knarfmo

The undiscover’d country, from whose bourn No traveler returns, puzzles the will, And makes us rather bear those ills we have Than fly to others that we know not of? Hamlet, Act III, Scene I Shakespeare’s Hamlet describes the future and his uncertain destiny as the undiscovered country. To refer to the future as a place is not extraordinary because the passage of time is a journey like that of from one place to another. Hamlet’s lament also describes human nature to stay within one’s comfort zone in an attempt to avoid the uncertainties of the future. This city journal is the story of Ainkien, the Undiscovered Country. I have been working on Ainkien’s story for half of my life, when I first started scribbling the designs of the capital city on paper with coloured pencils. In college, I was part of the last class to ever study manual cartography. Ainkien presented a good subject for pen, ink and mylar: I have tried to recreate portions of Ainkien in SimCity, but it wasn’t until SimCity 4, with its advanced features and customized content, that I was able to create a satisfactory electronic simulation of my own private nation. I will use this city journal to not only take you on a tour of Ainkien, but to share its story as well. I hope for it to be as interesting as a DK Eyewitness Travel Guide, but I fear that a more realistic expectation is that it will waver between sounding like a high school geography textbook and a bad real estate classified ad. Here begins the story of Ainkien… The best place to start studying Ainkien’s brief thirty year history is in The Ainkien Museum, which lies just east of the University of Ainkien – Newcastle in the Arts District. The museum, whose architecture is based on the Radcliffe Camera at Oxford University in England, has a diverse collection dedicated to North American and Ainkienian History as well as Native American and classical archaeology. Ainkien is the product of unlikely circumstances, surprising the world community that a tiny independent nation was carved out of the Midwest United States. Simply put, Ainkien was founded to be a social, political and economic laboratory for several western powers. Its implementation was a result of the confluence of both conservative and liberal political power in several western powers and private financing unrivaled by any previous public works project. It is a country with mysterious beginnings, designed to help industrialized countries to create better futures for themselves. What the powers behind the development of Ainkien did not anticipate was that this laboratory experiment was doomed to not fulfill its original mission. Ainkien would not be the future of the rest of the world. Ainkien would be extraordinary. It would be the future of itself. ======================================== Reality Check I intend to offer additional insights and information about my city journal in the reality check section. Let me give you some background on my Ainkien region. I use the NAM, Raphaelninja's mod to bring in tons of money, and many, many lots and BATs too numerous to credit. I say thank you to everyone who has contributed to Ainkien through their continued customized development of SimCity 4. I would like to thank the authors of several city journals that have inspired me to do my own: PaleTexan (Vicivitas and Carthage), Louisville327 (Adventures in New Urbanism), and especially Frogface (Thames). I also got the idea for a locator map from another city journal that, regretfully, I cannot remember. Thank you, whoever you are. Another note: I like flags. You may be wondering what the deal is with the green and orange Union Jack. The flag of Ainkien has the shape of my favorite flag, the British flag, and my favorite colors, green and orange. It is not some sort of British/Irish political statement. If I start sharing the flags of Ainkien you will find many variants on the Union Jack. There is a story behind the Ainkien Jack I hope to include in this city journal. A final thought: Ainkien evolved from a paper creation, and sentimentality has constrained my creativity in SimCity 4 to some degree. I am sharing a largely finished product, but all comments and questions are welcome.

The Ainkien High School Activities Association has just concluded its 2010 Winter Sports Festival. Though many of the participants are too young to participate in the Simlympics, the event contributed to the widespread sense of anticipation for the pending 2010 Winter Simlympic Games in Skovveien, Novland.

Here is some info from the February 2010 Winter Simlympics Torch Relay:

Hey, I'm from the International Simlympic Committee (The organisation in charge of running the Simlympics, a little SC4 sports event you may have heard of). The Simlympics began in 2006 and we've decided it's time we diversify a little bit - a Winter Simlympics! However, we want to do it perfectly and to do that requires winter BATs. We're currently working on a Winter Simlympic BAT pack and we need help! There aren't many winter sports venues available for SimCity. The Winter Simlympic BAT pack is a vast project, involving many different BATers. Consequently, there are many different BATs required - ranging from very big (E.g stadiums), to the very small (E.g gates for skiing). With the Winter Olympics in Vancouver coming up in 2010, it's a time BAT pack. Here are some examples of venues: (luge, bobsleigh and skeleton sliding track in Vancouver) We would greatly appreciate all the help we can get to help us make our dream of a Winter Simlympics a reality by contributing towards the Winter Simlympic BAT pack. Besides, what city is complete without a ski resort or bobsleigh track? Please contact myself ASAP for further information, or just start BATing and post 'em here. You just might see your creation in the next Winter Simlympics! Thanks, Knarfmo

Liberater - thanks! The aerial photo is simply the regional view stretched and skewed into 2D by Photoshop Elements.

Um, I have no idea why there are emoticons next to Martial. There is nothing typed in the post and I can't get rid of it.

Have you ever though of your city, region or country having a soundtrack? I like Putumayo's world music collections, and thought it would be neat if their were an Ainkienian version: Here is the list of music tracks: Life in Technocolour - Coldplay All You Want - Dido Suburbia – Pet Shop Boys Is it Any Wonder – Keane Dulce Fé – Monte*Rosa A Dispute Between Two Neighboring Towns – Starrfadu Serre Moi – Tryo To America We Go – MacIsaac and Lamond Cette Fille – Martial>> Catharsis – Natalie McMaster My Private Nation – Train City of Blinding Lights – U2

Very nice! I like your train stations especially.

Check out the girl's swimsuit on the right. Tee hee! This was not photoshop; I think it was someone's real life combination of the Australian flag with their national colours, green and gold. I also think they may have been attacked by jellyfish, thought I thought they were deadly in Austraila... ?

Thanks for the comments, guys! I'd like to show you the may flags of Ainkien. Today I'll show the flags that you are used to seeing - the Ainkien Jack and Nalsa Ensign, but also the flags of the various counties as well as naval flags. At some point I'd like to share some city flags too. Nearly all of Ainkien's flags are green and orange variants on the Ainkien jack or one of its ensigns. There are a few exceptions among the counties, but these are quite rare. I've explained the symbology of the Ainkien Jack in the introduction to this city journal. The advantage of simply changing the colours of an existig flag are obvious, when you can use a basic graphics program: Here are the flags of Ainkien: Here's a last shot of the Nalsa Ensign that I'm fairly please with:

Beautiful region! Everything looks great.

Love the Devonshire shots - I've never seen that "blue caf

LOL - it looks like it will be a "fashionista" CJ. Good introduction, and the airport looks great!

"Good Evening. I'm Julia Anniston with ATV news. Luc Hamid, Ainkienian Fencer and veteran of four Simlympics, has won a bronze medal at the games in Hinawa. This medal, in Epée, is Ainkien's first fencing medal. Hamid had to battle fellow teammate Derek Thompson for the Bronze in the consolation final. Fencing is the only 'heritage sport' identified by the Ainkien Olympic Committee in which Ainkien's mainland team had not won a Simlympic medal. The previous Simlympic champion, the Nalsa Islands, did not have a fencer advance to the quarterfinals." In other Simlympic news, Devon Felterop qualified for the 100m Breastroke finals with a world record. Hopes are high that Mr. Felterop will win a medal in the final race tomorrow.

Originally posted by: Schulmanator Another batch of enjoyable pix. Does your conclusion statement mean that Anikien is a completed CJ or that you will be back with other stuff? I would hate to see it go away...quote> Nope - I expect that future entries will talk about special projects or events. Items related to sports, new infrastructure or redevelopment projects, statistical information and general news. Now that the "tour" is over, the CJ will focus more on current events. Thanks for your nice comment! I've always enjoyed your city journals (though they are really so much more than that now)!

Jacky, Twenty and Schulmie: Thanks for the comments! I've started a thread in the "community goings-on" forum that contains my thoughts on the 10th Simlympic Games being held in Hinawa. Feel free to visit there and comment. Today, I will conclude the tour of the Eastern Annex. This will be the last journal entry that will feature the exploration of Ainkien and the Nalsa Islands. Today's entry is about Essex County, the smallest county in Ainkien. Essex County has only three significant towns: Emmens, a Dutch community; Hilton, a typical Ainkienian small town; and Reading, a university town. This concludes the geographic tour of Ainkien. Further updates to this city journal will happen as special events or special projects occur.

Excellent work on the gardens, and the city is simply stunning!

Tonight I would like to complete the tour of Sussex County with some pictures of St. Christopher, the largest city in the Eastern Annex.

Beautiful work as always! I love picture where you can see the rocks underwater - it looks like a fun area to kayak in.

Nice region - I also like how you did your farming areas, and the canal is looking great!

Great updates! I like your work with San Prado - a very ritzy place. Is the name meant as a play on the exclusive brand Prada?

I love the New Zealand state visit. I must say, this is the only CJ that could feature people in a mudbath and it not seem strange.

SimCorps International is coming to the Nalsa Islands! The local favourites are the Nalsa Islands' own Nkobe Spirit Drumcorps. In addition, Ainkien's Capital Regiment will make its SimCorps International debut.