CivWiki Monday Newsletter for December 26, 2022

Dec 26, 2022 • specificlanguage

Good morning and happy Boxing Day from New England!

I hope everyone’s had a merry Christmas! Sure, you may have had several inches of snow but that’s kind of the good part about having a White Christmas right? Unless that brought you a power outage. I’m just jealous that the rest of the US is probably going to get one that I didn’t.

Thanks to everyone who’s provided support and really sympathized with me for the arduous writing done for the newsletter. And also, for causing the news for another (32nd!) week. I still find it crazy that this has become a mainstay of Civ culture now on CivMC, as I’ve tried to dissociate it from Akiyama and the other versions of the Monday Morning publications. I have a special thing planned for next week, but thank you all for the jokes and memes!

Alright, here’s your Christmas dose of news:

Featured

Featured Image

This week’s featured image is of Pavia’s resplendent Christmas Tree in the Town Hall Courtyard (wow, what a surprise). Alright, there’s not a lot to catch up with on your side, but it’s cool because it’s a spectacular build, and is probably the highlight Christmas tree in Civ. Built by paagf and nestled at the center of the courtyard, courtyard’s been transformed into a grand holiday gathering, with streamers hanging across the gardens and lights beaming throughout. It’s a great build, and I’ve been waiting to highlight this image since the beginning of December and I’ve been building it up slowly every week. Great stuff, and it’s going to be sad when they have to take it all down.

Featured Article

The Fall of Lexington was the final battle and conclusion of the Somber War between the Western Alliance and Lexington. After a long war that lasted several months between the Western Alliance and Lexington and her allies, the Alliance began efforts to skybridge the main Lexington Vault, located at the North Pole on CivClassic, and was the largest vault on the server at the time. Upon setting up a staging area about a thousand blocks away at a place called Tinian, a reference to the US’ offensive into Japan, allies spent two days skybridging at the height limit to the heavily fortified vault, where they confronted defenders on the evening of April 7th, 2018 while continuing to build.

Shortly after defenders engaged on the skybridge, Lexington leader sintralin was pearled by Falstadt fighter awoo, at which point the defenders surrendered the vault and left with as much valuables that could be salvaged. At around midnight on April 8th, fighters entered the vault and freed all pearls currently stored, including leaders of the Commonwealth such as Peter5930 and Lodish, as well as Falstadt fighters S4NTA and tankbuster44 along with many others. Many of the countries that aided in the coalition made up the new alliance SATO, and the server maintained peace for several months afterwards.

This week’s featured picture depicts all the fighters present at the breaking of the Lexington Vault, all posing towards the vault’s center.

Current Events

The Sovann Gate in Arnen, taken by TolypeVelleda.

Blink and You’ll Miss Another War

At least it was a gracious attempt to cause drama that wasn’t on Sunday at 11:59pm. To comprehend this post in full detail, you may want to know the general makeup of a vault.

Arnen has been involved in quite a few conflicts this past few months. While this newsletter has been mostly talking about their conflicts with Temporal Isles, several countries in the region have had problems with them:

Imperial Federation was raided by the country’s fighters, damaging military infrastructure, and killing a citizen, which resulted in Arnen’s citizens being banned from the territory
Valyria was griefed during the conflict with the Temporal Isles
Icarian citizen Sdorr was harassed on several occasions.
Butternut discovered a snitch network and a bunker in their territory
- Not to mention that last week’s ArnenTech land sale was under Temporal territory last week, on a deal from Butternut.
As Pavia was the primary destination for the Temporal diaspora, Arnen fighters continually entered the territory, looking to pearl Temporal citizens.

The aggression came to a head following their latest escapade with Pavia, as dredd_kiji along with recurring hydra head ErrorL entered the territory and pearled PhysicsGamer. dredd and ErrorL returned the pearl back to the Arnen skybunker.

This prompted a short but poignant declaration of war by Pavia and several of her allies from the Elysian Pact, Imperial Federation, Valyria and Temporal Isles posted on the night of December 20th.

Soon after the post was made, a large group of Elysian Pact fighters led by veteran Estalian fighters Walkers and Lysika_Lantariel headed directly to Arnen’s defensive infrastructure.
Spotting dredd_kiji making multiple trips back and forth on an ice road close to the groundbunker, fighters quickly broke into the Arnen groundbunker to pearl them.
ErrorL was also pearled in the fighting.
DockerImage eventually logged in to assist dredd_kiji, however the latter became trapped in an ice road and was pearled very shortly after
He eventually turned himself into Kallos, he was logged-boxxed and was pearled shortly after.

So that’s how all of Arnen leadership died in less than half a day.

TolypeVelleda was spared mostly because of his exquisite builds, especially of Malcour, Arnen’s capital.
Kallos has claimed over Arnen’s former territory as well.
DockerImage posted that Arnen would be going inactive, and apologized for all the harm he has caused. TolypeVelleda was also given full group ownership.
Currently, Docker and Dredd are both pursuing a debris business in the Nether, continuing to keep Arnen alive.

I still find this funny that I started proctoring and exam, Pavia declares war, and then by the time the exam finished, the war was over! Incredible.

Insert Another Christmas Drama Here

Just anticipating this on Sunday night…

Santa’s Server Reports

The City of England, with its various spires, and village below.

Alenarith & Southeast

You know you gotta start with them first because there’s always some drama going on at this point

A former leader of Ku, Sadklaus revealed that the reason they left (not the now-false report on August 15 for Estalian imperialism) was because of Rhode Island bigotry.
- It feels extremely terrible that a good group of people gets turned away from the community because of toxicity. Admins needed to do better in situation and remove them way long ago, especially considering they caused drama in previous iterations as well.
Venne has withdrawn from the Four Continent Concordat, alongside the Imperial Federation & Pridelands withdrawing from the Meridiem Compact.
- Conflicts arose due to communication issues between the Imperial Federation from shadowvdark (the leader of Venne) over several months.
- The two countries mutually separated on good terms.
- At the moment the Meridiem Compact currently only has Venne and the Hyperborean Confederation while the FCC, currently has Pavia, the IF, and Pridelands likewise. Good luck Yodabird to fix that alliances chart!
Mount Augusta has elected new judges, with jeeper3 obtaining a unanimous vote for judge and Pepper winning 87.5% of the vote for her seat. Former judge Asa was also appointed Deputy Mayor alongside ComradeNick.
- The country also welcomed Gang Shi and New Jersey into the MAFO/MATO Pact, the Friendship and Treaty Organization (respectively) the country has created for mutual defense and economic partnership.
The Maester Alliance has also opened their library, Kosuwata Library, nestled deep into the mountain! They’re encouraging everyone to visit the library throughout the rest of the year to collect a souvenir courtesy of Lodish at the entrance of the library. Very exciting!
Danzilona has concluded a trial for Sporeee and convicted him of assault and attempted murder and breaking and entering. He’s currently pearled and sentenced to help with the Transport Union.
Gensokyo was attacked by a shitstorm! The country has since reported they were attacked by Moloka, vowing vengeance! (If you can’t tell, this is very much a small jab and should not be taken extremely seriously.)

Lyrean Community & Northeast

The Monument Group and CivMarket have merged to become one singular company on December 23rd. The board hopes that Jaydon and Tuomasz, the people who were running CivMarket, will continue to find and pursue avenues of revenue for their shareholders.
Lambat has elected its first metro council, with SambonusG, AKJanklin, and Orhint being elected and I was literally one vote from being elected are you kidding me
- In addition, mayor SambonusG was reelected as mayor after being recommended by the council.
Bruma and Volterra have signed the Treaty of Cobra City, for mutual criminal prosecution and cooperative military defense.
Jorvik leadership pearled MojangWasMyIdea, quite possibly a newfriend who attempted to raid the country. He’s planned to be released checks clock today!
Dirt has reclaimed its former land in Moloka, as well as claiming additional lands through islands in the Southwest.

Griffin’s Christmas Tree, nestled in its town square amongst a few snowmen!

The Northwest

Icenia is revamping its subway thanks to SirBoss001
Here is…some account of events that happened in Icenia with Rhode Island on August 18, I guess? ""Thanks"" to Hg_80 for the information.
Pacem continues their work to renew their city’s dominance back in Classics, but is becoming dangerous work as they are working without safety gear!
Winterbourne has graciously allowed ComradeNick to build an amazing North Pole outpost on the server this year. Although it’s small, it’s a base of operations for him to deliver gifts all around the server, just like Santa Cla--- I mean the Admins!

Imperial Federation & Southwest

A sad day for everyone on the server as Topher3001 was removed as the emperor of the Imperial Federation. Crossposted from the Federalist Papers.
- Among the bunches of other news exclusive to the Federalist Papers, FELINE has joined Pridelands as well as Stros M’Kai changing its name to Grenada.
- Other territory being created to form Mercutio.
- Many of these are advertisements, which I’m excited to fill up the ads section with!
The country of Sovia has also joined Icarus as an exclave.
The Rose Quartz Plaza is being built on an archipelago, and a cooperation between CCTT and Grenada, intending to be a new central trade hub for the quadrant.
Danzilona and Novo Sanjurjo have agreed to split a former-Juliana exclave in the Southwest.
Eon has reformed as a part of the Arsenio Pact in their Southwest enclave claim near Novo Sanjurjo.
Masuno has declared that they would resettle their own land located in Reggio Argeddina, while initially met with scorn from the latter, it turned out it was a meme.

Server Administration News

The return of the CivMC Weekly Update (don’t try to hide it Ahri) recommits their responsibilities to making changes, server promotion efforts and other changes.
- A long critical thread from bgbba criticized the admins for the lull in changes and Quality of Life fixes that were available, with Ahri saying that many of those changes are not things he can understand or control. Please don’t blame the SMM!
CivMC has refactored its ticket bot to make it slightly easier for admins to triage problems, as all tickets would be made as discord Threads in the future.
- This is probably due to the arbitrary channel limit that Discord has placed upon their guilds. Another reason to use Mumble instead.
CivReign’s latest teaser is about Adamantine, a brand new metal alloy treasured for its strength and malleability as well as its versatile applications.
CivRevolution has made a small update, making changes to their fossil cracking as well as making changes to iron ore drop rates as well as their Xenon Forge.
CivVie, a server run by Zombie_Striker is being released on December 27, after two betas stretching throughout the summer and autumn. It boasts a brand new Civ suite written from scratch, something never done before. Join their discord here.

The Fun Stuff

Danzilona’s new Christmas tree in Old Town, taken by peakman2.

Jolly Holiday Builds

There’s some posts on the subreddit that qualify as Christmas Cards, and others that qualify as builds; it’s hard to distinguish them but most that do not do extra retouching to the view seen on Civ will be here.

Danzilona’s Christmas Tree, while modest, is still a great sight in their country.
Winterbourne has a very tall Christmas tree and I really love it
Ichinokawa from Nara is a pretty cozy settlement, great work, and can’t wait to see it grow
God bless TolypeVelleda and god bless Malcour (but not Arnen)
I know Calw isn’t the most built up town but it’s a simple Christmas tree with a decorated village and that’s honestly still perfect. Good job agentburkin, can’t wait to see more.
Wait, that’s really the City of England?! Wow, actual sleeper pick right there I need to visit sometime, the intricate spires and village are just oozing with good build statuses
Was a little last last week but Creepi0n has made a timelapse of Doom Delivery HQ in Icenia
Happy Christmas from Icarus!
Yoahtl’s Christmas tree gives me “Mele Kelikimaka” vibes, so I have to include it at this point
A combo tree and menorah from El_Shap0
Alright, although Pacem is only a few buildings, the detail on these bad boys are just impressive, I used this for the news already but it’s just so good.
It is just a railroad, but I’m just getting the coziest vibes from the Esbergian Railway that Sheepy9’s been posting. Honestly, best railroad since the GOR
Just in time for Christmas, the Maester Alliance’s Kosuwata library in Mount Augusta was (fittingly) built right into the middle of the mountain!
The Hist Tree in Nara looks fantastic and is honestly a great representation of natural foliage construction on Civ, something that we get to see very little of

Christmas Cards and More, Again

Christmas Cards

…and More, Again

A question that nobody has asked is “What happened to Reconstruction Era?”. A series of videos answers that very question from good ‘ol OldManMammoth, all of them proposing different endings to whatever happened, like a clickbaity YouTube video. See the first, the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth, the sixth, and the seventh endings at their respective videos
Just the amount of effort and lore put into these EU4 countries is actually really cool, thanks Jmqn
When I thought I could escape the Civball kissing fanfics, I was wrong. So here’s one about Icenia and Temporal making up

The Elysian Pact’s christmas card, picturing citizens across the its many countries alongside the Estalian phoenix.

National Lampoon’s Christmas Memes

LOL, you lost a war in 6 hours?

Everything Else

More Obtrusive Christmas Ads

Note: none of these advertisements reflect the viewpoint(s) of the author(s).

Around Pavia

The Icarian State Corporation is selling emerald blocks, diamond armor and tools, all right close to the water.
Raw Dog is selling sand, located close to the harbour.
Jaydon is currently heading Spruce Supply in Pavia, selling high-quality Spruce logs for all your needs.
Wool & Blooms is opening a store specializing in ethically sourced wools from sheep!
Bedford Fried Chicken is selling the best chicken ethically sourced from Valyrian-backed sources. (Personal commendation: it’s pretty good!)

Around Icenia

Sirboss001 is hiring people to dig and smooth out the Metro tunnels, which will allow better access from the central city to West Icenia
The Totally Ethical^TM meat facility is selling meats and wares in Slushhi’s shop in Icenia and AFFLICTED’s oddities in Kallos.
JuniorTide is selling Titan Industries XP products in downtown Icenia.

Around the Imperial Federation

The Icarian State Corporation is selling emerald blocks, diamond armor and tools, at the Empire Circus in Imperia!
The Gotland Ram Postal Service has launched a mail service, promising a 2-day domestic delivery period! Crossposted from the Federalist Papers.
The Federalist Build Group is looking to sell plots in Empire Circus, the country’s newest mall in Imperia, the capital.

Serverwide

GMall has reopened! The famed (or infamous) Estalian market has reopened in their currently in progress hanging gardens build at 0,0. See the post for more details.
The Mall of Lambat is seeking tenants for its many open plots!

Into the Metaverse

A bit of a somber note to end this week’s edition off unfortunately. A friend of IcyPenguin79 reported that he passed away, he was well known in the community for participating in CivRealms’ MtA and played a small part on Yoahtl in CivClassics as well as creating the country of Vilsek. You may have known him from his series of promotional images, the Civ Art Gallery Project, he made throughout CivClassics of many of the fantastic builds and cities. I’m all the more appreciative of his work and all the more saddened by this news, message in the CW Discord for your supportive messages.

In other metagame news…

Boxing Day Cry for Help

Jorvik’s Christmas Card, with everyone holding their presents at the country’s Christmas tree. Very cool!

Thank you for reading this week’s special day-after-Christmas edition of the newsletter!

Just for funsies, I’ve added a ""small"" post on the newsletter’s website of my recommendations this year to watch/read/do while the server is down and you’re out for the holidays. It’s really just my best ""things"" of 2022. What started as a small list in the Featured section, it started getting longer and longer, so I decided to make the list its own post. Only read this if you really want to see more of my stupid content.

Thank you to everyone who’s supported the newsletter this year. I’ve got one more wrapping up post of 2022 for next week, and after that, we’re going to be looking ahead towards the future.

Thanks to Yodabird, Britisher/King_Cupar, Thraldrek, Red_Steel, Shadowvdark and Gjum for taking precious time out of their Christmas festivities to do the worst thing and edit the newsletter from top to bottom, it provided much needed legibility. Also thanks to everyone else who helped this year for the various assistance and editing they did. And for this holiday season, thanks to Gensokyo for hosting a viewing of Inside Job. They host regular movie nights on their discord as usual, so feel free to tune in when you can!

If you want to see one of your dumbass submissions in this newsletter, I highly suggest filling this form out for all Featured Articles! You get to highlight you’ve written on the CivWiki and showcase a piece of your own history that you have made yourself for all the world to see. It’ll be one of the very first things that new users see on the CivWiki, so I highly recommend posting your lore or any other article that you find interesting. Fill out this form if you’re interested!

And that’s all from me for 2022. See you next year!

And, as always…

EDIT CIVWIKI

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