Berrywood Commune BERRYWOOD

The Berrywood Commune BERRYWOOD, also known as the Berrywood Commune or just Berrywood, was a spawn-area nation in the early sessions of Trial 1.

Originally a ground-level settlement on the banks of the Geography, the nation temporarily moved up onto sky-platforms abandoned by Skyland to escape hostile mobs. By the end of session 3, all the citizens of Berrywood had left the spawn-area. Many migrated south to Dead Horse, where they set up an immigrant community called "Little Berrywood".

Population	~20 at its peak in Session 1.
Head of Government	None
Government type	Communist¹
Demonym	Berryan
Session Founded	Session 1
Session Dissolved	Session 3

¹De jure unspecified variety of "communist," de facto no central government.

History

Berrywood formed during Session 1 when player 811 mined a hole into a hill on the east side of the West River. Player 521 joined, staying with 811 to escape the night. When other people saw players gathered there, they began to stick around. They started to civilize and work together, creating berry farms that were enjoyed by all and having peaceful relations with its neighbors (excepting Capital Hill, due to their capitalist economic system). There was a naming dispute during which it was called either "Berrywood Commune" or "BERRYWOOD," so in eventual compromise both names were combined.

In Session 2, however, the settlement became repeatedly overrun by mobs, halting progress and causing chaos on the ground. Players 521 and 864 discovered that the nearby Skyland platform was empty, having been abandoned at an unknown point, and the decision was made to migrate to the platform. This new settlement was expanded and called "New Berrywood," with much of the supplies from the ground settlement, dubbed "Old Berrywood", transported up during the session.

During Session 3, most of the players who had once constituted Berrywood left for Dead Horse, leaving only a few core players remaining on the reclaimed sky base. Toward the end of Session 3, players 521 and 436 – the final holdouts of the original commune – finally decided to give up the ghost, and abandoned New Berrywood for good. They went on to establish "Little Berrywood," an immigrant community made up of entirely ex-members of Berrywood, within Dead Horse.

Economy

Berrywood reached the Iron Age during its brief existence. It didn't trade with other nations on a large scale, but at its peak it had groups of miners, a blacksmith, and many others producing materials to fuel growth. Food was plentiful, although a skirmish involving player 814 eliminated many of the berries used for food, and the relocation to New Berrywood crippled its ability to be self-sustaining.

Government

Berrywood was ostensibly a communist state, although it did not have any government apparatus to speak of. The group functioned by vague consensus and the initiative of individual members; its survival past Session 2 was remarkable given the size of the group and its lack of coordination.

Foreign affairs

Members of the Berrywood Commune were strictly against those from Capital Hill (to which they referred as "Compton Hill"). Though members of the Capital Hill society were once kill-on-sight, contact was lost with them, along with Berrywood's prior neighbors, the legally distinct Berrytown. Berrywood did not have good relations with The Jester(s), who they blamed for repeatedly sabotaging their sugar cane farm. Claims that the Commune "liberated" the Skylander base are spurious, as it had been clearly abandoned for some time prior to the Berrywood migration.

Military

No military was ever established, though individual players tried specializing as Guardsmen.

Culture

Early in the nation's development, player 25 arrived preaching that he had seen Shotrush die, and that there is no god. Many players joined his faith, following him when he departed from Berrywood and left for Dead Horse. This was yet another nail in the coffin for Berrywood.

The newspaper outlet Berry Bulletin was founded in Berrywood and its first issue regarded the session 2 move to the abandoned sky-platforms. It would move to Little Berrywood in Dead Horse after the nation dissolved.

List of Former Members

Gallery

These images are decently outdated, made somewhere just past halfway through the session and taken from the flashback mod.