Nova Terina and the Scary Alien Whatever

[TheBluejay]

It's all very serious today. Sorry. Tell me what  you think, and I'll avoid/do more of them in future, depending. But I have to get my plot out somehow!
Also, my GCSE Exams are starting in May, so I will start updating more when I can't take anymore revision. Sorry for the delay!


Chapter 8: Mass Transit





There's been talk of expanding the ST-Distortions the Commonwealth uses to connect each planet to the D-Net into doors large enough to fit trains through. It's an interesting concept, but it's probably just that - talk. All the same, he thought, all the same it would be best to buy shares, invest, spread the wealth to companies who would benefit from such a change in Inter-Stellar Transit. The ideas had of course caused gravity to get a hold on the shares of the Spaceflight Companies, but he wouldn't sell those. Even if you could switch to trains, the Commonwealth was in such a mess -
The train screeched and rattled over a bridge, jolting him out his D-Net connection. 'Blast it!' he muttered. The connections on these frontier planets were so patchy, even on the outskirts of a major town.
Major town
Hah.



It was a simple enough task. Go to Ardeco, take charge of the University. Same routine as a thousand other planets - make connections, gather influence, create and then solve problems.
Ultimately, make money for the family. Very humdrum, if you ask me, but then no one ever does.



He knew it would be small, primitive compared to the Institutes he was used to, but even so he was surpised by the Campus. A group of unadventureous red brick buildings, built in a Tudor Revival style clustered around a path so new and clean it hurt his eyes. The lawns surrounding the classrooms may one day be a great place to gather and socialise, but in the beginings of what this freezing little planet called spring (even on the equator, hah!) the surrounding area was grey and deserted. The halls were bare of the usual sign-ups and poltical leaflets, instead painted a cold, institutional yellow and contained a myriad of non-sensical twists, angles and even a few times (he was sure of it) doubling back on themselves.
Feel like home?
Hah.




Corrected offset image. - Robin 

[RickD]

Honestly, I am not that much into sci-fi mds but I like your narrative style. So I'll keep on reading.

Good luck with your exams.

[canyonjumper]

Great update! I realize now looking at Deadwoods' soundwalls that they are about 4 stories high... I like that second pic, the train going through is pretty cool

               -Jordan

[TheBluejay]

canyonjumper : Oh, thankee! And yes, those soundwalls, I never noticed that before. So how high does that make the train?

RickD Oh, yay. Glad you like it, and Thanks! I'll certainly need it 

Delays, delays, delays, and I can't even blame the Ash Cloud. So sorry Exams in 2 weeks! Woo!. So, without further ado:


Chapter 9: What is this, British Rail?
I've redone the map of Nova Terina! Bask in the MS Painty glory!



http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/1062/novaterinamapannotatedj.jpg

Ah, the progress of.. progression. Well, I haven't really embarked on anymajor building since the last update, actually. But I've cobbled together enough to provide some low quality wit for you all.
So lets get cracking on this back log!



PUN
So yeah, it's a logging company. I can't really add much to that, can I?



It was actually quite fun to build all this, suprisingly. I was suffering from major treeing fatigue, so I think it gave me great satisfaction to create their DOOM! haha! Take that, beautiful natural oxygen factories and habitats!



The site is operated by Reynolds Inc. You remember him, of course? Waterfronts, nutter futures? Dun Nuttin Retirement Homes? As always, he's opened up a new site, for no plot or logical reasons other than the Great Creator Bird was too lazy to think up a company or individual who would own it. Ta da!



Quick overview, just because I can.

Moving further South...and West... And a bit more south...... and you're in the sea, go back.



Stepping off the CPL Liang, it was perfectly unsuprising that the majority of passengers were more than slightly underwhelmed by Helertia Planetary Spaceport. It was little more than a blank expanse of concrete, stretching maybe half a mile along the edge of Lonbeay Isle, looking rather bleak. In the rough center was the spaceport proper, two landing strips, a large carpark and a terminal building. Someday, the station will sprawl over vast areas, perhaps, but for now there's no demand for anything like that. Besides, all thats coming in is settlers, and they're easy to accomadate.



The city itself is much more exciting! I've been trying GLR and I fricking love it. I'm not addicted, I can stop anytime I want! I just don't want to. Right, so we have downtown



Old town



There were supposed to be more towns, but Clip2Pic didn't get half the pictures I took, which is terribly irritating. I had like tram shots and night shots and midrise shots and everything, and now look at me!



And so I leave you with Richville Estates in Topal Island. Ain't no karma, folks.

[canyonjumper]

Great update there, little creation bird I like that building in the roundabout. Perhaps a link please ?

                -Jordan

[strucka]

This is a great start thebluejay! Love the sci-fi thingies, I even thought of putting the space ships in my region somewhere, but let's wait for the future, and see what it brings us.
Visit my MD sometime. The link is in my signature.

[TheBluejay]

canyonjumper: Thanks! You have the link, but for everyone else it's the Bourse de Commerce, on the LEX
strucka: Thankee! Wow, your CJ is looking pretty amazing... I bow down to your superior skills

Hello there! No, I'm not quite done yet. RS exam today, English Literature exam tomorrow and I still find time to add to this...thing.
Oh, and Imageshack is being irritating again. I've repaired, but if you notice broken pictures give me a poke. Anyone who cares to shed light on the mystery of Imageshack deleting my pictures is welcome!

Chapter 10: Oiligarchy

"Clean green energy may have been the dream of the 21st Century, but you could almost hear it being thrown out the window when wormholes were discovered. Fusion? Tricky? Fission? Yeah! Solar? Too big. Oil? Wonderbra! It was like every big industry supporters dream come true, and all for the good of the Commonwealth."

I've been taking pictures over the course of the last 20 days, resulting in this nonsensical mishmash of night shots and oil fields laid before you all. I'm not even going to try and link them together with a plot this time, it's "witty captions" or leave it.



Not that I can really summon up wit to describe this picture. It's the Lonbeay Isle Finanical District at night time, what more do you want? An aria? Shoo! Ungreatful peasants!
...
come back...



More Lonbeay towers! Yes yes yes, I know Lonbeay is old and midrise, but it's a marina. Marina! MAAAHH-REENA! You sort of have to roll your r's for that, as if you were in a Brazilian carnival. Got it? Good!



Ah, now this is more like Lonbeay. Great swathes of Faux-Deco and NewClassical blocks, all completely unrealted to eachother. This is why selling off small packets of land to massive amounts of developers is a bad thing, London take note.



Gothic splendour. If you've never seen real gothic splendour, anyway. But this comes pretty close.
You know, looking again, none of the buildings are even vaguely gothic. I don't know why I thought they were.



Little close up of the "Old Town" I forgot to remove the water pump, but it sorta fits here. Anyway.



And a random modern-esque circle apartment block. Yeah, thats really fitting into the Chicago 1890 build set! But it works, somehow. Even though it chose to grow like...things that grow lots and fast... here, it hasn't occured anywhere else in Nova Terina. I will never work out how the whole grow thing works, I swear.



Well this certainly isn't Lonbeay Isle! This is *consults map* Londale, in the Dales (thats the bit up North) I'd give you an overview, but I don't have one. Ta-Dah!



Pretty pleasant and stuff. It has all the usual amenities - Schools, Clinics, Police Stations. It's pretty unremarkable, unless you live there.



And next door is an extremely charming Oil Field! (fueling the equally charming Gillikin Industrial Concern) See how charming it is?



Charming!



And too round off this train wreck of an update, here's the first New Babelyia Metropolitan Authority Suburb - Porthaven! Oddly enough, it's a sort of port. Odd, that. Here's the centre (It's a long way from New Babelyia, so the towers are justified. The other 'burbs will be far more dull)



And some of the suburbs. I like the pattern I'm using, it gives a nice balance between non-grid and dense.



Predictable close up filler shot!



Predictable establishing overview!

As for the next update, well, don't hold your breath folks. I've still 10-11 exams left on the clock, but you can expect me back into the world of regular updating (what is this strange land I find myself in?) By Mid to late June!

[Myself.or.?]

Hi little Birdie,
long time since I passed by in these part of the Universe. I see you're still going well and I still enjoy reading your storyline.

Wish you Good Luck for the exams! No and after some  a lot of  !

[RickD]

See how charming it is?

Oh right, now that you mention it I can definitely see that it is indeed a very charming oil field. 

Liked the update!

[TheBluejay]

RickD: Oh yes, terribly charming! I'm glad you liked it
Myself.or.? : Great to see you again! I'm really glad you liked it, and thanks! My exams went pretty well - no major foul-ups - fingers crossed I'll make a healthy crop of B's!

Chapter 11: Glorious Return!
Hello all! I'm back!
...
Don't say "yay" or anything -_-
So, my exams are over! Only 50 years till I can retire
And what better way to start a new era of CJ updatement than
INTRODUCING A NEW MAIN CHARACTER!



Boom. Yes yes yes, I am aware it is Sims 3. Do you know how hard it is to find character avatars? Damn difficult! Using RL pics is awkward and mildly creepy and Zelgadis cornered the market on anime long ago thus leaving the Sims franchise the only source of fake human beings. Hey, and Sims avatars means I can get expressions on the characters as well, which is mighty handy



Droopy McSaggerson disapproves of your anti-Sims bias. Shame on you!


So this is Jacen Walder. He is a journalist, first-life 27, currently living in Helertia (lucky chap) He's doing his best to break out of the sort of poverty he was brought up in - his purple eyes and grey hair are a result of living next to The Karl Redecker Spaceport in Jo'burg. He has unfortunately had major problems with food in the past, but he currently lives near a Chinese take-away so it's all fine. He currently writes the occasional article for the "Helertian Star" but lets face it, writing for local newspapers brings neither fame nor cash. As a result, his apartment is a rather dilapidated relic of the pioneer days (which were about a month ago. Bloody new builds) He's currently single but please, readers, remember he's not real before you profess your love for him.
All in all, it's a pretty average life that shows no sign of becoming less average - That is, UNTIL MY PLOTLINE OF DOOM demand I requisition a character - and so, here he is!

Helertia Old Town, March 15th, 4:32 PM



Jacen Walder stood on the step of his apartment building, a tiny, overly ornate building sandwiched inbetween two large NewClassical corner blocks.  Despite the imposing facade and prime location, he rented the flats inside for a pittance - which was exceedingly fortunate, considering that writing for local newspapers brings neither fame nor money.

:"Thats what I said!"

Jacen groaned. That bloody bird had been following him around all day, he was sure of it, and now he was sure it was talking to him. This was it! He was finally cracking under the strain of being the urban poor!
Jacen opened the heavy (fake) oak door leading into the lobby of his building - and surprise surprise, the bird fluttered in after him, ignoring all attempts to shoo it out. Settling on a doorframe, it eyed him looking as irritated as a bird can look.

:": "Bloody ingrate! I make him a central character, a fancy apartment for a pittance and spend all day following him around taking pictures of him on extraordinarily laggy games, and what do I get? Swatted at by some low grade news rag!"

Jacen just rolled his eyes and wearily trudged up the stairs. How one can trudge up (fake) marble I don't know, but he managed it. Stopping on the 3rd floor, he glared at his luminescent green door. A legacy from the previous tenant, and something he still hadn't gotten round to changing. Not that he had the money of course. Throwing open the door and shuffling in, he did his best to ignore the bird fluttering in after him, and collapsed on a sofa that sounded like it wanted to collapse on him. Kicking off his shoes (worn, like everything else in the flat) Jacen settled down to read the "low grade news rag" he'd picked up earlier. Although most likely a hallucination, the bird was completely right

:":" I should think so too"

The paper was a low grade rag. Irritated by life in general, Jacen had a quick shower, switched clothes and went off to get thoroughly drunk, managing to shut the damn bird inside his flat as he left,throwing one last irritated glance at his bright purple door.

:":" Cow! I could have gone into a lucrative stock market career, but noooooo I spend my day following you around - out of the goodness of my job description heart, and what do I get in return? I shall make a nest in your pillow!"

Profoundly irritated, I/the bird (this is getting confusing) smoothed some feathers and hopped down onto the sofa, hoping to find something soporific enough in the paper to send him/me to sleep until Jacen returned.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Random City Pics!
As much as plotting is fun (please leave a comment saying what you thought of it! I'm still trying to find a style that suits) One must include city pictures in these things.
I had a bit of a creators block with this, but I built up some suburbs and farms - nothing major, but I did do something pretty big.



I quite literally doubled the size of the region - and reader, it was boring like you wouldn't believe. I particularly hates trees now. I added the large mountainous region first (Kinbasket Lake/Bay, HP) to provide colonial lands for later on - but then I realized that the amount of usable land there doesn't suit the rural, provincial colonies I had in mind, so I added the southern land mass (Zaraki, also NHP) to do this.

Lets see, what else have we got...



I got back to nature a little in Windermare Lake



And made my first attempt at a stream, which didn't turn out too badly, all things considered.



I germinated another suburb, NBMA Fitkin - it's since acquired an unremarkable industrial park and more or less doubled or tripled in size, but it all follows that sort of pattern. Leafy, green, low density. Altogether stiflingly pleasant, what?



And finally, bonus pic of the week!



New Babelyia continues to make like a fungi and mushroom. And I'm closing in on the 1 mil mark! Whatever shall I do to celebrate?

Thanks everyone for being patient while I struggled through my exams. They're all finished - I never have too speak French or add up again! Joyous day!

Oh! One last thing! I am in need of new characters, soooo... Whoever can create the best character in a comment below wins that character a place in the storyline. Neat, hmmm? Runners up (should there be any!) will get a city or a ship or a landmass named after them - so you better enter! This character can be you , it can be your grandmother, it can be Herg, the Kalaptian Space  Hero who just so happens to live in Skegness, serving icecreams to the locals. It's up to you!

[kalvar]

interesting, I like the aims this region, the details are fantastic in their cities

[TheBluejay]

kalvar: Thanks! It's much appriciated!

Chapter 12: Ozymandias

Hang onto your hats, people. This is about to get very confusing.



Helertia's Old Town, about 7am

Jacen awoke to the electronic squawking noise that is the same the galaxy over. Rolling over and holding onto his head like it was about to fall off at the same time, he swept his arm back and forth along the bedside table in that familar "Wheres the alarm clock?" dance.

Needless to say, he was surprised when whatever he found was feathery and made a rather more natural sounding squawk.

Jacen: Bird? Bird. Bird? Urrgghhhhhhh.....Tequila slammers. Never again.... where was I?

OmniBluejay: Bird, I believe.

Jacen: Ah yes, tha - Bird?! Bird! How is there a bird in my apartment?

OmniBluejay: You're still drunk, go back to sleep

Jacen: I can't, I've got an assaignm...asaing...asassain....job....Bird? Talking? BIRD?!


OmniBluejay: Tweet.

Jacen: Urrrrrgggghhhhhhhhh!

Clutching at his head with both hands, Jacen staggered to the bathroom -

OmniBluejay: How is that even a bathroom? I hereby rename it The Room With Plumbingtm

Okay, Jacen, staggered to The Room With - Wait, hang on, what? You're me! How does this even work?

OmniBluejay: I've seperated us into two entities - Neutral Narrator Me and Character Me. Technically, you're not even supposed to be sentient, but I overlooked that so we could explain how this is going to work to the readers, albiet in a roundabout sort of way. You do the lines of text that say things like "Jacen ate some cheese" and I do the speaking with mortals and talking about changes in the cities. It's a bit complicated, but we're manifestations of a teenagers imagination, so what could go wrong?

Well, I am glad we sorted that out.
Anyway, Jacen staggered to The Room With Plumbingtm and peered into the mirror, pulling at  his face in that way that hungover people do, whilst making a variety of noises that indicated he was displeased with his general appearance. Leaving him to it, OmniBluejay hopped around the bedroom, pecking holes in underwear as he went.
The apartment was a squalid dump, it had to be said. The bedroom was full of discarded clothes draped over mouldering chinese take-aways, and the overall impression was of 4chan /b/. In one corner, the bonded fibre panels making up the ceiling appeared to be undergoing some form of decomposition, sprinkling the room with unpleasant looking cream coloured flakes.
OmniBluejay turned to address Jacen as he thudded back in, now looking substantially less like 4am in 1980's Harlem

OmniBluejay:  You know these flakes are rapidly approaching sentience? The mass of them is high enough to form a primitive group mind.

Jacen: Is this a thinly veiled way of saying you're a hallucination brought about by a group mind of Bonded Fibre flakes?

OmniBluejay: ....no. I'm a demi god, remember? And you're about to ask me to prove it, so your landlady is about to knock on your ugly, electric blue door.

They turned, and a series of sharp raps came from the door.
"Yo yo, I'ma door, I'ma let you finish (I'm I'ma let yo finish) But Beyonce had one of the best doorknockers of all time! Listen to me spit rhhyyymmeeessss! Sharply."

OmniBluejay: Not entirely what I meant... And that wasn't a particularly good rap. I'm not even certain is that was a rap at all. Anyway.

Heavy, slow thuds came from the door, as if the person knocking had incredibly heavy arms. Jacen yanked the door open to face a large, yellowish lady wearing bright green eyeshadow and a red jumper.

Jacen: Oh, hello
He lied.

OmniBluejay hopped away from the increasingly heated conversation and decided that, since the conversation was likely rather boring, that they ought to skip forward to the assignment that the owner of the local low grade rag had for Jacen



The train pulled in at Babelyia St Philips



Jacen had been ordered to document and photograph the massive changes to the citie's structure brought about by the Social Democrat government, and to provide a quick and easy way of showing what I've been up to recently. Concealing the bird in a large (uncomfortable) rucksack, he boarded a Mag Lev train, napped through the 45 minute journey through prime Nova Terinan countryside.
Stepping off the train at platform 4, Jacen quickly realised that he had no idea how to go about this.

Jacen: I am quickly realising I have no idea how to go about this.

OmniBluejay: Well... I could help, you know. I am, after all, a bird-god. Getting pictures of developments I instigated shouldn't be too tricky

Jacen: Well, I suppose.... Whats the worst you could do?

Jacen opened his rucksack fully and let the bird fly out.

OmniBluejay: Heheheheheheheh... Zappy fry zap!





OmniBluejay:  And now, the captions. For I am Bluejaymandias, Bird of birds. Look upon my civil engineering works, ye mighty, and despair.

Yup! I felt New Babelyia was too samey, and had nothing to differentiate itself from other cities. Thus, I fiddled with train networks, bulldozed my way through the old town and voila! Canals! Providing a pleasant and effective boost to property prices and time wasted on SC4 when I should be preparing for various important social events.



Situated in a great big block of land I really didn't want to develop due to demand issues, Grace Park!



The park features, among other things, fountains, flowers and wind generators to ensure year round kite flying.



Other, more recent developments include a whopping great gated community, created to make New Babelyia larger than Topal Island (and also because of demand issues)



And a rather amateurish attempt at a sports parks, prompted by (you guessed it) wanting to se a swimming pool.
What
You didn't guess it?



Quick overview of how New Bab looks right now. You may notice a maxis airport and a line of convention centers. I assure, these aren't there at all. They are unbuildings, merely your minds playing tricks on you, and you should all give me all of your savings.

Jacen: You're rather handy, for a hallucination. Maybe I'll keep you around.

OmniBluejay: Like you have a choice, mortal...

And with that, I'm going to bed, because it's 4:30am.

[CoastRunner]

Wow, I really like your city building and storylines!  I especially like the way your suburbs are set up. 

[Battlecat]

I've thoroughly enjoyed getting caught up on your MD here.  Wonderful looking urban areas and an interesting story as well!  Looking forward to reading more.

[Skimbo]

Finally your next update arrived, and i just can say: Well done 

[canyonjumper]

lol, awesome update BlueJay

        -Jordan

[TheBluejay]

So whilst converting this update for SC4 Dev my mouse ran out of batteries and would not work no matter how much I hit it, sracthed at it and smacked it against the table. So I had to sneak across the house in the middle of the night trying not to wake anyone up to get to the battery charger, at great personal risk to myself, only to find that dad had decided to steal all the batteries. The things I do for you...

nickie: Thanks! Lots more suburbs today (I'm waiting on the release of SPAM before I start anymore farms up and I really don't fell like skyscrapers today)

Battlecat: Thankie! Really glad you're enjoying it

Skimbo: Haha, yeah, I know, I'm slow to update this! Glad you liked it, and thanks!

canyonjumper: Thank you! Glad you're enjoying it!

Chapter 13: Burbs of the Sub Variety



OmniBluejay: Are you sure this is the right train? I'm not sure this is the right train. Do you think this is the wrong train? I think this isn't the right train. I can feel it. In my blood. My fizzing blood. Is this the right fizzing train?

Jacen: Giving you Coke was the worst idea I have had in some time. Settle down! Get out of that womans hair!

OmniBluejay:  Well if you will cultivate a hairstyle that large and nest like what do you expect to get?

Silly Haired Old Lady: Phmaw-Bub-Durr-Ahhhh! Get your bird out of my hair immediately!


Jacen: My bird? What on earth makes you think this bird is mine? It's nothing to do with me!

Silly Haired Old Lady: Well you keep talking to it! Honestly, the youth of today, talking to psychotic birds, putting them in unsuspecting wealthy peoples hair...

There was an awkward silence while Jacen attempted to remove the frantically twittering, upside down bird from the lady's very odd hair. Leaning in close, he hissed

Jacen: I thought you said that other people couldn't hear us talk?

OmniBluejay: I said that other mortals couldn't hear me talk, cretin. Now get me out of here! She smells like my mother!


Jacen: You have a mother?

OmniBluejay:  Sub-Goddess of Old Fish.

Jacen: Interesting... Well, can you do something about people hearing me talk to you?

OmniBluejay:  Fine, fine... Right, the snotty cow shouldn't be able to hear you -

Silly Haired Old Lady: ExxxCUUUSSSEEE ME?!


OmniBluejay:  Oh.... Maybe I got this wrong...

Wrenching the bird out of the outraged womens' hair, Jacen looked around in mild panic as the lady in front of him sputtered like someone had connected her to a firehouse and turned a shade which can only be described as "Fuchsia"

OmniBluejay:  Gosh, I think she's inflating.... Quick, distract her!

Jacen: Erm...How?

OmniBluejay:  Oh, for my sake... Look! Joe diMaggio!

Silly Haired Old Lady: Where?!

The pair hurried towards the doors to the next carriage, which conveniently swung open to let them through and slammed shut behind them. They were standing on a sturdy looking metal verandah that connected each carriage to the next. Oddly, despite the scenery rushing past, it didn't feel like they were moving at all.

Jacen: Hang on, this is a Mag-Lev train... We ought to be smeared over the door. What's going on?

OmniBluejay:  Well, if you really want to create more work for those poor cleaners...

There was the distant sound of breaking glass, and then the wind rushed in; the bird disappeared with a loud "SQUAWK" and Jacen started on the aforementioned smearing. Unable to see, unable to talk, unable to think, loosing his grip -

Train:SSSSCCCRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEECCCCHHHHHH

Jacen was abruptly thrown in the other direction; loosing his grip, he was thrown against the carriage door with a hollow sounding THUD. Opening his eyes (and realizing doing so was a terrible idea) he watched as the scenery slowed from San Francisco fog to bicycle.

Jacen: W-What...?

OmniBluejay: They're called brakes.

The Bluejay, it seemed, had caught up with the train.

OmniBluejay: Come on! Up! Up up up! We need to get off the train - I was right, this is the wrong train you cretin -

Ignoring the birds' twittering, Jacen stood up slowly (Well, it takes time to unscramble one's brains) Clinging to railings for support. Moving very slowly and cautiously, he disembarked from the train, walked over to a large pole holding up the arching glass roof of the station, and hugged it until he felt better.

Opening his eyes around 15 minutes later, he began looking around the station properly. Large, built entirely of glass, and rather empty. About a metre away was a large sign with "NBMA MARILLA" written on it, in a font that some urban planner in an office on Olivenza clearly thought was retro-kitsch and a good idea. There were a few tickets desks (empty) and a few screens showing train times surrounded by and awful lot of glowing white stone. Well, imitation stone.



OmniBluejay: Ahhh, you've stopped clinging. Good.

Jacen: Why did you do that?

OmniBluejay: Do what?

Jacen: You know perfectly well what I mean!

OmniBluejay: Jeez, keep your stereotypical anime nerd hair on. Alright, fine. To be perfectly honest... I wasn't expecting human praxic development to be quite so advanced... and fast. Usually praxic development goes hand in had with societal advancement, and you guys... well...

Jacen: Well what? Human society is as culturally sophis -

A large overweight man wearing a T-shirt covered in grease stains waddled past listening to Glenn Beck

Jacen: Alright, so maybe it's a bit patchy...

Britney Spears IV walked past in the other direction

Jacen: Alright, alright! You've made your point! So, where are we anyway?

OmniBluejay: Marilla. It's the newest low density satellite town orbiting New Babelyia, complete with picket fences and housewives baking cookies.

Jacen: How pleasant.



Jacen: Hang on, what's going on with that river? Three different water colours, and the transition looks like an impatient 16 year old with hair issues did it in three seconds despite having repeatedly read the excellent "Ennedi plays Shosaloza" over on a on a site with a name that's something like SC4 Devotion

OmniBluejay: Heh heh, imagine that.



OmniBluejay: It doesn't look so bad from over here, at least. I'll work some kaboomy magic with it at some point and make a better transition between game water and ploppable, but you'll have to make do for now. It's pretty cool, though. All electricity and water for the suburb is provided by this dam, which emits no air pollution or radioactive mutants, a boon for any local Residents Association.



OmniBluejay: It's got a reasonably pleasant shopping street next to the large and largely unused train station. The shops are pretty typical for a small town. Food, clothing shops that no one ever enters and yet somehow stay in business, Coffee shop chains disguised as local independent ones with names like "Lucys' Smalltown Independent Coffee Shop!" and offices of corporations that make millions by providing no service or good whatsoever.



OmniBluejay: And prime riverfront property. Because a loud natural water feature that periodically floods your property is worth paying £100,000 extra for. Basically, it's identical to NBMA Fitkin, except is has a river instead of an industrial estate






OmniBluejay: This place just gets more liveable every time you see it, doesn't it? Not a soulless characterless suburb in sight. No sir.

[Skimbo]

Nice one, Blue, it's getting better each time

[Battlecat]

This is coming along quite nicely!  I love how the farms look on your region view.  Nice job on the latest update! 

[TheBluejay]

Battlecat: Thanks! I'll start doing farms again once SPAM comes out

Skimbo: Thanks! May the march of improvement never cease! And now I sound like Chairman Mao.

Disclaimer: No offence is meant to people of any political leaning. I'm just being silly.
Chapter 14: A Public Broadcast on Behalf of the Commonwealth Backstory Society



The bird looked longingly through the murky glass at the trees swaying and the fancy cars gleaming invitingly in the spring sun. He ought to be out there, he thought, observing the planet that fell under his jurisdiction and causing entertaining havoc! But no, instead he was shut in a manky old flat whilst Jacen was at work. He'd zap the moronic mortal with a twitch of his beak... if it wasn't so important to the plotline that nothing of that nature happened to anyone just yet.
OmniBluejay:: Urgh, I can think of at least 27 things I'd rather be doing, and that list includes trawling through Simtropolis again... Well, might as well see what's on the telly
Had anyone else been around, they may have noticed the talking Bluejay was not only talking, but using archaic 21st Century language to describe the object that was quite clearly not a telly. But no one was, so the author's laziness went unnoticed.
Hopping up and down on the touch pad built into the coffee table, the bird flicked through channel...after channel...after channel. While 100 years of progress (what date am I setting this story in again? Prizes to anyone who knows) had certainly expanded the amounts of channels; it appeared to have done nothing to the quality. Giving up on finding The BBC, he settled down to watch one of those light documentaries hosted by c-list celebrities with names like "Levi Root goes Native" or, in this case "Alessandra Carron: A Journey"
Despite the appalling name, it seemed to be a solid enough history of the Commonwealth, narrated softly by a Nigella Lawson type, who appeared to be Ms. Carron herself.
Alessandra: ...which of course led to an energy crisis and goods and food shortages across most of America. Dr Bellamy, an expert on the early 21st Century, is here to tell us why.
Dr Bellamy: Of course, what many people forget is that, in those days, civilization was controlled by a corporation known as "Facebook" which, through use of then attractive technology, kept people stupid and docile. This effect was particularly noticeable in the United States of America, leading to several Republican administrations...
He tuned out. Surely the 21st Century hadn't been that bad? He should know, he'd been around for... all of it. Awful lot of rioting and women wearing silly clothing, he recalled, and very little else...
Dr Bellamy: ...by the time the ST-Distortion effect was discovered, it's estimated that the population had fallen by roughly 500 Million.
Alessandra: The arrival of FtL transit changed everything for humanity,
OmniBluejay: Well, obviously
Alessandra: and the Sol system was rapidly developed, ushering in a glorious era of deregulation and cheap and plentiful mineral resources. As the ST-Distortions grew more powerful and efficient, the range of humanity expanded. The Silver Years, as they came to be known, ended abruptly when the newly colonised planet of Foxes' Glenn, settled by followers of the wondrous cult leader and "talk show host" Glenn Beck, attempted to break away from the United Nations (at the time leading the colonisation efforts) pointing out quite legitimately that Foxes Glenn was a planet, not a nation. The vast amount of paperwork this led to quite quickly destroyed the UN. With individual nation states on Earth laying claims to great swathes of newly discovered territory on other planets, problems rapidly emerged, particularly on Olivenza...

OmniBluejay: Ahaha!

He remembered that! Some goof up in Virgin Galactic had meant Brazil and Finland tried to colonise the same planet - the results hadn't been pretty. Ah, those were the good days - Zipping round Hanko's underground network while it was being occupied by the Olivença Forças Armadas, helping out some chump in the Vastarintaliike...

Alessandra:...Commonwealth, and the forming of three bands of colonies, which is still used today. The Inner Ring, the 17 planets closest to Earth, settled in the UN and post-UN period, which became notorious for being unstable, chaotic worlds which are only now recovering from 100 years of guerrilla movements, ethnic cleansing and Facebook riots. Trillions of Earth dollars are being spent upgrading creaking infrastructure and poorly built habitation hastily erected in those days. The Outer Ring, which has become the inter-solar model for new colonies, with vast megacities and the workshop planets of the USAN. And the Periphery, where the raw materials are produced in vast quantities to meet the demands of older, more civilised planets.

MEANWHILE
Offices of the Lonbeay Star, Lonbeay Isle.



The offices of the Lonbeay Star are housed between floors 30 and 33 in one of the smaller of the BluGlass Complex towers in the centre of Lonbeay Isle. The diagonal steel bracing coupled with the large blue plate glass made for a striking, if not exactly beautiful, tower. Very much in the shadow of the larger, iconic Strial Tower (both literally and figuratively) Howell Tower is regarded as a stepping stone for companies on their way up, and a compromise for companies on their way down. The Lonbeay Star fits perfectly into the second category.

Jacen: Oh, for Bluejays sake, hurry up! If I'm late for Mr Kirkaldy again...

Kirkaldy was the Chief Editor of the Star. He, like many of the companies in the Howell, was on his way down the ranks of News Corp for infraction or infractions unknown - Which of course left him desperate to sling onto his job and the Star 's shaky hold on profitability. He was not fun to see, even without the achingly slow tram system making one late.
Dash! Past the fountain, skid into security, scanner broken again would-you-like-to-please-just-produce-3-ID-forms-hold-on-sir-this-is-illegible-!, into the express lift up to 35-
Dash crash dash down 3 flights of stairs and -

Jacen: Sorry, sorry sir! The tram was late and then the scanner was broken and then aliens got into the lift and and -

Mr Kirkaldy: Yes, hmm well. Sit down; you're making me tired, jigging about like that.

Jacen did so

Mr Kirkaldy: Yes. Well. The company has been very impressed by your recent reporting, and in particular -

Whatever he was impressed by, Jacen never found out, because at that moment -

Silly Haired Old Lady: YOU!

Jacen: You!

Silly Haired Old Lady: Me?

Mr Kirkaldy: Ah, you've already met my sister! Good, go-

Miss Kirkaldy This! This boy! This boy was extremely rude to me! He threw a bird into my hair -

Mr Kirkaldy: A bird?

Miss Kirkaldy Don't interrupt me, Sebastian! This boy threw a bird into my lovely hair -

Jacen: *Snort*

Miss Kirkaldy And then called me a cow! I demand punishment!

Mr Kirkaldy turned to look at Jacen darkly.

Mr Kirkaldy: Is this true?

Jacen: I....umm... what I mean to say, is... err

Oh, he'd lost his job, Jacen was sure of that. Might as well go the whole hog.

Jacen: Yes, completely true. She is a cow.

Miss Kirkaldy PWAH-PHSWAH-BAH!

Mr Kirkaldy: Hmmm... in light of this... I am promoting you.

Jacen: Promoting me?

Maybe he thought the old cow was awful too! Maybe he was rewarding him for insulting his sister! Maybe -

Mr Kirkaldy: To war correspondent.

Jacen: War.... correspondent?

His heart sank.

Jacen: But... there aren't any wars going on... at the moment...

Mr Kirkaldy: Precisely. You will receive a monthly stipend of roughly NT$10.

This was roughly a quarter of his current stipend. And without fees for each article...

Mr Kirkaldy: Off you go, now.

Jacen walked away to go sell his organs.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

OmniBluejay: And now it's time for my disapproval of the day. First up:



Not one of my better attempts, I must say. I based it off the prototype Topal Island's Senate (This is the third incarnation of Nova Terina) which worked well. Something odd happened here and... It doesn't work so well. If only there was some way to change it....



Thank you convenient thunder cloud! (Image from the wonderful Grey Gerling. Go check him out. Now. barfquestion.com/comic.html )

so I tried a few things, including this awesome mistake




Hmmm... no. So I finally settled for the rather more conventional Umeda Sky Building.



And I'm happier with it, but certainly not done. The grounds look awful, for one. What can be done? Obviously, I don't know, or I'd have done it. Suggestions please!



So I really ought to get better at these streamy river things or just stop doing them altogether. But this didn't turn out too badly, and it's the first of the New Babelyia suburbs!
"But wait!" I hear you cry. "Aren't Porthaven and Fitkin and Roundal and all the other New Babelyia suburbs?"
Well Billy, I'm glad you asked. Actually, no I'm not. Don't question me! But this is the first of the low density zoning inside the actual New Babelyia tile. I figured I ought to do some in the end.



Attempt at doing Stream Source 1 (Cave): Fail
Attempt at doing Stream Source 2 (MarshBoggyThing): Utter Failure
Attempt at doing Stream Source 3 (From nowhere): Are you even trying?

How do you make stream sources? How? This river is utterly inexplicable!

And with that, toodle-pip.