CivWiki Monday Newsletter for December 5, 2022

Good morning and happy exhausting Monday from New England!

Do I have to say anything else about this week from my perspective? There was too much this week and I'm sincerely knocked out. I had work before doing this too. This was probably the worst week to enable Reddit notifications on my phone.

Are we ready for the longest newsletter ever?

Featured

Featured Image

This week's featured image is of Pioneer Village, L City in Lambat. While the country's seen a slight denouement in development, the country is still hard at work building all the public works you'd expect of the country. Of course, you know the Lambat Post, and it's currently looking for brand new contributors or other opinion writers for its newsletter. But its Filipino cultural exports are also wide across the entire country, with its many train stations and quite literally the biggest mall of the server, of which the Philippines itself is known for. Great stuff!

Featured Article

Acadia was a country on CivUniverse and CivClassic that focused on accessible democracy for its citizens as well as building productive infrastructure. The first iteration, founded by Cortwade on CivUniverse, was one of the most built up on the server as part of a vassal state of Javaya, but became inactive due to the New Vegas war. Eventually the country moved to CivClassic in March 2021, however was also embroiled in conflict, after raids and a crisis involving Caledonia their ally Adina. The town eventually grew in late 2021 after economic activity and a resurgence in player interest allowed the city to build new infrastructure until the server's end.

The country of Acadia was built based on ideas from Norlund and Adinan policies. Acadia prides itself on its governmental culture, from its long list of political parties and struggles of federal power in the country. However, it was most remembered for its infrastructure, including its Grand Central Station in CivUniverse, and its many Victorian-style builds in New Turing. One of its most notable areas was a part named "Rainbow Row", as it spurred waterfront development and its LGBT movement. There currently is no successor to Acadia on CivMC, and many of its citizens have gone to other nations; however some citizens are currently the force behind the development of CivReign.

Pictured above is the city of New Turing, on CivClassic, in August 2021.

Current Events

Another overhead render of Icenia, now with its recent updates like its capitol, and stadium.

Tying Loose Ends

I bet you're all expecting the Speedy drama to happen but I have to do some due diligence and report back on some of the drama that happened last week.

Temporal Conflict

• While there was no news reported on it later that week, most of the Temporal Isles diaspora went to Pavia, which was part of the reason why some Arnen people buzzed by it by Sunday.
  • Nothing really came out of the MtA scuffle and all of this drama finally died down. It wasn't really implied last week, but Valyria's involvement in the conflict also made them involved in the refugee crisis, and many have gone to Pavia as well.
  • Eventually the two parties made a peace agreement at the Pavia vault, with leader PhysicsGamer eating a pie, part of the reason why it started. Crossposted from the Dictationist Post.
  • Temporal Isles is still asserting it exists. ChrisChrispie and bgbba visited the territory and PhysicsGamer continued to tell them to leave; dredd_kiji entered but was attacked by PhysicsGamer and Ibis. Something's definitely fishy going on here and I don't like it.

Commonwealth Succession Crisis

• reffelruz put out a clarification post just shortly before I posted last week's Monday Newsletter. The post essentially outlined many of the events in the Commonwealth that led to that point, including
  • PergySkeel's want of needing a new king after Peter's long absence,
  • the Road Sheep incident (of which was very amusing and spawned a religion in itself)
  • the Prime Minister election that happened several months ago, but resulting in inactivity.
  • OakShelf being led astray by the cult for the coronation
• Eventually by the end, he apologized for all the kerfuffle that happened, and said that "The idols have been cast down, and the state has found its true footing on the earth; our story is not finished; it is only beginning."

SpeedyJustice & Associates arriving in Gensokyo. Wait, you didn't tell me there was more drama this week!

The Speedy Coup

To think there wasn't enough drama this week. Oh no.

Alright, slow down. What happened?

On the evening of Saturday the 3rd, SpeedyJustice, along with associates meat312, Skruntoo, and SapienFrfx entered Gensokyo unannounced.

• On some accounts, the plan had been premeditated for weeks; due to Gensokyo's inactivity in the previous months, Speedy believed he could move into the territory uncontested.
• However, as Gensokyo returned last week, things needed to be moved up, prompting the invasion later that week.

As a result, SpeedyJustice and his cohort went into Gensokyo asking to speak with their leader, to "negotiate."

• The only picture of the conflict from the Gensokyojin side saw SpeedyJustice send very suspicious messages, which I wouldn't do in the first place.
• Speedy arrived in Gensokyo after coming from an illegally built vault on the border of Nara and Gensokyo, dictated a surrender document in the discord for 45 minutes
• After Gensokyo denied the request, began destroying city bastions and attempted to approach the bunker.
• Additionally, they pearled Ferro and Lambatan AKJanklin who were both released quickly afterward, both as they were engaging in defensive measures.
• After leaving, most likely after losing protection, SpeedyJustice and his other associates left.
• Many (including me) were quick to blame Nara for the incursion due to their previous incident with Gensokyo several months ago, as well as SpeedyJustice previously being a Naran citizen; however SpeedyJustice acted on his own accord.
  • Nara was in a voice chat at the same time as Gensokyo, which happened to merely be a coincidence, as the former was just digging a trench. I deeply apologize for the kerfuffle. More on them in several paragraphs.
• As more allies came to help throughout the night, the country successfully fought back and defended their own builds, and launched a counterattack on SpeedyJustice's attack tunnel and bunker.

Ok, so why did this happen? Why is Speedy doing this thing out of the blue? It's a long story, but let's cut to the chase and cut down the bullshit wall of text that SpeedyJustice has created:

• SpeedyJustice posted a couple hours after the attack happened about all the events above (although several important items were missing).
• Gensokyo was handed "Terms for a Peaceful Surrender of Gensokyo", outlining that ALL infrastructure NameLayer group ownership, discord ownership, were to be turned over to SpeedyJustice, as well as literally declaring "Martial Law".
  • Which by the way, if you're handing a "Terms of Peace" to them before actually attacking, that's called an ultimatum, which is basically Hostile Intentions 58.
• So like any reasonable decision, they denied the request, but used the time to let people from their allies to get here. Talking more of that in a few minutes.

A currently planned set of tightly-knit buildings in Gensokyo. Oh wait, I'm not actually dividing a section, there's just so much that I have to divide this current section again!

So, why did he do this?

Eventually, SpeedyJustice made another long (and in my opinion very sickening) post outlining all of his rationales for doing exactly what he did. He said he "had grown disheartened" with the country's wasted opportunities, and believed that despite having a "deep respect for the country of Gensokyo", he wanted to open the land to new opportunities, by taking it over and launching opportunities for old Gensokyojin to be involved. Vague as all hell.

Also, the fact that you've put American pictures in this entire PDF kinda just discredits most of your argument right there. If you want to read the entire 8-image thing, good luck.

• Many people in the comments of his post were very angry about this unilateral and blatant takeover of the nation, and had been critical of his actions throughout the comments.
• meat312, one of those involved in the attack, was left in the dark, and was incredibly concerned about his attempted coup. More on that on that post if you want to take a look.
• One of the reasons was that it would end the "Nara-Gensokyo Cold War", right? Well, Nara immediately shut that down with their own press release, saying they were not involved in the attack, and hoped for a rapprochement in relations.
• Ok, So SpeedyJustice also believed they had history worth accounting for right, especially in the terms? Well, that was essentially a lie, and he had to be an asshole about it in the next comment.

Oh yes, by the way if you completely forgot, Gensokyo had the support of at least four nations during the attacks this morning, due to their GOD pact to defend the country in the case of an upcoming attack. In the defense pact is Gang Shi, New Jersey, and Truidencia, and other fighters from Kallos (Kommi) came to join them.

Most of those who were on SpeedyJustice's side have been remorseful about the attack, or have been pearled.

• After I talked with Sapien, she revealed he turned himself in, and only helped as she "owed a favor" with Speedy.
• Meat's response had a formal apology at the end, saying he was misled.
• I asked Skruntoo about the attack and all he said his reasons behind the attack were "Necromancy."

Today, SpeedyJustice is still vengeful about the attack and continues to claim that he still has leverage over Gensokyo, despite not logging in. However, much of these words have been devoted to show how much both in-game PvP and subreddit PvP had been completely stacked against him.

Gensokyo is still asking for harsh reparations for all attackers after losing much of their wealth in their bunker.

So you may be asking:

Q: So it looks like there's a lot of just words, words, words and nothing really happened right?

A: Yeah, pretty much.

On the streets of Santiago, Cortesia del Mar, taken by MrDoomBringer.

Around the Server

So this is all the stuff I probably would have normally put out on the news this week, but because of all the stuff last night it's now a brand new section! Woohoo!

Lyrean Community & the Northeast

• Unfortunately, Creepi0n I died on Saturday after a delayed Dice Day, after surviving four. Later that day, Gobblin II was elected Crown Prince.
• However, reactions to the relatively normal passing of power have been generally mixed:
  • Duke of Braemar Cissionius reported for the Pavia Tribune that people were very hopeful for the new Crown Prince, interviewing people that he will be a "strong and capable leader, and I have faith that he will lead our nation to even greater heights".
  • But a new conservative faction has arisen, mostly rallying around Twitter account "Turning Point Pavia" (TPP), arguing that Pavians are not getting equal rights and not addressing important issues like the famine that have struck the populace in the past months.
  • This eventually resulted in a twitter reply war between TPP and the Pavian Outpost, another Pavian news organization about the monarchy's legitimacy.
  • The Pavian Tribune soundly replied with concern, with Creepi0n II, Duke of Braemar, expressing "I can't believe that this kind of hate is being allowed to spread on social media".
• Lambat's latest census revealed a small decline in the number of residents in the country, with some moving out of Pioneer Village to the suburbs.
  • The country also announced that their "Lambatan of the Month" award for October [sic] would not be given to a person, but the cat Tinker Bell. Was nobody deserving of the award now?
• Cascadia peacefully deposed the king of the territory, with lowtierloot becoming the new leader of the country, hoping to transition the country to a more infrastructure-focused country in the deep Northwest. Crossposted from the Lambat Post.
• Pigeons are flocking from Yoahtl to Lambat following the opening of the GOR in the Katipan district. Some are grateful for the new source of food. Crossposted from the Lambat Post.
• You'll see a few more things about this later on, but bgbba has done official tours around the server, critiquing each nation's strong and weak points in organic development. He's reported to me that there will be a post about it tomorrow (or I guess, today).

Imperial Federation & Southwest

• With December rolling around, the country began its election of a new Chancellor. Southw3st lost his reelection bid in the 3rd round, while newcomer Spoonce from Gotland became the new chancellor after seven.
  • The election had 73 votes across 14 territories – am I sure this isn't MtA?
• Following his election, the IF engaged in a couple diplomatic events across the server:
  • They invited Princess Bow of Winterbourne to Pridelands, taking a picture at the tree, and Princess Bow thanked them very much for the visit
  • Pavia accomodated the newly-elected Chancellor for a state visit later on Sunday, and Spoonce agreed to help them with one of their builds that week.
• The Commonwealth claimed the ruins of Sangria as a "gift" to the newly coronated king.

Icenia & the Northwest

• With another month coming, Icenia announced another Councillor election. However, unlike most months, the council shrinked from seven to five.
  • Regular mainstays like Gjum and Rinvincibl3 enjoyed reelection to another term, meanwhile JuniorTide was appointed Minister of Defense so a runoff election occurred for his now vacant seat.
  • Additionally, they formally announced a brand new website made by Senator Orinnari, hosting the entire legal code.
• ChrisChrispie entertained a visit to Icenia from bgbba, who thoroughly enjoyed the country's builds and organic development. He streamed his reaction in CivMC general voice chat.
• Kallos has enjoyed "lots of digging and fun vcs over the weekend".
• Butternut County is claiming several tracts of land to connect their enclave below in the northwest. It's a concern for very many people, and feels like a good 'ol crayon claim.

Alenarith & the Southeast

• Danzilona and Nara have announced a friendship treaty between the two countries,
• Additionally, the two have also announced the first Olympics event on the server, to be jointly held between both countries.
• Truidencia was intent on holding elections for the Landsraad this December, however as not enough people were running, GenericWarloq announced the new Senators to be nearly the same as last month, with the exception of Banana Man becoming a new senator.
  • He hopes that the Senate will curtail rights a little so more people run for office.

Server Administration News

• CivMC admins addressed frustration with the lack of suggestions and announced a proper public roadmap to be seen by the public to see what items they are pursuing at the current moment.
• CivReign's latest teaser introduces Dimensional Shards, hinting it may be a key component to be able to access other dimensions.
• CivSMP released their second episode of their series; although aiming to address feedback about non-Civ gameplay, it still feels like a mediocre SMP server at the moment.

The Fun Stuff

Griffin's Town Square, along with its new Christmas decorations and train station in the far background.

Oh, you thought we were done? That was just the news portion of the newsletter, now we gotta actually look at the subreddit.

Builds

So we've got several posts this week that I couldn't even highlight. Everything's very high quality this week.

• Griffin is introducing Christmas affairs to its town! They get shit done quick. I got this picture from their discord though.
• I kinda already did a high quality render of Icenia a few weeks ago, but there's so many new builds last time so I'm just gonna throw it in there again. Thanks to Slushhi!
• Development in Exilus is coming along nicely, although it is rainy over there
• Lambat has a brand new Chinatown gate between Katipan and Pioneer Village
• I did kinda highlight this several weeks ago, but Creepi0n has won the CivMarket build contest, winning a brand new plot and 100d.
• Bluecove Beer Hall in Icarus, while not a building marvel, is starting to look a little bit cosy.
• Not really on the server yet but Gensokyo is planning some really wack shit
• I can't believe Dirt got a high quality render
• MrDoomBringer has taken several great quality pictures of Santiago, of which I did highlight above
• I too, like this picture of Altepetl's entrance cabin
• Red_Steel probably won't see this coming but I like her little hobbit hole
• How the hell did Rekt get a 4k image of Pavia like that? It's honestly really impressive.
• The city in front of the town hall doesn't look half bad either, good job Monument Crew

I imagine the quality will immediately drop next week.

Multimedia Projects

• Once again, I just want to appreciate the meticulous coloring that had to go into making this Imperial Federation election map
• I know this is like the seventeenth time we've made a map of the Commonwealth, but honestly I really like the detailed treasure map style of it this time
• Not really "multimedia", but more so commending you put it in Photoshop, but I really like the graphic design on the Olympics announcement, simple and clean.
• I guess it is a multimedia project as CivSMP outputted their next episode. Everyone does stalk Mocha anyway on CivMC so…

Memes

Speedy Memes

• You heard of the term "snitches get stitches"? Well now how about "ferals get barrels"
• I wonder who doesn't hate SpeedyJustice right now
• I have come to make an important announcement. It is now ILLEGAL to be AFK in CIVMC!
• My actual source for all of the newsletter information today

Non-Speedy Memes

• Not really an Otonabee compass but more of a tic tac toe board
• Now this is an Imperial Federation political compass I can get behind
• The Monument Group is distributing this very funny gif of them pushing former crown prince creepion along a block of cement
• Where is Centrist Icenia
• You were going to Brazil, but now you're going to Ohio
• Damn, tough luck. I didn't even know they had hospitals in IF
• I think I've bested wjkroeker's weekly updates at this rate. This one's short as hell. At least he's happy about the dandelions
• If only I could vote "aye" by shitting myself
• I do hate bastions at 0,0 so I have to place my boat somewhere else

Advertisements

• The "Hands of the Earth" is a religious cult looking for founding believers to make the world a whole lot greener. They're hoping to start in Icenia.
• Monument Group is looking for clients so they can build more extremely luxury apartments in Pavia City. I really have to ask for them now.
• The Pavian Outpost is looking for advertisers
• The Lambat Post is looking for contributors and opinion writers
• The Commonwealth implores you to come to their mall, Shopside, easily accessible using their rails! Come visit CrownCorp, under the mill tree!
• The Esun bank system is looking for bankers
• Cane Corp is undercutting Icenia for cheap XP

Metagame Highlights

• Oh boy, it's the grand return of the Nation Size Analysis from prawny331!
• Ew gross, a Civ Meetup?! Word is going around (thanks Hoover) that most of the old and current playerbase of Volterra met up for an in-person meet and greet this past weekend. Going by minimal reports, they did have fun.
• Sirboss001 created a petition for a change in CivMC's server restart time.
  • This caused a very large bit of controversy as several people in the United States, especially in the West Coast were angry that the restart occurs at their hour, which in turn angered the Europeans as they would log on early at their time, thereby delaying their own server playtime.
  • One of the weirdest threads was from Mark_Antony from SPQR who tried to bring up not-really-up-to-date server information to justify the restart time change, of which he completely forgot there are completely accessible stats from Gjum that accurately show that it doesn't matter anyway.
  • Officially, LordofMarzipan has gone on record saying they would randomize the server restart time, so I hope that goes through next update

You may ask, why did I put this drama down here instead of above? I'm not cluttering the actual drama now, and I'm too tired to actually care.

Dizzying Cry for Help

A picture commemorating the state visit of Princess Bow of Winterbourne to the Imperial Federation, taken at the tree in Pridelands.

As I'm writing this section, I haven't finished writing anything, but I know this edition was A LOT of work on many different fronts. If you got through this entire thing, god bless you.

This week's edition could not have been done without Yodabird19 as he provided several points of information about the Speedy Coup, and checked for factual inaccuracies throughout the whole thing. He's a lifesaver for staying up at 1am to look at words about a Minecraft political server. Also thanks to Kaprediem and Gjum for taking a look at all this bullshit.

If you like this and want to see more of your information in the newsletter, I implore everyone here to submit a featured article! I always love hearing about other nation's history, and I want to hear what you have to say! You also get your stuff on the front page for everyone new to see!

Everyone better say "Appreciate speclang" because I just summed up the longest week in Civ in my life with a fucking essay I'd write in my History class.

Alright, and as usual…

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