Eldaldo

I'm not sure I understand tdc.  What isn't "socialism/communism/democracy"?  I don't think I claimed anything to be any of theose things.  but that the department of security had the authority to arrest people suspected of being socialist or anarchist.  If you could explain more maybe i could see where I went wrong.  but to be honest, precise definitions of those terms are very subjective given the differences between sociological theory and real world expressions of them.

Black wolf is a town south east of Havalina. It sits on the shores of Lake Audra north of where the Rani River flows into the lake. It was originally settled in 1900 by a group of American Catholics who immigrated to Inakaye with the intention of setting up a Monastery. Well, in transit to Inakaye, several of the monks-to-be fell in love with women on the long boat ride. They decided instead to marry and found a community for Catholics in this new land. And that is what Black Wolf ended up being. I have never mentioned this before, but Inakaye is not a particularly religious country. Because so much of it is still frontier, many towns and communities are preoccupied with feeding themselves and preparing for winter rather than with religion. You will find churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples, in the Three Cities region, but No religion is particularly culturally dominant yet. Still, despite there being no strong religious affiliation of the country, there is alot of religious tolerance, and therefore it is not uncommon for religious groups to come here and form communities like black wolf. Below is a map of Inakaye that shows some of these communities. Back to the story, Black Wolf is a predominantly catholic community, and the largest building in the town is the church. There are about 500 people in the town and most of them are farmers. ---------------------------------------------------------- We recently heard the story of how a mysterious man in overalls healed Elijah Burton's youngest Son Aaron. This is the story of his eldest son Daniel, who recently turned 13 and is leaving the farm to apprentice as a stone mason. Daniel Had not been able to sleep. He had tossed and turned in his lumpy bed thinking only of his future. He looked out the window and then turned over and looked at the wall. He looked across the room at his sleeping little brother. these things, these people, that he had spent his life around would fall away from his life. and it would happen tomorrow. He tried to memorize the windowsill and the leaves outside his window. He would never forget the way they looked. "I must never forget my home, my family, and these dingy fields," he thought apprehensively as he thought about the farm he grew up on. He had become interested in stone masonry early in his life. His aunt had taken him to Lake Maureen and he saw the beautiful statue in city park carved out of solid stone (see below). he thought it was amazing that you could carve something so lifelike out of stone. This experience started him trying to carve animals from the rocks he'd find on the lake shore near their house. (The shores of lake Audra near the Burton Farm) as time went by he actually became quite good at carving, and he could tell that his Father was proud of him. Once when he was in Cape Winston with his uncle's family he heard of a Town to the East called Black Wolf, and that they had found marble there and started a marble quarry/masonry workshop. (the hills where the marble was discovered, notice the white stones) (a picture of the Black Wolf Mason's Workshop immediately after construction) Though he could tell that it disappointed his father who always hoped that Daniel would take over the family farm, his father agreed to acquire a position for Daniel as a Mason Apprentice at the Black Wolf Workshop. Tomorrow he would sail first to Cape Winston in their family's small boat. and then take a steamer almost 30 miles east to Black Wolf. Then he would meet Martin Kilder the Head Mason, under whom he will spend the next 7 years training to become a real stone mason. "what will my new bed feel like? what will Master Kilder be like? Will he be nice? or will I be miserable for 7 years? Will I make any friends in this new town? What will living in a town be like?" All these thoughts ran through his busy mind. On one had they scared him, and on the other hand there was excitement in his chest at the world of opportunity in front of him, and the fact that at the end of the road he would be a mason. He could spend the rest of his life doing what he loved to do. As the dark sky outside his window began to lighten just the slightest bit, his mind began to slow down in it's thinking, and he felt the ghost of sleep begin to take hold of him. he would need the few hours of rest. he had a busy 7 years ahead of him.

Replies: Schulmanator: Thanks for following! I really appreciate it! Hope you enjoy today's update. This update takes place at the Burton Homestead, and It's been a long time since The Burton Homestead has been mentioned. For the background information on the Burton Homestead, please see Entry 9: Homesteading Heroes http://www.csgdesign.com.au/CSGf/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=227#p2161. The Burton Homestead is the last homestead mentioned in that entry. To set the scene, Old Jeremiah Burton, who had been the head of the Burton homestead for the past thirty years passed away last fall leaving his son and daughter-in-law, Elijah and Coraline Burton, in Charge of the homestead. Elijah's wife is from the Matthews family, a well known family from Cape Winston to the south of the Burton Homestead. The last Spring, Coraline's Brother, Herald Matthews, Brought his family out to the homestead and Began clearing land for a field next to the Burton Farm. This greatly upset Old Man Jeremiah who had always been very protective of his land. Above is the current Burton/Matthews Homestead. You can see how there are now many buildings and fields that make up this large homestead. Recently, a strange and miraculous thing happened on the Burton homestead. Today, Herald Matthews is in Cape Winston relating this story to his parents and extended family over a dinner in his Parents' house. Cape Winston is a small village that began as a fishing village even before Solace Bay was founded. It has grown slowly over the years though steadily. It now has a couple thousand residents and they are discussing chartering as a town. The Matthews family own a Farming supply store that sells all sorts of grain and machinery to the farmers of the area. They are considered one of the most respected families in town and own one of the tallest buildings on main street. Now we continue and listen in on Herald's story . . . "Well, what happened is this. I was chopping firewood out back and this man comes out of the woods. He was dressed in faded overalls. his hair and beard were long and wild. He was carrying nothing but llama-skin sack with a bow and arrow sticking out of it. When he saw me he raised his hand in greeting. He asks me if I was Jeremiah's son. And I told him Who I was, and he asked to speak with the Old Man. I told him how he was late a couple months and that Old Jeremiah passed away. He looked visibly upset. I asked I fhe had known Jeremiah well, but he said he had only spoken to him once long ago. He then asked to see Jeremiah's Son, so I took him over to Eli's (Elijah Burton) place but it turns out that Eli's little boy, Aaron, had woken up deathly ill and everyone was gathered around his bed. Eli didn't really want to talk to the stranger, but wouldn you believe it? This man went up to Aaron's bed and felt his forehead, looked in his mouth and felt his stomach. He said something about thrashfly poisoning, and pulled out some herbs from his bag. He had Cora boil up some whisper-root tea and added a few strange plants to it. He had Aaron drink it down and by evening his fever had passed. I never saw a kid recover from a sick that bad. He should have died, but thanks to this strange man's medicine he was cured. He won't say where he came from, and he doesn't have a name, but he saved that boy's life. He has been staying at the burton farm for the past week and says he wants to hear as many stories as he can about Jeremiah and the other deceased Burtons before he moves on. All he says about himself is that he spent most of his life around people, but made alot of mistakes. says he spent some time alone and decided to spend the rest of his life learning from others and passing on what he has learned. He certainly has taught the Burtons alot about medicine. Still, it doesn't make much sense does it? some guy who won't talk about his past, wandering around, helping people out . . . Says he made mistakes in his past, I wonder what he did? Was he a crook? Maybe he murdered someone? but then why would he save that boy? it is a strange but miraculous mystery . . ." The Matthews family could not ask enough questions about this strange "man in the overalls" and this tale quickly spread about the town of this strange man who healed a sick boy. Almost everyone in Cape Winston was intrigued and wondered, "who is this Man? Where does He come from?"

Wow.  Awesome city man.  I love being able to look back at when the city was younger and how massive it is now.

Wow, that is a nice rural village.  I love those buildings.  Whose are they?

Nice city.  I like the single tall tower.  Reminds me a little of Allentown PA.  THere's more water in redwood though . . . great job

I love the way you built your city among the hills

It has been over a month in RL since there was news from Solace Bay. In Solace bay nearly a year has passed. It is nearing the end of 1910 and much has changed since the riots of March. James Wyant (President of the Solace Bay Co.), has taken extreme measures to control the populace. He has created an elite police force in addition to the regular Solace Bay Police. This new force is called the Department of Security, or DOS. Headquartered in Wyant's Landing, they have far reaching authority to monitor and arrest citizens supsected of socialist or anarchist activities. Along with the military-esque Solace Bay Police (below) the Department of Security has kept the city Riot free since March. But tensions are still high between the workers and the employers in Solace Bay. The Brotherhood of Derrik is still a mystery. With all his effort, James is still unable to find out anything about them. Their posters still show up in alleys occasionaly, much to the annoyance of James. No overt actions appear to be taken by the Brotherhood, but machines in the factories have been needing maintenance far more frequently. Parts have been failing long before expected. It could just be shoddy craftsmanship to begin with, but it is still a strange coincidence . . . James is growing suspicious . . . Other than the massive construction that has been done in the past year, the thing that has changed most in Solace Bay is it's population. The port of Mariston recieved an average of 5,000 immigrants a month this year, the most that Inakaye has ever seen. With all these immigrants there is literally no space anywhere in Mariston and the streets are overflowing with homeless immigrants. It is a bad situation in Mariston. James Wyant capitalized on it by sending recruiters there to sign immigrants to a contract with the Solace Bay company whereby they will receive shelter, food, and a wage (based on performance), but agree to stay with the company for five years. This is a welcome deal to most of the immigrants, who have no idea what the conditions are in Solace Bay. Therefore, in the year 1910, these recruiters were able to sign almost 8,000 employees to the Solace Bay Co. increasing the population of solace bay to just over 20,000! And, More contracts are being signed each month! Most of the construction going on is for housing these new employees, and most of the work that these new employees are doing is constructing more housing for new employees (it is an interesting cycle, But finally, more effort is being diverted back to the increase of factory output and lumber harvesting). Some of the new buildings can be seen below. Some of the buildings have had more decoration and architecture built into them than is usual for James Wyant's taste, but he has decided that if he tries to make the city more beautiful, then the workers will be happier and more productive. A Town hall was built on the ashes of the apartment buildings that had burned in the riots. This building serves as the council building, the court, and also houses some offices of the Solace Bay Co. for now. The City also finished its full sized industrial port. Solace Bay now has the third largest industrial Port in the nation after Duluth and Mariston. The first stages of the Prison camp for political prisoners has been built by the prisoners captured after the riots. The actual prison facility has yet to be built. For now the prisoners sleep in the empty warehouses at gunpoint of the Solace Bay Police Force. They are currently being put to work building new factories outside of the camp, but once those are complete, they will build their own prison that will house them until their sentences are complete . . . A baseball field has been built in the western end. Baseball came to Inakaye recently with American immigrants, and has caught on around the country. It is being played at some informal level in every city. James sees this as a way to entertain his employees and also to divide the workers a little. Each neighborhood gets a team and they compete against each other in several series each year. and at the end of the year there is a playoff for the Solace Bay Championship. This provides entertainment for the workers and also causes the neighborhoods to compete against each other, which he hopes will lessen worker solidarity. The only other news is for huge expansion of the western end factory development. As 1910 closes, James Wyant sits pretty confident in his power. He has spent a good deal of the money left to him by his missing brother Robert to increase his workforce and make the Company/City safer and more efficient. He has essentially taken complete control over the functioning of the City, leaving "Mayor" Daniel Johnston an almost complete figurehead. This neglect of giving Daniel actual duties has put strain on their relationship. James has pretty much ignored Daniel and gathered a new group of confidants mainly the Cheif of Police Esko Juarez and the head of the Department of Security Alda Rent. It appears to Daniel that he has fallen out of James' trust due to his more moderate views. James has spent alot of time schemeing with his two new friends. Yet, he does not feel entirely safe. The brotherhood of Derrik's continued presence eats at him and sometimes keeps him up at night. How could such an organization hide in such a small city with all of his efforts being made to uncover them? Sometimes he Suspects that Daniel is against him, and has had a secret officer follow him on occasion. He knows there must be a Brotherhood mole somewhere . . . Who could it be?

South of Solace Bay is a small town named Havalina. It sits on the shores of Lake Audra specifically at end of the Straights of Pleura. The main town is on a peninsula called Foxclif Point. It initallly began as a fishing community, but a larger farming community began growing around it. A year ago (1909), the settlement chartered under Inakaye Law and became a town electing Farka Toure as their first Mayor. As it was with Lake Maureen's Mayor (McKinley Morganfield), Farka Toure is the owner of the Town's General Store. This is a common occurence, because the store owner's are usually the most in touch with local event's and everyone in the town knows and trusts them. Recently, Mckinley Morganfield, Mayor of Lake Maureen to the north, constructed a road to Havalina from Lake Maureen. Since then there has been increased trade through the Havalina Docks. Just this year, the town sold land to the Duluth Bay Shipping Co. to construct a small port on the east side of Foxclif Point (where the slopes aren't as steep). Land was also sold to three Food Manufacturing companies who will construct fish canning facilities in Havalina. This new port is expected to bring many inhabitants to Havalina, and also increase trade from Lake Maureen and Solace Bay through the area. James Wyant of the Solace Bay Co. Sees these developments taking place from up north in his city and much like the eye of Sauron, he begins to shift his gaze southward upon the town of Havalina. "with a Port In Havalina, I could have direct trade to Duluth as well as Mariston. I could increase my already Immense profits . . ."

The news of Inakaye . . . The biggest news is the election of a new first Minister. His name Guy Piccioto, and he became first Minister on january 1st, 1910. He is from Mariston and this is the first time that a first Minister has been elected from a city other than Auen. below . . . MARISTON (notice the two business districts, the south one is downtown and the north one is Marias. Mariston is about to beat out Duluth as largest city in Inakaye) Since the Political system of Inakaye has never been explained, let's take a quick look at the governing system. Inakaye is a sort of decentralized republic. Each city elects a council, and each city council elects Ministers to a federal parliament, and this federal parliment elects a first Minister, who is the leader of the Inakaye Government. This means that only members of cities (settlements with a population of 12,000 or more) are represented by the federal government. This has not been a problem in the past because, 90% of Inakaye's population was within city boundaries, and because the federal government did not interfere with the affairs of smaller towns. For the majority of Inakaye's history, there have only been three cities. Auen, Duluth, and Mariston. However, over the past two decades and the huge influx of immigrants from simnation, many of the smaller towns have reached the city landmark. Some of these being Holbrook, Greenecliff, and Arnett. See below map. The most recent town to become a city is of course Solace Bay. Unfortunately, Solace bay was too slow in it's city application and missed the deadline for being able to elect a minister to parliment for the period of 1910-1912. It will have to wait until November 1911 to elect a minister. Each city gets 1 minister at 12,000 inhabitants, and then another minister for every 10,000 after up to a limit of 10 ministers at 102,000 inhabitants. There are currently 35 ministers in the Parliment, and this number will theoretically increase as Inakaye grows. below is the Parliament building and the Auen City Hall. In it's history up to this point the Federal government has only been concerned with foreign affairs, and national and regional land issues. It has stayed out of the legislation and politics of individual cities and towns. And has kept its distance from economics, education, and transportation concerns. In this way Inakaye is quite like a group of small city states, where the individual cities are more powerful than the federal government. However, now each region is quite upset at First Minister Piccioto for his desire to begin a national post office. This will require each residence to be given an address, for the nation to be parceled into postal zones and for each zone to be given a post office. Many citizens of Inakaye, see this as a huge invasion of privacy and an attempt at the federal government to start interfering in the lives the citizens. Minister Piccioto responds to these outcries with his most recent press release, "I find it interesting that our citizens see this as an invasion of privacy, but think nothing of the fact that comminucation between citizens from separate settlements is almost impossible anywhere than the three cities. I find it necessary to bring our Nation up to date with the rest of the world with this seemingly rudimentary government service. Once the ordeal of creating this post office is complete I imagine that each citizen will enjoy its benifits, and forget their complaints." Construction has nearly finished of the National Inakaye Post Office in Auen (The interior still needs to be furnished), and surveyors are scouring the country and laying out the boundaries of the post zones. Soon, each zone will receive funds to construct its own post office, and these offices will go about registering each person's address within its zone. Below is a picture of the First minister being served a celebratory lunch on the roof of the newly constructed Post office building in downtown Auen. It is pretty windy today, I hope his seabass doesn't blow away . . . In other news, the first non-stop airplane flight was made from Auen to Duluth. The Gregg's flyer, piloted by Alden Greggory himself made record distance Inakayan flight of 585 kilometers to Duluth from Auen in just under five hours setting a world record for average airspeed at 110.5 km/hr. He was greeted in Duluth with much fanfare and has been awarded the Inakaye Federated Science award for his achievement, and for putting Inakaye on the world stage for technology. A grant is being given to him by Minister Piccioto to develop a plane that could be used to be an express courier service between the three cities. The minister hopes to keep Inakaye at the lead of the aeronautical technology race that has been going on world wide since the Wrightsim brothers made their historical first flight in 1903. Also a huge map of the country has been made. You can see it here . . . http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/7814/scaleimageofinakayelabe.jpg

I really like those buildings! nice academy!

Replies: Schulminator: Thanks! Yeah I hear those things can be deadly. Cisco2: Most of the natural stuff was from the rural renewal project on the SC4D Lex. I also used Jeronij's plop water, and some of his rocks, and some sim peg rocks. My terrain mod is the columbus terrain mod and the water mod is brigantine by simpeg. Oh, I use cycledogg's trees. That pretty much covers the general. If you have any specific ones you want to know about. Vivipanda: Thanks for coming back! I am glad you liked them. It was the day after the Solace Bay Riots (entry 16), and the very same day that Robert Wyant Went on his journey(entry 17). Robert's Brother James had come back to the Wyant Mansion after his exhausting day in the City. He was now sitting in his study drinking a glass of the Lake Maureen Produced Evanson Whiskey and considering the events of the day. He and the other Wealthy inhabitants of Solace Bay (who all lived in the neighborhood of Wyant's Landing across the bay) left early this morning before dawn and sailed across the bay on the ferry. They entered the city and marched through its streets armed to the teeth and dared any workers to challenge them. When the remaining Solace Bay company guards saw them arrive they joined them and began marching though the streets of the worst neighborhoods. Surprisingly, no workers challenged them, and the few workers that they saw on the streets they immediately arrested even though most of them were collecting the bodies of those who had been killed the day before. Once the city had been reclaimed by the guards and the wealthy, criers were sent all over the city escorted by guards telling the workers, who peered at the criers from the doors of their houses, that tommorrow they would return to their factories or to where their factories used to be and they would be assigned their jobs for the reconstruction of the city. It was this that James wyant was thinking of as he drank his whiskey and sat in his study. How to rebuild the city? what do do wbout the future of the company? He looked at the statistics he had written down on the sheet. Total High level employees dead: 70 Total Workers dead: 329 total workers arrested: 386 total factories destroyed: 3 total workers residencies destroyed: ~60 estimated total damages in Inakaye Dollars: ~$27,000 he thought about the different neighborhoods and the damage each sustained: western end had taken the most damage with three factories and several blocks of workers housing. The north shore came next with several more blocks of workers housing. Derrik though it somehow housed the secret organization "the brotherhood of Derrik," only lost a few homes. downtown lost two apartment buildings and a couple shacks. these were actually pretty big losses because there were about 100 people displaced from the burning of these two medium density buildings. James sat there and pondered . . . He made a list of things to do. Two woodworking factories and a machinery factory need to be rebuilt. Alot of workers housing needs to be rebuilt. The Solace Bay Company Offices were at capacity before the riots and were ransacked in the riots. They must be refurnished or rebuilt. our business is being hindered by our tiny docks. Also we must have a rail connection to our docks. It is imperative that we build a proper seaport and connect it to the rail line. We must built a city hall to house the city administrative offices. we must build the prison factory complex to house our common and political criminals. Not only does this list need to be prioritized (what needs to be done first? second?), the locations of some buildings need to be decided. Should the prison be built on top of the ruined blocks of the north shore? or should it be built on the previously undeveloped land north of the western end. Building it in the north shore would be a message to the workers, but building it north of the western end would be safer and more secluded. It would also leave room to build whatever measures needed to be placed to ensure maximum security . . . Next should the Solace Bay company headquarters and the Solace Bay City hall be built in downtown or in wyant's landing? Downtown is more central and gives the administration and immediate presence in the lives of the workers, but after these riots many wealthy are considering the city across the bay unsafe, and would prefer to work in wyant's landing where a bay separated them from the violent workers. Also, James recently had sent recruiters to Mariston, which has sometimes over 1000 immigrants arrive each month, and has nothing to do with them. Jame's idea was to sign some of them to contracts and ship them to solace bay. The first boat should be arriving in a week or two and the city doesn't have enough houses to house the current population. Clearly higher density housing is needed. Shacks just wont do it anymore. These thoughts overwhelmed him, But they also distracted him from the thought that was pounding at the base of his spine. "Robert." He had read the note on his door whenever he returned from the city. "Tired. Look in top drawer of my desk. Take care, and be careful. We were to be farmers when we came here. Be sure to think of what you're planting. Your Brother, Robert" In Robert's desk he found Robert's Will, which left all his assets and properties to James. Even though he had almost hated Robert for the past couple months, this still upset and disturbed James. The man whom he had grown up with had apparently committed suicide. When He found the note he began an official search for Robert with the new Chief of Police, Garrett Hays. But when they found that Robert's boat was missing, James realised that Robert would likely never be found. "Why Robert? This thing happened and you had nothing to do with it. Sometimes things happen. People are violent creatures and they kill one another. it was that brotherhood's fault, not yours . . ." But Robert was long gone. James took another swig of whiskey and returned to his endless list of decisions. He had no idea what to do. Any suggestions? Whatever is decided, there sure are some great changes ahead for Solace Bay . . .

I really like your journal.  I can't tell from the black and white photos.  Are those buildings in the 1914 JB simbo small town buildings?  i really like them. 

That is a beautifuul region.  I love those farms, how did you do them If you don't mind me asking?  they look very realistic and I love how they are diagonal.

haha! that was good.  Bigglesworth is a fitting name for your captain there.

Entry 14: A Reader’s Guide to the Solace Bay Region “I’ve made a huge mistake.” - GOB Bluth Well, since this is my first CJ, and since it is also my first time really playing SC4 (played it for a little when it first came out but it was too hard for me to get the hang of), I have been really learning how to effectively do both. I originally wanted to create a massive country of many cities that all seemed alive and organic, much the way that CSG or Marsh’s cities do (both my first inspirations to write a CJ). While I still want to create the major cities of the country of Inakaye, I have really gotten to love story telling. And, since story telling takes time and is more of a microscopic level, I have found that it is easier for me to focus on one storyline at a time. Thus I chose Solace Bay (which I still don’t understand why? Because I have three other maps that I am so itching to build on, but had I chosen one of them I’d probably be itching for solace bay, haha). Anyway, The first half of my ST journal deals with Inakaye as a whole. But then I move to Solace Bay. And there are several towns in solace Bay that I keep talking about. Still yet I just started using the banner of “Inakaye Chapter One: Solace Bay.” All of this is confusing I’m sure. And, since I have just started to get into the “good stuff” as far as the Solace Bay storyline is concerned (I hope you all like it at least), I have decided to write a thorough “Readers Guide to the Solace Bay Region.” Hopefully this update will clarify everything and everyone. It will also be a good sort of legend (that I update periodically) that can be useful for further entries. I will now go through each important location and give some summary and a little on the important characters of each place. Let’s start with Inakaye as a whole . . . Inakaye is a continent/country far to the east of the known world. Look at this ancient map, imagine that the world was indeed flat and that the borders of this map extended much farther into unknown waters. Imagine that there was apparent nothingness for thousands of miles on the eastern side of the map, and then there was a continent. That is where Inakaye is. Of course the world is round, and some aspects of this journal rely on the fact that that is the case. Essentially I am adding many thousands of miles of nothingness to the pacific ocean. It is very possible that there are still unknown continents that exist out there in the huge unexplored vastness of ocean(hint hint). Here is a crude map of inakaye, (Fullsize: http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/3453/inakayelabeled.jpg) much like the ancient map you see above, this map was a first sketch that features all of the major features of the continent, but is not very accurate as to scale. As I get better at making images on the computer, I will attempt to make a better map. History of inakaye can be found in my fist ST entry here. Now we go through the major cities of Inakaye. There’s Auen Auen was the first settlement of Inakaye, and also the first city. It is currently (1910) the nation’s second largest city with a population of around 179,000. It is the seat of the federal government, which is ruled by a parliament and First Minister. As of the current game year (1910), the federal government does not exert it’s power very far and most governing power rests on the town/city level. As Inakaye grows, that may change. Auen is also the home of most of the country’s wealth and culture. However, it is really poorly planned out. it's as if the city planners had no clue as to how to build a city and just randomly placed large swathes of zones together without any clue as to the consequences of their actions. Next is Duluth Duluth is the grimy industrial capital of Inakaye. Most of Inakaye’s manufactured goods come from here. It sits in the middle of a regional slew of natural resources including coal, iron, lumber, clay, oil, tin, and copper. It is the largest city with a metro population of nearly 300,000. The conditions in most of the city are deplorable. There are areas near the old harbor that are becoming rather nice though with the increase of wealth in the area. It is also the region of Inakaye that has the most railroad tracks per square mile. Next there is Mariston. (I am having issues choosing a map for the city, this is different from the original one, but I am currently not to in love with this one, so it may change again) Mariston has become the major port of Inakaye. Auen lost nearly half of it’s trade to Mariston over the past ten years. Mariston sits at the delta of the Alexandra river and is connected by a waterway to Duluth and the Lake Audra trade route. Mariston is the third largest city at 159,000. Mariston also has the largest immigrant population and is also the fastest growing city. The city is having trouble building homes for the new immigrants, and there are tensions growing between Inakyans who have been in the country several generations and those that are newly arrived. Next comes Wales wales is a very small town and is very far north, but it has an abundance of oil which makes it a very important part of the country. While there are other towns labeled on the map, none of then are cities as of yet and all have a population less than 12,000. They are mostly farming communities as well and lack the heavy industrial development of the cities mentioned above. I may mention them from time to time, but they are not crucial at this point in my CJ. Finally we arrive at the subject of Chapter One: Solace Bay. (which just to clarify means that The CJ is about the country of Inakaye. There will hopefully be many chapters. The first one deals with Solace Bay. Other chapters may be about other cities, or I may stick with Solace Bay, we shall see.) The first thing I’d like to clarify is that Solace Bay is a bay and a city which is named after the bay that it sits in. I also use the term Solace Bay to refer to the Region as a whole. Furthermore, there is the Solace Bay Co, which is located in the city and pretty much owns the entire thing. Confusing right? Well, from now on when I use the words Solace Bay I will try to be clear as to whether I am referring to the city, the region, or the bay itself. The Solace Bay region is special because it is the location of an ~8km isthmus between the north ocean and Lake Audra. It is also “the” major eastern settlement at this time in the country (slowly people are moving east and several settlements have sprung up even further east but I have yet to mention them yet in the CJ). The isthmus and the location set it up as a perfect place for a crossing of trade spheres. Now we will go into each major settlement and briefly describe it and then give a description of each of the major characters in that live there. Let’s start with Solace Bay. Solace Bay started as a stopping point for sailors on their way to Wales. It then became the site of the Solace Bay Lumber Co. Which was the company that supplied Wales with most of its construction material. The company continued to expand its markets by building factories to build other wooden products like furniture, rifle stocks, and yes, toothpicks; it further expanded with the addition of the Iron Hills Mining operation and the rail link to connect Solace Bay with the mine. The population has exploded over the past ten years but the settlement has still not chartered (though it is in the process of chartering). The city is known for it’s extreme pollution and awful living conditions, but it has jobs a plenty and people still keep coming . . . Major Characters: Robert Wyant and James Wyant: Owners/founders of the Solace Bay Co. They live across the bay from the City in the wealthy neighborhood of Wyant’s Landing. They came to the region from Duluth and were intent on Becoming farmers before they started the Lumber Co. almost by accident (they had just cleared a field for their farm when a whaler who was just passing through offered to pay a good deal for the lumber so he could build a house in the settlement of Wales far to the north). They have not been getting along for the past few years and rarely interact except at board meetings. They are probably in the top ten richest people in Inakaye. Robert is rather wise and pragmatic. James is determined, but wrathful, perhaps even violent. Daniel Johnson: Speaker of the Solace Bay Co. Board. VP of the company. very intelligent, very persuasive, but also fairly goodhearted for an Industrialist. Black Francis: Leader of the Brotherhood of Derrik, an underground worker's organization that is very mysterious in it's goals, but is possibly revolutionary. Major Events: Solace Bay Riots, April 30th, 1910 See entry Chapter1: April, 30th 1910. Started due to raising of tax rates. many buildings were destroyed, many people killed. caused Robert Wyant to leave Solace Bay. The next town is Lake Maureen Lake Maureen is directly to the south of Solace Bay. It was originally started as a farming community that provided The Solace Bay settlement with food. It quickly grew into a small town with many shops and businesses. Recently, it chartered as a town with the Inakaye Government in Auen, and has grown quite quickly over the past two years under the leadership of its first mayor. Inhabitants of Lake Maureen have grown to resent the rowdy and pollutive Solace Bay to the north and have been trying to keep it from creeping any further south. This is much to the annoyance of Robert and James Wyant of the Solace Bay Co. who wish to expand their company in every direction. Major Characters: Mayor McKinley Morganfield: The first Mayor of Lake Maureen. Been in the area for 20 years, came with parents and brothers from near Duluth, but was only 12 at the time. Owned a general store in town, but recently gave it up to contribute all his time to mayoral duties. Very calm and patient man, Believes strongly in education and in attracting trade and business to the region. His opinions on The Solace Bay Co are quite negative, but he is wise enough to realise that he and his city are powerless compared to the Company and it’s city. He continues to try and organise and develop the town of Lake Maureen to increase its legal and economic power. Jake and Genevieve Newson (used to be Nelson./Hudson): Star crossed lovers who ran off together from homesteads south of Cape Winston. Own a farm on the South Shore of lake Maureen. Recently gave birth to a daughter named Joanna. The next settlement is Havalina Havalina is a small farming community located on the shores of lake Audra to the south of both Solace Bay and Lake Maureen. It is of mention because McKinley Morganfield recently built a road there to open up trade to Lake Maureen from Lake Audra. There are no important characters here yet. Next is Cape Winston Cape Winston began as a fishing village, but then farms and a town began growing up around it. It is now home to a fish cannery and has begun to slowly grow into a town. It is not officially chartered yet. There are no Characters here either. Lastly I want to bring up the Burton Homestead again. This was the first settlement in the this area of Inakaye. The Burtons have been living here for over 100 years. Members of the Burton family have dispersed throughout the country. Major Characters: Jeremiah Burton: Current head of the Burton Household, still remembers the good old days when there was no one around. Elijah Burton: Jeremiah’s son. Future head of the household. Married to Elsa Rally, and has two kids, Aaron and Shannon. Recently Elsa’s cousin Gary Rally, from Cape Winston, cleared a farmstead near the Burton farm. Jeremiah was pissed because he’s a grumpy old man. While there are other towns, you can see them on the map. I don’t have anything particular to say about them right now. I hope that was clarifying. I was thinking of just editing the first post and placing this in there, but I don’t think it fits there as it pertains only to the most recent posts and the ones that are to come. I say, let the past be past and will leave it as a monument to my progress. I have been looking through a lot of other journals and I can see where mine is lacking in clarity and thoroughness. I have also been evaluating other people’s playing styles and trying to improve my own. I doubt I can achieve the greatness of those who inspire me (solely because I do so many other things in my life), but have found this whole CJ experience to be quite enjoyable, so I see this post as sort of a clean up of the past and a look to the future of Inakaye. I hope that those of you who have enjoyed my journal continue to do so. Thanks so much for your comments, it keeps me writing!

Entry 17: What happened to Robert Wyant Robert Wyant awoke from a fitful sleep still sitting in his chair at the dining table in the Wyant Mansion. He remained in his spot all through his brother James' speech, and then even after the meeting had ended. His silence and lack of movement had gathered the stares of many at the emergency meeting who had expected him to show his natural leadership. James' firey speech soon had their attention though, and Robert was lost amidst the energy of James. And so Robert sat all through the night, left to his own thoughts. The early morning sun was slanting in through the windows of the Dining hall and Robert brushed his hair from his forehead. He recalled that earlier that morning, James and Daniel had come to try and rouse him to come with them on their retaking of the city from the rioters. They had gathered the whole population of Wyant's Landing on the front lawn of the mansion armed with guns and other weapons and then set out to the Wyant's Landing docks where they presumably sailed across the bay to the city. Robert remained in his chair. There was a quiet to the dining hall as Robert finally rose from his chair. he went to his room and took off his clothes. He stood naked before his closet and pulled out the overalls from the back of the closet. He remembered these overalls, and how he wore them when he came to this region nearly 15 years ago. Then, he was an ex-factory worker intent on farming. Now, he was . . . He placed them on the bed. He put on his underclothes and then put on his overalls. He wrote a short note which he pinned to his brother's door. Then he left from the Wyant mansion. He walked down dock street to the docks. he got into his small sailboat and unlashed it from the dock. he set sail and left Wyant's Landing. he set out across the bay, but halfway across, he turned north, away from the city. he went west around Walker's point, the point north of the city. once he got around the point turned south. he came in closer to shore and passed by the settlement of Windram. he then traveled along the shore for several kilometers. it was now nearly 11am. Robert came then upon the abandoned town of Irving. This town was once the port for the iron hills mine, but when the rail link to the mine was completed, all the machinery here was disassembled and transported to Solace Bay to be used in the new factories built there. the workers were merely reassigned to Solace Bay, and after several months, all the other inhabitants had left too. Now it stands a weed riddled shell of a town, slowly being reclaimed by the Inakaye wilderness. Robert tied his boat to the dock and walked through the streets of this ghost town. He had been against wasting all these buildings and moving all these people like cattle. It turned out to be the most cost effective though and he went along with it. When he got to the end of the town he just kept on walking into the underbrush. It had used to be that walking through the woods was dangerous without a gun, but now most of the wolves and man eating raccoons in the region had been killed. The spring had just started to develop flowers as he walked into the foothills of the Burton Mountains. As he got higher up, he came across a meadow. A very rare sight in Inakaye due to the extremely dense conifer forests. As he crested a hill, it turns out that this meadow was on the shore of a tranquil mountain lake. it was quite breathtaking and he stopped to admire the beauty of it. He thought about the lakes beauty in contrast to the human ugliness he had seen in the past two days. At one end of the lake there was a mountain stream that flowed into it. He decided to follow this stream up the mountain. The sun started to make him thirsty so he took a drink from the stream. He was without food or anything except for his overalls, his shoes, a small flask he took from his boat, and a small knife that was still in his overalls from years ago. He felt the fear of death, and that made him feel alive. He kept walking up the north peak of the Burton Mountains. The terrain got steeper and the stream got much rockier, but Robert kept moving. pretty soon the stream was reduced to a few pools of water separated by rocky trickles down the mountainside. eventually the stream bed disappeared as did the trees. Robert was in a high mountain field. He could see the snowy peak not far off. He hiked to the edge of the field and turned around to face the world. He could see the forest stretching out below him and could see the distant smoke of Solace Bay rising before the even more distant ocean. Robert thought, "where have I come from? Duluth? Before that Simnation? Before that even? Have I come from the earth? Am I dust returning to dust? I was young and now am a man. I always thought my work was my purpose. But my work has sowed the events of yesterday, and such violence is no one's purpose. How could men do such things? I came to this place in order to be free and sow the land. Where did I go wrong? How did I get caught up in this? On the other side of this mountian is a man whose family has been here since this whole thing started. This strange country where millions live, yet the country has room for millions more. This country that has not even begun to have her secrets revealed. This beautiful country covered in an endless wall of trees . . . Oh that man on the other side of the mountian, oh how he and i are different. All, I wanted was to start a family like his, but now I am . . . done. I am done with Robert. Today Robert returns to the earth." And so Robert sat and gazed across the forest before him, until the evening sun started casting long shadows of the mountain and the air became chill. Robert got up and started walking back down the mountain into the darkness of the forest. ............................................................................................ I hope you all enjoyed this entry, remember, If you get confused at all about the characters and their roles in the storyline, the Solace Bay reader's guide is a good reference. http://www.csgdesign.com.au/CSGf/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=227#p2961 The next update will Involve James Wyant and the aftermath of the Solace Bay riots. Until Then, Take Care!

Reply . . . Vivapanda: Thanks for reading! We will have to wait and see how James Wyant and Solace Bay react . . . now on to this update . . . The very same evening that Solace Bay Co. president James Wyant gave his speech to rile up the wealthy residents of Solace Bay, another emergency town meeting was being held. This one to the South of the rioting city in the town of Lake Maureen. news of the riot spread quickly through the town, and since Lake Maureen is merely a kilometer from the southern limits of Solace Bay, the townspeople could hear the explosions of burning factories or the occasional outbursts of gunfire in the distance. Terrified by the sounds they have heard from the north, all the villagers of Lake Maureen have gathered at the Town meeting hall, which used to be a barn before the town was there. numbering close to 6,000 most cannot get inside, but they mill nervously around the doors. It is said that very soon Lake Maureen Mayor McKinley Morganfield will hold a meeting. A quiet hum is heard throughout the crowd, "What will we do if they come down here? How can we protect ourselves from 12,000 people?" As if by magic the crowd grows silent. McKinley Morganfield has risen to the podium. "My dear friends, each of us knows why the other is here. we are all concerned about the riots going on in Solace Bay. From what we have heard, things are quite violent in the city. However, it does not appear that they have any desire to leave the city, and as night has fallen the riots seem to be losing steam. I am told that no new fires have been set since about 6pm." "What makes you so sure that they won't come to Lake Maureen!" shouted someone from the crowd. "I realise that everyone is scared of this, but the best way to handle the situation is to remain calm. This meeting is being held to prepare for just that-" another shout interrupted him, "we should build a wall!" "please, ladies and gentlemen, do not interrupt, we are a civilised town, remember?" (silence from the crowd) "now the town council has already met and discussed most every option available to us. Your suggestion of a wall is a long term solution, and we will address that in time, but for the moment we will discuss the immediate actions that the town is engaging in. At this moment on Banks Avenue, Elmira St. and Winter st, the three main roads between here and Solace Bay, there are sentries with horses posted to watch for any sign of rioters coming this way. In the event that they do these sentries will ride here and warn the town of the coming rioters. we have decided to call upon all willing men to take up arms in defense of the town, should rioters come to the town. After this meeting will be a mustering of all volunteers where we will organize you into groups with leaders. Does this decision meet your approval as a town?" Cheers from the crowd. "Then that will be our short term solution for the defense of our Town. As far as long term solutions we have discussed many. We decided that building a wall is a semi-hostile act and would likely instill resentment towards our town among the workers of Solace Bay. Not to mention the exorbitant cost of building and maintaining a wall around the city. thus A wall is not suitable as a long term solution. The best decision we came up with was a Lake Maureen Police squad complete with deputies and perhaps even a volunteer militia. The council has voted for this solution, but since this affects us all so much we will also hold a town vote so that all of you have a say in this matter. The vote will be held once the plan has been explained. Now, the details of this plan are as follows: A police station will be built in the middle of our town and several full time officers will be employed. They will have all the legal responsibilities given police officers under Inakaye law. Now we haven't had too many crimes in our town and all disputes have been settled peacefully, but with police officers we will now have an official judicial system in the town with the town council acting as a court for now until court responsibilities become too time intensive and a full time court is required. The benefits of this are that we will have more protection against rioters, outlaws, and bandits, but the downside is that with officers of the law patrolling our town, any infractions of our law will be met with penalties. Think about these issues and what they will mean for our town before you decide what your vote will be. As far as the deputy and militia proposals are concerned, these will be volunteer responsibilities but will be handled and organized by the full time, paid, officers of our police force. Furthermore there will be costs involved with a police station, namely the cost of the building, equipment, and the salaries of at least four full time officers. We do not have exact values for these costs, but we estimate it to come to around 50,000 dollars, which translates to a yearly tax increase of around 8 dollars per person in this town. Now just last month you already approved a 4 dollar per year tax increase for the building of a new school, and those contracts have already been signed. this means that you will each be paying 1 more dollar a month in order to have both the school and the police force. They both come with benefits, but they have their costs. We will now give you a twenty minute recess to discuss these matters before a vote is held. Any questions?" Hands shot up among the crowd and McKinley began answering the various concerns of the towns people . . . nearly thirty minutes later, a vote was held and the creation of a Lake Maureen police force was approved . . . ................................................................................................................................... Later that night in the basement of the Lake Maureen Business association, another meeting was held. The lamp was turned low and barely illuminated the faces of the men around the table. This meeting involved four men: Duane Denison, Edward Ingleson, Rey Washam, and Brendan Canty. These were the four wealthiest businessmen of Lake Maureen, and they have been meeting secretly (separate from the normal business association meetings) for the past four months to discuss items of their own interest . . . Rey Washam (Oldest, clearly the wealthiest, and leader of the group): So what did you think of Morganfield's meeting? Duane Denison (young guy, but very intelligent): I think it shouldn't bother us too much, seeing as most of us are on the council. And, we are doing nothing "illegal" per se. No police officer will be knocking on our doors any time soon. Brendan Canty (middle aged, well dressed): We must be sure to have some hand in the police force when it is created, which should be no problem for our upstanding young man here . . . (Brendan gestures and smiles at Duane. Duane: If you are suggesting I become an Officer? Brendan: Perhaps you could become a deputy, and perhaps your store could supply the station with all it's amenities, perhaps you could become involved in a business manner with the station. They are just suggestions. Rey: I agree with Brendan here, we have our hands in the council, but that may not be enough, we must tread carefully with this new police force . . . But we can discuss that when it comes. For now I want to discuss these riots . . . Morganfield and the town are scared out of their wits, but I see these riots as one more step towards our goal. We must do everything in our power to encourage the destabilization of that oppressive monopoly, and the sooner the better. I tell you, no business in this region is safe with those moguls running their machine. They are very wealthy and at this moment in time wealth is the loudest in Auen, it can get alot done for those who have it . . . Before we know it, we could be working for the Wyants. Morganfield has left the business association and somehow in his golden heart has the town's best interest's in mind, I have talked with him and he will support no actions against the Solace Bay Co. So, we are on our own, and you know what is at stake . . . But I have just made communication with someone who may be able to help us . . .

Riots broke out this morning in Solace Bay in reaction to a series of events surrounding the chartering of the city. The Impetus appears to have been today's announcement of additional city taxes to be paid out by all citizens. Other grievances heard from the rioters included the unsafe housing of workers, brutality of Solace Bay Co Guards (who have now become the official police force of the recently chartered City of Solace Bay), and claims that the recent city council elections were rigged. The riots began in the newly built western end factory complex and the worker housing neighborhoods that surround it. Once news of the riots spread, various groups of workers joined in around the city until nearly the entire city was rioting. Most of the destruction has been done in the Western End factory neighborhoods and the North Shore neighborhood. So far several company guards and managers have been beaten to death by the workers. Several factories have been burned down or are in the process of burning. In addition, entire blocks of worker's housing have been torched to the ground. The remaining guards are busy attempting to keep rioters from damaging any more factories. Many are also trying to bring order to the downtown area. Being armed with guns against the unarmed (except for blunt objects) rioters is giving them an advantage.. Most of the board of the Solace Bay Co. was able to make it out of the city and escape across the bay to Wyant’s Landing, where there is an emergency council of all Wyant’s landing inhabitants being held at the Wyant mansion. Before we go to the mansion, there are some very important background events that led up to these riots that must be mentioned. When we last saw the Solace Bay Co. executive board they had decided to charter their settlement. They had also decided that in order to maintain control of the settlement and fulfill the federal requirement of having open elections, they would require a written exam be passed before a candidate could run for city council or mayor. This would disqualify 95% of the illiterate populace and the Wyant brothers could personally grade the tests and fail any candidates they wished to remove from the electoral race. Yet, these plans were kept secret from all except the upper management of the company. Thus, when the elections were announced, there was a great excitement among the workers who felt that this was their chance to get some say in the way their lives were run. So, each neighborhood began choosing the candidates they wanted to run. Meanwhile, the Solace Bay Co. started planting their own candidates in poor working neighborhoods who posed as lowly workers, but were really higher level Solace Bay Co. employees. If the populace would elect these plants unwittingly it would be just another way for the company to maintain its control over the workers while entertaining the appearance of honest elections. Also, during this time a different rumor was going around the town. A rumor was spread that there was a new underground worker's organization formed by a mysterious man known only as "Black Francis." The organization was called the Brotherhood of Derrik (named after a worker's neighborhood in Solace Bay). It's membership was secret, and it's goals were also vague, being merely stated as "fighting for the worker's cause." This organization spread fear in the middle class and wealthy of the region and gave them all the more incentive to retain a tight control over the workers in the soon to be elected government. And so, with all this excitement brewing, the town was electric when the elections finally arrived on March, 21st 1910. Out of the candidates, every undercover worker plant was elected to the town council, also, Daniel Johnson was elected the First Mayor of Solace Bay. Only two wealthy candidates from Wyant landing were elected to the ten member city council. Immediately following the elections the workers were happy, and the Solace Bay executives were happy. The worker's thought they had gotten what they wanted, and the Solace Bay Co. execs knew the truth of what had happened. They had maintained control of the Workers and the Company. The charter was sent into Auen as charter stating the population of Solace Bay to be 12,090, making it a city immediately. (Truthfully the city only had 11,800 or so inhabitants, but numbers were fudged and a couple hundred transitory lumberjacks declared the city as their home). This was the first and only time that a federal charter granted city-hood with the signing of the charter. The charter signing day was a glorious day in the city. The entire populous of Solace Bay showed up to put their X (since none of them could write) next to where a literate Solace Bay Co. employee had written their name. The sun was almost bright enough to shine through the smoky fog of the factories, and everyone felt that they smelled something other than sulfur in the air that day. Unfortunately Things did not stay cheerful for very long. The very next week, a day after the charter had been officially ratified by the inakaye government, a new rumor spread through town. Apparently the Brotherhood of Derrik had discovered the lie about the planted city council candidates, and through some communication network spread this truth as a rumor throughout the entire city. The workers were furious, and the newly elected city council had nothing they could do but flat out deny these accusations. Some workers believed the council, but truthfully, the doubt had been planted. Thus, this morning when the news of new city taxes was announced, it was the last straw. The rioting started before the Company guards or floor managers knew what to do about it. And, so we arrive at our present time, at an emergency council in the Wyant Mansion. The night air smelling of smoke, and the distant glow of the city burning across the bay. Inside the Wyant mansion the golden electric lights shed a warm light on the dining hall, where the most prominent members of both the Solace Bay co. and the Wyant's Landing neighborhood have gathered. The Dining hall is a large room, on one side having a space for dancing and a small musical ensemble, the other side having a large banquet table. the room is packed nearly full. There must be almost 100 people murmuring and talking in nervous excited voices. At the head of the table stand James Wyant and Mayor Daniel Johnson. They are discussing something with each other in quiet tones as the neighborhood gathers to listen to their meeting. Next to them in a chair at the table sits Robert Wyant. He is looking down at the table and appears to hear or see nothing that is happening around him. At this moment James Wyant Gets up to speak . . . "A great injustice has been dealt to us today. Our lives and our livelihoods have been threatened, and in some cases tragically taken. The workers whom we provide with food, shelter, and income have turned upon us and challenged our superiority. I am here tonight to tell all of you, that this will not last one moment longer . . . (there is silence in the room) We have been too lenient in the past (at this point James looks down at his brother whom is still sitting in his chair starting distantly at the table in front of him). We have allowed dissent to spread when it should have been squashed. we have used kind words and deceit to trick the workers, when we should have used force to put them in their place. We have even allowed a subversive worker's organization to rise up in our town without making one move to dissolve it." "This old way of doing things will be no more . . ." (nod's and murmurs of agreement from the crowd). "Tomorrow, we will go into our city with an iron fist, and destroy any sort of rebellion we find. The workers will be made to rebuild what they have destroyed, and will also build a new kind of factory. A prison factory, in which those who are arrested for sabotage and subversion will be sent to toil away the rest of their lives with a gun at their back. Some of you have lost friends, brothers, or husbands tonight. They will be avenged. Each and every member of this evil brotherhood will be found and tried in a court for their crimes. they will be sentenced to death or life in prison." (more agreement from the crowd) "I Say, when you look upon the Solace bay of the future you will see a city of industry, of obedience, of justice! Do you see it?" (Shouted "yes"s and "indeed"s from the crowd) "The future of our city will be a prosperous one, where our children . . ." Thus, onward goes the speech of James Wyant to the city's wealthy, riling them up for the changes that are to come. And, in his observant way, Daniel Johnson, the newly elected mayor looks thoughtfully between the firey James as he delivers his speech, and the silent Robert who is still staring at the table. Not only have things changed between the workers and the upper class today. but something great has changed in the dynamics of the company. Daniel sees his horld changing before his eyes, and can almost feel the earth shifting under his feet. Robert is done, and James has come out on top. Daniel can do nothing but think about this and wonder what it means for him and his future. Meanwhile. across the bay, the city burns on into the night . . .

Entry 13: Mckinley Morganfield’s First Year of Office It has been a year since the Town of Lake Maureen was chartered with McKinley Morganfield as mayor. It is time to see how his first year has gone . . . You will recall that his first major action was to build a schoolhouse in the town center. He also made a nice little park across the street. He has also set up the Lake Maureen Business association. You may recall that Mckinley himself own’s a store in town. This new business association is a gathering of all store owners and business owners in the town to promote the starting of new businesses, the attraction of outside investment in the town, and cooperation between businesses where applicable. Mckinley sees this as a crucial way to compete and feed off of the monopolistic Solace Bay co to the north. interestingly enough, Mckinley has given over operation of his store to his oldest son, Junior, because he felt it unfair to make such profits while also being mayor. This way there will be no opportunity to criticize him as having his own interests ahead of the town’s. Mckinley used some of the treasury money to buy up land on the edge of town, and some farms that are on the edge of town or between Solace Bay and Lake Maureen, in hopes of developing them, or keeping them from being developed. The Golding and gorbach/Effie Purchases were bought to keep the Solace Bay Co from building any factories or slums within the Lake Maureen City Limits. It is yet unclear as to what each f these other purchases will be used for . . . Another thing done by Mckinley was build an extension of Lake Rd. North across the small causeway that separates lake Maureen from the Ocean. This allows for cart and car/truck traffic to not have to travel all the way around the lake to reach the east side of the lake. Speaking of cars and trucks, these newfangled “horseless” carts have been increasing in popularity in the region over the past couple of years. Most of the wealthiest in the region have them now, and recent developments in car manufacture techniques first developed in SimNation, but quickly imported here to Inakaye, are dropping the price of the car so that soon even poor farmers will be able to afford them. (a secret rumor that has been spreading around Lake Maureen is that a famous Auen car manufacturer, by the name of Hans Julian, has shown interest in building a factory in Lake Maureen. He might have even come here himself and had a conference with Mckinley about it. It’s just a rumor though, don’t tell anyone.) (but if he did build a factory here then maybe cars would become even more numerous! Still, we shouldn’t spread rumors, shhh!) Back to the Update . . . On the topic of car transportation, most of the cars in the area are owned by the wealthy of Wyant landing, on the east side of solace Bay to the North. A cheap dirt road has been made more out of necessity than anything to that neighborhood. And, interestingly enough, despite the tension between Solace Bay and Lake Maureen, the wealthy people of Wyant’s landing often joyride to Lake Maureen and shop in the nice shops and dine at the restaurants. The Wyant Brothers themselves never come here though. Too much crap between them and this town. The last major project undertaken by Mckinley in his first year in office is not completed yet. The isthmus that Lake Maureen and Solace Bay sit on is the only thing separating the oceanic trade routes from the Lake Audra trade routes. This isthmus has often been traversed by fur traders in the past, but any other traffic is too large to navigate the forests. Mckinley in the hopes of opening up more trade and busniess for his town, has begun building a road through the woods to the small settlement of Havalina on the shores of Lake Audra. This project has proved tedious, because it required him to purchase the land that the road will be built on and hire a crew to clear the land for the road. Yet, with all the previous land purchases, the schoolhouse, the park, and the construction of the causeway road, he pretty much used up the first year’s tax money. He then took it upon himself and some of the Business Association members to fund the Havalina road project. It should be finished by the end of the year, and should be level and sturdy enough to allow light truck traffic. McKinley eventually wishes to pave it to allow heavier traffic. He hopes that it will not only bring trade and business to the region, but also inhabitants. Only time will tell . . .

The Rail Line that links the Iron Hills Mine to Solace Bay is now complete! Construction was finished a kilometer south of the Nior Renau Settlement earlier this month. Below is a Picture of the final Rails being laid. Also, a very rare water llama was sighted at the completion of the construction. This was taken as a sign of good luck and the future prosperity that the rail connection will bring to the Solace bay Co. The first train of iron ore ran the line earlier today. The preparations are being made for even more excavation of the mine. And in addition, an entirely new factory sector has been built near the rail lines west of the main factory sector. Worker’s housing is being quickly built to try and house all the new workers that are moving in to fill the plentiful jobs in the area. Lastly, the completion of a rail line allows for lumbering to begin anywhere along the rail line and then for the timber to be shipped via train to the mills and factories in Solace Bay. The main operation has already approached the settlement of Windram, and the quarters for the actual lumberjacks has been moved here for now. Nearly all the property in Windram is owned by the Wyant Brothers, but it does have a few privately owned lots. Also, a small community has grown up around housing an auxiliary mill and the lumberjacks who are temporarily living here while doing their best to de-forest the region.

Excerpt from Solace Bay Co Board Meeting, November 16 1908, A little background about the Solace Bay Co executive Board. It is made up of 9 people. Four executive managers from various Solace Bay departments (Lumber, Mining, and two factory managers), and two wealthy investors who live and own businesses in the wealthy neighborhood of Wyant Landing across the bay (shown below). Also on the Board, The Vice President of Solace Bay Co, Daniel Johnson, and the Wyant brothers of course. Daniel Johnson has been with the company since 1899 and rose quickly to VP through many displays of brilliance and wisdom. He is the spokesman of the board and runs the meetings and has recently through his persuasiveness and subtlety has become a mediator between the brothers. He is by far the third most important person in the settlement.) Daniel: Well, the next order of business are the recent North Shore Disturbances. Since the erosion issue threatened a block of homes in this neighborhood, there have been repeated disturbances between Higher level employees and residents of the neighborhood. As per Robert’s suggestion, we will be giving all factory employees (which includes 97% of the North Shore residents) the day off for Paidrig Cassidy Day coming up next week. (nods and grunted agrement from the rest of the board) James: As I said before, won’t this just upset those who don’t get the day off? Robert: James, you know that the lumberjacks get a day off every time they complete a sector, and the rail employees have been promised a week’s paid vacation once the rail line is complete. The factory workers have no such incentive, and I feel that they need at least something to look forward to in order to keep them productive. James: But this does nothing to address the rowdy workers in the North Shore neighborhood . . . (in the end Robert got his way) . . . . . . . Daniel: Next up, we have the chartering issue. Now, we are nearing the population cap of being declared a city, but still have not yet chartered with the federal government. Now I realise that this is done in order to keep government regulations out of the way we run our business, but the legal benefits of being a town may outweigh the disadvantages. We would be able to collect taxes from our workers on top of the rent paid to us for their homes, we would have legal power equal to that of our good friends (cough) to the south, Lake Maureen. And we could possibly get government funding for public works such as the rail link to the iron hills mine. We could also create a tax funded police force instead of hiring guards. Etc etc. Mr. Investro McWealtherson: Doesn’t there need to be an elected Town government if we were to charter Solace Bay? Lumber guy: Yeah, how would we keep ourselves in control of things if they elected some idiot of their own to mayor or town council. Robert: I feel like this is all about making things look like Auen wants them, but maintaining actual control ourselves. We can hold elections like we said, but for the highest executive positions we can require a written exam. This is a very reasonable thing to expect from a town official, but most of our workers can’t write. As for those who can, we merely need to have the Solace Bay board grade the exams and we can ensure that we are the primary candidates. We can also place some of the workers on the city council so that everything looks good on paper, but we will still maintain actual control of the city. (enthusiastic grunts from the board) James: I must say brother, you do have some good ideas. Let’s start this chartering business as soon as possible. . . . . . . . Daniel: The rail line from Solace bay is proceeding at a good speed. The clearing and leveling of land is, as always the slowest part of the process. The rail is now past the settlement of Windram and getting close to Nior Renau on our side. On the Iron Hills side, the rail is now Nearing woodlot sector 56. The Rail is expected to finish on schedule in the beginning of 1909. . . . . . . . Daniel: Ok, Last Item of Business, the erosion issue has been researched, discussed, and a solution has been agreed upon. Just to recap, Trees were found to be most economical as we already pull many small trees out of the ground during out ongoing lumber operations, we only need to sacrifice several groups of workers and a few personnel trucks to transport these small trees to the shore to be planted. It is estimated to be the fastest and most cost effective solution for the erosion issue. The disadvantage is that it will take several years for the trees to become perfectly effective. Rocks are the next most cost effective, but cost considerably more since they must be transported from the mine to the bay by boat at this point. Every boatload of rocks means one less boatload of ore for profit or rails for the Iron Hills Rail line. Also, mining machinery must be used to transport the rocks to the boats in the first place. Thus the increased labor and redirection of heavy equipment increases the cost of rocks over trees threefold. Yet, the benefits include immediate relief from erosion and some reclamation of the land lost already. A seawall, while clearly the most effective and long lasting solution has been deemed economically unfeasible at this point of heavy investment of funds in new factory development and the rail line. Yet, a point was brought up by Myself, that once the rail line is complete and we increase our mining output alongside our factory output, a full sized seaport will need to be built to accommodate the increased production. Thus we can focus on dumping fill and rocks to protect the factory sector of the bay in such a way as to accommodate a future seaport. And, when construction of the seaport begins, we can re-evaluate the cost effectiveness of a seawall. Thus, the final conclusion was to plant trees where erosion will have the least detriment to the settlement, and to dump rocks and fill where property damage is a severe risk, with an emphasis on the factory sector as preparations for construction of a new seaport, sometime in the next year or two. Work has already begun, and should be finished before the end of the year and the worst winter storms. Here is a picture of some progress of the planting Here is a picture of the earthworks being built by the factory sector. . . . . . . Daniel: Well, It looks as if that is all on the adgenda for today. I hereby declare the November 16th, Board meeting of the Solace Bay Lumber Co. for the fiscal year 1908 Adjourned.

Solace bay Meet the Ocean The last time we left Robert and James Wyant of the Solace Bay Co. they had just had a land deal stolen out from under them by the new official town of Lake Maureen. While this infuriated them and they are certainly scheming to find a way to repay Lake Maureen for this trick, something much more urgent has come to their attention. Through the efforts of the Solace Bay Co. lumber division, over the past ten years, nearly all the trees surrounding the settlement* have been removed *(despite it's 8,000 workers, Solace Bay was never officially chartered and is legally not a town so I will call it a settlement for now). And the stumps left in the ground have been rotting away as time moves on. This wouldn't really matter to Robert and James, except that over the past year (1907-1908), in perhaps an attempt at payback for the slaughtering of the forests, the North Ocean has brutally eroded the shoreline of Solace bay . . . At first the Inhabitants didn't really concern themselves with it, but after a recent storm several tons of the settlement's growing dump washed into the sea scattering the shorelines with all sorts of filth. Also, the storm washed out a large section of beach near some worker's shacks and now two of them could be washed away with the next big storm. In just one year the shore has eroded by 30m in the worst places, at this rate, in just two years, hundreds of homes, half of the power plant, and several factories will be gone. With the winter of 1908 approaching and certainly the worst storms of the year approaching, the whole town of Solace bay is uneasy as to what will happen. Normally, the Wyant brothers wouldn't concern themselves with environmental issues, but with the workers in a frenzy over this and large amounts of their property at risk they must act quickly. Unfortunately, this has not happened because things are going badly between them. It seems that over the past few months a rift has separated Robert and James. It started as little disagreements over decisions on factory operations and property management. Robert wanted to focus on finishing the rail before expanding their local factories, and James wanted to build as much as possible regardless of how long the rail link would take to finish. Workers were upset about their working conditions. James thought force was the solution, and Robert thought big talk coupled with minimal action and investments was the solution. But, it all boiled over when Lake Maureen Chartered and stopped the sale of depreciated farms to the Solace Bay co. James was so furious that he wanted to bribe the Inakaye Government to force Lake Maureen to give them the land, but Robert disagreed. While he was angry as well, he wisely stated that Lake Maureen relies on Solace Bay a great deal for its livelihood, and that an opportunity would eventually arise that would allow the Solace Bay co. to get what it wanted. This difference in attitude between the brothers has infuriated James, who has a temper, and Robert who is perpetually levelheaded has failed to see the significance of James' rage, which just makes James even angrier. It has gotten to the point where the two of them hardly interact anymore save for board meetings where they often fight. James spends many nights alone in their mansion while Robert works all day and sleeps nights at the office. In the author's opinion I feel that perhaps James feels neglected by his brother. They started this business together, and now that they have succeeded, Robert refuses to enjoy any of it with him and just wishes to keep working as hard as ever, often without even considering James' opinion on business matters. Robert on the other hand feels like James no longer devotes himself to the business and feels he has to pick up his brother's slack by working extra hard. It is an ugly situation and it is placing a huge delay on making any sort of decision for this problem. But, after a small worker outburst in the neighborhood that is about to be swallowed by the ocean, Robert has called an emergency meeting of the board. It began this morning and is still going on right now at midnight. Of course, Robert and James have different opinions. James thinks that a seawall should be built. Robert thinks that such a project is too expensive, especially with the costs they have incurred with the ongoing Iron Hills Rail Link, and the new factory construction that has already started despite his fervent disapproval. The addition of a huge seawall project may force the company to have to start mortgaging it's properties to pay for it. Robert suggests (almost ironically), that trees be planted to stop the erosion, they were what stopped erosion before and they can stop it again. He also thinks that It could perhaps help with the heavy air pollution of the area, thus serving as a double solution. Another point that has been brought up during the meeting is that the Iron Hills Mine has excavated alot of large rocks, and that perhaps these rocks can be piled into a sort of rock-seawall. The board meeting rages on, and of course in the end, Robert and James make the final call, but if you were on the board, what would you suggest?

Homesteading Heroes This update has a lot of stories. I didn’t expect it to be so long when I started writing it, but then it ended up being huge. Hope you enjoy it anyway. Some of these people are going to be important in the future of the region, so maybe it is cool to have a record of where they came from. Since the founding of Inakaye homesteading has been an official and encouraged practice by the Inakaye government. In the beginning, the Inakaye government granted homesteads of 175 acres and then allowed the settlers to claim any 175 acres they wanted so long as it was at least three miles from any already established towns. Any land within the three mile radius of a town (any federally chartered community of people) or ten mile radius of a city (at least 12,000 residents for a town to become a city) had to be purchased through the usual process of deeds etc. another condition of homesteading in Inakaye was that you had to agree to develop the land in some way. This was largely up to interpretation but essentially meant you had to live on the land, you couldn’t just buy a homestead and then live in Mariston, for example. In the 1890’s the Inakaye government went through the enormous task of mapping the entire continent and recording the locations and sizes of all the current properties. This took almost 6 years to accomplish, but it allowed the government to grant specific parcels of land to homesteaders. At this point in history, land in Inakaye was pretty worthless and often settlers would just trudge off into the wilderness and set up homesteads without going through the government. While this was officially illegal, it was not strongly enforced except in the higher density areas where most of the land was already owned. Homesteads played possibly the most important role in settling the continent. Many important settlements started as homesteads. Mariston started as a homestead, and Robert and James Wyant, Owners of the Solace Bay Company were homesteading when they founded the Solace Bay company. Today we will look at some homesteads near Solace Bay and talk briefly about their owners. Here is a region map focused around the Cape Winston Area. Here you can see four homesteads that have been present in the area for at least a generation now. Coolidge The first we will look at is the Coolidge place. This is the “newest” homestead that was not associated with the growth of the Cape Winston settlement. David Coolidge moved to this homestead In 1875, when Cape Winston was merely a fishing village of about 30 residents. He came alone a young man, leaving his family in the small Allegheny River Valley town of Holbrook for Duluth. He spent all of three weeks in Duluth before he realised that city life and factory work were not for him. He then bought a homestead permit from the Duluth city hall and set out with a group of fur traders into the vast lake Audra. When they reached the Ribcage Isles, he was amazed at their beauty and decided to settle in the bay he currently lives in (now known as Coolidge bay). He began by clearing land and planting potatoes, which was a good staple food and sustained him along with a diet of fish and hunted animals. As Cape Winston grew, he was able to trade and expand his crops to apples and some livestock, which was impressive given the amounts of predators in the region. He still makes a trip to Cape Winston at least twice a year by boat where he’s known affectionately by the townsfolk as “Grizzled Dave.” He never married and has no children, but his steadfastness to his farm and his kindly demeanor earn him respect to the point where people don’t question his decision to stay a lonely dude. Hudson and Nelson The next two Homesteads are interesting because they were the site of one of the first tragic disputes in the area. Below you can see Roland Bay, the bay that lies south of Cape Winston. The homestead on the left is the Nelson Homestead, and the one on the right is the Hudson Homestead. These two families moved to the area around 1871. They were quite friendly to each other and were always willing to lend a hand when one family needed help. They would travel together to Cape Winston when they wanted to trade, and they would often celebrate holidays together. However, the two patriarchs of the families, Earl Nelson and Lyle Hudson died within months of each other in the summer of 1893. The new patriarchs were Paul Hudson and Jeff Nelson, and by the end of 1893, things had already begun to go sour. Growing up, Jeff had always picked on Paul, and Paul never forgave him for it. So now that he was in charge, he gave the Nelson family the cold shoulder. The Hudson’s would “forget” to celebrate birthdays with the Nelson’s, and the Nelson’s wouldn’t take things to Cape Winston for the Hudson’s like they used to. Pretty soon, there was absolutely no interaction between the two families. And, in 1899, something happened that made the families bitter enemies. A rare five-toed llama had been seen in the woods between the two homesteads. This species of llama had the finest coat of any llama save the rare northern Inakaye water llama (what initially made the Wales region so famous among fur traders). Certainly one pelt could buy a herd of lesser llamas. Thus, once it was spotted both families kept their rifles at hand and kept their eyes open for an opportunity to trap or shoot it. It was a warm fall day when Paul Hudson spotted the llama tramping towards the Nelson farm and slowly started following it to try and get a good shot at it. He followed it right on to the Nelson homestead and just as the Nelson’s had spotted it, he shot it and he and his sons came out to drag it back to their home. Well, Jeff Nelson was so furious that he came up to Paul and told him he would build a fence to keep Hudson scum off of his homestead, and that if he ever saw another Hudson on his property, he would shoot them for trespassing. This led to a fist fight so brutal that the two men had to be pried apart by their sons. Pretty soon two walls were built to permanently separate the families. But, wouldn’t you know it, Paul’s youngest son Jake Hudson had caught the eye of the young Genevieve Nelson. These two kids developed a fervent love for each other in spite of the hostilities of their respective families. It was a Romeo and Juliet story to the core. The two would take to sneaking out at night to meet in the space between the fences. They became so preoccupied with each other that their families started to notice that something was different. One night Jake Hudson’s brother, Rob, followed Jake and found out what he was doing at night. Rob Told his father Jake was meeting a Nelson and the next day, Jake was watched like a fox. His family kept close watch to ensure that he could not go and fraternize with their enemies. He began hatching a plan to escape. Before bed one night he rigged the pig pen to open should there be any significant wind. He figured that if some night the pigs could escape they would make a bunch of noise and everyone would wake up to herd them back and he could escape to go find Genevieve. Well, that night the pigs did not escape, but Jake began rigging the pen every night, and after a week of nothing happening, it worked. The family awoke to the chaos of pigs running wild around the property, and rushed out to collect them. Jake then grabbed a knife, a loaf of bread and a coat and ran as fast as he could to go find Genevieve. He found her sitting crying in the spot that they always met, it turns out that she had still come every night hoping so deeply that he just might come that night. When he found her they embraced each other with warm tears and Jake spoke of the urgency of the situation. Genevieve needed no convincing that they should to run away from this awful dispute, and make a new life together. So they hiked to the Nelson property shore where they stole a canoe and headed off north up the lake without any destination other than far from Roland Bay. It was actually some time before all the pigs were collected. In fact the sun had just begun to rise on the new day when the Hudson’s noticed that Jake was neither asleep in the house, or out helping with the pigs. Paul knew immediately what had happened and went to the fence to try and find his son and scold him for associating with Nelsons. When he didn’t find him there, he feared that Jeff Nelson had found out and killed him, so he entered the nelson property and called out to the nelson cabin, where the Nelson family was currently in an uproar over the disappearance of their youngest and most beautiful daughter. Jeff Nelson seeing Paul outside his house and figuring that the Hudson’s had done something with their daughter, grabbed his rifle in a rage and stepped outside and shot Paul Hudson dead. It was a day before both families found out what had happened. The sad truth, along with the murder of Paul hung like a dark fog in the air. And, once other settlers in the area heard about the murder of Paul Hudson, they held a camp meeting to discuss the fate of Jeff Nelson. They decided that he should be left alive, but be given food and money and a boat and exiled from the region. However, if he ever returned to the region then the people would have the right to kill him. Thus, the Hudson/Nelson feud ended in tragedy and the two families have decided to begin the process of reconciliation. Today there is a sad peace between the families that lacks all the joy of their former friendship. This story became something of a local legend around Cape Winston, and is noted as the first crime and subsequent judicial ruling of the Solace Bay/Ribcage Isles region. What happened to Jake and Genevieve you might ask? It turns out that they made it across the lake to the northern shore where they hiked to the then community of Lake Maureen,. There they worked on farms until they had enough money to buy a farm of their own. Because they desired to distance themselves from their past, they changed their name to Newson, as in a “New“ beginning. Neither of them knows what happened because of their actions, hopefully they never will find out . . . Here is a picture of the Newson farm near the southh shore of Lake Maureen in 1908. Lastanksa A common story in Homesteading is a homestead that is set up and cultivated for a time, but then due to the harshness of the lifestyle or some tragedy the homestead is then abandoned. Here is the abandoned Lastanksa Homestead, located just north of the Ribcage Isles. You can see how quickly nature is reclaiming the land. Gordon Lastanksa set up this homestead in 1868. His son Harrison, born 1870 stayed on to keep up the homestead when he died in 1890. Harrison ran the farm well and married Vera Delzan whose family homesteaded several miles east of the Lastanska homestead. They had a wonderful family together until Vera and their three youngest children died of Influenza in winter 1903. The next spring, Harrison and his only remaining child Randall Lastanska abandoned the homestead out of grief and moved even further east into the eastern frontier settlements that were being founded at the time. It is a sad but very common story among homesteaders. Burton The last homestead to look at is The Burton homestead. This Homestead is the oldest in the region. Jaocab Burton was the first non explorer to come to this region. He brought his family from the very young Auen in 1806. It is very possible the Burton Homestead was the easternmost human settlement at the time. Burton Mountain was named so by Jaocab, and it is possible that he was the first human to see it. He settled on the shores of Lake Audra within sight of his mountain, and fought desperately to make the land produce. According to family lore, it was twenty years before they saw another person pass the Homestead. Fur trading far and wide from Auen began in the 1820’s so it is very possible that this is true. Jaocab was an old man by this time, and his children had taken over running the farmstead. However, one by one they began to leave to start families of their own. It was only his middle son Jaocab Jr. who brought a wife back to the farm and continued to cultivate it. Jaocab Jr. apparently left the farm and spent three years with the fur traders before he fell in love with a daughter of a homestead near where Arnett is today. One time while he was traveling by her homestead they decided to get married and move to the Burton homestead. It is Jaocab Jr’s grandson, Jeremiah, who now is the eldest Burton in charge of the farm, though he is getting ready to pass on the farm to his eldest son Elijah Burton. Jeremiah is a slightly bitter man, though formally friendly. If you talk to him he will tell you how, in his youth, you could go months without seeing a boat pass by on the lake, but now that settlers have moved even farther east, you can hardly go a week, sometimes days without seeing a boat pass by the farm. And, he will tell you an anger tinged story of how just last month a group of men came through the forest with a pack llama looking for a good place to set up a lumber mill. Yes, things are changing in the whole region, people are crowding themselves in, and distances are getting much shorter. Jeremiah’s son Elijah met his wife in Cape Winston, she was the daughter of a store clerk there. This was a minor point of strife for Jeremiah who thought his son should find a good homesteader like every other Burton did (except all the ones who left for other places, but they don’t exist to Jeremiah anymore). Currently Jeremiah and his wife Carole, their daughters Karrie and Rebecca, Elijah and his wife and kids, and Jeremiah’s youngest son David live at the homestead in its two cabins. You can also the massive barn that Jeremiah built when he was a young man. This building that houses their livestock and work animals was Jeremiah’s greatest achievement. We can only hope that the Burton family with all its rich history in the region will remain prosperous long into the future . . . That certainly was a lot of reading. If you made it this far, thanks for reading! See you next time!

Lake Maureen Gets Official Region Map (Author’s note: It has been a while since the last update because I wrote an update about Mariston, but then decided that switching so frequently between storylines is too confusing. When I started out, the cities all interacted with each other, but now each region is big enough to grow independently from the others. So I have decided to stick with one city until I feel enough has passed that I might focus on another one for a while. Currently I am really interested in Solace Bay, and so for now I will focus on that region.) Lake Maureen began as a group of farms south the logging town of Solace Bay, Its name comes from the freshwater lake that sits south of the bay. As time passed it became its own separate community of people making a living by growing food for themselves and primarily for the workers of Solace Bay. As Solace Bay grew, so did lake Maureen. While Solace Bay and Lake Maureen are very close in proximity, there is a huge difference between the two and it has to do with ownership. In Solace Bay, Every piece of property was owned by the Solace Bay co., but in Lake Maureen each piece of property was owned by whomever was occupying or using it. This is the central point of this entire post today. Here is a picture of Lake Maureen in 1908 (about 6 Months after the last update) As you can see the area is almost entirely farmland with two larger residential areas. The residential corridor of Lake Maureen houses some farmers, shop owners, and some of the luckier Solace Bay workers who were able to save enough money to build their own house and commute to work by ferry. This kind of lifestyle is getting harder and harder to accomplish as the working conditions get worse and worse in Solace Bay. The only Non-agricultural establishment in the South Shore community is Evanson’s Distillery. Every Factory Town needs a good supply of liquor to take the edge off the crappy life one leads in a factory town. Olaf Evanson has been making fine whiskey for over 30 years and his distillery has been supplying the region for the past ten. His son Knute wishes to expand the business when his father retires and make beer as well, since this is the beverage he is most fond of. He has already started growing hops and barley and has made one mediocre batch of beer. Hopefully he’ll get it right next time. In “downtown” Lake Maureen There are two old barns that have been converted into markets and warehouses. This area is known as the Town Square. Here, every week, farmers from the area bring their goods to sell to buyers from the Solace Bay co. often times the Solace Bay men do their best to cheat the farmers, but this is the way the relationship between the two towns has always been. The farmers grow what they can and then get what they can for it, and in this wilderness a little goes a long way, so the relationship continues. Yet recently things have been getting worse . . . As you can see from this larger overview, the distance between lake Maureen and the sprawling Solace Bay Slums has shrunk to only four farms between them. These farms have recently been experiencing pollution and midnight looting of their crops from residents of the Solace Bay slums and are looking to sell their land because it is no longer profitable. (Sorry about the bad splice, I am using a free program called image J and it is really difficult to get it perfect, this was the best I could do for now.) Furthermore, with the ongoing building of the rail link between Solace bay and the Iron Hills Mine, the Wyant Brothers have been eager to buy up land in anticipation of the new factories (and subsequent workers homes) they will build once the train starts bringing iron ore into the town. Thus they are eager to get their hands on these farms. It has now been a week since the Solace Bay co. offered the two farms on the very border of the slums, the Effie farm and the Gorbach farm, a decent sum of money for the land. When word of this reached the ears of Lake Maureen residents there was a nervous shockwave that went through the town. All of the sudden, the Solace Bay Co. was too close for comfort. The townspeople cleared some space in one of the barns in the town square and held an emergency town meeting to figure out what to do. The first thing they did was designate the barn they were in as the official meeting hall of the Lake Maureen area. Up until now there was no official government in the area. The federal Inakaye government collected property taxes and sold deeds for unsettled or unowned land, but other than that, the sims had to work things out for themselves. Thus, it was decided at this first town meeting that it was time to acquire an official town charter from the government. This would mean an unfortunate additional tax, but would also mean that the Solace Bay Co. couldn’t buy any land within the Town limits without dealing with the town government first, and thus allowed for the prevention of Solace Bay slums from spreading any further south. Messengers were sent to the Effie and Gorbach farms pleading with them to sign the town charter and include their land within the town limits. Vague promises were made that the future town of Lake Maureen would buy the property from them and give them new land further away from Solace Bay. Since these two families identified much more with the town of Lake Maureen than with Solace Bay, they agreed to join the cause. A man by the name of McKinley Morganfield (pictured below) left for Auen by boat the next morning with the signed charter (really just a bunch of Xs, none of these sims have ever been near a school). McKinley was designated as the impromptu leader of the town as his family was one of the oldest in the town, and he had been the most influential in decision making during the town meeting. He was also one of the few residents of the town who could write. Mckinley Morganfield McKinley himself owned a general store in town, but the family farm had grown from one single plot to the three surrounding it over the years. McKinley’s brother Jacob was still in charge of the main farmstead. With the Steamships getting faster every year, it was only a week before McKinley returned with the official charter from the Inakaye Government denoting the Lake Maureen area as an incorporated town. The Town limits included the properties of everyone who signed the charter, which, being mostly farmers caused the area to be quite large. The town of Lake Maureen was now technically much larger in size than Solace Bay even though the population was less than half of Solace Bay’s. There were apparently no issues with the charter at all since the Government is extremely eager to encourage growth in the east and Lake Maureen is now one of the easternmost towns after Wales. This also gives the federal government a local government to work through if need be. Thus, the town of lake Maureen came into being . . . Officially. When news of this reached the Wyant Brothers at the Solace Bay Co. they became furious that this settlement went behind their backs and stole land right out from their noses. This did not bode well for the relationship between the two towns . . . Lastly, Mckinley Morganfield was elected the first mayor of Lake Maureen. He was honored by the office and swore not only to keep the town from becoming slums, but also to improve the current conditions in the town. When he made the trip west, he saw the civilization and culture of Mariston and Auen and was amazed. The sheer number of conveniences (like flushing toilets, cars, and hot water) made him desirous of bringing these things to his town. He decided that the most important thing was education. Thus his first order of business as mayor was to cunstruct the Lake Maureen School in the middle of the town square. It was quite small and quick to build, but would allow many of the children in the “downtown” area to be educated. He also plans on creating a city treasury with which to buy up more land that surrounds the town. That is all for now, Until Next Time!