Stronghold (Friendship Island)

History

The Three Traveling Bands

Friendship Island was formed by three different groups of weary travelers: The Pink Pirates, the Twogypt Wanderers, and the island's original settlers. The original settlers founded the island: after much hardship near spawn in a sky-base, they decided to travel north. Meanwhile, the Pink Pirates were split up, having met at spawn and then died and lost one another, one of whom would join the Twogypt Wanderers and also help lead them north. This person would be called Star Reader, for her ability to look upon the stars and know exactly where she was.

The original settlers came upon a tiny island, which they expanded into a small farm with a sky-base attached, safe from the mobs of the desert. They began to build a sprawling sky platform. This is when the Twogyptian Wanderers encountered the island, and decided to call it home, although one of their number, Star Reader, wanted to return to spawn to find and bring her lost friends to her new home. She would spend the better part of the first three sessions searching for her missing pirates. She found three of the four and brought a fourth home along with her. When she returned, the population of Friendship Island was at its peak.

Early Days of the Island

In the early days of the island, the core group helped each other to level themselves up, and began building themselves a home together. With sufficient farming, access to all animals, and a mine expanding ten times the size of the sky-island above, each and every one of their members made their time with it. They built a group home, a mob farm (which never worked and turned into their bed place), and later a large sugarcane farm. But before that, this is when Friendship Island made its presence known. Whilst out on her adventures to find her missing pirate comrades, Friendship Island made its first contact with Axes and the Seamen, and was offered a trade: 10 iron for enough sugarcane for Friendship Island's first healer level. Friendship Island agreed and offered an additional 6 iron on top as a sign of good faith. This iron would later be used by the Seamen to raid Twogypt, and start the pirate wars. Moving forward, Friendship Island was on the side of Twogypt, helping them against the Seamen, a sideline player in the major politics of the world. It was at the end of this era that the first proposal for the title of prince/princess was raised.

The Raid

This changed after the Seamen were first scattered, and two of their members found and raided Twogypt, killing most of its members. Notable survivors were the Blacksmith (231, offline), the Healer (983, offline), and the Miner (241, underground), all of which would go on to be the backbone moving forward. Seven Boats came and helped remove the attackers, but the damage was done. Some members were never seen again after this incident, their beds broken and their lives taken, sent back to spawn.

Post-Raid

After the raid, Star Reader (983) formally announced herself the princess of Friendship Island, with unanimous approval. This was the time of rebuilding, during which the communal house was finished and the final member joined, and they began their stockpile, stockpiling everything they would need for a new home. They would send out scouting parties in search of a suitable location, and eventually, they found one.

Move

Ironically enough, they would continue their move northward, traveling another few thousand blocks north through a frozen sea littered with icebergs. They brought their livestock, harvests, chest boats filled with stone and deep slate brick. Where they would settle next, they would not cower above the ground, but dwell within it. They stopped deep within a swamp, in a land that nobody would find for the rest of the sessions. This happened in Session 8, and is when a new civilization was born: The Stronghold.

Stronghold

The Stronghold era was the final era, where the Friendship Islanders would spend the rest of their time left to them. They built a massive fortress, not unlike the strongholds later generations would find end portals in (or at least, that's what they'd like to think). They went deep into the ground and carved a castle out of the earth. During this time, the Strongholders would interact with the world as Friendship Island in order to conceal their new location, only declaring themselves the Strongholders in the final two sessions, with banners on their shields announcing their allegiance. A proud, tight-knit group of people who would call nowhere else home but their stronghold.

A history written by Princess Star-Reader 983 herself.

Economy

There was not much of an economy in the traditional sense: people just asked for what they wanted from whom they wanted, and the other person could choose to share or keep. Things were built on trust and friendship, as the name of the island implied.

Government

Decisions were made by the individual, and when it came to collective decisions, a debate was held, and people would discuss options and solutions to whatever the topic of debate was. This worked due to the smaller scale of the nation itself. In terms of roles, Friendship Island was small enough to keep about one person per role and have a few that switch depending on what was needed for the more fundamental roles, such as farmer, builder, and miner. The more dedicated roles usually kept one seat (The Healer, Blacksmith, and Librarian). The title of Princess held little to no power within the land of Friendship Island itself; the role is primarily focused on foreign affairs (see below). However, there were several occasions where the princess took up her mantle, leading decision-making and making things happen by sheer charisma alone.

Foreign Affairs

The Strongholders knew that their anarchy would be hard to communicate with externally; instead of everyone capable of speaking for everyone, or everyone having to go out for foreign missions and trade, a title for an ambassador and diplomat was made, the Princess. The Princess's role is to represent Stronghold and its people to the wider world, as well as wear the crown of 'leader'. Essentially, the decoy to any would-be assassins, should the Princess be eliminated or replaced, little would change within the inner workings of the Stronghold.

Stronghold held a dear alliance with Twogypt.
Stronghold was also a secret member of the coalition against the Pirates, Raiders, and Sea-Men, having fed much intel to the leaders, and even going so far as to counter-raid a Seamen settlement found near Stronghold.

Military

The nation's military policy was a series of code-words that all members of the civilization knew, but primarily, Stronghold's greatest strength was its secrecy. The most capable fighter within Stronghold turned out to be the princess herself, but she spent many an hour training members to be able to defend their home.

Culture

The way Friendship Island operated was all about having fun and being surrounded by friends. The island was a place seen as a land of purpose and aid; no one was able to be bored for long, and new ideas and goals were always in scope with one another. Not just for the Islanders, but their foreign friends were always able to seek assistance and trade from their ever-flowing stock.

After the move, the culture underwent a shift. The bond of the friends remained, but welcoming others with open arms was risky. The Stronghold was formed, but so was an outpost—a place to meet foreign friends with less risk of harm. The arm of assistance may have been harmed, but they never gave up the small wish to see their other friends again in some way.

Banner

The Banner pattern is shown below. The white/blue represents the colors of the water and the sky, the black and bricks represent our deep underground stronghold, and the pink represents the pink color palette adopted by most, as well as the princess herself.

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Gallery

Friendship Island, session 4. From left to right: 231 (Sigma), 297 (Frog), 983 (Star), 241 (Pig), 703 (Green), 977 (Crystal), 630 (Aqua), 148 (Hearts)

Stronghold, session 14. From left to right, front to back: 91 (Sideways Steve), 983 (Star), 241 (Pig); 915 (Waffles), 148 (Hearts), 630 (Aqua)