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The gems of Aupthilagic Peninsula
TheMurderousCricket posted a City Journal entry in SimCity: Tribalism
I would like to make two announcements before today's entry... First of all, I would like to mention that the last vote to determine a new ground texture for New Udanani resulted in a rare draw! "HBS Californian Terrain" and the "VIP Terrain Mod" received the same number of votes! After checking both mods in my region, I decided to resolve the draw in favor of "VIP Terrain Mod". The thing is, "HBS Californian Terrain" is one of the few bright terrain textures... After I tested it, it became clear that it is glaringly contrastive with the dark grass and shrub MMPs that I use en masse across New Udanani. This means that the color and brightness balance was actually quite poor with this terrain applied and the existing vegetation on top of it... I hope that those who voted for this terrain option will forgive me. The rationale is entirely aesthetic and I am grateful for your participation in shaping this CJ, regardless of a poll's results! Now comes the time to choose rock textures for the region, so I hope to again see your participation in another voting process! The second announcement now. As you can undoubtedly see, today's episode is somewhat longer than most - four pages of text rather than the regular 2-3 that I usually write. This is because today's episode includes some historical and cultural details which, I hope, add some additional, interesting "depth" to this journal. However, I do understand that not everybody likes to read. The question then is - if I prepare more of such detailed entries, would you be happy to see them here? Or should I form a separate CJ, specifically dedicated for the cultural and historical information on New Udanani? That's it for the announcements (and questions). Now, enjoy the next entry! Today, you will have a chance to review a fairly large project that resulted from your votes provided in this episode. Aupthilagic Peninsula has become a historical landmark with several notable features. I cordially invite you for a guided tour around this area. Altruist tribe early beginnings The earliest mention of the Altruist tribe comes from 10th century chronicles and archeological evidence from this period. The tribe occupied the Central and Northern parts of Aupthilagic Peninsula and predominantly lived in small, isolated villages scattered all over the forests. The Altruists created communities that likely didn't even surpass 50 citizens at a time. Life in the woods was simple and sometimes lacked the privileges that modern people take for granted. The situation changed with the rise of the Virbolli family. This clan was the most educated group in the tribe and even had some luck in trade with Arab Sicily and the coastal areas of the Bulgarian Empire making them a wealthy and important group among the Altruists. The Virbolli have also been good, kind-hearted people who never refused to help others. Seeing the plight of their brethren and their frugal life in the woods, they drafted a concept for the first, large-scale settlement to which the Altruist population could move. This way, in 1219 A.D., Vazarki Castle was built, and the Virbolli entail was formed. The castle was constructed entirely from the family's own funds which probably cemented the Altruists' selfless and generous life philosophy. The population was delighted with the concept and happily settled in and around the new structure. However, there were several problems with the castle that became apparent in the long run. First of all, in the defensive terms Vazarki Castle was very badly designed. It had no moat and some of its windows were only five meters above the ground, making it easy to force one's way inside. Moreover, the varying height of defensive towers arranged on a square plan resulted in a lot of visual "dead zones" for the lower towers. This of course turned potential defense and field bombardment from these towers into a fairly challenging feat. Ironically, the castle's high desirability was also the source of overcrowding - a problem which started to become more and more serious with the influx of new "citizens". In the first half of the 14th century, the conditions in the castle became so bad that a serious plague outbreak occurred, killing-off about 2/3 of the people who lived in it and nearly wiping out the members of the Virbolli family... Barone founded When the epidemic subsided, some of the plague survivors decided to return to the woods and resume their forest lives. The Vazarki Castle became largely abandoned as a result. The situation changed for the better only after the entail was inherited in 1426 by Lagro Virbolli, The Seventh Duke of Virbolli Entail. (Coat of arms created with CoaMaker ) Just like his predecessors, the Duke was a highly educated individual who spent most of his youth in foreign universities including University of Padua, La Sapienza and Jagiellonian University. Moreover, Lagro befriended several European politicians and constructors. These acquaintances and knowledge were vital to his later decision that the Altruists needed a proper city to live in, in order to thrive. Lagro Virbolli's dream materialized in 1431 when the construction of Barone began - a large, spacious, fortified town that would become a core of the Altruist culture and economy. The city was named after Filippo Barone - one of the Duke's university friends from Italy. The first stage of construction finished in 1441 when the main outline of fortifications was completed and the first homes, market and the city hall were built. Analysis of Barone Barone is an interesting town from the architectural and urban point of view due to the period it was built in - a transition epoch between medieval times and full-bloomed renaissance. Many of the town's original buildings were built according to the old 13th and 14th century rules but they were influenced by fresh ideas coming from great constructors and planners from Italy, Low Countries and Poland. As the city developed further, this mixture of styles became evident and eventually led to a rise of the so-called "Udananian Reneissance". Many buildings and features in this style survive to this day. The original marketplace enhanced with some green areas (rather then fully paved as in many European cities) the nearby city hall and some of the tenements are good examples of this unique building fashion. As you can clearly see, the marketplace has retained its original function and is a popular shopping spot for the local, modern population of Mindfulness. A keen eye will also notice specific surroundings that the town has. Namely, large swathes of colorful fields surrounding Barone. These, are tulip farms which were established by Duke Virbolli as a gift to his favorite niece - a gifted florist and an avid lover of nature. The farms still use traditional techniques to grow flowers and the fields (which are 560 years old...) are one of the UNESCO world heritage sites since 1991, along with the town itself... Obviously a spacious, well-protected town that Barone has become, convinced many Altruists to again give the town life a chance. This time, the project proved to be a complete success and gave the tribe open doors to a comfortable future. But the town would not last long if it had no trade and traffic going through it. This is where Lagro Virbolli's political connections became particularly important as he was able to convince several prominent merchants and European politicians to do business with his town. The establishment of a trade port East of Barone was the next logical step. In order to service merchant vessels and handle the trade goods, a harbor was established on the shore of the Gulf of Brinteesel in 1449. The port survives to this day and is open to visitors together with the unique Museum of Marine Trade. Barone's port may look small for today's standards but it was very well organized and teeming with life back in the days. It consists of two distinct parts. The Southern portion of the port contained shipwright workshops and facilities used to unload and process imported goods... ...while the Northern part was used to load the ships with the goods produced by the Altruists. This part of the port has a distinct layout as it consists of several rows of narrow alleys which are flanked by merchant and artisan workshops. This way, all visitors leaving Barone were encouraged to make "last minute" purchases. In fact, it was impossible to reach the docks without passing through one of these alleys! Fortifications of Barone Despite the peace-loving attitude of the Altruists, the tribe has acknowledged the fact that the world is a tumultuous place and they need to protect themselves from possible dangers coming from external powers. This is why apart from being a cozy place to live in, Barone became a defensible settlement as well. Many of the problems identified in the Vazarki Castle were addressed in Barone, making the city a much safer place to live... First of all, Barone is surrounded by a magnificent semi-natural moat. It was built upon already existing marshlands which were artificially expanded. The inner part of the moat was reinforced by brick too. Using natural wetlands to build the town's first line of defense was the idea of Lagro Virbolli's wife - Tajra Chasilli, Her Ladyship of the Virbolli Entail. Barone walls, considered to be the second line of defense, are another interesting feature of the Altruist town. The walls were built on a plan of two overlapping rectangles with the town's gates being located in the spots where the rectangle sides meet. This way, it was much easier for the defenders to destroy enemies attempting to force their way into the city through the main entrance, giving the town's military an excellent opportunity to develop crossfire against attackers. The walls surrounding the town have a standardized height as well, which eliminates the problem of one defense tower obscuring the view to another. In the early 16th century, however, the tribe decided that existing fortifications, essentially just straight walls, could use a modernization. This was the moment when the 15th century defensive walls received a renaissance facelift that largely improved the town's safety against new threats. If you take a look at Eastern and Southern city walls, you will notice a distinct feature, typical to renaissance fortifications. These are the so-called "piattaforma" - special defensive constructions that derive from the Italian school of defensive building. Piattaformas allowed better coverage during frontal attacks against the city walls, making it possible for the defenders to fire cannons at enemy troops even when they already chipped at the city walls. Another example of renaissance defensive solution, this time typical to French fortifications, is the so-called "rotonde" - a small, rounded fort connected to the city walls and going out into the main fortress' foregrounds. The rotonde offered an insane, almost 360-degree firing range against attacking armies. In this respect, rotonde was used to "soften up" hostile units long before they could even creep up to the town, or to fire towards the units that somehow managed to advance up to the city walls. The second tactic was brutally effective as it created an unbearable barrage of front-and-rear fire from the defenders that few hostile units could withstand. The fortified route leading onto rotonde and the adjacent walls were partially destroyed during Barone's siege by Russian Empire in the 19th century - the only time Barone was successfully captured. The Altruist city has been under Russian siege during Russo-Persian War in which the tribe sided with the Persians. Luckily though, after the Russians captured the city, the Altruists were able to quickly mount a successful counterattack and expel Russian forces just eight days after the city fell in their hands. Unfortunately, these events ruined the town's walls and buildings that laid in the path of the Russian advance. There is currently much debate among historians and architects whether this portion of town should be rebuild or rather left this way as a historical landmark. Conclusion The Virbolli entail consisting of Barone, Vazarki Castle and the trading port are undoubtedly one of the many pearls of Udananian civilization and an outstanding example of the Altruist economic and technical thought. Despite the centuries gone by, Aupthilagic Peninsula, continues to amaze and inspire numerous historians, researchers and tourists, offering them a valuable insight in the Eastern Udananian culture. I hope that today's update was an interesting experience for you as well. Have a nice day and see you next time! I shall leave you with several impressions of Mindfulness - the modern town which was built around the old Altruist capital of Barone. And before you go, please have a look at the rock textures that are under vote today! Comment replies: @TogaMasterJohn - Things like this happen on holiday bliss. If it makes you feel better, this entry got delayed as well. Thanks for the nice words. Yup, details are my fuel!- 3 Comments
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