Ascaris
| Ascaris | |
|---|---|
| Place | |
| |
| Name: Ascaris | |
| Status: Griefed | |
| Formed: May 2014 | |
| Members: Cinnabars, Pippenger, clipchip, JavelinFury, MisterStrawman, jackswastedtime, Xenagie, Atroxes, and later many others | |
| Schematic: File:Ascaris 2019 12 10.tar.gz | |
Ascaris was one of the vastest, oldest, and most notable cities to be built on this server.
Regions and Landmarks
The entire city is tightly interconnected via a series of roads, bridges, and tunnels, and every structure is built in the same consistent architectural style. It is therefore difficult to separate Ascaris into distinct sections. However, it can be thought of as comprising five general areas.
1: Western Ascaris, The Old City
2: Central Ascaris, The Sunken City
3: Eastern Ascaris, The New City
4: Northern Ascaris, The High City
5: Outer Dominions
Western Ascaris
Western Ascaris was the earliest district to be built. It was founded and primarily constructed by Cinnabars, and partly because of this, it has a noticeably different and arguably better appearance than the other regions of the city.
Shortly after beginning construction of this district, the residents began allowing trees, vines, and wild grass to grow here, causing it to slowly gain an overgrown and somewhat decrepit appearance over the next five years.
Rose Cathedral
The Rose Cathedral was built on the south shore of the district, primarily by Pippenger but with help from Cinnabars as well.
Lilac Cathedral
The Lilac Cathedral was built solely by Cinnabars, in the western plains near where she first discovered the main Ascarian continent.
Doge's Palace
The Doge's Palace was a building both extremely wide and extremely tall, stretching in some places from bedrock directly to the height limit. Unfortunately, it was never completed.
Iron Farms
The district contained a system of golem spawners with a lava blade harvest in the western section. There were three locations where golems spawn, but they were carefully disguised as regular buildings to blend into the rest of the city.
Ascaris was primarily an aesthetic build designed to look akin to an actual city, not simply a Minecraft base, so the mechanical portions of the farm were hidden from exterior view.
Bathing Pool
There was a small pool in Western Ascaris for bathing, swimming, and water collection.
Pippenger's House
Pippenger's primary residence was a house in the southern part of this district, close to the Rose Cathedral.
Cinnabars' House
Cinnabars lived in a house at the center of the Western Ascaris. It was more elaborately decorated than Pippenger's house, and contained important storage, maps, and farms within.
Sentinel Tower (Ruins)
The eastern shore of the district contains a ruined watchtower, covered in vines and leaves.
Highpoint Tower
A narrow tower constructed by Pippenger. Not notable, except that it contained the highest easily accessible point in Western Ascaris.
Alleys and Roofs
The unique character of Western Ascaris is not captured by any single building. It emerges in the spaces between them.
Central Ascaris
Unlike most cities, the center of Ascaris is actually among the least developed parts of it. This is because all the naturally generated land within this region is below sea level.
Border House
One of the few proper structures in Central Ascaris was the Border House, which served as a sort of rest point for travelers passing between Eastern Ascaris and Western Ascaris.
The foundations of this house were built directly into the seafloor.
Flood Gardens
The majority of Ascaris's food and lumber was produced on top of flooded Central Ascarian buildings in the sea.
Great Bridge
A very long bridge stretched from the Border House all the way to the Grand Plaza on the eastern island.
Flooded District
The majority of buildings in Central Ascaris are sunken ruins. From the surface they are barely visible.
With night vision potions, their shapes can be made out more clearly.
The district is best viewed using a combination of night vision and water breathing potions.
Eastern Ascaris
Eastern Ascaris was the most dense and highly developed district of the city, and likely of anywhere on SimPvP.
Grand Plaza
At the center of Eastern Ascaris was a flower-filled plaza, which had access to The Great Bridge, The Library, Northern Ascaris, and many other important locations.
Plaza District
The houses surrounding the Grand Plaza are known as the Plaza District.
Under The Plaza
A house in the Plaza District contained an entryway to a network of underground chambers and passages.
Directly beneath the Grand Plaza, there was a vast chamber with an elaborate dome ceiling.
This would later serve as inspiration for similar ceilings at bases such as Estevez.
Sentinel Tower
Eastern Ascaris contained an intact version of the Sentinel Tower.
Sentinel District
The neighborhoods surrounding the tower were known as the Sentinel District.
The streets of this district were especially well lit, and surrounded by flowers.
Cartographer's Chamber
At the far eastern edge of Ascaris was a large and intricate structure containing an immense map of the city. The current whereabouts of this map are unknown, but it was least seen in the possession of MutualistManiac.
The Manor
One of the houses in Eastern Ascaris was especially notable for its size and complexity.
East Plaza
At the backdoor of The Manor was a staircase leading down to another plaza.
Beyond this plaza was a bridge to the mysterious eastern continent, which was barely explored.
Water Temple
East Sewers
Library
The Library of Ascaris contained an immense collection of player books. It is unknown how many survived.
Library District
Xenagie Isle (south)
Betula District
Northern Ascaris
High Terrace
Air Bridges
Island Colonies
Xenagie Isle (north)
Cinnabars Isle
Outer Dominions
Farm Peninsula
Great Quarry
The Far Colony
Extra Pictures
Historical Record
The history of Ascaris is extremely long and complex, though it is of little importance compared to the city itself.
Prehistory
To fully understand Ascaris, it is necessary to to look to the time nearly one year before its creation, starting on May 8th, 2013, the day Pippenger first arrived on the server, and July 18th, 2013, the day Cinnabars joined.
Cindisfarne
In July 2013, Pippenger and Cinnabars formed a team, and settled on a small chain of islands in the sea roughly five miles from spawn.
They built a series of structures meant to resemble medieval monasteries or cathedrals. The base, Cindisfarne, was named after the real world Holy Island of Lindisfarne, which it bore some resemblance to.
Cindisfarne never grew into a very large base, but it is historically notable for being the birthplace of proto-Imperial Architecture, a style which would be used at many bases on SimPvP, most notably Ascaris.
Cinnabars Vanishes
Shortly after the construction of Cindisfarne, Cinnabars disappeared from SimPvP for months without explanation.
Castle Caladan
Now without any allies, Pippenger set out into the sea alone, where he discovered a large island and created a new base there called Castle Caladan. It was built in a similar style of proto-Imperial Architecture.
Birth of The Empire
From his new base at Caladan, Pippenger began expanding his influence on SimPvP, and called his team The Empire. It grew to comprise a multitude of bases and dozens of members, becoming the largest SimPvP clan of its time, or perhaps of any time. However, because of Caladan's close proximity to spawn, it was easily discovered by The Empire's enemies, and destroyed.
New Caladan
Pippenger travelled much farther, reaching a distance of over 30 miles from spawn, where he could construct a city in relative safety. He called the city New Caladan, and made it the capital of his Empire.
He began building the largest city yet to exist on SimPvP, and brought his most trusted allies to assist him. During this time Cinnabars was not very active, partly because she was still at times absent from the server, and partly because she did not fully believe in the cause of The Empire.
Fall of The Empire
Unfortunately, many of Pippenger's allies proved to be less trustworthy than he had believed, and New Caladan was sacked by traitors. By early 2014, The Empire had completely collapsed.
Pippenger cut ties with his allies, making exceptions for only a few highly trusted ones such as Cinnabars.
Nessus
Pippenger travelled even farther, and began building a new city called Nessus, which was intended to grow larger than New Caladan and survive for longer. He brought Cinnabars to the city, and no one else.
However, Cinnabars disliked the name of the new city, and also believed that the location was still not safe enough, so she went out alone in search of better lands, which she eventually found.
History
After Cinnabars discovered the Ascarian Continent in early 2014, the true history of Ascaris began.
The Founding of Ascaris
Cinnabars explored the new continent, and she and Pippenger agreed to build the heart of the city in a swamp, and name it Ascaris, after a genus of intestinal parasite. Cinnabars built the earliest parts of the city, in Western Ascaris, by herself, while Pippenger still lived at Nessus.
Pippenger Arrives
Not long after the city was founded, Pippenger arrived and took up residence there. They formed a government with only the two of them, each gaining the title Doge of Ascaris, after the historical position Doge of Venice, because Ascaris was partly based off of Venice, and also because it is spelled the same as the Doge meme, which was popular at the time.
Western Ascaris
Pippenger helped Cinnabars finish Western Ascaris, and made major contributions of his own such as the Rose Cathedral in early and mid 2014.
Founding of The Library
In 2014, the SimPvP wiki and the SimPvP Youtube community were much less developed, meaning that there were no thorough and accurate records of the server's amazing history. Pippenger decided to write some of the history in Minecraft books, and also began paying large sums for the books of other players. He housed these books in a vast new building he called The Library of Ascaris. The collection also grew to include fiction, poetry, and other categories.
Notable books included:
- Brntrogdor: "Burninating 1-2"
- Cyborgboy007: "Modal Analysis" and "Spawn !"
- Dakkadok: "Dakkadok" and "Slaughter"
- Deflowvesper: "The Hoebitt 1-3" and "The Yggdrasil"
- Elocphant/Odinfire: Over A Dozen Books
- FoSchnizzle: "Lysergidi 1-2", and "Winnie the Pooh"
- Ostrich1414: "The Life of Wilbur"
- Peppy 42: "The Enderman"
- Pippenger: "Aggersel Plan", "Empire's Rise", "Empire's Fall", "HeckaSpookStorys", "Survival Guide", and "The Constitution"
- PoppinFresh: "Immortal Blood"
- RythinTheSausage: "Lesser Powered 1-3"
- StarryRose: "Anarchist Post"
- Wawls: "Minecraft Manual"
- Many Other Books
Ultimately, the library grew to contain over a double chest of unique player books, which many regard as the greatest treasure of the city, or even of the entire server.
With the growth of the wiki and other forms of historical preservation over the years, The Library became less significant.
Eastern Ascaris Grows
The land surrounding the library was used to farm materials necessary for its construction, and eventually the large island nearby grew into the region called Eastern Ascaris, the most developed urban location on the entire server, which eventually far outstripped the original Western Ascaris in size and complexity.
Cinnabars Vanishes (again)
Sometime around the end of 2014, Cinnabars began having long and mysterious absences from the server once more. This left Pippenger alone in the city. Meanwhile, SimPvP in general suffered an enormous decline in player population in 2014, which is considered the beginning of the server's Dark Age.
Other Cities
Partly because of the crushing solitude at Ascaris, and partly because he wanted to help the server in general, Pippenger took a break to build new cities such as Stonetown, Aggersel, and Virunum, which he invited many people to. During this time Ascaris grew at a slower rate.
Pippenger "Quits"
During 2015, Pippenger officially quit the server, but did not actually stay gone for long, and quickly began playing again using secret alt accounts.
Vast Marcus
During this time, Pippenger changed his name to Vast_Marcus to avoid detection, and continued working on Ascaris in secret. Marcus had a drastically different personality from Pippenger, using highly unusual grammar and vocabulary. Marcus constantly used the word "vast" to describe himself and his city, and the word "nonvast" or "unvast" to describe anyone or anything he disliked. Marcus frequently got into arguments with other players and called them "nonvast chavs" to their annoyance and confusion.
Trump Campaign
In 2015, Marcus was one of the first players on SimPvP to begin supporting Donald Trump's campaign for the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Marcus considered Trump to be extremely vast and bragged of frequent private lunches with the Donald himself. He also posted highly disturbing and somewhat sexual fanart involving the Trump campaign. (Later on, he reverted back to his original name of Pippenger and went back to supporting Hillary in time to vote for her.)
Senator_Bix
Meanwhile, Pippenger also played with a different alt, Bix, who had a much more agreeable personality. Using this account, he was able to gain access to highly exclusive bases, and even became a server admin.
Quint vs Ascaris
Using the alt Senator_Bix, Pippenger befriended Quint and learned that he wanted to grief Ascaris. Pippenger decided to take preemptive action before this happened.
Birth of The Principate
Using yet another secret alt, AllSixSix, Pippenger became leader of a new faction called The Principate and declared war against the Blue Orchid Cult, the team Quint was on, and destroyed his house. Pippenger also considered invading other major players such as Morl0ck and Strawman, but decided not to.
The First Great War
In retaliation against The Principate's invasion, the Blue Orchid Cult invaded many Principate-affiliated cities, such as Aggersel, Virunum, and Nos Astra.
Their main objective was to destroy Ascaris, but they failed to find it, due to its extremely secret location.
Doxxing
Around this time, some of Pippenger's enemies, most notably Fluz42, began posting memes of Pippenger which included real photographs of his face as well as some information about his real identity and location. Pippenger was extremely unnerved by this because he considered it a form of doxxing, and became concerned that if he remained on the server, it would continue and become more intense.
Pippenger "Quits" (again)
In early 2016, Pippenger quit SimPvP because of doxxing concerns. Unlike last time, he actually entirely quit this time, not playing at all even on alts.
Deserted Ascaris
For over a year, perhaps closer to two years, Ascaris was nearly completely deserted, because Pippenger did not log in at all and Cinnabars was still absent and inactive for long stretches of time. However, Quint and the Blue Orchid Cult still did not find Ascaris, so the city was safe.
Pippenger Returns
In the summer of 2017, Pippenger returned to the server for two reasons. First, to finish building Ascaris, and second, to assist the new team United Alliance, led by ostrich1414.
The Cold War
While visiting the United Alliance capital of Monarchia, Pippenger became involved in a civil war within the team, involving the leader ostrich1414 and a rebel faction led by clipchip, which became known as The Conspiracy. During this war there was very little fighting or griefing, but it was a time of intense tension.
Cinnabars Returns
Around this time, Cinnabars also began actively playing on the server again, and Ascaris grew substantially.
The Conspiracy Infiltrates Ascaris
Using the recently added elytra feature, members of The Conspiracy discovered the location of Ascaris, but not directly attack it. Instead, they surveilled the city in secret for many months, performing only small raids during that time.
Cinnabars Vanishes (yet again)
The surveillance and sabotage by The Conspiracy proved to be a large strain on Ascaris, eventually causing Cinnabars to leave the server in late 2018. She did not log in after this for over two years, and it is unknown whether she will again.
Detente
Relations with The Conspiracy improved slightly in late 2018 and early 2019, allowing some significant work to be done at Ascaris, but because Cinnabars was still absent and the new Conspiracy-affiliated residents of the city were not fully trustworthy, Ascaris was in an irreversible state of decline.
Pippenger Explores Other Servers
During this time, Pippenger began playing primarily on servers besides SimPvP, because he felt the local culture had grown stagnant and for various reasons was not conducive to good building projects.
During his travels, Pippenger learned many new skills and formed alliances with many players, most notably including Sengorn_Leopard, who eventually became a frequent player on SimPvP.
New Ascaris
On a PvE server called lasagn, Pippenger began building a city called New Ascaris, where he hoped that in the absence of griefers, he would have better chances of finishing a truly vast and impressive city.
However, what he did not realize is that the moderators of that server liked to reset extremely frequently, meaning that there was not enough time to complete major builds. Disappointed, Pippenger returned to the original Ascaris and resumed work.
Ascarian Instability
During 2019, more and more players came to learn the location of Ascaris, some of them benevolent, and some decidedly not. This further hampered Pippenger's ability to complete the city.
Invasion
On December 8th, 2019, Ascaris was simultaneously invaded and annexed by two different factions, Yittrium and the Bloc for Clans, who took control of the north and south halves of the city, respectively. Both teams denied that they had malicious intentions, instead desiring to protect and improve the city.
Ascaris Falls
On December 15th, 2019, Ascaris was attacked and almost completely destroyed by an unknown player. Major factions such as The Conspiracy, Yittrium, Bloc for Clans, and others deny responsibility. It is impossible to determine who destroyed the city, because nearly every significant player and faction could have potentially had access to the city's location by that point.
Legacy
Though little remains of Ascaris, its legacy lives on in the many bases which drew inspiration from it, including Stonetown, Aggersel, Virunum, Quinsigamond, Monarchia, Struthio, Yittrium, Segoria, and others.