How I Mine For Craft: The al-Ramadi Mosque and Mokattam Gardens

Welcome back! Last time, we saw the start of an Egyptian city, with ancient and medieval Egyptian characteristics.

Well, there's more.

Starting at the entrance to the bazaar and port under Mokattam Mountain, we will explore the al-Ramadi Mosque and Mokattam Gardens.

How I Mine For Craft?

I've taken up Minecraft.

I actually took up Minecraft a while back, but getting it on my laptop on Thursday night has guaranteed that my academic career is going to be sufficiently imperilled. So I might as well show you guys what's destroying my free time now!

Back when I was living with Caveman, I tried create this huge underground version of ancient Babylon, complete with artificial sunrise and everything. Making the cavern was really time-consuming, though, so I decided to not start there. Instead, I started in a desert area near a river, so I decided I was gonna rock ancient and medieval Egypt. (I say medieval because I wanna make bazaars and the Hanging Church and such.) It's not gonna be a literal copy; I'm not going to recreate the world map and such because that would be a bitch. But I'm going to make civilizations appropriate to each biome I come across, and I'm starting in Egypt.

Anyway, pics!

We're starting on the Wannabe Nile, looking at large statues of nondescript pharaohs carved into the side of a mountain. They each bear the crook and staff, symbols of royal Egyptian power, and they both have those pharaoh goatees going on.

Stu Plays Civ: 1312 AD - 1776 AD

(This is the final post in a series of posts about a Civ IV file wherein I tried to recreate the British Empire. The previous posts can be viewed here, here, here and here.


The Chronicles of the Kings of Britain, Part V

From the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of the British Empire (1534-1603 AD)

The British Empire had been at peace for over two hundred years when we were placed upon the throne. They were quiet years, spent developing the economies of the colonies, pacifying India, and slowly absorbing Australia through diplomacy. The Chinese colony of Tianjin in Australia was sold to the House of Lancaster for money to use against the Mongolians. The Spanish gave the realm Colonia Australia del Sur upon the marriage of our predecessor Mary and Philip I of Spain. The only remaining foreign colonies in Australia were the Arabian and Malian colonies, which we continue to offer to purchase from the current owners.

However, this peace masked tensions. The liberal democratic order, though invented by the British, was perfected abroad. As of late, the groanings of the British people grew louder and louder. The Liberal-aligned House of York and the Conservative-aligned House of Lancaster kept fighting it out for control of Parliament and therefore the succession. The Yorkists appealed to the people, promising to reform the peerages, weaken the House of Lords and abolish the property qualification for voting that our ancestors had used to restrict the franchise to the rich. The Lancastrians appealed to the gentry and the rich, often resorting to tricks like rotten boroughs. Their Parliaments were Parliaments of money, and they maintained the stagnant social order. It could have been worse, though - for all their politicking, it's not like the Yorks and Lancasters ever did battle, after all.

The final victors of that long period of electoral struggle were our ancestors, the Tudors - a minor faction of the Lancasters settled on as compromise candidates. The first Tudors extended the franchise to the middle classes, the burghers that were now scattered and prosperous throughout the Empire. However, that act led to widespread and enduring support of those same burghers for the Tories, which the Tudors were associated with.

Stu Plays Civ: Britain, 1067 AD - 1311 AD.

(This is the latest in a series of posts about a Civ IV file wherein I'm trying to recreate the British Empire. Previous posts can be seen here, here and here. Anyway, without any further ado...

The Chronicles of the Kings of Britain, Part IV

From the reign of King William I of the British Empire (1066 AD - 1117 AD)

The death of King Edward II, the Confessor, brought a brief succession crisis. Brittany, an independent duchy on the Continental side of the English Channel, has long been an ally of the British Crown, and then it came under the personal union of Edward II in 1047 AD. The personal union ended when he made us, his nephew, Duke of Brittany.

Brittany had originally been founded with the fall of Roman Gaul. As the Franks poured into the territory, so did the British from Cornwall. King Malcolm's War, which raged from 325-355 AD, saw the expansion of Breton territory all the way to Champagne. Norsemen were hired to fight the Franks, and promised lands and fiefs of their own out of the conquered lands. Our ancestors were those Norsemen who conquered Normandy.

Jingle hell.

My very first Black Friday happened on Thanksgiving.

To be fair, my Thanksgiving was already ruined. I was moving across town that day; I didn't have access to a U-Haul or a truck yet so we were taking loads in my car (we did get that thing working, and we even named it: "Stormy," because every other name suggested by a powder-blue car is, well, "precious") and those loads generally involved a bookcase sticking out of the trunk and bookshelves arranged in order in tubs and boxes weighing down the backseat. Draya would be in the backseat where what little room remained, making sure the bookcase didn't fly out into the street. It was a day from hell; we had expended a lot of effort and most of the house remained to be moved when we were done.

It was in that frame of mind that I trudged off with Nate to Walmart to hopefully buy an Xbox 360 for $100 during Black "Friday" on Thanksgiving.

I didn't like the idea of Black Friday already; as a supporter of working stiffs everywhere I really didn't like the idea of a bunch of poor bastards having to cut short their Thanksgiving for this bullshit. But, like most people there, I just couldn't resist the deal.

Stu Plays Civ: Britain, 701 AD - 1066 AD

(This is a continuation of this thread and this thread. I'm trying to recreate the British Empire in a Civ 4 Earth map with the holy cities in the right places.)

The Chronicles of the Kings of Britain, Part III

From the reigns of Kings Ine, Cuthred, Cinewulf and Beorhtric of the British Empire (703 AD - 802 AD)

The war against the Byzantine Empire continues. Having conquered Madagascar, we are mobilizing troops for the conquest of the Holy Lands. Madagascar was handed off to the French, in an attempt to mollify their rage, strengthen them in Africa and rebalance that continent in our favor, and to relieve ourselves of the upkeep of the colony. Troops are being landed on the Arabian peninsula, but the catapults are taking longer to ship. As a result, our forces are idling in the environs of Aden, resting up for the attack on Mecca.

The Kievan Rus are having no such difficulties. They have conquered the Byzantine fortress city of Phasis in 740 AD, and driven them from the eastern Black Sea. They have established their own city nearby, Rostov, and they progress towards the Byzantine citadels of Tyras and Astrakhan next.

Vera showed me this.

We were getting drunk... Monday? Yes, Monday. It was midterm break and we were rocking beyond reality. After several drinks, we decided music was a great idea and after the obligatory guitar playing on both our parts, I showed her Terra's Theme from FFVI (I posted it a while back) and she showed me this, because the piano part of Terra's Theme reminded her of this.

I've never played any of the Deus Ex games, but this is great music. It's now the soundtrack to my workday.

Stu Plays Civ: Britain, 2 AD - 700 AD

(This is a continuation of the game I started in this thread. Also, holy traffic stats, Batman! I posted a link to that post on Reddit and my blog's blown up ever since. Like, my traffic has grown tenfold. So hi, new readers! If you like the stuff I write, you might be interested in my webcomic or my book. Anyway, let's get on with the Civvy business.)

The Chronicles of the Kings of Britain, Volume II

From the reign of Boudicca II, Queen of the United Kingdom of Britain, Ireland and Iceland (27 AD - 58 AD)

Our Jewish inhabitants of Abona have been noting with interest the latest of the would-be messiahs in their homeland, the Eastern Roman province of Judaea. This Jesus of Nazareth has split from the earlier messiahs, in that he appears uninterested in revolt against the Roman or Hasmonean rulers in Jerusalem. At the behest of interested Jews in my court, I dispatched an envoy from the Second Fleet out of Tingis. The envoy, a Briticized Greek called Andrew of Syracuse, arrived in Jerusalem only in time to witness an unprecedented inhumanity - the crucifixion of this peaceful man. He was in the city during the death and purported resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, and his purported ascension to Heaven.

Stu Plays Civ: Britain, 4000 BC-1 AD

One of my favorite vidyagaems is the Civ series. As a historian, it's enthralling to look at history and wonder if I could've done a better job. Alternative histories are one of the big preoccupations of the field (just look at the "What If?" series) and so yeah. I've tried to play Civ games and show them to the public, but it always got bogged down before. But now, with my very own blog, this is going to be a thing. I'm playing on a Civ IV Earth map with the holy cities established in the right places, because otherwise you just end up with worldwide holy wars between Hindus, Buddhists and Jews because they got there first.

Anyway, enough of that. It's time for the Chronicles of the Kings of Britain.

I don't really buy Android apps...

...but I will definitely rethink that policy if this happens.

Day 3 of ULTAMITE ANARCHY 4EVA

I've heard we're getting one to four inches. (Insert crude joke about sex here. Huh huh, I said "insert.")

Anyway, I'm ready for it. We've got plenty of apple cider, sufficient food, and I've got my old phone charged to take pictures tomorrow. So tomorrow I'll probably post up a bunch of those. Pictures right after snowfall look so great, before the snow's been disturbed. I've taken several sets, both here and in Portland.

In other news, Richard flew out for Colorado yesterday. With him out, and Nate fucked off to Oregon, I believe that makes me the guy running the station for the time being. Weird.

More Minecraft tonight. I'm told there's no way to show off my creations directly; I'll have to take pictures or somehow upload video. I'll figure out how to do that. I've got this underground Babylon thing that's kinda awesome.

Thunderstorms on the horizon. Also Minecraft.

I'll have a picture for you all once I get to work. (EDIT: And now I do.)

It's a fitting metaphor. I was up until 5:00 AM playing Minecraft for the very first time. The game's addictiveness was not why. It was a decent way to pass the time while my lungs threw a hissyfit, saying "IF WE CAN'T SLEEP THEN NOBODY SLEEPS." So that's fun. Asthma is one of the few things about myself that I genuinely hate.