Ascaris
| Ascaris | |
|---|---|
| Place | |
| |
| Name: Ascaris | |
| Status: Griefed | |
| Formed: May 2014 | |
| Members: Pippenger, Cinnabars, clipchip, JavelinFury, MisterStrawman, jackswastedtime, Xenagie, Atroxes | |
| 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
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.
Sunken 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
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.
Grand Plaza
Low Dome
Cartographer's Chamber
Sentinel Tower
The Manor
Water Temple
East Sewers
Library
Northern Ascaris
High Terrace
Air Bridges
Island Colonies
History
Ascaris was founded in late May 2014 by Pippenger and Cinnabars. It was originally small in population but very large in size, composed of over a hundred dense stonebrick buildings that stretch hundreds of blocks in either direction. The mods who have visited estimate that it is one of the largest bases on the server, if not the largest.
Everything in the city is built in a unique Ascarian style of Post-Imperial Architecture, and every construction required approval from Cinnabars or Pippenger, the Doges of the city and the original inhabitants. The vast majority of the city was constructed by only these two players before any others arrived.
Over the years, work at Ascaris has periodically halted and resumed many times. It ultimately lasted nearly seven years before being being destroyed.
Since its initial founding, many new members have come to Ascaris, some invited and some not. The population is now much larger than it originally was.
On December 8th 2019, Ascaris was annexed by Yittrium and the Bloc for Clans, splitting it across the middle.
On December 15th 2019, Ascaris was griefed by an unknown player.
Landmarks
In the southwestern section of town, built directly into the ocean, was the Rose Cathedral. Farther out, in the sparse frontier of the city, lay the second cathedral, sometimes called the Lilac Cathedral or the House of Doge.
Under the deep ocean that separates the swampy western landmass from the urban eastern island sat a large flooded district, composed of broken stone brick houses without roofs. Part of this district included an underwater replica of the main plaza and city hall of New Caladan, the capital of the Empire, as well as replicas of the surrounding houses. In the present day, this district is no longer more of a ruin than most others.
At the southern end of the island was the Library of Simpvp, a complex of vine-draped buildings roofed with jungle wood planks and stairs. It contained the largest collection of player books ever amassed.
The Library
The library contains dozens of original copies of books written by players on the server, some histories or memoirs, some fiction, and some difficult to describe. Several books are forbidden to protect the economic interests of the authors or because they contain coordinates and other sensitive information, but the majority can be copied for players in exchange for a small fee. Listed below are books that are both publicly available and potentially of interest.
- 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
The main branch of the library is currently closed, but copies of many of the books can be found in Aggersel.
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 Empre 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.
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.