CivWiki Newsletter for August 15, 2022

Good Monday morning from New England! Halfway through August already?

I hope everyone’s having a fun time on the server, wherever you are. Even though the war…exists…I’m looking at the positives and a lot of people are starting to make some beautiful builds and grow into a good and healthy server.

I’m hoping to get around to making a new Getting Start Guide or a second version of the Recruitment Survey, or even another Newfriend Nations Guide. But I think I’ll do that when I’m retired. Or leave. Whatever happens first.

Thank you all so much for contributing new articles and current events last week, and this week as well, it made the entire newsletter feel a lot more alive and active throughout the server.

And once again, thank you for reading. Always nice to see people support the newsletter, even if it doesn’t get as many upvotes as others on the subreddit. Now, onto the content:

Featured

Featured Image

This week’s featured image is an overhead render of Nara’s main city, Shiroyama. It’s grown significantly in the past few weeks and aims to construct a city in a Late Imperial Japanese style. While its theme is similar to nearby Gensokyo, the city’s build structure is considerably different, focusing less on grand structures, and more on a suburban town, akin to Nara itself. Thanks to prawny331 for providing this image!

Featured Article

This week’s featured article was contributed by AmandaCC.

The Mery are a group of religious and political role-players and friends emerging from the second CCCP during CivClassic 2.0, who have played on multiple iterations of Civ, including CivRev, VintageCiv and CivMC. Some consider their origins to start back in Civcraft 3.0 with Pythius codifying the role play-heavy anarchistic factionalism in the nation of Endeavor.

The Mery culture began on CivRev with the codification of the First Law of the Mery Horde. They have developed a unique culture including a constructed language, called merileh, and religion, the rha’yatshola, revolving around the central sun deity, Tshola. Today, the Mery (or in their native language, Djani’weh) aims to have a presence globally, having formed an independent settlement with the same name in the northeast quadrant of CivMC, but have branched out to multiple different nations including Danzilona. (Full article…)

This week’s featured article picture is an engraving of Tshola, the central sun deity of the Mery, within a screenshot as seen on VintageCiv.

Current Events

This section’s header picture is an in-game screenshot of Pico de Coroa, known as the Crown of Thorns in the national park of the same name in Provence, Lusitania.

The War Comes to a Close?

Hopefully, nothing of consequence happens after I publish this week’s newsletter. Another week comes, another week of me thanking the Pavia Tribune, Daily Nut, and Lambat Post for combined reporting for this section.

• To start off this week, Toontasker was pearled by Ez2Clutch, with toontasker yelling in global chat
• On August 9th, Rhode Island fighters pearled three Estalian fighters, Ez2Clutch, SwiftFizz, and Cqrs0n. Adderal posted their perspective of their escapades.
• At this point, this became the fourth pearl of Estalian citizens, with toontasker and Adderal posting on the subreddit in celebration.

However, this turned out to be a short-lived victory:

• Part of Rhode Island seceded as “The Enclave”, hoping to carry on a tradition of Eden to hopefully be a peaceful nation.
  • Later that week, they would merge with Saren_Solaris’ nation, Utopia.
• gthomas4 returned from being away from the game, and announced he would take over the shadow council, superseding those who were a part of the war.
  • Thomas hoped to confer peace with Estalia, Titan, and Icenia, and begin a transition process to a more peaceful arrangement as it was before the war.
  • One important concession would be like Eden, they promised to pearl notable troublemakers in the country like Vanax and Adderal, however, this has not happened yet.
  • While this was supported by some countries like Crystalis, Cortesia del Mar, and the Hyperborean Confederation, many countries were skeptical of the new leadership, including Estalia and Titan.
• Shadno was released later that day with Rhode Island leadership committing to returning gear and lost materials from the pearling.

Just Kidding, Here’s More War Stuff

Despite this, the war continued anyway as Estalian leadership rejected calls for peace. Not only that, those calls for peace only accelerated the conflict as a whole.

• On August 11, Titan fighters helped attack Rhode Island fighters Adderal and Vanax, however, nothing came as a result.
• On August 12, an Estalian cactus farm was attacked by Rhode Island however there were no pearls resulting in this attack.
• Late on August 12, Titan pearled T0mmyShelby0, who according to Rhode Island leadership was an individual “in junk prot who was AFK”. Even I have no idea who this is and why he was pearled except for being in Rhode Island.
• Even further, as Pavia finished their vault on August 12, Rhode Island fighters went to the country and broke vault snitches.
  • The vault only held a criminal wanted for extradition to the Grand Imperium, although it was enough for Crown Prince Gobblin I to elevate the national threat level to “expected”.
• A second fight at the 0,0 market broke out on August 13; although Daily Nut fighters fell, no Rhode Islanders or Estalians were pearled.
  • Capri put their improvements in battles against Estalia as an improvement on their Rodeo mod, however it is yet to be seen if it will successfully win fights and produce losses against Estalia.
• While gthomas continues to call for peace, more nations have started to aid Estalia in the war, mainly their Elysian allies, SPQR and Jorvik. A combined bridge attempt was foiled, netting Rhode Island another pearl, with the loss of TrueEnergy to auqust.
• Pavia was on alert again with a crude Rhode Island skybridge heading towards the vault, although no casualties were held, there have been reports of Adderal making bomb threats towards the country as well as fellow Elysian Pact allies SPQR and Jorvik.
• August 14th saw two skybridge attempts from the Estalia side, this time reaching Rhode Island’s vault. Nearly thirty fighters were on the skybridge during the morning’s attack.
  • However, Rhode Island fought back successfully. One major problem was that Estalia’s first attempt had built their skybridge one block under the limit, which allowed Rhode Island fighters to climb on top.
  • The fight saw major destruction to the landscape below, and the engagement lasted for most the day on August 14.
  • On the Estalia side, Bloof, MyLittleAK47, and Watermashen were pearled, as well as Phacad3 in Rhode Island. EVDan was also caught up in the fight and was pearled while in the mix.
  • Estalia retreated and Rhode Island held a large VC in CivMC’s discord to celebrate the victory, however Rhode Island leadership still made it clear that they are open to negotiations.

This subsection’s featured picture is Ice_otter’s house in the Commonwealth, another impressive mega build from the country in their jungle.

More Battles

• The Kingdom of ErrorL, or whatever it’s called now, is now being headed by Zach, but also by ErrorL? Things are very confusing right now.
  • Zach posts this very odd post on “raiding”, but I can’t even figure out what’s going on in this post anyway
  • SaltyGoomba’s visit sees literally nobody there except a creeper
  • Zach tries to negotiate with gthomas to make amends but is stonewalled due to the fact that Rhode Island are labeling them as “terrorists”
  • However, there is still a rumor going around that KOEL moved to another server, but ErrorL continues to post on the subreddit asserting that they continue to hold their current claims.
  • That eventually led to this post declaring Durham to be a vassal of KOEL, despite its long stretch of inactivity. What’s going on here?
• Vah raids, while mostly going unnoticed, have occurred nearly every day this week, including
  • around Yoahtl, where he was chased off and escaped, Contributed by Lodish.
  • obbybombing in Gensokyo, where damage was minimal. Contributed by Falyvu.
  • pearling Liquid_Stereo in Icarus, with a failed interception from Western Boundary. Contributed by MrJoCrafter.
  • raiding in Masuno.
  • killing SpeedyJustice, who was holding a lot of wealth
  • raiding in Lusitania. Contributed by Gjum.
• As part of the Pavian construction of their new train station (see below), workers were shocked to learn that the train station was actually part of a new vault the country was constructing.
  • The vault eventually held a Grand Imperian criminal apprehended by the Pavian Coast Guard, wanted for murder and treason. Crossposted from the Pavia Tribune.
• Several Titan fighters raided a bank in Blockchainistan. There were also reports of Titan Industries griefing the shared nether portal.
• The Leader of the CCTT, or the Cooperative Commonwealth of Tenant’s Toil, Plupsnup quit last week after AbbyShapiro and Ch1pr raided the land. CCTT was later absorbed into their ally, the People’s Republic of Western Boundary.

Wholesome News

• Pacem has formed a mutual defense alliance with Rivenfall. Both developed alongside each other during the start of the world and are continuing their friendship.
• Butternut County has annexed the former country of Fellowship. After Vah had left the country to go on his raiding spree, he had also brought his possession of Fellowship groups. Eventually, they would help found Westernesse, a new area in Butternut.
• Mount Augusta is currently in the process of voting for its next mayor; ComradeNick is running and is expected to win a new term, enjoying relatively widespread support.
• The Free Danzilonan Republic annexed their neighbors to the south, Melia, citing inactivity. However, they are planning to build a new settlement and train station in the area. Contributed by Des23.
• In more uplifting news, the new nation of Masuno has seen a large influx of people due to its Toki Pona-based culture. Contributed by domi.
• SamBonusG was announced as the first Lambatan Commerce minister, after founding other successful companies in earlier iterations. Crossposted from Lambat Post.
• Citylion’s company Tricon has announced a new building competition as they are looking for new headquarters on the server.
• AAfter Kallos replaced the previous Mount Augustan voter tree with a portapotty, ComradeNick enlisted CutePastelStars to create a new voter tree, which is the one that exists now.

The Cool Stuff

This section’s header picture is the newly completed Pavia rail station, just outside the main parts of the city. The country hopes to foster rail creation all across the server very soon.

Amazing Builds

Of the many things that were shown off both on the subreddit and discord this week…

• Pavia’s train station was completed with a grand affair, after a long and arduous digging process fraught with unions and controversy
• Speaking of train stations, a new train station was built in Truidencia, reminds me of Flinders Street station in Melbourne!
• A new render of Rhode Island was introduced, with the big addition of 🗿
• Funkywee’s Rainforest Cafe does not necessarily look like the IRL Rainforest Cafe
• Prawny331 made a new render of Nara that you saw in the picture above, but this is the one that inspired me to ask him for this week’s feature
• Commonwealth is truly popping off with one of the largest houses on the server from Ice_Otter, and this new art gallery which reminds me of old Westminster library
• BluJaySA posted several beautiful images of the Nara streets
• SpoonINspace’s new house in Nara looks like Heian and Kamakura-style architecture, it’s really beautiful
• New renders of the Pride Rock in Pridelands (although some of these may be recycled?)
• Cowguypig continues his world tour in Icenia and The Caliphate
• Other renders created by squ8i are incredibly beautiful of major landmarks around the server in Icenia, Gensokyo, Pavia and others

Commendable Art

• As part of the Danzilonan annexation of Melia, a new map showing Danzilonan territories was created, which looks super pretty and professionally done.
• Several “art pieces” by Vincent Van Block have been created in Commonwealth, and totally not an app that distorts images
• Another map of territories, this time Dalgon, was really cool based on pencil sketches
• Another brewery clue from RektTangle has arrived, good luck deciphering this one!
• Just one more map of territories, this time Westernesse, which looks clean as hell.
• The Great Wave of Kanagawa was recreated as map art, and is for sale in Shiroyama, Nara!
• Brand new map art from Bing Chilling of their prime minist… oh wait it’s just John Cena
• And of course, map art cannot be complete without dog pee

This subsection’s header image is of Imperial Station in Truidencia, their new train station in the city built by Hylian_Cellist.

Innovative Memes

Ok to be fair, these memes are not very innovative.

• So you know, the problem with this solution is that you’ll become World Police and other people will come after you
• Why don’t you guys just play a different game?
• Eerily reminds me of like, an abandoned city in East Germany
• Would have labeled this SPQR post as art, but they just posted faces on it soooo
• Very unfunny joke on Estalia takeover, and Yodabird does have a point
• Remember that TikTok from last week? Still don’t get it
• wjkroeker standing around in places is my new favorite drama
• Stupid Island 2 continues its stupidness
• Generation Z, colloquially known as zoomers, is the demographic cohort succeeding Millenials and Generation Alpha (read more in Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
• Only 20k blocks? Child’s play.
• Icenia did this months ago and it was way funnier
• Wingzero should implement this notice on the server
• I showed you my frog, send worm?

Economical Advertisements

• Shelby and Tricon have reached an agreement to sell Tricon beacons at their stores in their five(!) locations across the server.
• CivMarket prices have remained relatively stable this past weekend after high inflation caused a large spike in the diamond exchange from a historical low.

I Have Run Out of Adjectives for Metagame Stuff

• blablagame has solved the toki pona riddle in CivReign, and wins a $20 Steam Gift Card. The message was…expected.
• Bgbba has posted a new trade and population census to get a better scope of the economic and demographic landscape.
• The above is definitely not prompted by his continual comments on prawny331’s latest claim size analysis post.

”Thank You” Cry for Help

This section’s header picture is an in-game map art recreation of The Great Wave off Kanagawa, a signature Japanese artwork by Hokusai. It was recreated by Superbgamer5225, and a copy can be obtained in Shiroyama in Nara.

Thank you for reading the (unexpectedly) longest version of the newsletter, again! Honestly cannot believe there is this much news every week, even if it makes my job harder each week.

Thanks to the following people for contributing newsletter information this week:

• GetSkinny, BritishWanderer, MrJoCrafter, Falyvu, Lodish, Des23, domi, and others for contributing current events this week
• Prawny331 for making a custom render just for this week
• AmandaCC for writing this week’s featured article
• Gjum, Lodish, and Metriximor for also proofreading

As always, we’re doing a special promotion for the month of August, where you’ll obtain a CivWiki CivTCG card for each person that submits a featured article, as well as editing CivWiki. Submit a featured article here!

As a note, this newsletter tries to cover all Civ server information, while it’s mostly based on CivMC, it’s hard to find information on VintageCiv and other active Civ servers, since many are based on Discord. Should another Civ server release or bolster in activity, we’ll change the newsletter to accomodate that.

Anyway, as always…

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