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Showing results for tags 'northward'.
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Starting South Bartholomew: Old Town
Map Guy posted a City Journal entry in Northward Isles Protectorate
Replies: Jedahdiah, Schulmanator, sarthakknight, sadiemydog, TheTransitMan2525 and VMIUJcadet09 - thanks for all the kind words following my first entry at the weekend! Starting South Bartholomew: Old Town I've been busy in the evenings getting started on the first large city tile, and this is the area of South Bartholomew - the southern half of the country's largest island along with some smaller islands off the coast. South Bartholomew was one of the first areas to be permanently settled when Europeans landed on the islands in the Middle Ages. As such, the majority of the earliest architecture and buildings on the islands can be found here, specifically the "Old Town" area of Kingsend, which through slow expansion and sprawl, now occupies most of the southern portion of Bartholomew. It was through the random nature of the development of a residential area as I got the place up and running that resulted in me building Old Town first. Some of the lovely timberframe buildings that make up cropped up naturally and after complimenting them with some more ploppable versions of the same lots plus a few more interesting bits and pieces, the Old Town area is almost done! So here are some pictures, and we visit Old Town on market day, which occurs every Thursday. The market is held in the open square in front of the old town hall which since the settlement's expansion and subsequent shift of the CBD to the southern tip (more on that another time!) has been converted into a small museum and information centre for the many tourists who visit. The market is surrounded by many of the restored old buildings which date back hundreds of years and now house a mixture of smart, modern apartments and offices. In the top right of one of those images, you may be able to make out the church. This was built by the Dutch settlers whilst the island was under their control and despite the British taking control of the Northward Isles, the vast majority of religious buildings and monuments across the islands were left intact and continued to be used. It is now the most popular church within Kingsend and on Sundays traffic in the area, on the cobbled streets, can be horrendous. To finish, here's a couple of overview pictures of the Old Town area, though due to its shape I couldn't quite get it all in without a load of empty space and unfinished bits cropping in so a complete shot will have to wait! With Old Town mostly done, I'm now turning my attention to two areas - the marina and seafront and also the Kingsend CBD so stay tuned for updates!- 5 Comments
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An Introduction to the Northward Isles Protectorate
Map Guy posted a City Journal entry in Northward Isles Protectorate
The Northward Isles are a group of islands located in the North Atlantic Ocean. Their origin can be traced to the mid-Atlantic Ridge - a constructive tectonic plate boundary that has been responsible for creating many of the Ocean's islands, including Iceland. The islands' history is one of conquest and colonialism. Having been used by numerous expeditionary forces as a stop-over point during the European colonial expansions, they soon became a vital and valuable military station and the French, British and Dutch all at one point or another claimed overall control of the Islands. In the 18th Century the Bartholomew Campaign, a British military invasion of the islands under General Samson Bartholomew, resulted in the attackers forcing the Dutch occupants out of the islands for good, and ever since, the islands have remained under British rule as a protectorate. Firstly under the British Empire and now as a member of the Commonwealth. Prior to the arrival of European explorers, there was no indigenous population on the islands, they were occupied only by the local wildlife, which was dominated by sea birds and seals. As soon as the Europeans arrived, settlers began to move in and small towns and villages cropped up around the many natural harbours. With the settlers came new wildlife - both intentional such as sheep and cattle, and unintentional - small mammals such as mice, rabbits and rats were soon a common sight across the islands. General Bartholomew's victory led to the main island, previously known as Vasteland (Mainland in English) being renamed in his honour and now Bartholomew is the location of the main settlement Staunton. Well that sets the scene for this City Journal! I'm a fairly fresh face on Simtropolis but I've been a member of the site for a number of years now, just been content to read and enjoy everyone else's CJs without ever putting one together myself. Well, I've made a commitment to myself to change that, and after a couple of false starts, here we are! The Northward Isles Protectorate is your typical island colony, though I'm attempting to make this one slightly more populous and urban than say the Falklands! I'd like to make it clear though before I get any further into this CJ that it is a platform that neither defends nor attacks colonialism, it is merely just an interesting backstory to a bunch of ocean islands, so no political debates please! I'll be updating this as often as I can, and as I'm starting from scratch it may be a little while before we see any skyscrapers, but I'm looking forward to the adventure of finally giving an SC4 region a proper shot. Without further ado, let's get to some images. First of all, what introductory post would be complete without a region view? Here are the islands in all their glory: This is a region I've terraformed myself and comprises four large city tiles along with numerous medium and small tiles around them. As you can see, I really am starting from scratch on this! Also, you'll have to excuse the mis-matched colours on different parts - I couldn't get them all to save on the same colour! The names of the islands' five Districts are visible on the map. Bartholomew has already been introduced but the others are included for reference. I'll be aiming to get some level of development (whether that's rural agricultural areas or urban towns and cities) across all of the islands so chances are the CJ will flit between different places depending on what I've been working on. And to finish off, the Northward Isles' flag, for those interested: The Union Jack is a reminder of the islands' status as a protectorate within the Commonwealth, whilst the coat of arms signifies a number of aspects. Firstly, the five-pointed yellow star represents the five Districts that make up the islands' government. The green and blue represent the harmony between land and sea that has characterised life on the islands since they were settled, and the white stripe is a symbol of strength, referencing an old island tale that has been passed down the generations. Maybe I'll tell it one day! Anyway, that's it for the introduction, keep a look out for new updates which I'll endeavour to make as frequent as possible, and most importantly thanks for reading! I look forward to your comments and questions - ask away!- 6 Comments
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