Saikyo
 Saikyo
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 Overview as of Jan 16th, 2021 | |
| About | |
|---|---|
| Founder |  Hirudo6
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| Contributors |  mk59apr  Owlsflame  Okibdoki  Himan75
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| Category | Cities |
| Underground? | No |
| Fortified? | No |
| Public access? | Yes |
| Public build? | No |
| Size north to south | 500m |
| Size west to east | 1000m |
| Transport | |
| Road link? | No |
| Nexus link? | Yes |
| Rail link? | No (Awaiting connections) |
| Boat link? | Yes (Mushiana Route) |
| Portal? | Yes |
| Location | |
| Coordinates | X=-13344 Y=71 Z=-3069 |
| Dimension | Overworld |
| Map Link | |
"I like fake Japan" -
Ramirez0909
Saikyo (西京) is a Japanese-themed city located in Veserva. It is a humble island settlement founded and managed by Hirudo6.
Creation and History
The Beginning
The land of Saikyo was first created sometime during the 2013 Border expansion. It remained in a relative state of wilderness until July 9th, 2018, when Hirudo6 swam to the island and began building Yoru no Jiin. Although this was the first and founding feature of the settlement, Saikyo was officially founded on July 23rd.
Due to the nature of Saikyo as an island, the first project after its founding was the Saikyo Port, later renamed the South Docks. A customs office and warehouses were also added. The office followed the Japanese architectural style, while the warehouses took more of an inspiration from nearby Hafenburg.
The next early foundation laid was another building important for travel: the Visitor Center. A short, simple building, it contains a list of destinations to visit in Saikyo, although at this time this list was sparse. Hirudo chose a rough center axis and aligned the visitor center and the new central road to it, around which the rest of the town would grow.
The area around the center point would become "Hishigata park." The name (Hishigata meaning rhombus in Japanese) came from the shape, which was meant to be circular, but turned out angular instead. To the north of the park, Hirudo also erected a large, multi-tiered carrot and potato farm to sustain him as he worked.
Hirudo built a multitude of new buildings over a roughly two week period. By the 8th of June, a beacon, enchanting building, potion shop, shrine, and watchtower had all been added. The Ryokan was a project begun during this time, but due to motivation and material-gathering issues, it was not completed until much later. Additionally, a nether portal was added, but due to natural portal mechanics, it linked to a portal on an island a few hundred meters north.
By August 11th, Hirudo decided that the town had developed sufficiently to be connected to the Nexus system. He constructed an area with arrival and departure pads. This was built far away from the rest of the town, in order to facilitate future growth.
After a request to the admins, 
techkid6 came to survey the town and added a teleport pad. Unfortunately, this did not include a way return to the nexus. Hirudo also built a simplistic rail station around this time. Despite lacking many auxiliary travel methods that are now standard for modern Nexus links, Saikyo's isolated position and the lack of notable public destinations nearby were probably factors in gaining a link when it did.
Around this time, the town attracted the attention of god donor mk59apr, who offered to construct a barn. On August 27th, the Great Coxwell Barn replica was completed. Mk59apr also donated several gold blocks, allowing for the completion of the Maneki-Neko Statue. Hirudo also constructed a small fort on the southwestern part of the island and beneath it, an underground tunnel leading to the northwest borderlands. It was accordingly named Linkage Keep.
On the 17th of September, large-scale updates to town infrastructure occurred, including standardization of road width and materials, new tunnels, plans for public facilities being put into motion, and a general cleanup of several construction areas.
Several weeks later, Hirudo grew dissatisfied with the plain and uninspired town center, specifically Hishigata Park, the Nether Portal building (which was a plain cobble hut at the time), and the carrot and potato farm. As a result, he purged the area, demolishing all of it. The park became smaller, but much more beautiful, with much vegetation, flowers, and stonework added to it. The farm would become the Dragon's Eye compound, and the rest of the space became the Saikyo Printing Office and bookstore.
The Landscapocalypse
As the center of the city became more developed, the need for more building space increased. To facilitate this, Hirudo undertook two large, but similar projects. The projects aimed to clear away the forests on either side of Central Saikyo. The easier project cleared out the eastern area, eliminating numerous oak and birch trees, which would become the new administrative district.
The second project, much more difficult, cleared out a large portion of the jungle to the west. A small portion to the far east was declared a nature reserve, with some trees being added, terrain altered, and vegetation added. The jungle would become a series of residential plots, and was terraformed into several tiered sections. In total, the two projects required roughly five diamond axes to complete.
On October 19th, 
DavidRodas01 joined the town. He moved his possessions from his original base and constructed a treehouse. Although not strictly on-theme, it was allowed due to the less-developed building code of the time. Later, a monument in his honor was constructed off the main road. Owlsflame joined shortly after this, and built two new houses in the housing district. User 
ItsADeathTrap began construction on his house as well.
The Connection
As Saikyo continued to grow, a new focus on travel guided the progress of the town. Early in November 2018, Saikyo’s links to the greater Freedonian world were broadened in multiple ways. The old Nexus pad was destroyed, and a new entry building was constructed for the new link.
There were several technical difficulties in getting the new teleport pads working, first with the unusual placement of the pads necessitating a prototype. This prototype was preserved and is now on display in Saikyo's Crafting Hall. And second, the original height of the entry building's ceiling did not allow for horse travel. 
Anna_28 spawned in many horses to remind Hirudo of this, which led to the adjustment of the ceiling, as well as motivating him to gather up Anna's horses and build the Saikyo Stables around them.
Several days later, Saikyo regained a nether portal. Hirudo built a portal in both dimensions, enlisting mk59apr to help light them, then entered from the Nether side to ensure they would function properly. Hirudo also constructed a hub in the nether close to the new portal, which connected Saikyo to several other towns (notably Aeston Isle, the New Canadian Republic, and Sleeptopia) and the NHS.
Saikyo was officially connected to the Mushiana Boat Route on December 1st. Hirudo extended the route all the way from Bastiansdorf to achieve this.
The Beautification
As progress was being made on newer districts, attention was refocused on the already established areas of the city. A distinct effort to make the city prettier and presentable led to the repaving and relighting of every path, as well as many Sakura trees and other items of decorative nature being added. Stations containing a crafting table, a furnace, and a unique fact about Saikyo were also placed around for visitor convenience. Around this time, the Saikyo docks were refurbished with spruce and enlarged.
By this point, several other users had claimed plots in the city, namely 
Nari1102, Okibdoki, and 
monsoonman. It was around this time that Saikyo began to resemble its modern form, transitioning from a small town into a respectable city.
On January 15th, 2019, the Saikyo Pigchinko Arena was completed.
Saikyo Residency Raffle
- Main Article: Saikyo Residency Raffle
On January 15, 2019, Hirudo announced the Saikyo Residency Raffle. This was a campaign with the intent to draw interest to the city, as well as provide incentive for players to build houses. A prize of 10 diamond blocks was offered in a raffle, and a variety of other prizes awarded for other qualifications. The contest was a success, exceeding expectations in a number of regards. However, with the arrival of a certain staff member taking a break from his moderator duties to stalk and kill contest participants, many builds remained unfinished, putting a sour note into the contest.
This time also saw the addition of several new farms, including a record farm and a cow burner.
The Dead Zone
In March, Hirudo disappeared due to personal obligations, turning over official management to the city staff, namely Okibdoki. All major growth or expansion effectively stopped, save for a few projects like the Kabuki theater.
Starting around June, the small town of El Lugar began to grow. The town, now known as Las Vereno, was given directional signs in and around Saikyo to guide players and foster its own growth. Eventually, after the addition of Las Vereno to the Nexus system, many of the obsolete signs were removed.
Around October, 
Cafi95 was granted permission by Okibdoki to turn the Saikyo Nexus Building into a craftbook-powered pit trap. Its targets were that same staff member who had been terrorizing Freedonia, and particularly Saikyo, and 
AriVB, most likely because of her minimodding back then. Following some controversy, the staff team gave an ultimatum to Cafi to disable the trap or else the Saikyo Nexus would be removed. This was the end of the trap, although a small remnant of it persists to this day.
The Return
A year after he had first left, Hirudo6 returned out of the blue and immediately resumed work the city. The long-awaited rail office was finally built next to the station, which was totally revamped alongside it. Additionally, major work was begun in the European district, including Project Land Reclamation, which aimed to fill in much of the useless water space in that area. A massive sign, proclaiming the name of the city in Kanji, was constructed by the visitor center, and a new wave of small projects cleaned and decorated less-visible areas, which at last affected the neglected Seifu district.
On the 29th of May, Project Land Reclamation was completed, opening up new space for building. Around this time, the Onsen was finally completed. This was quite a landmark, as the structure had been planned since the early days of the town, but only existed as a dirt frame on the ocean for years.
The Rebirth
Over the next few month, Hirudo6 worked tirelessly to revamp the center district of Saikyo. Many buildings were demolished and rebuilt from the ground up in a new, higher quality style of building. The book store, general store, printing office, museum, Public Works HQ, and City Hall all received this treatment. The removal of the ugly jungle wood was stated to be a major motivator for some of these changes. Another change was the removal of the stone fountains to make room for the Brewery. Many other things were cleaned up, such as the removal of many work chests and the updating of the city signage.
With the central district now of a sufficiently high quality, major infrastructure work began in the Government and European districts. In the European district, an area for embassies was designated, finally allocating space that had been untouched since over two years prior. In the Government district, in the wake of the City Hall revamping, work on the roads and messy terrain was begun.
The Perfecting
Over time, the small, neglected details of Saikyo were fixed up, rough areas were polished, and many new plans were made. Issues that had persisted since the earliest days of the town back in 2018 were at last gone. This process was gradual, especially as Hirudo worked on several other projects. In the later end of 2020, Saikyo saw the first of a new wave of real expansions, with the Teahouse, Hall of Law, and North Docks being added, meshing the newly polished government district with the central district. On January 9th, 2021, 
LordOfTheShadows became the first player at add a house in many months.
In mid-March, Hirudo gained permission from 
verydairyman to rebuild the Las Vereno-Saikyo Highway. It was entirely redone and eventually connected to several new locations, such as Hashizawa and Flarenta. The west Saikyo passage was also redone, becoming much nicer and easier to traverse. Following the Endsurrection and the subsequent server update, many of the new features and items were added to the town. The town hall notably received a large mosaic of the Saikyo flag, and the official banner of Saikyo was placed throughout the city.
How to get there
Saikyo can be reached most easily through the Nexus via the Nexus West Hub (Blue) 3. It is also connected to the Nether Highway System at -1664 120 0.
Features
- The Ryokan - A traditional Japanese inn, rooms available on request.
- The OK Inn - A tavern/Inn named after its founder, Okibdoki, it features rooms on the second floor. Rooms are free.
- The Saikyo Teahouse - A hybrid of an inn, a restaurant, and a venue for private meeting rooms.
Services
- Beacons - Multiple beacons around the city provide potion effects for visitors and residents, each one color coded to a specific effect.
- The Saikyo Star - The Saikyo Star is an ultra-compact xp grinding and enchanting facility that features two anvils, an enderchest, 18 collection chests, and an afk room on top.
- Nether Hub - Saikyo has a nether hub for quick and easy access to other places, and has been described as "pretty cool" in its own right.
Cow Farm(Offline) - A stone and glass cube that features a two-floor cow burner that provides meat and leather to its users.
- Super Smelter - A large array of redstone-guided furnaces, it makes smelting quick and easy.
- Crafting Hall - An area where several CartCraft stations are set up to craft unobtainable varieties of stone brick. (cracked, mossy, etc)
- Brewery - An auto potion smelter. Currently not in use due to lag, and restricted to City Staff.
Attractions
- Town Hall - The Saikyo Town Hall is the center of all administrative decisions in Saikyo, and is the largest building in the city.
- Giant ManekiNeko - An old Japanese symbol of luck, the calico cat statue holds a Koban
- Castles - There are many castles in Saikyo. Most are in the Residential District, save for two.
- Pigchinko Arena - A Saikyo-styled version of the traditional Freedonian pastime.
- Shinto Shrines - There are currently two shrine in the city, one in the Central District, and one in the Residential District.
- Museum and Clock Tower - The Saikyo Museum houses several artifacts and items, most related to Saikyoan history. It is also attached to a clock tower.
- Onsen - A building containing public baths, a game room, and yes, a hot springs.
- Hirudo6's Banhammer - Hirudo6's banhammer is stored at Saikyo.
- Zen Garden - A raked sand garden, ornamented with rocks, ponds, and a luscious cherry tree.
Shops
- Hirudo Potion Shop - One of the older buildings in the city, it sells regeneration II potions for one diamond.
- Saikyo Lights - Sells bulk lighting, primarily redstone lamps and glowstone. It may expand to sell end rods and jack o' lanterns in the future.
- Book Store - Sells Unbreaking III books for 3 diamond blocks. Has a request office to barter for specific books.
Districts
The City of Saikyo is divided into seven districts, each with a different feel and function.
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Chuuou ★ 中央 |
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| Image | Info |
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The Chuuou (choo-oh) District is the central district of the city. It was the first district founded, and the one that has been subject to the most development. It is the most recognizable district and contains many attractions, monuments, and secrets. It is also the hub of Saikyo's trade, with many docks and ships on the north and south shores. |
| Directions | Future Plans |
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The Saikyo Nexus pad will bring you to the south of the Chuuou district. Simply exit the Nexus building and you will be here. |
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Seifu ★ 政府 |
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| Image | Info |
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The Seifu (say-foo) District is the administrative, or governmental, district. It houses buildings regarding the management, history, and functions of Saikyo. Its centerpiece is the Saikyo Town Hall, the largest structure in the city, and center of all administrative decisions. |
| Directions | Future Plans |
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This district can be reached by going east from the Chuuou district, then heading through the Saikyo rail station. There are several smaller paths that will allow access to this district located around the Saikyo visitor center as well. |
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Juutaku ★ 住宅 |
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| Image | Info |
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The Juutaku District is the residential district. It contains the houses of all of the players who have built in the city. It has many smaller areas of interest and decorated areas as well. |
| Directions | Future Plans |
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To get here, head northeast from the Chuuou district. Most roads going east will lead here, except for the Old Wooden Bridge, which does not. |
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Sangyou ★ 産業 |
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| Image | Info |
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The Sangyou district is the industrial, or farming district. It is among the least developed districts, but will soon house a variety of farms for useful goods. It's primary uses are its Exp farm, super-smelter, and spruce and stone generator. |
| Directions | Future Plans |
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To reach the farm area, go due east from the Chuuou district, then continue through the Seifu district. Descend the stairs and you will be there. |
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Oushuu ★ 欧州 |
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| Image | Info |
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The Oushuu (oh-oo-shoo) District is the European, or foreigner district. It contains builds that are not explicitly Japanese-themed. It also is the primary area for embassies to other towns. |
| Directions | Future Plans |
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The only way to reach this district is to go down the central road of the Chuuou district (aligned with the red beacon) and cross the spruce bridge into the swamp biome. |
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Engei ★ 園芸 |
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| Image | Info |
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The Engei district is the entertainment district. It contains one of the few Pigchinko Arenas in Freedonia, as well as a Kabuki Theater. |
| Directions | Future Plans |
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To get here, go northeast from the Juutaku district, or use the tunnel underneath the Pigchinko Arena. |
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Rizouto ★ リゾート |
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| Image | Info |
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The Resort District is designated as a place for relaxation. It encompasses the beaches and islands on eastern Saikyo, and has a view of two stunning Japanese castles. It is the newest of the districts. |
| Directions | Future Plans |
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This area borders the Sangyou district, simply head east from there. |
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Regulations
Laws
Building Regulations
- All land on Saikyo belongs to the city by default.
- City Staff have perms to all buildings. (See the Authority section)
- Infrastructure connecting Saikyo to other landmasses must be underground.
- Building on the island or in the ocean around its buoys without permission is strictly disallowed.
- Buildings made with the intent to harass or diminish the town will be viewed as Grief.
Community regulations
- PvP is disallowed without prior provocation.
- All items within open chests are fair game. However:
- If a chest looks obviously griefed, Greport it.
- Chests at farms and factories should be used with consideration. Don't take things others are using.
Building Tips
Saikyo is a Japanese-themed city, which means that obviously the buildings in it should match. Below are some tips on how to achieve this and information on Saikyo itself.
Palette
The primary color palette of the city is brown and gray. What this entails is usually spruce wood of any kind, dark oak wood of any kind, stone of any kind, and other types of wood in limited quantities. In the Juutaku district, where players build their own homes, any blocks are allowed so long as they fit. Colorful roofs of blue, red, and orange are not uncommon.
Context
The placement of buildings in relations to their neighbors is important. Buildings that use the same color distribution should not be clustered together. (e.g. several buildings with stone walls and spruce roofs would be bad) For ideal color placement, please consult with Hirudo6.
Details
There are many small details that can add to the quality of a Japanese-style building. Here are a few:
- Roofs with a low slope. A steep curve approaching the center and flared corners are optional.
- Many Japanese buildings have tiers. This gives a great silhouette and simplifies construction.
- Columns are another prominent feature that look good. They can be placed directly on the side of a build or on the eaves of the roof. Typically pillar or log blocks are used for the former, and fences and walls used for the latter.
- Fences can make great highlights, especially as windows. (usually in conjunction with glass) Trapdoors serve this purpose as well.
Authority
There are certain roles that determine who can do what in Saikyo. Hirudo6 has the ultimate say in all matters, but can delegate if need be. People who have general perms in Saikyo are listed on the walls of the Hall of Law.
The Ruler of Saikyo creates, approves, or funds all new projects in the city. They can act on the building permission restrictions, editing or removing builds that are not up to code.
A Director of Saikyo has general permissions to secure residential plots for interested players, perform minor edits to buildings, and have a higher priority for new projects in the city. They report to the Ruler.
A Contributor in Saikyo designates any player who has built two or more buildings in the town. (or who have otherwise made significant contributions) These people have the most potential to become Directors.
Any other player is a Homeowner.
Ruler
Directors
Homeowners
- Hirudo6
- DavidRodas01
- Owlsflame
- ItsADeathTrap
Chocobofan01- Nari1102
- monsoonman
- Okibdoki
WarDoctor42
Boxzy- Anna_28
bytebasher
ReverseDmitry
Markrafter9
watertriber
88NK
xXOakTheTreeXx
Pineapplewazlord- Himan75
- LordOfTheShadows
Theme and Aesthetic
"what is the most beautiful town iyo” -
Yeroma
"honestly I would say saikyo imo” -
LT3_
When Hirudo first set out to build in Freedonia, he didn't come with the intent of making a Japanese city. The reasons and motivation behind Saikyo's founding was purely circumstantial, and the city as it exists today has developed naturally. It was founded with hopes of becoming a large and beautiful city. Maybe not the largest, or most famous, or most historical settlement, but a nice, enjoyable place. Something unique and beautiful.
Japanese ideals, or at least those ideals as perceived by the western world, were strong influences on the values Saikyo upholds. Attributes like the aforementioned beauty, connections to nature, and humility. The browns and grays of the stone and spruce buildings that cover Saikyo are subdued, yet accented by the pinks, reds, and greens of nature. Although not perfect by any metric, Saikyo has improved and evolved over the years.
The limited space on the island of Saikyo has been a major factor in that circumstance. There simply is no other way to go other than inwards. Saikyo has been rigorously planned and contemplated again and again over the years, which is partially why some builds and features take or have taken such a long time to implement.
The painstaking care that goes into developing the city cannot be understated. The palette of a build, its significance, its uses, and its owner are all factors that determine whether something is the right fit for Saikyo. The city has been worked on and improved, bit by bit, block by block, throughout its history.
Gallery
Map
Images
See Also
- Video touring Saikyo by
ScarClaw72: https://youtu.be/MPGBz3c97WM - Saikyo has a discord server.