CivWiki Monday Newsletter for December 12, 2022
Good morning and happy holidays from New England!
There is finally snow on the ground here and likewise the trees are coming up all around the server. Good to see the holiday spirit for everyone!
It’s another bright and early Monday with yet another drama filled week so hopefully everything is smooth sailing from out here. I hope everyone’s doing great!
Ready for the news?
Featured
Featured Image
This week’s featured image is of Butternut’s Christmas Tree in Blood Village. I did stumble onto them by accident after crossing the sea, but one of its main settlements is a nice refuge and village on the sea. I always find it impressive when a country pulls off a certain aura that isn’t “city” and the relaxing, cozy vibes that the country brings is something that I commend them! Hope to see more from the country!
Featured Article
Lazuli was a country on Civcraft 1.0, known mainly for its trade and government. The country was named after a Lapis Lazuli vein was found under the city. Founded after the fall of nearby Rift, the country experienced a rapid suburban sprawl in its early founding months. Its proximity to other popular nations like Rift and Atlantis granted its early growth. After governmental reform, the country invested heavily in security infrastructure and urban development, creating one of the first instances of a widespread snitch network and creating the Lapis Arena, hosting several international tournaments. While mostly peaceful, Lazuli still was involved in drama as part of the PumpkinJacks raid.
Eventually, the country went into downfall, coincidentally on the same week as Columbia, the other most populous city on the server thus far. Blame was mainly placed on extreme difficulty for travelling via Nether into the country, as well as beautification of the country’s city being a talking point for many citizens. Many of the country’s main residents, such as Ttocs_is_Awe, NateMagic and SomethingSaucy were pivotal in the founding of today’s Maester Alliance.
Lazuli as seen on CivLegacy at the current moment, unchanged since its appearance at the end of 1.0.
Current Events
The town square in Vallstena in Gotland, Imperial Federation, built by Spoonce.
Sea of Sneed Antics
Several ""things"" happened this week, although most of it is probably not worth mentioning, and I was there so if I’m not talking about it there is a problem. So besides the funny standoffs, and trolling done by Gang Shi and Temporal, let’s just move onto the good stuff:
- On December 9th, Ocalan IbisMan attacked the northern portal vault currently being held by Icenia. With Ibis deemed “Pearl-on-Sight” in the country, the country went to full alert.
- Although the portal was bombed, a fight broke out between Ibis and other Ocalans and they were forced back into the country’s bunker by December 10th.
- Arnen also came into the war but there was an additional reason why:
- December 10th also saw Arnen obbybombed (albeit unreinforced) by PhysicsGamer as part of Temporal Isles’ and Arnen’s ongoing attacks on each other. Gang Shi also became involved after they did a little too much trolling and someone got pearled.
- Physics continued to host shitters like Ibis, developing into a standoff between PhysicsGamer and some SEC officials resulted in PhysicsGamer getting pearled on Saturday, probably by accident as he pearled into the vault on a wall to his death.
- Quick side note though, remember when I said the Arnen-Temporal Isles War is over? Well, it’s actually officially over now, as Arnen announced the two sides announced a ceasefire agreement early Sunday morning.
- Arnen, as a result, unilaterally dissolved nearby Ocala as a state after disabling their bunker run by IbisMan, as well as annexing the coastline of the country.
There is probably more detail in an upcoming post from Icenia. coming probably shortly after this post. Ironically, I’m writing this at the same time he is writing his.
Speedy Coup Fallout
Thanks to both Topaz and Yodabird for providing perspectives on this.
The other big story this week was the fallout of the SpeedyJustice coup, which by the way, has nothing to do with SpeedyJustice at all anymore, but rather the international relations between Dalgon and Gensokyo. Is that what he intended to do all along?
- Topaz4293 asked for reparations from meat312 and Dalgon last week, of which the majority of the server believes these were way too extreme.
- Realistically, if the server’s major producers say that’s out of scope for them, that’s essentially ensuring an ultimatum for them.
- Gensokyo’s extreme rhetoric is justified by the “attempted annexation”, however that’s still extremely harsh. The CivMC economy still hasn’t matured enough like CivClassic’s and is also generally poorer by that standard as well.
- Some suggest their rhetoric comes from their allies, like Gang Shi, mentioned last week, who would support them unconditionally, and given that confidence they can call for harsh reparations as they now have protection.
- However, the target of reparations have shifted from meat312 getting the punishment to the whole nation of Dalgon.
Negotiations did occur, however they’ve stalled when meat and Topaz came at a standstill (and given from what CivMC #general looks like, a shouting match) over what reasonable reparations.
- Not only did this spawn a copypasta, that I really should look into the issue before saying that
- But supposed threats from Gensokyo and her allies forced Dalgon and her allies to form their own defensive pact, the Dalgon Organized Defense Treaty.
- Yodabird, who posted the pact’s announcement, was concerned about the negotiations’ threats and hoped cooler heads would prevail for prosecution of meat312.
- The pact includes fellow Alenarith allies Cortesia Del Mar, Arsenio Pact, and Nara, with Danzilona being an implcit supporter of Dalgon’s neutrality in the comments, a shift from their previous stance on Gensokyo.
- It is also worth noting the treaty is a word for word the same treaty as Gensokyo’s GOD pact last week.
- In addition, meat312 is currently being held in Arsenio Pact upon his request.
- Truck’s response on that post was that “they wouldn’t back out for a client”, indicating Gang Shi is still committed to defending Gensokyo which allows them confidence in the current negotiations.
At the moment, talks have ended with no resolution on what are appropriate reparations for the country. One of Gensokyo’s last offers for reparations was 3 sets of prot.
Keep in mind that meat, despite being a prominent player in Dalgon, acted on his own accord — whether that becomes an issue is a problem for the 1890s, but also keep in mind that these reparations are generally unprecedented for a reading out of a surrender for an hour and tier 6 PvPers getting squashed.
God this is so stupid.
A courtyard in Pavia City, very close to the port, newly build as part of their build weekend. Also pictured is Thraldrek.
Around the Server
Diverse Northwest
- Probably not related to the conflict at all, Temporal Isles signed a treaty with Butternut which transferred its northern holdings, Yggdrasil, to the Isles. Totally not causing any conflicts whatsoever
- RIP Sovia, you will be missed (not)
- Ok I’m kidding, thanks for at least getting rid of useless claims.
- Paddington_Bear was pearled by Gwua, then by bewsiej, and then by S4NTA. All for very frivolous reasons, but was fortunately freed afterwards. What did you do on your Sunday night?
Lyrean Community & Northeast
- Pavia’s build weekend has been a big success! Crown Prince Gobblin thanked Creepi0n, authomoton, CedarValiant, and BritishWanderer for organizing a great weekend of building. More on some of the builds later.
- Pavian officials found cobble grief in one of their shops, Mr Fukhof’s auction house. Officials are cleaning up and investigating the cause of the crime.
- Lambat has completed its Oceanic Bridge to CivMarket — it’s currently only walking only, but it has a nice view of the barrier reef.
- Lambat Post journalists also apologized to Naran officials for their own misattribution of the conflict’s aggressors, which is the exact thing I also messed up at first.
Alenarith & Southeast
- Superbgamer was pearled by Estalia after ""confessing"" to RektTangle that he stole stuff from their 0,0 build.
- Mount Augusta has elected Maester Logic_Man as their new judge, and are currently electing a new governor, widely expected to be ComradeNick with minimal competition.
- Even more ironically, there is also currently a bill that is reverting all mentions of “Governor” to “Mayor”, so I guess there’s that.
- Danzilona voted to move all votes in-game to further in game activity. You know, it was really nice that you directed me to the subreddit for news and then you just threw it all away the next week.
Imperial Federation & Southwest
- Zolo17, an Imperial Federation candidate for Chancellor, was sabotaged in the election after his podium opened up to a drop to bedrock. Crossposted from the Federalist Papers.
- Regentsburgh is experiencing a surge in arsons and crimes over the last week, anyone in the know should contact King_Cupar.
- Commonwealth is opening up land for all citizens, and calls for people to build in the country!
- A couple of shuffles in government in the country has also brough OakShelf to become Prime Minister temporarily before the next election.
- King Bowilla has also revoked the titles of Dragan, Zyra_Bot, TheFinalGOAT, and Toxicshot79.
- The country is also excited about opening a new walkway, similar to Lambat, the Azure Sea Coastal Motorway, lasting the length of the country.
Server Administration News
- CivReign’s latest teaser highlights a new component called Soul Steel, something forged by hellfire.
- CivMC admins have encouraged everyone to prepare for the holiday season, by sending out presents and competing for the best “holiday greeting card”.
The Fun Stuff
Pavia’s Christmas Tree in the Town Hall’s courtyard. Built by paagf and ArtificialDriver, taken by Gobblin.
Builds
- Pavia’s build weekend went to a great success, with lots of builds built over the weekend. Anyway, here’s what was built:
- The Christmas tree was not part of the weekend but the decorations were so good I’m highlighting it anyway
- The new coastline of Pavia City, with its docklands
- A courtyard closer to the port district, with Thraldrek
- Bedford Fried Chicken, Main Street alongside headquarters for conservative twitter group, Turning Point Pavia
Ok, so here’s the other builds this week I didn’t mention yet:
- Ironically, Vallstena in Gotland, Imperial Federation is actually developing much faster than in the picture I showed above, but I didn’t want to make a postcard yet!
- A rainy day in Yoahtl is still not gonna get me down! Thanks to Torynado.
- There is a Christmas tree in Mount Augusta which doubles as the voter tree. Bets are on to see when it will get torn down next
Multimedia Projects
Too Many Newspapers
- Probably the only one I’m going to congratulate, the BunBunMaru news from Gensokyo which has gone through the effort to make an in-game newspaper! Thanks to Superbgamer, who’s created these maps, and are now being seen across the server, for example, pictured here in Pavia
Ok, now expect a harsh criticism of all of the other newspapers that came out this week:
- Federalist Papers is what a newspaper should look like! I’m not a big fan of the spacing here but it is commendable, and the pictures are appropriate for the content! (8/10)
- The Yoahtl Times last week has all the comings of a good newspaper-to-be. Size down the images and get more content and we might have a winner here. (6/10)
- You know, if you were “reluctantly” releasing the Free Winterbourne Press, you might as well not release it at all — it looks like a declassified FBI document, that still has all those redactions and whatnot. I’m not skeptical, I’m just disappointed by the RP. (2/10)
Other Stuff
- From my YouTube recommendations page: CivSMP Episode 3, Mocha starts a war
- Very ashamed to put Icenia fanfic on here
- Oh yeah I forgot that Superbgamer did some sucking up to the admins
Memes
So it turns out that people beat me to make CivMC slander, or rather, I didn’t have enough time to make the slander before someone else did.
- mTfUJi’s CivMC Slander, Volume 1
- Lagiacrus’ -,- Slander, which is just slandering Temporal Isles
- mTfUJi’s CivMC Slander, Volume 2, which probably belongs on the “Best of r/CivMC” list of all time posts
- You know if Commonwealth is just going to insert yourself, you just need to make yourself more known so people actually put you in memes
- Stock pictures = Funny? Icarus, you’ve gotta try harder with your memes
- How does this have to do anything with build weekend
- Ah ok, I think I guess I have to fix my newsletter last week, thanks wjkroeker
- Me making up excuses for not settling in Commonwealth for the 79th time
- I am coping right now
- Oh boy, what a great week to visit Gensokyo
- When I oop and pearl in the wrong place
Advertisements
- From ShadySauce: HIRE Doom Delivery™️ FOR ALL YOUR TAXI AND DELIVERY NEEDS!
- The Great Overland Railway will go through you first if you don’t let it go through your city
- stratmatt57 is organizing a Farley War in Estalia discord, let him know if you liked the one in Pavia so much!
Metagame Highlights
- I too hate that city grids exist
- bgbba made two reviews, and I’m going to review his reviews with my own enjoyablity score on how much I enjoyed his own reviews
- The first review, to me was a glowing success as it highlighted two great cities, Kallos and Icenia, and also made me laugh at Temporal Isles visit (although I was there…). 9/10.
- His second review was quite underwhelming as I was brought in with a false sense of praise with Pavia and then the simple fact he gave Amboise a score better than Estalia tells me all I need to know. 0.0001/10.
- RektTangle introduced Country Value cards for you to fill out in Microsoft Paint! My favorites out of the ones posted are
- ”militaristic Gabon”,
- “active Mount Augusta"
- "service economy Truidencia” although I guess there is no service economy in Civ except Doom Delivery^TM
Getting Chillier Cry for Help
Thanks to everyone for taking a look at this week’s newsletter, couldn’t have been done with Topaz4293, Yodabird19, Gjum, Lagiacrus, Xcios, and everyone on the newsletter staff. Also special shoutout to everyone who made memes of me this week.
If you’d like to get in the newsletter and also not cause an international incident, submit a featured article! It’s easy and less convoluted than making drama, and all you need is a funny CivWiki article you can write about. It’s literally the same length as a writing assignment, just click Random page and just crank out 100 words. It’s funny!
Thanks for all the support the past week, whether memes or otherwise, it feels great knowing that this newsletter is getting read by tens of people on the server who look at Reddit! (All seriousness, thank you. Means a lot that people use this to catch up everyone on the server.)
Anyway…