NS History: You've Got Questions, We've Got Answers!

[Ever-Wandering Souls]

and we added one more (The Blood Cave) due to a game glitch

p-pardon???

someone get to writing the SCP

[The Blaatschapen]

Allow me to answer that for you, as one of Grand Central's former Stationmasters.

While I can't speak to the early history of GC, the region was a pretty sizeable UCR when I arrived in 2016. Some 300 ish members, if I remember correctly. There was a small exodus from Osiris after the coup against the Almighty Jesus Whale, and the most prominent regional figures at the time were Festavo, Kleo (Plagentine), and 94 Block. Other players I can remember off the top of my head were McMannia, North East Scotland, August Anumia, Trever (forget his nation), Grassedia, and I think Blyskalia? I know the player behind "Blyskalia" but I forget if that was his nation, because it still exists and I don't want to get it wrong lest I offend the actual Blyskalia

The region had a train station theme, and as such the elected leader was called the Stationmaster. Most prominent players were raiders, and the regional community got swept up in the 2016 phenomenon of families. This can be attributed to Yuno arriving that spring and adopting every new player she could find. While I won't get into that whole mess, the side effect was a huge community that used Skype chats as a hub, and a lot of us were based in Grand Central, as well as the Kingdom of Great Britain, and Kleo and Fest's Roman Empire region, whatever it was called. 21st Century Rome I think? GC was controlled by members of the Vasentius family, which included most of the aforementioned players and me, as well as the Whitehall family, McMannia's clique that went from being just him to over a hundred once Trever joined it, due to him and his "wife" (a Vasentius) adopting so many new players, and those new players adopting more new players.

This all sounds ridiculous in 2022, but it's hard to explain the impact that the sudden enlargement of families had on parts of Gameplay in 2016. Everyone was in a family. And unfortunately, a lot of new players who got inducted into these cliques were very young and troubled, and there was a lot of unfortunate events occurring between underage players. I won't go into detail, but it was widespread. And it was tolerated. You have a lot of people within the age range of fourteen to seventeen, very hormonal, very immature. Not only did this create an environment ripe for exploitation, it also created a lot of friction and conflict within the regions they inhabited. And ultimately, I think, that's what brought Grand Central down. I should know, I was one of them.

One of the defining features of GC's political system was our political parties, which gave the bimonthly elections a fair bit of flavour. They were kind of on their way out by the time I arrived, I think my party was called "The Party Party". I was elected Stationmaster after only a few weeks of residency, and to be honest I can hardly remember what I actually did in office. The region at that time was largely a vehicle for the social clique that ran it, and the founder remained pretty inactive. After the summer of 2016, I left my post and August Anumia was elected Stationmaster. He did nothing in office and was AFK for two months, completely unreachable. Unfortunately, the region's activity pretty much died out because of that inertia. There were also many OOC conflicts, mostly between the regional community and 94 Block, who was our forum's root admin. Block had been puppetswept during Predator and had more or less fallen from grace at this point. In September-October, McMannia and I decided to undertake a revitalization project with some other denizens, but because Block had RO powers and the founder was inactive, he blocked any attempt to form a new government, calling it a coup or something. Hard to coup a dead region.

In the ensuing shitstorm, Block was banned from the region, but came back in disguise (as "James Locksley") with the help of Don, the KoGB's founder. Once we found out, we banned him. The founder eventually came back and got rid of Block's RO powers, but by that point we had all gone our separate ways. I went back to Lazarus, McMannia went back to Hydra, and the population scattered. There haven't been any attempts to revive the region since then, and although sometimes I look back on it wistfully, it's probably for the best. Most of the players who defined Grand Central and made it active are long gone, or were incredibly toxic. The only people remaining I can think of who aren't blacklisted are myself and McMannia. I think Tim was there at some point, but don't quote me on that.

edit: Here is our old Gameplay thread. It can give you some insight into events I've long since forgotten. Feuer Ritter and Lord Nuke used to be big players in Grand Central, but were banned for OOC indiscretions, as well as their role in Predator. The thread was locked after we issued an admin ban for a player accused of horrific OOC crimes. I should stress, however, that such allegations should never be made onsite because of the risk of defamation, and for all I know, the (long-gone) player mentioned might've been innocent. It was a mistake I made as a young teenager to post that, and we ended up getting our rights to a forum thread suspended for a bit.

I loved to roleplay as a "mom" because I was a teenager. Now I'm an adult and the last thing I wanna do is be a mom xD

Growing up, I'm grateful to have met so many people who were a great opportunity to practice social skills through conversations, the internet has been a great opportunity for me to get over crippling shyness. I attribute that to my first VCs on discord (BThomas of TGW). In the past, I was literally a mute at school. Afterwards, and in college, I can actually talk to people in real life. And act like a normal adult, no social anxiety.

Since then that I gained these skills, I've taken them with me onto better ventures.

Also, another thing is, looking at NS forums, taught me to code forums. Now I code forums for people free of charge! (I mean the person would still need to pay money to the web hosting company, I know the cheapest ones to suggest.) So if anyone wants me to set up their off-site forum for free, whether for a Region or just Educational Purposes, just contact me. I have coded forums for dozens of roleplayers and then left them to their own device so they can roleplay on their sites. I don't charge anything, and I can finish it in 5 minutes. Region creators are free to ask me for help. Then after setting up and handing everythng over, I go afk and don't disturb the peace except for troubleshooting. Just a plug if anyone wants to build their own region or website forum.

Five minutes to build a forum?

I assume setting up and doing styling?

Or like, code the whole backend, in which case, I have questions.

[Luna Amore]

and we added one more (The Blood Cave) due to a game glitch

p-pardon???

someone get to writing the SCP

The Blood Cave was made truly founderless by some update glitch fuckery. Everything got cleared, but the empty shell remained for some reason. Happened about 10 years ago.

Only time it’s happened in 20 years, so we’re probably fine. >_>

[Ever-Wandering Souls]

p-pardon???

someone get to writing the SCP

The Blood Cave was made truly founderless by some update glitch fuckery. Everything got cleared, but the empty shell remained for some reason. Happened about 10 years ago.

Only time it’s happened in 20 years, so we’re probably fine. >_>

Okay but when you say "the blood cave exists due to a game glitch," I mean-

[Luna Amore]

The Blood Cave was made truly founderless by some update glitch fuckery. Everything got cleared, but the empty shell remained for some reason. Happened about 10 years ago.

Only time it’s happened in 20 years, so we’re probably fine. >_>

Okay but when you say "the blood cave exists due to a game glitch," I mean-

It’s existence as a truly founderless region is due to a glitch.

It was most assuredly founded by a player originally. The game isn’t becoming sentient. No really, I assure you.

[Klaus Devestatorie]

My memory is that Grand Central was a large, vaguely raider-sympathetic UCR that blew up in 2010 when its delegate, Aegara ejected himself and most of the region to coup TRR very briefly.

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=44969

I didn’t have much involvement with GC, but I used to lobby Aegara a lot for WA resolutions, so I recall being a little disappointed when he self-destructed. There was a lot of controversy, I recall, regarding how GC recruited and it made an enemy of 10KI.

At the time, recruitment was labour-intensive, even with the Commonwealth tool, so UCRs like Grand Central and Europeia that were actively recruiting could quickly establish themselves as large and politically important regions distinct from other UCRs and they also tended to act like farm teams for NS’ up and coming talent.

(I think Tim was involved in GC?)

Fun story about very early Grand Central (2009)- they were actually in the Commonwealth of Regions for a time. They were also kind of a pain in the butt.

I have no recollection of how we came across them, or how they came across us- both relevant forums have been destroyed. But Station Man and Aegara brought Grand Central into the Commonwealth. This turned out to be tricky for everyone involved, because Grand Central actually continued to maintain their own separate forum, government, and citizenship, and there were fairly abrasive personalities involved. In the end, screenshots came out that they massively disliked us and were only there to get access to the recruitment tool, and they were booted. I still have those exact screenshots (I took them myself); I also have a few others that I didn't take myself and can't really figure out the context for. Actual hostilities followed; Station Man repeatedly tried to sneak in (really, REALLY badly) under alt accounts to use the tool in the name of some of our less active member regions, but secretly for GC. There was also some R/D work, and Grand Central had the better of us there as Station Man was previously St Mason, leader of The Brotherhood of Blood, while our own military was not particularly strong at that time.

[The Church of Satan]

Five minutes to build a forum?

I assume setting up and doing styling?

Or like, code the whole backend, in which case, I have questions.

Hey now, if you want a truly good style for your forum, you'll need much more than five minutes.

[Unibot III]

My memory is that Grand Central was a large, vaguely raider-sympathetic UCR that blew up in 2010 when its delegate, Aegara ejected himself and most of the region to coup TRR very briefly.

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=44969

I didn’t have much involvement with GC, but I used to lobby Aegara a lot for WA resolutions, so I recall being a little disappointed when he self-destructed. There was a lot of controversy, I recall, regarding how GC recruited and it made an enemy of 10KI.

At the time, recruitment was labour-intensive, even with the Commonwealth tool, so UCRs like Grand Central and Europeia that were actively recruiting could quickly establish themselves as large and politically important regions distinct from other UCRs and they also tended to act like farm teams for NS’ up and coming talent.

(I think Tim was involved in GC?)

Fun story about very early Grand Central (2009)- they were actually in the Commonwealth of Regions for a time. They were also kind of a pain in the butt.

I have no recollection of how we came across them, or how they came across us- both relevant forums have been destroyed. But Station Man and Aegara brought Grand Central into the Commonwealth. This turned out to be tricky for everyone involved, because Grand Central actually continued to maintain their own separate forum, government, and citizenship, and there were fairly abrasive personalities involved. In the end, screenshots came out that they massively disliked us and were only there to get access to the recruitment tool, and they were booted. I still have those exact screenshots (I took them myself); I also have a few others that I didn't take myself and can't really figure out the context for. Actual hostilities followed; Station Man repeatedly tried to sneak in (really, REALLY badly) under alt accounts to use the tool in the name of some of our less active member regions, but secretly for GC. There was also some R/D work, and Grand Central had the better of us there as Station Man was previously St Mason, leader of The Brotherhood of Blood, while our own military was not particularly strong at that time.

This is new to me! I know of the Commonwealth and even used the tool, but I was only dipping my toe into GP at the time when the Commonwealth was active.

I didn't know about the Station Man / Brotherhood of Blood connection. That's interesting.

[The Forest of Aeneas]

What was Antarctic Oasis?

[Bears Armed]

What was Antarctic Oasis?

"Was"? It still exists, albeit rather diminished in size from it peak and no longer very active outside of its own boundaries.

It's an old region, containing some interesting nations, a number of whose members were noticeably active in the NS-UN and the early WA/GA.

[The Universe World]

Why did Gest basically destroy The Invaders?

[Thousand Branches]

What was Neo Kervoskia’s story? Seen their name around a couple places before but I don’t know crap about em

[Klaus Devestatorie]

Fun story about very early Grand Central (2009)- they were actually in the Commonwealth of Regions for a time. They were also kind of a pain in the butt.

I have no recollection of how we came across them, or how they came across us- both relevant forums have been destroyed. But Station Man and Aegara brought Grand Central into the Commonwealth. This turned out to be tricky for everyone involved, because Grand Central actually continued to maintain their own separate forum, government, and citizenship, and there were fairly abrasive personalities involved. In the end, screenshots came out that they massively disliked us and were only there to get access to the recruitment tool, and they were booted. I still have those exact screenshots (I took them myself); I also have a few others that I didn't take myself and can't really figure out the context for. Actual hostilities followed; Station Man repeatedly tried to sneak in (really, REALLY badly) under alt accounts to use the tool in the name of some of our less active member regions, but secretly for GC. There was also some R/D work, and Grand Central had the better of us there as Station Man was previously St Mason, leader of The Brotherhood of Blood, while our own military was not particularly strong at that time.

This is new to me! I know of the Commonwealth and even used the tool, but I was only dipping my toe into GP at the time when the Commonwealth was active.

I didn't know about the Station Man / Brotherhood of Blood connection. That's interesting.

There's definitely more lying around Unknown's forum about the history of Station Man in TBOB, but I'd want to review it for accuracy before publishing. It looks like he was in GBI first.

[Nociav]

Anyone have Milograd's fishmonger meme lying around in its original glory?

[Unibot III]

Anyone have Milograd's fishmonger meme lying around in its original glory?

“ Now there's a name I've not heard in a long, long time. A long time...”

[Zeorus]

Anyone have Milograd's fishmonger meme lying around in its original glory?

“ Now there's a name I've not heard in a long, long time. A long time...”

[scratches beard] It's been far too long since I've been called an air gangster or a jaywalker, I reckon.

[The Church of Satan]

Anyone have Milograd's fishmonger meme lying around in its original glory?

“ Now there's a name I've not heard in a long, long time. A long time...”

He still posts on the Lazarus forum sometimes.

“ Now there's a name I've not heard in a long, long time. A long time...”

[scratches beard] It's been far too long since I've been called an air gangster or a jaywalker, I reckon.

Communist Steven Colbert turned up in Lazarus' discord server rather recently. I'm sure he can accommodate you, lol.

[Bormiar]

What was Neo Kervoskia’s story? Seen their name around a couple places before but I don’t know crap about em

Empire. Would've couped TEP back in 2007 I think, and Osiris in 2012. Probably helped with Chodean Kal and a ton of other stuff over the years. I'll bet Dalimbar can tell you more.

[Arpasia]

Was there a specific year where say, Regional maps, RMB, site forum and offsite forum roleplay become increasingly popular?

[Bormiar]

Was there a specific year where say, Regional maps, RMB, site forum and offsite forum roleplay become increasingly popular?

This may help:

Search "jolt forum | jolt | old forum" by Reploid Productions via the search system.

Then search in this thread for "forum" or "forum slow" or "trashfire" . I think I've seen The Bruce and Blackbird talking about it before elsewhere on NS. Maybe also Ballotonia and NewTexas.

They also talk about it a bit here: https://rejectedrealms.com/viewtopic.ph ... t=10030004

[Bendicion]

When did HYDRA Command stop its operations? And why did it stop its operations?

[Bistritza]

Was there a specific year where say, Regional maps, RMB, site forum and offsite forum roleplay become increasingly popular?

Thank you for the idea.
When were the approximate years when these God forsaken separations (forumside, offsite, gameside, discordia...) became the norm?

[Bormiar]

When did HYDRA Command stop its operations? And why did it stop its operations?

That sounds interesting. Maybe somebody can ping NSA or McMannia to get their take.

However I found the following for you:

I’m looking forward to Hydra’s future success! Raiders that are faster than armchair defenders are always welcome.

> Raiders that are faster than armchair defenders
> McMannia
> mfw

Anyway, I see neither a NSA nor a Tom, the two that once made HYDRA Command briefly relevant despite McMannia, so let's just say I'm only cautiously optimistic about this reboot's success.

People do get that the original hydra command had more than two staff members right? Yes Tom led the region during its most successful period, and his retirement coupled with NSA pulling an unexplained disappearing act (along with several talented officers immediately jumping ship) hampered the region in a way it never really recovered from (my inability to fully take the reigns and lead the region out of said tail spin due to emotionally traumatizing IRL issues I won’t get into on a public forum didn’t help either) but hydra command was more than just two people. It was a collective effort by a group of talented people with complimentary skills that added up to a successful team. Trying to recapture that with the original members (many of whom aren’t even ns players anymore) would be a fools errand and a waste of my time and theirs. We’re moving forward with a new team, and we’d appreciate it if everyone could stop with the “well toms not here so it’s doomed” comments.

Sounds like this Tom guy was pretty important and without him it fell into inactivity.

[Goobergunchia]

Was there a specific year where say, Regional maps, RMB, site forum and offsite forum roleplay become increasingly popular?

Always has been.

[WayNeacTia]

When did HYDRA Command stop its operations? And why did it stop its operations?

That sounds interesting. Maybe somebody can ping NSA or McMannia to get their take.

However I found the following for you:

> Raiders that are faster than armchair defenders
> McMannia
> mfw

Anyway, I see neither a NSA nor a Tom, the two that once made HYDRA Command briefly relevant despite McMannia, so let's just say I'm only cautiously optimistic about this reboot's success.

People do get that the original hydra command had more than two staff members right? Yes Tom led the region during its most successful period, and his retirement coupled with NSA pulling an unexplained disappearing act (along with several talented officers immediately jumping ship) hampered the region in a way it never really recovered from (my inability to fully take the reigns and lead the region out of said tail spin due to emotionally traumatizing IRL issues I won’t get into on a public forum didn’t help either) but hydra command was more than just two people. It was a collective effort by a group of talented people with complimentary skills that added up to a successful team. Trying to recapture that with the original members (many of whom aren’t even ns players anymore) would be a fools errand and a waste of my time and theirs. We’re moving forward with a new team, and we’d appreciate it if everyone could stop with the “well toms not here so it’s doomed” comments.

Sounds like this Tom guy was pretty important and without him it fell into inactivity.

If I’m not mistaken, Ivo pinched a few members there as well.