Tin, Tin, Tin
Transnational Affairs
Freesoil Day
Norlund celebrated it's first ever Freesoil Day on March 3rd. It commemorates the announcement of the bot-ban that CivReign implemented, and has became one of Norlund's national holidays, along with their famous carrot holiday.
The Norlish King, Leobonet, commented by saying this; "We in Norlund are immensely grateful for the fact that botting is banned. Most Norls celebrated by mining Tin, with their own hands of course. The next Freesoil day will probably be much more organized and will probably be open for foreigner's too!"'
Norlund is one of the biggest nations to return to Civ, originally coming from CivRealms, which CivReign takes a lot of inspiration from. Seen on the left is one of the houses built in their capital Kannin, shared on the discord here.
A reddit post made by u/Main_Loss646, as seen here.
Grinding
The current state of the server has largely been dominated by mining and resource-gathering. Mining tin especially has been a striking feature, with many players grinding in the mine for the resource, and to subsequently get steel. Additionally, the lack of boating has made swimming a necessary feature on the server.
The grind-nature of the server has brought up fears by players of it's possible failure. Players privately or publically on discord or reddit have expressed worries. However, the devs have been frequent with their updates, and good on taking player feedback. Everyone hopes the server will do well, and will jump in playerbase after advertising that the devs have planned. It has certainly been a SOTW with far less raiders or shitters than previous iterations, and we can all at least agree that's a good thing. Besides the shitters, that is.
A reddit meme posted by u/samjohnstonsam, found here.
Vangardian Strife
Some brief drama erupted during the last week, in the relatively calm nation of Vangar. Vangar is made up of several friends, who know each other from other nation-building servers. They united to come to CivReign, and are led by CanadianToss. This is the story CanadianToss gave to me;
A new player named Agent_Sparks9 was allowed to join the nation. After losing their bed, they had been invited into the nation, and settled outside one of the Vangardian settlements. It was a temporary base, as it had been agreed that they'd find a permanent one after a week.
While Agent_Sparks9 had initially been nice, he grew increasingly hostile over the days, generally showing belligerency, and as CanadianToss put it, 'anti-social behavior'. This would eventually grow into insulting other players, at which point CanadianToss had to ask him to leave. The situation would culminate with one of the Vangardians raiding Sparks' house, due to him supposedly insulting them, although I did not receive any proof of this. As of now, this is the end of the story. as told by Canadian Toss.
Agent_Sparks9's story is different. He claims that he moved to Vangar, and was immediately told to spend all his time in the mines. According to him he was frustrated with their 'communist idealogy' and wanted independence, and so moved to the new location early. He was already there and setting up an upgrade for a carpentry factory when CanadianToss announced they weren't moving there after all, and had chosen another location.
Sparks asked him why this was, and claims Canadian threatened to kick him if he complained again. While Sparks went to settle on a beach, a nearby Vangarian town named Umbria and their leader, Selena, said that land was theirs. At this point, Agent_Sparks9 told CanadianToss that he wished to just establish his beach as it's own nation. After discussing claims, he became ghosted by CanadianToss. The Vangarian leader then told him to join Umbria and, upon refusal, was kicked out.
For a few days it seemed to be peaceful, until Sparks logged on to find his house raided. Both sources agree that a Vangarian, Serena of Umbria, did this. In return, Sparks raided Vangar's capitol, Slumville, and finally left the nation. He now says to be living in peace, with a safe carpentry factory of his own.
Flag of Vangar.
Okx and Doom_Weaver preparing to raid you.
Raiders!
There may be a lot less raiders than usual, but that doesn't need none! Recently, Okx and Doom_Weaver have been engaging in some raiding. They are said to be especially targeting advanced nations, specifically with high levels of tin stored or with a bloomery. Compared to prior iterations, perhaps due to the preban list and a lack of boats or easily obtainable tools, the amount of raiders has been far less. However, they are still present, as in all servers.
Now that the first nations are building bloomeries and steel, the effectiveness of raiders will likely decrease. As snitches are placed and combat gear produced, the future of raiding becomes more murky. However, it will undoubtedly forever remain something of a feature, as seen in prior Civcraft servers.
Build Showcase
On a brighter note, there's been a lot of nice builds made! It's interesting to see how a lack of windows has influenced the buildstyle. Regardless, here's a nice collection of some of them:
Brewyern, before being raided by Gab0ner, shared here.
The Quahog Buccanneer as it arrived in Petoria, exhibited here.
Domestic Affairs
Dawn of the Steel Age
Laurentia has developed greatly in the past week. Like the rest of the citizens, a great grinding spirit has consumed the playerbase. Many citizens have been taken it upon themselves to mine in the Aquanether, gathering tin, iron, copper and other valuable ores, along with harvesting the wheat field.
All of this came to ahead on Sunday, when a bloomery was finally built. The Grand Council passed a decree giving all citizens three free copper pickaxes, finally ending the povertycraft of stone tools. Any citizens can also purchase steel pickaxes for a sum of various different ores and details, promising a nationalized market for better tools. The completion of the bloomery, and the onset of winter, has caused a national wheat shortage. All players have been encouraged by the government to farm, farm, and farm, in order to remedy this.
Now that the bloomery has been achieved, a new goal and focus will be chosen for the nation. A capital has been planned, and much of it has been built in a separate build server. However, the Imperial Federation also had a capital on the build server that never ended up being fully built, so it's yet to be seen. Upon being asked about this, Doge Cuppy I responded with the following;
"With Laurentia now among the first nations to enter the Steel Age, our opportunities are limitless. Now we begin development on the great city of Serena and work toward a blast furnace and the development of XP. And these will be the principal tasks for our first elected Doge to undertake."
Doge elections are yet to be announced, however, they will take place soon. Both Zhirall and Cuppy have sworn not to run for Doge. As by constitutional rules, anyone of the six nobles in the country can contend the next election. Who that will end up being is yet to be seen, as they will also need a sponsorship by two of their peers, and the support of Cuppy or Zhirall.
Laurentia Enters The Global Community
Laurentia recently engaged in it's first significant acts of diplomacy. A series of decrees and edicts passed allowed foreign nations into the Laurentian market, offering to deliver a great many goods. It promises to sell, and deliver, steel pickaxes internationally, along with cheap bronze tools to encourage industrialization. Boats, and the uses of factories, are also on sale. In order to help develop poorer nations, Laurentia has promised to charge low fees, at a maximum surcharge of 8%, and going as low as one. Nations have been encouraged to negotiate prices and deals that work for them, settle near Laurentia, and establish diplomatic ties.
Archduke Zhirall travelled an immense 19,000 block journey to complete the first transaction of this program. He went to Brewyern, who was provided with stone, bronze pickaxes, snitches, and more. In return, along with the payment, Zhirall was given a honey drink.
A treaty was signed with the Duchy of Courran who, as of now, is Laurentia's only neighbor. Along with outlining clear borders, it put an alliance into place, ensuring that both will protect and aide one another.
A map of Laurentian claims has been produced by the government. However, as of now, it has not been made public. Although the writer of the Laurentian Dispatch has seen it, in order to retain national security, it will not be shared now.
A photograph of Meemai and Bstallio in the aquanether.
Nobility
The first nobility titles were given out, with four citizens not being seated in the Grand Council. These were Capri, Arul, Aetherix and Asgeir, all of whom are now Viscounts.
Bstallio was made the Viscount of Gildartes Point, however, declined sitting on the Council. Meemai asked not to be on it, and was made a Baron.
While Asgeir is the Viscount of the County of Calenardhon, none of the other nobles have land granted to them, besides Bstallio. While nobility does not mandate a land grant, it is expected that more of these nobles will get grants as time goes on.
Zhirall meeting with HikorutheGamer in Brewyern, posted here.
Published 3/7/23