Introduction
Prospect Bay
Click on any of the images to see them in the original glorious HD!
I won't bore you with too many details in this introductory post, but to give you guys some background on what's going on, Prospect Bay is a region of over a quarter million people spread across a few dozen discrete settlements in a scenic coastal area based on Dobdriver's map of Nelson, New Zealand. Most live within a couple miles of the shore in towns of less than 10,000 population.
Watertown, a prosperous hamlet centrally located on the coastal highway
The economy of the region is dominated by agriculture, resource extraction and manufacturing. In particular, timber and lumber processing are areas that have been cornerstones of the regional economy since the inception of its settlement due to the density of the old growth temperate rainforest covering most of the hills, and they have only become more intensive over time with the arrival of new, more efficient modes of transportation and a steady supply of people to work in the mills.
The lumber mill and its associated rail spur have been the main drivers of economic development in Napoleon, just a couple miles southwest of Watertown in the rolling hills
Of course, more recently, with a constant increasing factor of economic activity and population growth, the boom times have expanded to include the services and public sectors. While it's quite far from an accomplished fact at this point, there are those who foresee all the scrap yards, warehouses and farmers' co-ops on the region's Main Streets being squeezed out by banks, department stores and government office buildings.
For many years in the region's early history, High Street in Trapezus was the biggest hub of commercial activity to be found as well as far and away the premier entertainment destination
Urbanization has already fundamentally changed the character of the region. Gone are the days when every property owner could count on having a virtual forest on his land or in the vicinity of his house, and children could wander and play anywhere with minimal supervision.
You're definitely never really alone when you're in Lagos, the economic and cultural capital of Prospect Bay
But for the masses moving in, the expanding urban amenities make all the hassles worth it, and the sweeping Bay and mountain views along with the many remaining swathes of unspoiled nature offer a kind of beauty and majesty that's a world away from anything they knew in the congested city centers of the East Coast and other countries. The historic small towns that take the best advantage of this resource are often some of the most prestigious real estate areas, owing to short overall commute times. They are also hotbeds for getaway tourism from the cities nearby, with thriving strips of boutique shops.
With its historic charm and breathtaking coastline dotted with cliffs, islands and sandbars, visiting Happy Valley is always an idyllic experience--at least until you get stuck behind an RV on the narrow highways leading through the hills out of town
In my next entry, I'll be talking about some of the region's earliest history, with a particular focus on its first city, Port Deliverance, a very unique place in its own right. Due to the difficult local geography, the town has not physically expanded since before the railroad's arrival and has become a living artifact of a previous century, protected in contemporary times by the region's strictest redevelopment laws.
Perhaps the most exceptional aspect of Port Deliverance's historical preservation is the town's location along a major transportation corridor--everybody taking the coastal highway from east of the region to Prospect Bay's major cities passes right through the middle of the preservation district
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Check out my YouTube channel!
One of the unique things about this MD is that it focuses on a region that I built almost from scratch on YouTube. While the video series is already long enough at more than 100 installments that I don't seriously expect too many people to watch it from start to finish, I release SC4 gameplay/commentary videos in the style of Haljackey, Mandelsoft and Casper based in the region frequently, or at least whenever I have the time to play. In the future as I create entries for this MD that focus more on specific areas and things, I'll include links to all the relevant videos as supplementary material.
In the meantime, you should check out my two latest videos. In them, I take viewers on a thorough tour of the region's largest city, recently lost to a corrupted save file and rebuilt better than ever from a 3 month old backup. It should be an entertaining watch, and a great way to get more familiar with Prospect Bay's character.
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