Metro City
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Metro City (colloquially: Metrocity) is a medium-sized civilization located in the plains biome to the southeast of spawn. Originally founded by Starlit_Crown on Session 1, Metro City is more of a project than it is a civilization. The goal of its inhabitants was to construct a world-wide rail system.
History |
Metro City |
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View of Metro City from a neighbouring mountain. |
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The founder and subsequent ruler of Metro City was Starlit_Crown, a dedicated player who settled on the first inhabitable land she found. By Session 2 she had her first player join the cause, a person whose real name is forgotten and missing from all the sources. Older Metro People call him the Goatman.
Metro Civilization (Sessions 1-2)In the early days, Metro City was known as Metro Civilization, which is evident by the old signs scattered throughout spawn. Back then it wasn't really a city, nor a civilization, but a humble dirt skybase where the first inhabitants planned their moves - the Goatman used to go out collecting materials, and Starlit_Crown started securing relations with the neighbouring Stairway to Heaven.
It turned out that the territories of Metro Civilization and Stairway to Heaven overlapped, so to avoid any conflict, Starlit_Crown hatched a plan to convince Stairway leader Dreaded_Dust that Metro Civilization is a part of his civ and thus shall be renamed to Metro City, although in practice it functioned as a separate civilisation.
Expansion and Metro City strip (Sessions 3-4)By the end of Session 2, a group of four players had joined the Metro cause. Three of them were migrants from a cherry grove where they had spent their first few days. Of those players, two would become extremely important to the development and survival of Metro City: Aerial_Wind, a builder, and Serene_Petal, a blacksmith.
The first big project of Metro City was 'The Strip', a narrow piece of land that would serve as the first grounded and secured area. It required the joint effort of all of Metro's inhabitants, securing it with a layer of stone brick slabs underground connected to the city walls. By the end of Session 4, when the project was thought to be mostly complete, the entire group moved to the strip. It turned out to have been a somewhat premature move, as there were unforeseen vulnerabilities, quickly taken advantage of by athletic skeletons in what was dubbed the 'Skelly incident', resulting in the death of Starlit_Crown.
The walls were also ineffective at stopping spiders from getting in. The first night after the attempted move-in, builder Aerial_Wind attempted to raise the wall height and add outstretched slabs in an attempt to block spiders. While doing so, he got a little too close to an eager creeper which blew up part of the wall, allowing monsters to spill in. The hole was quickly patched up by Starlit_Crown.
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Panoramic photo of Metro City from the west. |
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| Regime | Commune | |
| Date of origin | Session 1 | |
| Leader | Starlit_Crown | |
| Inhabitants | 15 | |
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Metro City's map
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| Metro City on a world map
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First Metro Line (Sessions 5-12)
Innovations were made to the walls to 'Spider-proof' them, placing two layers of stone brick walls with a stone brick block on top. With this new design, spiders would get stuck before being able to reach the top. This final alteration made the the base safe from all mobs bar Phantoms.
By Session 10, work on securing the perimeter of Metro had been completed. Parts of The Strip's walls have been removed, but many operations like the Smithy and Farmland stayed within it. The Strip stayed as a historical part of Metro City and attracted many tourists flooding to Metro around Sessions 5-8. Positive relations with Podzil Civilization had been established, with Nautical_Stream helping to dig the layer underneath the city.
The first Metro Line was agreed to travel between Metro City and Stairway to Heaven. Work on the line began around Session 8 and happened simultaneously with works on the city proper. The tunnel was dug mostly by Starlit_Crown and layered with stone bricks with the help of Aerial_Wind and Stairway's builders. The opening of the first railway line was a great success that sparked a wave of tourism and migration to Metro City. Some people even held dual citizenship between the two nations.
Metro City's helicopter became a main tourist attraction
The city proper developed greatly during this period. The Inhabitants built:
- A Helicopter
- A Healer's Hut
- The Smithy
- A Storage Building
- A Metro Station
- Luxurious Mansions
The Great Psychosis (Sessions 13-16)
Work on the Stairway-Podzil line began with the help of Nautical_Stream. The way the Metro-Stairway line already operated foreshadowed issues to come: it appeared that people did not understand the principal concepts of the metro system. Through ignorance or incompetence, people would walk through the metro tunnels on foot, bumping into and disrupting the flow of minecarts. There was even an incident involving a dog getting stuck inside one of the carts, which forced the whole metro system to a halt and requiring all minecarts to be reset. Waking_Horizon, a tourist, proposed a few adjustments that overall improved the flow of minecarts and usage of the metro.
By Session 12, the tunnel to Podzil had been fully dug out. For safety, it was increased in size and surrounded by bricks with the help of Metro City's population and Podzil's builders. As Metro City's miners were pre-occupied with the Metro project, the city itself had little in the way of ores. Because of this, the remaining 3 Sessions were spent begging civilization leaders for help with resources with which to craft rails, and laying down the tracks. By Session 16, the two lines were connected, but the distance between Stairway and Podzil made the system extremely susceptible to disruptions. There were numerous malfunctions, which led to people opting to walk through the tunnels as opposed to taking the carts, which further exacerbated the issue of players bumping into the minecarts. Driven to insanity, Starlit_Crown would more or less abandon her post as the leader of Metro City to police the tunnels full-time.
Cabins for the tourists
Meanwhile in the city proper, works on the Main Metro Station building began. Three luxurious cabins were provided for visitors, a pond was completed by Seraphic_Angel, and Metro City became a prime tourist attraction throughout the server. Metro City was particularly appealing in contrast to Stairway, whose surrounding terrain had been completely ravaged by monsters.
The Tomfoolery Period (Sessions 17-20)
On Session 18, a great coalition of people from Metro City and Podzilians formed against Lazy_Creature, who was accused of attempted murder and griefing at Podzil. The coalition succeeded in their hunt.
The Main Metro Station's front face had been built, but their was insufficient time to complete the entire building before the end of the Era.
Metro City's unfinished Main Metro Station
Economy
Metro City was a truly peaceful commune that acquired most of its resources through donations. As the civilization itself was otherwise quite poor, always lacking in ores, charity was vital to the Metro's success. Almost all of the resources it acquired on its own were a by-product of the layer mining and tunnelling.
The "Metro City" ploy allowed Metro People usage of Stairway's resources, which was very useful in the early game but became obsolete by Session 12 due to the worsening conditions of Stairway to Heaven.
The main economic hub of Metro City was The Strip, where Serene's Workshop and farm areas were located. Just outside The Strip's walls was a healer's hut.
Smithy operated by Serene_Petal, was the only one in the Metro City. It provided all of the City's tools, most of which were stone with occasional iron variants. Select few Metro People were given iron armor by Serene, but most of the resources were used for various redstone components and rails.
Metro City had a vast farm area that was operated mostly by Puffer_Fish and Jazzed_Motif.
Culture
Due to its nature, Metro City attracted a very specific type of player: a dedicated, focused one. Lots of them were new to Minecraft or civilization events. That's why some used the word autistic to describe the culture of Metro People.
It was a safe haven from all the chaos - neighbouring mob ravaged land of Stairway, and various political conflicts between Podzil and NPC. Conflict was not welcome in Metro City, to the point where Starlit_Crown had to resort to forcing out combative players.
Demographics
Metro's population consists of only 46% people of Metro origin. Due to two big migration periods, many Metro citizens are migrants.
| Ethnic composition of Metrocity | |
| Metro | 46% |
| Stairway | 20% |
| Cherry blossom | 20% |
| NPC | 6% |
| Admin | 6% |