Seneca

Seneca

Location
Server	PvE
Map revision	4 through 14
Creators
Lead	89jase, Archelon2001, Avi_Dangerstein, Betajippity, breadbomb92, Crockoduck, Crossedcutlasses, Diznatch52, Gdavison, Mattman00000, Redwall_hp, The_exemplar, Thefigg88, and uh1phil
Contributors	163 members going by clanchat numbers
Timeline
Started	PvE 4

The Spirit of Seneca

The City of Seneca has grown from a derelict camp into one of the largest communities on the PvE server. It was not started with any specific mission in mind, but came to embody certain defining principles, including:

• no barriers to entry, anyone can be a citizen
• lots of citizen participation in public buildings
• an open, unwalled city that promotes and provides transportation links to the wider area

History

Beginnings in Rev4

The original Seneca was created from the remains of the Brom Township camp of PvE revision 4. Legend has it that WaterSlide, the last to depart the camp on the long walk to the new Brom, presented Chow_D with the keys to the city that was to become Seneca.

Through the hard work and dedication of Chow_D and the residents of Seneca, it became a flourishing town within sight of the mobile spawn balloons of PvE 4.

Pictures from Seneca on Revision 4

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  Seneca Tower

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  Arena

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  Roller Coaster

Setbacks and Hardship

Only a couple of weeks before the map was to be reset, a huge techinical issue caused large parts of the map data to become corrupt. The original Seneca was not spared from the great dataclysm, and was lost forever.

In the aftermath, the residents rallied to the cause, quickly replacing what had been lost with a vibrant new settlement that included a memorial tower, a wheat farm, public food chests, a chicken coop ("The Great Pit of Chicken"), a park, a suggestion board for the new Seneca, and many private buildings. Cake was a popular food during this time.

New New Seneca: Seneca in Rev5

The Rev5 version of Seneca grew organically from a coalition of PvE residents immediately after the server became live for the fifth revision of PvE. As Rev 5 began, a collection of Senecans gathered at the east edge of spawn, and set out into the darkness. Braving the zombies and skeletons of the new swamp biome, they blazed a trail some 300 blocks into the wilderness, and at a flat open stretch of ground created the crossroads around which New New Seneca was built. The proximity to spawn caused the town to explode in size. The version of Minecraft associated with Rev 5 was notorious for Endermen run amok, and the Senecan Task Force scrambled to constantly repair buildings. This rev would also see the birth of the Senecan Free Navy, as UNC_Samurai commissioned the city's one and only battleship.

Under the leadership of UNC_Samurai, a wide road was built from the eastern spawn bridge up to and past a replica of the Seneca Memorial Tower. Known as the East Road, and Main Street in Seneca proper, it was from this base that the City of Seneca grew.

The city included multiple skyscrapers, an excellent red brick town hall, two parks, a public cane/wheat/melon farm, a bakery that dispensed free bread, a jail for all the creepers, a public mine, and many private dwellings. The city also included a population of 78 (and counting) residents, and a community of generous people that would have loved to invite you in for dinner. Due to the proximity of spawn, a Greater Seneca Area sprung up around the city, with many residences outside of Seneca proper.

The Rev5 mayors were Chow_D, and UNC_Samurai, and gdavison. The Seneca Task Force included gdavison and UNC_Samurai.

Rev 5 Seneca by the end of the revision was the largest city on PvE by population, although the Brom Empire covered more land. However, Rev 5 Seneca also saw the departure of a group of citizens led by Socarch26, who began as Senecans but went on to found the city of Argoth.

To view the cartograph for revision 5, click Here

The Age of Terraforming: Seneca in Rev6

When Rev 6 began, the core Senecans again ventured into the wilderness, this time north, to a stretch of open ground around a small lake. Adjacent to this lake was the town square, the nexus of civic buildings. As the town grew in size and was limited by spawn-centric development, the mayors and task force engineered a massive terraforming project to level several hills and use that dirt to lay out large plots over open water. On this land was built Downtown Seneca, home to the town's skyscrapers and spleef Arena. The Seneca Stingrays were a strong force in the rev's preseason, though as the regular season progressed the team stagnated.

While Revision 5 Seneca was the first iteration of Seneca to claim a position as a true powerhouse of PvE, Revision 6 cemented that status. Locked in a fierce rivalry with Pico, Seneca in Revision 6 eventually claimed the title of largest city on the server, with a bustling downtown area packed with dozens of skyscrapers surrounded by lowrise residential areas and suburbs further out. Notable builds included an enormous wooden rollercoaster, the spleef arena, a glass enclosed tree-farm, the Seneca City Bridge, and much more.

Future Senecan figures such as betajippity were seen for the first time near Seneca during Rev 6.

To view the cartograph for Revision 6, click Here

Exodus from Spawn: Seneca in Rev7

For Rev 7, Seneca's leadership agreed upon a radical departure from previous policy; the city would locate itself some distance from spawn, to enable better control over city development. After initially setting up a base camp at the south nether portal, then attempting to locate in a large forest, Senecan explorers found an ideal location in a snow biome valley. Despite losing the ability to use minecarts for some time, the city moved forward with its core builders and a handful of adventurous newcomers, the city carefully laid out its road network and used the central park area as a camp. Civic infrastructure and municipal buildings took precedence over private houses. Once resources were gathered, roads laid out, and core buildings such as farms and sheep pens were built, the mayors carefully laid out the initial residence areas. By the end of the rev, Rev 7 Seneca featured one of the largest and grandest rail stations PvE had ever seen.

Seneca hosted PvE's first Winter Games, a five-sport event featuring 1v1 spleef, chicken hockey, the biathalon, speed skating, and solving the Great Hedge Maze. Darco won the overall medal count for the Winter Games with 3 Gold and 2 Bronze Medals. Seneca came in second with 1 Gold, 3 Silver, and 1 Bronze medals.

To view the cartograph for revision 7, click Here

The Age of Alliances: Seneca In Revision 8

In Rev 8, Seneca joined with the Darco region and Pico to create the Southeast Co-prosperity Region. Built around the dual themes of Colonial Seneca and Art Deco Seneca, Rev 8 Seneca accidentally found itself twinned with Pico, each on either side of a great mountain. Located in the border between a plain and a desert biome, Rev 8 Seneca was the furthest Seneca had ever been away from spawn, continuing the trend set forth in Rev 7.

Rev 8 Seneca was anchored by monumental builds, such as JohnAdams1735's tavern, colonial Town Hall, robisONE's art deco quadplex, and snickerpleez's mansion. Alas, Rev 8 Seneca was also home to many incomplete builds.

To view the cartograph for revision 8, click Here

The Era of Turmoil and Rebirth: Seneca In Revision 9

Revision 9 Seneca marked the beginning of an era of resurgence. Starting early in the revision, Senecan leadership founded a new city at the Southwest Portal, starting an era of Seneca as a portal focused superpower. Built overlooking the sea, Rev 9 Seneca became famous for its beautiful harbor bridge, but also became notorious for creating the Molderp.

Revision 9 was a time of great change and turmoil for Seneca; great tragedy resulted in the departure of UNC_samurai as mayor, but great rejoicing was had as well with the arrival of new mayors such as diznatch52 and abdias62. Also during this period, a number of future Senecans first visited from abroad, such as avi_dangerstein, mattman00000, and bigarge, who would go on to become mayors as well, and further rejoicing was had when a hero of old, gdavison, returned to once again help lead Seneca.

While Seneca ended Rev 9 as a growing empire in transition, in the subsequent Rev 10 Seneca would rise to once again become a true superpower of PvE.

To view the cartograph for revision 9, click Here

Rise of an Empire: Seneca In Revision 10

After a heated dispute over portal ownership with those pinko commies from Bromgoth in the dawning moments of the revision, the valiant Senecans opened their hearts in earnest prayer to the great and benevolent Admins. Lo, in a miraculous and awe-inspiring moment of aboose that will long be whispered of with reverence, the Great Portal was moved from the shores of the sea to rest peacefully on the land now known as Portal Park. With a renewed spirit, the humble and industrious Senecans began working earnestly on the foundations for Mighty Seneca.

Constructed with a theme of Bipartisanship, Rev10 Seneca's center was constructed around a large, beautiful open park surrounding the Great Portal. Built in tribute to the magnanimous act of aboose witnessed by the early Senecans, the hallowed land surrounding the Great Portal was set aside as a place of solemn contemplation and inspirational signage. Around the Portal Park, Seneca built magnificent stone public farms, a great statue in memory of UNC_Samurai and Seneca's other forebears who left in the Great Migration of Rev9, and a large, well equipped Town Hall. Last but not least around the Portal Park was Bipartisan Spleef, a monument both to sport and to the cooperative spirit of Seneca. Beneath the Portal Park, Seneca constructed a large rail station that quickly became the major rail hub of the southwest. Seneca quickly expanded in all directions and soon surrounded what became Seneca Harbor, complete with docks and ships and beaches and nuclear submarines. To the east, an enormous Seneca Empire Building was built by djatomc, and beyond that Seneca expanded even further. To the south lay Seneca's oldest housing developments, obscured beneath the floating landmasses of Rev10. To the west lay the great Snickerpleezean Sponge Museum, the mansion district, and Mattman00000's glorious derpirongrinder in the sky.

Rev10 Seneca saw an influx of new citizens that would soon become the core of modern Seneca, and saw an expansion of the city staff to include players such as mattman00000, crockoduck, Avi_Dangerstein, betajippity, and others.

Roads were paved. Houses were erected. Animals were corralled. Rails were laid. Signs procreated shamelessly. Seekirt forward operating northeast bases near Bromgoth were established.

Mighty Seneca was born anew!

To view the cartograph for revision 10, click Here

Establishing Peace in a War-torn World: Chaos Seneca Island

Between Revs 10 and 11, the admins saw fit to create a period of Chaos. Players slew each other, builds were hastily constructed only to be griefed immediately, lava flowed; 'twas a terrible time. In the midst of the chaos, Senecans banded together along with friends from Port80 and resolved to establish a peaceful refuge for PvE players in an increasingly war-torn world. TheRandomnatrix created a great Nether Portal hidden in a mountainside, which led him to a small island out at sea hundreds of blocks away from spawn. Here, Senecans and Port80ers banded together to for a first attempt at a Chaos Seneca. The island was quickly expanded to include homes and farms, a skeleton grinder, and even a floating spleef arena. However, hostile players quickly found the island, and the peaceful PvE refugees were forced to flee by boat carrying whatever possessions they could. After sailing for many a day and night, Seneca's citizens established a second base deep underwater. Constructed with a hidden entrance, the new underwater base was difficult to excavate and resources with short; despite the hardships, Seneca's citizens soon had a new home hewn out of the ocean floor. However, whilst attempting to relay coordinates to allies, the coordinates of this new base were leaked and again Seneca was forced into exile by boat. This time, Seneca's leadership resolved to establish a final base that would never be discovered; with new stealth communication protocols set in place, Seneca sailed for days on end until they reached a Mooshroom island over 10,000 blocks away from spawn. Here, Chaos Seneca finally found a permanent home, free from the horrors of Chaos. Enormous public farms were soon established to ensure the survival of the PvE refugees, and soon the island flourished with many homes and towers, multiple skeleton grinders and mines, a 4 pod iron grinder, a Mushroom Spleef arena, and even a Seneca Metro system. Half of the island was designated the Crockoduck Peninsula Nature Preserve to protect the mooshis, and an advanced Senebeacon alert system was established around the island in case hostile forces happened upon the island. Fortunately, hostile players never discovered Seneca Island, and thus Seneca Island continued until the end of Chaos, a shining glimmer of hope for PvE players stuck in a chaotic world.

For many Senecans, the days of Senechaos came to epitomize the cooperative spirit of PvE and Seneca, and Chaos Seneca Island maintains a very fond place in the collective memory of Seneca to this day.

Continuation of an Empire: Seneca In Revision 11

In revision 11 Seneca was again a portal town anchoring the southwest, and grew to its largest size to date with the final population over 250 and a worldguard region that spanned over 1000 meters by 800 meters. At the start of the rev, Seneca's citizens banded together and set forth from spawn to the southwest, following a river inland until a portal was discovered standing in a great grass plain with river on one side and mountain on the other. Seneca's citizens resolved to build a grand new Seneca stretching from mountain to river and beyond; a plateau was soon terraformed beneath the portal to build a town center on. Built with a postmodern theme, Seneca's central portal area was home to archelon2001's beautiful postmodern Town Hall, Avi_Dangerstein's revolutionary postmodern trapezoidal public farm, and 89jase's public apartments. To the west of the portal, the city followed a strict postmodern theme and included a number of public facilities, such as Glass Spleef and snickerpleez's wildly popular Seneca Public Art Gallery and avi's neighbouring Seneca Outdoor Sculpture Park. The south of the portal area featured a PVP arena and Threef, the first three-team spleef arena on the server. South Seneca was also home to BigArge's enormous villager tower; one of the most comprehensive villager facilities ever built on PvE. East Seneca was the largest area of Seneca; with a looser theme, it was home to builds ranging from a large stone t-rex to homes to a sky-limit cane farm. North of Seneca was betajippity and mccahan's Seneca Iron Grinder, an enormous 12 pod grinder that was among the largest of the rev. Later in the rev, Seneca excavated an enormous artificial lake to the south and the east, which hosted boat races and other spectacles. Towards the end of the rev, a second PVP arena and a second FISA spleef arena were built in a new dedicated Arena District, which hosted the rev's FISA Spleef Finals.

Along with being the dominant centerpiece and main rail hub of the Southwest, Rev11 Seneca was easily one of the largest cities PvE has ever seen going all the way back to the enormous Brom of Rev5. While in past revs Seneca had seen fierce rivalry with cities such as Brom, Pico, and Argoth, Rev11 Seneca saw a new era of friendly relations with the city of Shady Oaks, established by Brom's citizens. This friendship would plant the seeds of a new alliance in the next rev...

To view the cartograph for revision 11, click Here.

Districts And Brom: Seneca In Revision 12

In revision 12 Seneca tried a districting approach to the city. This meant specific areas for specific themes, such as medieval, Sketchtown, business, and even Brom as a district. Notable builds are the large buildings of the Brom district, such as the zoo and the villager mall, the Uber project to the south largly funded by Seneca and Senecan labor, and also Wondrland in the north.

To view the cartograph for revision 12, click Here.

A Tale of Two Senecas: Seneca In Revision 13

We built a lighthouse, there was a strip club. Aypop fix pls.

To view the cartograph for revision 13, click Here.