island #2

    MAGENTA ISLAND 2  Yesterday,I was making new city named Magenta 2. But today i must improve them. Yes. Improving them. Yesterday it only has 2 blocks of residential. I make much of block today And this is how it looks now Look. It's a little jail in that hill So the prisoner can't escape.  Haha Ok so type of entrance to the residential that I want in this city is a Avenue with the Roundabout The first block that i made are close with Industrial I placing Some PRM. But it's no captured in the picture Note:Placing some tree will make the cities looks cool Second Block Making Diagonal Avenue because I want filling some place Connect the Avenue to other simnation The Upper hill looks flat Why are you not make some residential again?  Those NWM road looks so weird. Some of area doesn't filled  It's in some outskirt of this city Adding the farm and those garbage thingy Some Finishing,adding some residential and commercial(that are not builded) in upper of the city Im experiencing "Not Job" in residential In the upper of this City The Commute time was long. Ok i make Industrial there  Thx for reading my Journal Entry.  Magenta Island journey is still long. Hope we can finish the Magenta Island

  11. Alexandria

    A City Journal by CityNut607

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    CityNut607
    Hello! I am back after some time away. I've still been playing SC4 as often as I can, just have not had the time I need to post a proper CJ. As I promised, I would start to showcase my newest region of Ottawa, and here is the beginning. This map I found here on ST and is modeled after Ottawa Canada! (I have made a few adjustments from the original to make it work for what I needed.) My central city on this map is named Alexandria! Here is Alexandria after I first started: Satellite View: And here is a current screenshot of the region: Road Map: A lot of changes have taken place!   Now the main reason for this CJ! I wanted to give you a tour of the interchanges I have built in this region. Personally I feel that they are my better work compared to my other regions, but I will let you be the judge. Here is the interchanges I will be showcasing this time around. They are numbered in the order they will be shown. Without further interruption, lets begin! #1 Located in Muldrow: #2 Also located in Muldrow. This one is slated for some changes in the near future. #3 I have shown this one already in the Show Us Your Interchanges section here on ST. This is the behemoth located in Pryor. #4 Also slated to be changed and updated. #5 Located in Benson is a massive interchange. This one is fairly new as well, and has been showcased elsewhere. #6 A very compact "T" interchange in Alexandria's downtown region. #7 Also in Alexandria, this interchange was part of a major works project to run the interstate under the river through a tunnel. (more about that project later) #8 Alexandria north of downtown. #9 Alexandria north of downtown: #10 This is one of my busiest interchanges in Alexandria. It has gone through a few rebuilds. Sadly, I did not document those changes. #11 This takes us to Port Walker just East of Alexandria. It is a major industrial port. #12-13 Simple trumpet in Port Walker. I wanted to show off the diagonal diamond, because I have struggled and usually avoid diagonal aspects of RHW, but have been playing around with them lately. #14 Last one for Port Walker. #15 We are now in Douglass and this is the most recent interchange I have built. I call it a split 4 way. #16 We now jump north to Stonewall #17 Englewood Cliffs       That sums up every "major" interchange in Ottawa/Alexandria. I know that was a lot of content, but I have been building for a while without really sharing. My next update should hopefully detail individual communities in and around Ottawa. The next area I will be focusing my attention on is circled: I need to connect the ring road to the East of Alexandria and fill in the suburbs. But I have a lot planned, just finding time to do it! Thanks for joining! Always! --CityNut607

  12. New York City A City Journal

    A City Journal by TheOlympics

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    TheOlympics
    For nearly three decades the original World Trade Center and it's Twin Towers dominated the Lower Manhattan Skyline until their destruction during the events of September 11, 2001. The icons were featured in several movies, TV shows and postcards and became notorious symbols that represented New York City. The complex housed over 400 companies that were engaged in various commercial activities. On a typical weekday, an estimated 50,000 people worked in the complex and another 140,000 passed through as visitors. The towers offered expansive views from the observation deck atop the South Tower and the prestigious Windows on The World restaurant which were housed at the 106th and 107th floors of the North Tower. The Mall at the World Trade Center located at the underground concourse level housed several stores including eateries and access to the MTA Subway and Path Transit trains.    In memory of those who lost their lives during the events of 9/11, never forget...

  13. Booberville Bay

    A City Journal by Simboober

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    Simboober
    Booberville Bay update #1 Shown here are picture's of the progress I have made on Booberville Bay so far. The first picture shows Booberville Central and its neighbors from a birds eye view. Booberville Central is the first city I started in the region. The second picture shows a conglomerate of smaller cites and towns to the east of the city. The remaining photos are of some smaller towns. I have decided that I want to add the SPAM mod. So before wrecking the farming economy, I will do the first census of Booberville Bay. The census is as follows. The Central Eastern Edge is the only settled area at the moment. The Northern and Southern edges are unsettled along with the coast to the West. Booberville Central  POP: 34428 COM JOBS: 8567 ID JOBS: 11049
    Eastpeak POP: 8052 COM JOBS: 2550 ID JOBS: 426
    Old Booberville POP: 4698 COM JOBS: 1886 ID JOBS: 3420
    Mistwood POP: 3871 COM JOBS: 951 ID JOBS: 6304
    Booberville River POP: 1284 COM JOBS: 1112 ID JOBS: 630
    Sundale Hill POP: 259 COM JOBS: 150 ID JOBS: 126 End of Census. Booberville Central is settled on a wide yet mostly flat peninsula. Formed by two rivers joining at the edge of a bay. The Land goes east from the edge of the bay in the west, with the river to the north being named Booberville River. The river too the south is known as the River Mistwood. Coming to the edge of the east there are high mountains with narrow deep valleys. This highland is somewhat settled but not really.  

  14. Chu Shang

    A City Journal by Nero55

    • 3
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    Nero55
    Latest Entry

    Shang Shu

  15. Simeon region

    A City Journal by Gilles Therron

    • 3
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    Gilles Therron
    As more and more lumber jacks find their way to the village, the village grows. The railway company already laid down some tracks to the saw mill and to the logging camp. But that's not the only railway track... there is another going east into the mountains. What's going on? It's Big John. John and his friend John went hicking into the mountains. They heard about the beautiful pond and waterfalls. The taller one, hereafter called Big John, found a rock. The rock was black and after closer study John decided it was coal. And it was. So Big John went to the government and bought a peace of land at foot of the mountains. He started digging and he hit the jackpot. Finding investers wasn't hard and in now time a fully operational coal mine was in place. The railway company extended their tracks and connected Big John's to the network. Having a large mine in the mountains, the village was more booming then ever. Trailers and cabins poped up where ever there was a road and plumbing. It didn't take long before the villagers demanded the presence of a church. The clergy decided they could leave those souls unattended and the church was built. With more people, more business also the need for security and protection arise. So a brave deputy from a county far away applied for the job as sheriff in this new village. And as there were no other candidates he got the job. The first thing he did was raise the flag and hire some officers, the village was safe. We know that the mountains in the east are beautiful and even provide for fuel (coal). In the west, however, the soil is fertile and some people tried to grow veggies there. Before they could say 'potato' there were farmers from all over the country buying land and starting their businesses. Farms poped up and where the village once was a logging camp with lumberjacks it now became a farmers paradise.

  16. Scrap Shack

    A City Journal by kschmidt

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    kschmidt
    SC4 Garden Masters 2 ! Last I introduced my master project of four masters where I like to explore their plugins directory of bat´s, lot´s, mods in a equal region, individual gameplay settings, highlite some of thier favorite bat´s, lots and mods. My intention is not to paralel their achivevement in gameplay because that´s imposible . trying to show something of their plugins in a controlled enviroment region. Several updates I have posted in Show what your´s working on, these show most recent work. Masters of Let´s play mostly I in this CJ like to introduce some of these masters in a Youtube galery. ! These let´s player vary in chosen Bat´s Lot´s mod´s and specialy preference network play like vanilla with maxis or rhw highway´s or abscence of certain transport modes, each with their individual area´s of expertise ! Alphabetical order ! First master Let´s player ! Foxihikari At the moment this let´s ¨player has a mix of live and fastforward videos where the region of Kitsune Island is built ! Here to video of Kitsune Island Downtown and University !     Got as any SimCity 4 player a extensive plugin directory mostl american bat´s and series of trail parks as there are no real large green lots ! Second master ! Haljackey ! Some best work and the SimCity 4 building a city from scratch series !     Except his huge plugins directory most famous for his RHW building ! Third master ! Misk or Techdive Games formaly ! Several series produced traditional vanilla gameplay with a hugh plugin directory in for most short videos !   Fourth master ! Rob´s Red Hot Spot ! Got two series of Plantation Bay and Honnestville !     Fifth master ! Samgoogalplexian ! This show his two serie of highrealisme series of Sollitude and Pinecastle !     This lets player got a very extensive collection of hongkong bat´s, wide low an el rail networks and  a series of distinctive park lots! Sixth master ! Strictoaster ! Original argentinien st´s a designer who play´s a variety of games !     This region tile there´s a semi rural town being build  ! Last master ! Total Timewaster ! This let´s player have made a series on the region of St Georges Island very extensive over 100 episodes in realtime play !   Same story a very extensive plugins directory with mis of american, asian and europëan bat´s ! Some of these masters I have selected to be shown in the masters project. As this is a long whole project over several months I will only who´s who at the very end when I think anyone may guese who the master is. Except updates and CJ two montly this will take a while next time I hope to have some favorite Bat´s, Landmark lot´s be shown so anyone may guese who uses these most extensively ! hope you enjoyed this video gallery review of some of the greatest SimCity 4 master let´s players ! Hope you enjoyed this CJ and see you back next time !

  17. Quebec City

    A City Journal by EbayashiErico

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    EbayashiErico
    Latest Entry

    Desjardins_01

      This is my first city journal. Quebec city is 12th largest city in Canada with a population of over 500,000. I am using the quebec city region by tagehring, thanks.   I am using real names for places from Google map, but their positions might not be very accurate. Now my region has reached 100,000 people. Desjardins is a little town just in the east to the great city Levis, I want to make it a residential suburb. Here are the first estates in Desjardins: That's all for today. Hope you enjoy it.

  18. Waterfalls

    A City Journal by patfirefghtr

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    patfirefghtr
    Latest Entry

    River Front area

    Here is my next installment of waterfalls... Today im working on a river front area... these are a work in progress, so excuse the dust lol

  19. Cyanos: Ice, Wind and Fire

    A City Journal by Craig-Abcvs

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    Craig-Abcvs
    Episode 50 – Full Circle

  20. Stepford

    A City Journal by SIM-ple Jack

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    SIM-ple Jack
    More of Amana by night- Yorga Park   Christopher's Stone Bog-     Bonus:   There are 18 references to Ira Levin, his movies and plays, and some who starred in them, sprinkled throughout the Stepford journal. Can you find all 18. If you do, you will receive $50 to your favorite Patreon account. Must have all 18, posted in this thread. First one with all the answers wins. Offer good till  Dec. 31 2022. Happy hunting! The answers: 1. All cities in the region named after appliance brands/ women considered household appliances by men in Stepford Wives.
    2. Roman and Minnie Castevet, the elderly couple in Rosemary's Baby.
    3. Rosemary Park- Rosemary's Baby.
    4. Siebert Industries- Siebert was the head of security for Odessa in The Boys from Brazil.
    5. Prentiss Chemicals- Paula Prentiss played one of the Stepford Wives.
    6. Levin Train Station- Ira Levin.
    7. Ross Convention Center- Katherine Ross played one of the Stepford Wives.
    8. Massage by Louise, Tina- Tina Louise played one of the Stepford Wives.
    9. Gordon's, Bellamy Yarn- 2 actors in Rosemary's Baby.
    10.Bob Evans- Produced Sliver.
    11.Polanski Blvd.- Roman Polanski, director of Rosemary's Baby.
    12.St. Cassevette's- John Cassevettes in Rosemary's Baby.
    13.Gelenem Medical Center- Gelenem anagram for Mengele, character in The Boys from Brazil.
    14.Dr. Joseph Peck- Gregory Peck played Joseph Mengele, character in The Boys from Brazil.
    15.1800 Wheelock Dr.- Bobby Wheelock was one of The Boys from Brazil.
    16.Yorga Park- Robert Quarry (known for Count Yorga) played Dwight Powell in A Kiss Before Dying.
    17.Christopher's Stone Bog- Christopher Reeves, star of Deathtrap.
    18.Christopher's Stone Bog- Sharon Stone, star of Sliver.   Don't forget to comment, like, and follow Stepford if you haven't already!  

  21. The BBCaS Occasional

    A City Journal by BugeyedDragon

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    BugeyedDragon
    (forgive me for the blurry photo, haha)

    Today we will be covering the northwest corner of Bandar-Brunesia; the towns of Cairo, Konstantiniyye Orda, Mavlan, and Villsburg. We'll go from the southern end upward, starting with Mavlan. This small city, wrapping itself around a small lake, is home to approximately 2,987 sims. This was also the second city I have built using a limited installation of the NAM. I primarily made use of the street curves. Here is one such corner, though retrospectively it appears I forgot to smoothen the 45 degree road turns. I do like how that small shopping center and diner grew in the north, they almost appear as if they were one single lot with how their parking lots connect. Now viewing from the night-time is a small neighborhood on the eastern section of the hamlet. Nothing really special about this picture, but I'm still getting used to drawing street curves again. It's been well around a year or two since I've last used them. The S curve up next to those three grain silos looks kind of neat to me, as well. A set of two cul-de-sacs on the northern end. I think Bipin's cul-de-sac mod will be my next addition to the plugins folder. I like the default NAM street roundabouts (particularly the corner pieces, as seen in the lowermost cul-de-sac) but I don't really use them as roundabouts... well, ever. I am merely an American, so I'm not really used to those being anywhere. Toward the west is the train section, and probably the busiest section of the town. Never realized until now how obscenely massive the neighbor connection signs are. They rival the size of some of this game's houses. I don't know why, but I have this strange habit of putting the playgrounds next to railroads. Don't ask me why I do this, it just happens sort of autonomously. Perhaps I should get that checked  Next up is Villsburg. ...yeah, this one's shaped a little oddly. This is due to my poor space management when I first terraformed the region. All it does is provide a challenge, however, and I think I managed to make it work. The city is profitable, though only makes around 19 dollars a month. Enough to pay for a Netflix subscription, I guess. I did manage to pack 3,290 sims into this thin strip of land, however, which is more than Mavlan and Konstantiniyye have seperately. All the way to the stuff is probably the only semi-normal corner of the city... until you notice the fractionally-angled back lot in the lower left corner, and the siamese cat trying to hypnotize you on the billboard. Due to the nature of SimCity's default height limit being quite a bit above sea level, the terrain levels of this city are a little wonky considering it's squished between the Great Nothingness and a river. That piece of low-income housing next to the intersection reminds me of something out of GTA San Andreas when pressed up against that wall. Can you imagine relaxing in your backyard, perhaps grilling a hot dog or two, when suddenly two cars collide on the road next to your home and one of the vehicles goes careening over the edge, destroying your grill? That would be absolutely heartbreaking.   To the north is something far more rustic. I unlocked the graveyard as I was finishing up the city, and since I had no space to put it anywhere... well, I made space. I quite like making cliff-esque outlets like this. I will try and do it more in the future, maybe for things as benign as a simple residential cul-de-sac to see how odd it looks. Wonder what it's like to live in the house next to it. My advisors also started complaining about the lack of a school, so I acquiesced and built one for them. A similar mindset to the cemetery, except this seems somehow more haphazard. Miss one half-court shot and your basketball is sleeping with the fishes. I suppose the minnows deserve a chance to play too, don't they? Going back to cities with normal proportions, we enter the Konstantiniyye Orda. This was my first city re-testing out the NAM. It clocks in at 3,276 sims, which is somehow 14 less people than Villsburg has. How Villsburg managed to triumph over these other two towns is beyond me. Here is me experimenting with the single-tile roundabouts for the absolute first time, as they were not in any of the versions that were released back when I played modded a lot more. I don't think this is even remotely an effective use of a roundabout, but I just wanted to put them somewhere because I thought they were cool. I think it's placed in a sufficiently scenic location, between the vineyard, mayor's house, church, and commercial district. No idea why the sidewalk falls apart infront of the police station, however... we'll just say they're doing road work. One thing I've learned recently is that the gas power plant generates virtually no pollution. There's some, but it's still very negligible. Seeing it next to the thick green farmland reminds me of a location you'd see in True Detective Season 1, and fittingly enough there are two police cars out in the middle of nowhere at the bottom of the image. Perhaps a string of dastardly slayings? Not far is this cozy section of the town. The rail line, while only connected to Mavlan, will eventually join up with the rest of the region at some point... but I figure that since Cairo doesn't have a line running through it, Konstantiniyye was a natural end-point. Come to think of it, if a train reaches the end of the track, it'll block not one, but two entire roads of traffic. Maybe not the wisest placement on earth. The aforementioned rail line exits out of city bounds here. You may notice the street bridge to the right, as well. That's probably one of my favorite parts about the NAM. Still have no idea why they never put those in the base game, but I guess they didn't want people constantly building bridges and making more use of the ferry system. As we enter the evening time, here's the other bridge in the city. I always preferred the covered bridges as a kid playing this game. Don't know why, they just seemed to endear me much more than the other styles. I quite like how it looks here, so perhaps 5-year-old me had a point. Next on the docket is Cairo. This city is pretty old, it predates me installing the NAM and predates probably 70% of the rest of the region. Unfortunately, Villsburg doesn't have this place beat in population size, as Cairo houses approximately 23,577 people. A whopper compared to its neighbors! The southern limits of the city. I don't know what possessed me to build a landing strip, but it simply felt right. Most of the city's power comes from these windmills. Due to the nature of how finicky beaches can be to place, they didn't necessarily fit in with the road system I already had in place. To compromise, I put together a long stretch of one-way road going along the whole beachside, which I believe did the job just fine. Nothing special, just a picture I snapped of a ferry passing by the city. If I was a sim on the beach, I'd be very unnerved by how close it is to the shore. The upper corner of the beachfront, interrupted only by a large park system I cobbled together. And finally, the center of town. Whenever I unlock the city hall, I always immediately look for a location to build it. There are a number of rewards I do sometimes ignore, however, including the university-- who has the money for that? Not me!   That is all I have for now. Next time, I will likely go over the largest city in the region (as of now) which is Kingfishland. There are a couple of particularly odd corners in that one, so I am pretty excited to go combing through it again. Until then!    

  22. Coranz Metropolis

    A City Journal by simjake101

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    simjake101
    Hello whomever sees this. I was planning the completion of my regional expressway in Photoshop when I thought, well, might as well make a City Journal about the progress of my region, lol. Anyway, I am planning 3 large-tile cities to be added to the metro area, and needed a way to plan how to link the expressways without going between cities, blah blah blah. So here's the start of my planning for the metro expwy, a photoshop plan! So here's that & more to come. 

  23. Eureka!

    A City Journal by Tso Tsengkun

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    Tso Tsengkun
    Latest Entry

    The End of Eureka

    Hello folks! It's been almost 2 entire YEARS since I posted the first entry of Eureka. A lot of things have happened in between (Covid came and went by, Joe Biden took the office, and the Queen is still happily living in her palace), and I'm going to bring you the most unfortunate news: The saved files of Eureka were LOST.  In fact, I am a bit surprised at how I managed to lose all of the original and backup files. I stored them in my personal laptop, my backup hard drive, and my personal cloud vault, and they ALL coincidentally broke or unnoticedly deleted due to various reasons. But the bleak fact is, they were gone. But with some lucky flukes, I documented a few screenshots, and I created an aerial view panoramic picture of the whole city. Like Pompeii was buried in volcano dust but contemporary archaeologists found paintings of it in a forgotten cave . Therefore, this is the last entry of this city journal, as a memorial of the city neither I nor anyone else will ever see. Please enjoy her funeral ! [0] Welcome back to Eureka! [1] King Salmon's Bay I kind of forget why I named this place King Salmon's Bay. It is the last piece of the puzzle of Eureka. In the very beginning, I just plopped a lot of nice skyscrapers, which totally ruined the peace of the quasi-European city retrospectively. But the motivation was, hey, you simtropolis users make amazing buildings and I want them to be in my city! I indeed had a plan to demolish the high risers, which I will never accomplish. [3] The Bonus! I wanted to create a background story for Eureka. In my imagination, Eureka is a post-apocalypse metropolis on the bay of California, but it's not a paradise, riots, disasters, and class divisions tend to tear the city down and drop the world to its final doomsday scenario. I created some conceptual pictures. Alas, another unfinished project. [4] Now for the big one! I merged several smaller screenshots together. Bye-bye, Eureka!

  24. Skrælige

    A City Journal by Chappington

    • 10
      Entries
    • 20
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    • 797
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    Chappington
    (Really sorry for putting this off, I posted the video some time >a month ago, but have been busy with other things and haven't gotten around to updating it here yet...) Dominion of New England: 1688-89 As of 1688, Skrælige was now administered as part of the Dominion of New England. Trade restrictions with other colonies and European powers had been enacted for some time, but enforcement stepped up dramatically. Agricultural taxation increased, and scrutiny of land records led to confiscation by English authorities. These factors led to a great deal of unrest in Skrælige - no open rioting occurred, but local authorities frequently stonewalled and resisted enforcement actions. The start of the Dominion's fall began later that year with the Glorious Revolution in England, where William of Orange was invited to invade England to depose King James II (& VII) and become King William III (& II). News of the revolution reached some individuals in New England by late March 1689, and an organized mob revolted against the Dominion on the 18th of April, 1689. Governor Edmund Andros and other officials were arrested by the mob, which led to the de facto end of the Dominion. The New England colonies seized control and reverted to their previous governments. Revolt spread to New York, where Jacob Leisler led a rebellion in May, forcing Lt. Governor Francis Nicholson to flee to England. With both the governor and lieutenant governors out of power, the Skræligen Þing declared all of Skrælige to be an independent colony under the English crown on the 3rd of July, 1689. Independent Colony of Skrælige: 1689-91 King William III was busy in Europe due to the Nine Years' War, and so there was no immediate English reaction. While Skrælige still declared itself subject to the King, the declaration of independence from New York was done without permission of the crown, so the legality of the move was questionable. The Þing chose to elect a governor for the first time in its history, selecting Nikolai Ragnarsson*. Confiscated land was returned, trade restrictions removed, and laws were essentially reset to what they were 1688. The independent government would remain in effect through 1691, when Governor Henry Sloughter was appointed to rule New York, and put down Leisler's Rebellion. At this point it was only a matter of time until English authority was reasserted. Then on the 7th of October, 1691, a new charter for the Province of Massachusetts Bay was issued, combining the colonies of Massachusetts Bay & Plymouth, along with islands south of Cape Cod (including Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket), the Skrælig Islands, and the present day territories of Maine, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia (the last three heavily contested by New France). William Phips was appointed governor, and he ordered the exile of Governor Ragnarsson. This was a generous offer, considering that Jacob Leisler had been executed for his rebellion (a punishment which Phips found abhorrent), and so Ragnarsson and some of his loyalists escaped to Acadia. *By this point, the use of family surnames was dominant over patronymics, and Ragnarsson was Nikolai's surname. Patronymics were banned by the English government in 1678 by then-Governor of New York Edmund Andros, but this was difficult to enforce and was repealed in 1689 by Ragnarsson. Province of Massachusetts Bay Skrælig County was now a part of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, and Northney was transferred from York County to Skrælig County. The colonial leadership was much more involved than it had been before due to a number of reasons: The colonial capital was much closer: Boston was less than 100 miles away by sea, whereas New York was almost 200 miles as the crow flies, and much further by sea due to the need to go around Cape Cod. Skrælige occupied a strategic position in the on-and-off conflicts with the French to the north, which were becoming more frequent. The rebellions in Skrælige, New England, and New York* meant that the crown wanted to keep a closer eye on the northeastern colonies. While New York had been a mostly secular colony with relatively free practice of religion (even for non-Christians - for instance, Jews have lived in New York since at least 1654), the Province of Massachusetts Bay was a merger of two Puritan colonies. The new government was more free than the previous Puritan governments, as freedom of worship was guaranteed for all non-Catholic Christians, and the voting franchise was changed from religious requirements to land ownership. However, the Congregational Church still had a significant presence in the lower levels of the government, and the lack of protections for Catholics and worshippers of other non-Christian religions was a negative change. *Despite the short period of time in the Dominion of New England, New York is not considered part of the US region of New England. Modern New England consists of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine. The Colonial Þing The Skræligen Þing began as the main government of Skrælige back in the 11th century, and remained as the sole government until 1598 at the start of Danish rule. Originally the Þing was a council of the heads of households, and morphed into a sort of elected council where each town would nominate a set number of people to the Þing. In 1598 it lost its sovereignty, but managed to remain as a powerless local council. The ability to (somewhat) willingly cede power and still exist was crucial for its survival later. When the colonial power changed over to Sweden in 1645, the Þing had the opportunity to take more power for itself. They managed to gain more power during rule from New York (both Dutch and English), and so there was a degree of autonomy over the last few decades. After the Declaration of Autonomy was shut down in 1691 though, the powers the Þing had gained over the last decades were quickly revoked. While the Þing was not entirely abolished (due to both its centuries-old presence and the desire to not provoke further revolt), its power was rolled back to an advisory council. In practice, it had even less power, as it was subordinate to the government in Boston. Skræligens were able to vote to send two representatives per town to the General Court of Massachusetts (its legislative body), which did allow for some representation. This presented a new problem though - if Skrælige now had representation within Massachusetts, what was the purpose of the Þing? This existential question persisted throughout the next several decades, but the council continued to exist under its own inertia. King William's War (1688-97) During the autonomous Skræligen period and the beginning of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, the Nine Years' War broke out in Europe between France and the Grand Alliance - basically every other major European power. This manifested in North America as King William's War, where war broke out between New France and the New England colonies. The Iroquois Confederacy was allied with the English, and had been in conflict with the French over the fur trade. The Wabanaki Confederacy was allied with the French to help fight off the encroaching English settlers. This indirect conflict became direct in April 1688, when Governor Andros of New England plundered the home and village of Jean-Vincent d'Abbadie de Saint-Castin, a French officer and Abenaki chief, on Penobscot Bay to the northeast of Skrælige. In retaliation, Castin and the Wabanki Confederacy began raids along the border of New England and Acadia - while claims overlapped, in practice the border area was just to the north of Skrælige. This fighting escalated in 1689 with English raids on Acadia and further French & Abenaki raids on Maine. This led to the second razing of Northney in late August. Attacks continued back and forth, including the Battle of Falmouth (present day Portland, ME) in 1690, leaving Maine nearly completely depopulated of English settlers, and the Battle of Port Royal (the capital of Acadia) later that year. Skrælige attempted to remain neutral throughout the conflict, but was brought into the fray once it was merged into Massachusetts Bay in 1691. Combined French and Abenaki forces (mostly from the continent) attacked and burned down Egilstead in February of 1692, and they continued down to Abenakiborough. After some fighting the fort still stood, but many villagers had been killed or captured, and the casualty count on the French & Abenaki side was high. The Skræligens did not have sufficient strength in their militia to launch any counteroffensives, but defenses were improved enough to ward off future raids. After a few years of an uneasy ceasefire on Skrælige, and continued fighting on the continent, the war in both Europe and North America came to a close with the Peace of Ryswick in 1697, declaring status quo ante bellum. Egilstead was rebuilt with a fort in 1697, and Northney was rebuilt (again) in 1698. The peace would barely last five years though, when a new conflict broke out in both Europe and North America... Queen Anne's War (1702-13) One question had been looming over Europe for the past decades - who is going to inherit the Spanish throne and its territories? King Charles II of Spain was in ill health throughout his life (possibly due to the high level of Hapsburg inbreeding), and lived for longer than most anticipated. Still, he died without children on the 1st of November, 1700, and the fight over his territories turned into the War of the Spanish Succession in July 1691. The English and French wanted to keep their North American colonies neutral, but they had their own grievances with each other. The English population greatly outnumbered the French, and continued growth pushed them to encroach of Abenaki territory as well. The Peace of Ryswick hadn't actually dealt with anyone's conflicts with each other, and so the war spread to North America as Queen Anne's War. As in the last war, the French encouraged many Native Americans to launch raids against the English colonies, including an infamous one on Deerfield, MA in 1704. Many settlers were captured as slaves, both for ransom and adoption into Mohawk families. These events shocked the English settlers, even if they were expected by some due to the war. The English settlers attempted to raid native settlements in revenge, but usually found them empty on arrival. After three years of sporadic skirmishes and truces, the Massachusetts Bay government issued an ultimatum to the Abenaki on Skrælige: assimilate and recognize our sovereignty, leave the islands, or face capture or death. Most Abenaki chose to stay put - at this point, most of those who had any intention of assimilating into Skrælige had already done so. And so, a Massachusetts militia marched up the shores of the Siguan River towards the main Abenaki settlement north of Egilstead on the 14th of March, 1708. A bloody battle ensued, with high casualties on both sides. At the end of the day though, the Massachusetts forces had destroyed most of the village and forced the survivors to flee into the surrounding woods. The forces established a new fort and settlement, named Bradstreet for the former governor. Some Abenaki continued to live up in the mountains and occasionally come into conflict with the Skræligens, but the loss of their main village was devastating. Many fled across Casco Bay to the continent, and the Abenaki would never recover from the disaster. Queen Anne's War continued into 1712, and the peace was finalized in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht. After capturing the southern portion of Acadia (renamed Nova Scotia), Britain was awarded Acadia, Hudson Bay, and Newfoundland. (France contested the specifics of the agreement, interpreting that Britain was only given the lower Acadian peninsula. They de facto retained control of the northern portion, modern day New Brunswick.) This treaty completely ignored any of the Native Americans, so Governor Dudley of Massachusetts Bay & New Hampshire (at this time they were separate colonies, but had the same governor) signed the Treaty of Portsmouth with the Eastern Abenakis on July 13th of 1713. One common underhanded "tactic" of British treaties at the time (and in much of their colonial history) was to hide some of the most disagreeable parts in just the English version. This treaty was no different, as the English version had the Abenaki ceding their sovereignty to the British Crown. However, the Abenaki later argued that this was not in the verbal translations given at the time. At any rate, the British failed to fulfill their obligations in the treaty (such as setting up official trading posts), and conflict would continue throughout the following decades, including Dummer's War from 1722-25. New Buildings Skrælingborough c. 1740
    Middleton c. 1740 Skrælige continued to grow in population during all this time, both in natural growth and immigration. While growth in Skrælingborough and the surrounding area was not as substantial as in Boston, for example, it was growing faster than at any point in its history. Combined with a more hands-on government, several new buildings and services were added. Skrælingborough Synagogue The first Jews to have immigrated to Skrælige came around 1684 when it was part of New York. At the time, Jews were not able to publicly practice their religion in New York - Rhode Island was the only colony in North America where this was allowed. They were allowed to freely live, trade, and travel, which led to a small group moving to Skrælingborough. When Skrælige became autonomous in 1689, they gained the freedom to practice publicly, and built a small temple in the city in 1690. This presented an issue in 1691, where the laws of Massachusetts Bay did not give any protections to Jewish people. Colonial officials were divided on whether to take over the temple, but they reached a compromise where they would be able to stay - as long as they didn't do so "publicly". What this meant was left up to interpretation - in practice, services could continue in secret, and local authorities rarely investigated. Skrælingborough Latin School Skrælingborough Latin School is the oldest public school in Skrælige. Skrælingborough Latin is based on the same philosophy as Boston Latin School, which holds the classics (especially Latin) to be the basis of a proper education. This was probably the largest influence of Massachusetts early on - much like in New York and the other middle colonies, education was mainly private and religious. Skrælingborough Latin was founded in 1698 at the site pictured above. Phips College Along with Skrælingborough Latin School, the new Massachusetts government established a college in Skrælige, just across the Siguan River in Northstead. Named after the former governor of Massachusetts, Phips College began in 1701 as sort of an Anglican counterpart to Puritan (de facto) Harvard. The college was sort of an artifact of the Puritan/Anglican power struggle on the mainland, otherwise there wouldn't have been a need for the province to have two colleges. Skrælingborough Necropolis The new cemetery grew over time, and with the future plans it is now referred to as the "Necropolis". Town of Ragnarsson Ragnarsson was founded in 1718 after the Abenaki were decimated by Queen Anne's War. It was named of the governor of Autonomous Skrælige, a somewhat contentious name choice within the Massachusetts government. This was the first settlement on the northwestern coast of the island. Expansion of Skrælige In addition to Ragnarsson and Bradstreet, three other towns were built in the aftermath of Queen Anne's War: Thorfall (also known as Þorrfjall for the nearby mountain) was built in 1721 to the northeast of Littlevik. Northbay was built on the northern coast of Storreyn in 1724. Improved Abenaki trails connected it across mountain passes to Bradstreet and the rest of the Siguan River Valley. Southfall was built on the southern end of Miðrsun in 1731. Census of 1740 The Þing commissioned another census in 1740 for the Skrælig Islands. Massachusetts as a whole was resistant to taking a census due to suspicion of British authorities, but Governor Jonathan Belcher (appointed by the Crown) was happy to allow a census of the islands. Massachusetts itself would not conduct a census until 1764. The results were as follows: Abenakiborough: 86 (+16) Havant: 231 (+65) Middleton: 348 (+174) Northstead: 522 (+180) Newhope: 680 (+273) Main Town: 584 (+177) Stefnabjarg: 96 Fort Charles: 160 (+10) Copperstein: 199 (+66) Skrælingborough: 1912 (+707) Central Area: 1765 (+662) New Jorvik: 147 (+45) Ragnarsson: 113 Littlevik: 157 (+37) Raskrom: 122 (+79) Middlesun: 89 (+27) Egilstead: 116 (+41) Southreyn: 22 Freydiston: 39 Northney: 43 Bradstreet: 32 Thorfall: 35 Northbay: 21 Southfall: 14 Total: 4941 (+1994) ---- Thanks for reading! You can also find the video version at https://youtu.be/1hn4Hrr4ihA

  25. Karasem V 4.12 (AIN)

    A City Journal by Forsma7

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    Forsma7
    So first of all, sorry that Bandan update was delayed to undecided time lol.  Anyway..... This is the continuation of "annual update" I did from 2012-2019 which show holiday traffic on intercity roads around Karasem. This series wasnt continued in 2020-2021 because intercity travel was impossible due to the "human malware" situation. So yeah this is a revival of that series.    2022 Holiday Traffic Report Introduction: April 29 2022 is 3 days before Idul Fitri in Karasem, lot of people go to their hometown to celebrate ied with their family. It has been 2 years without this tradition due to the travel limitation imposed by the government but finally the limitation partially lifted with the pandemic died down in Karasem. These travelers come from the major metropolitan areas such as Meriah Metropolitan Area and Cibebek-Kota Baru Metropolitan area. Travelers went to various areas in Karasem such as Southern part of Cikulon Islands, Sumut Island, Great Natuna Islands and other places in Karasem. The tradition mostly take places on western part of Karasem as majority of population are located.   Map of western Karasem This year peak of hometown bound traffic predicted to take place on Day-3 (29/4) to Day-2 (30/4) of eid. Based on the observation, the number of travelers keep increasing since this morning. Ministry of Transporation enacted several policies in order to avoid long traffic jam. These policies includes the contraflow on several expressway including Meriah-Malang Bawah expressway, Muara Karang-Krangan Expressway, Kota Baru-Bankalan Expressway and Cibebek-Cikaas Expressway. Other policy enacted include the odd-even rule of the car license number that can use the highway on selected time. However due to the network capacity limitation and the number of traveler is very high, traffic congestion hit main lines throughout the country. First report today is from area around Malang Bawah, Cikulon Utara Province. Malang Bawah-Purwasari Expressway ever since the completion on 2018 has been a major relieve on the bottleneck of route around Malang Bawah where the Meriah-Malang Bawah Expressway ends. Situation are mostly smooth despite on high traffic volume using this route to reach Purwasari and areas on Central and South Cikulon Province.     Traffic on the Malang Bawah-Purwasari Expressway in km 45 of Malang Atas Regency As for the traffic going through regular non motorway main national roads monitored to be rather congested, most of these people are bound to areas in western part of Central Cikulon, mainly Sumberjati and Sukasirna areas while some other are going to South Cikulon as an alternative route of the expressway route through Purwasari     Traffic in the Western Cikulon coast route of National Route 1 around Sukasari Border of North and Central Cikulon Province As for the traffic of the motorway connects Meriah and Malang Bawah, Meriah-Malang Bawah Expressway, congestion spotted on several location. Rest area alongside this motorway has been an issue of the traffic congestion due to the traveler trying to enter the already full parking on the rest area. one of the rest area with this issue is in KM 82 from Meriah on Malang Bawah Regency. Traffic queue on this rest area lined to 1 km and affecting all 3 lanes on this motorway. Some of the traveler even park on the side lane of motorway which can be dangerous. Officer advices traveller to limit the parking time up to 30 minutes to alleviate the queue and there has been several closure on the rest areas with full parking spaces alongside this route. Traffic queue to the Rest Area KM 82 Meriah-Malang Bawah Expressway. Next report is from the Meriah-Kota Baru Expressway. This motorway is the main route that connect 2 major metropolitan area of Karasem, Meriah and Cibebek-Kota Baru. Traffic are known to be congested from both direction due to the high volume. The Expressway operator PT Jalan Tol Karasem temporary disabled the Sumberrejo Toll Gate as the transaction now combined for both section of this expressway (Meriah-Kemayoran and Kemayoran-Kota Baru). The opening of Kota Baru-Meriah High Speed Rail which was constructed in cooperation with Teiko in April 23 alongside this route has helped alleviate the traffic demand on this very crowded route on this season as the ticket of trips from April 28 to May 4 has been fully booked as of today. The operational of the Kemayoran Integrated HSR Station-Bus Terminal also utilized by traveler that use this mode to travel to the eastern part of North Cikulon Province. For the conventional train route between these two city also has been fully booked up to May 5 for this holiday season.   Meriah-Kota Baru Expressway on Krangan Regency also shows the newly opened High Speed Rail.   Last we go to the Tanjung Pasir Regency. The recently opened part of Tanjung Pasir-Bandan Expressway first section has saved traveler times. The 29 km expressway connected the Tanjung Pasir Selatan to Semilalang in Tanjung Pasir used by those who are going from Cibebek to the eastern part of Natuna Island. As for the situation on Semilalang exit, there is minor congestion reported for 500m when it join the Karasem National Route 1.    Semilalang exit of Tanjung Pasir-Semilalang Expressway Thats all for today! Happy Eid Al Fitri for those who celebrate it!  And wish you all reading this all the best.      

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