Southland

Southland
FriendCraft, BimmerCraft, and Personal Servers location
Southland Manor, the former capital of Southland (Resource Pack is PureBDCraft)
Created by	Taylor Swift, Prude, Arkon
Information
Population	15~
Founded	2011
Other Names	Danlandia, Faglandia, Dans World, Dantopia

Southland is the primary region for the TayPack server. Originally, the project began as a small hut for a 3 man server, but has since been used in Minecraft servers for every single iteration of The COMMIEVERSE.

History

Original Map

The original Dantopia. See the original hole in the ground at the bottom left.

The beginning of what became Southland can be traced back to a 3 man server hosted off of Shelarahns computer in early 2011 when Prude, Arkon, and him began playing a new survival map. Originally, the trio based themselves out of a small hole in the ground that led to a larger subterranean cavern system, but a cobblestone base was soon erected close by, a building that would later become Southland Manor. Prude decided to fuck off a ways from the base and build his own tower, later named Faglandia Tower. Arkon would burrow through the nearby mountain and build the PVP arena on top of it, and connected it directly to the main manor, now called Dantopia Manor. A faux "war" broke out between Faglandia and Dantopia, which escalated to Shelarahn building a great wall with TNT cannons on top, and glassing the Faglandia Desert. After a week or so, Prude and Arkons interest in the server would fade, and the server was shut down.

Over the next year or so, the map would be imported into various different mod packs such as Technic and several other "cities" would be added Like Dantopia City, Bordertown, and The Northern Wall.

New Map

The Southland Manor complex imported into a fresh map via MCEdit

The original Dantopia map had been used over several different versions of Minecraft, and as such, was beginning to fray at the edges where new procgen would create wildly different biomes and landmasses. To fix this, Shelarahn imported the original Dantopia Manor into McEdit and cleaned away all of the dirt and stone surrounding the cobblestone building, and imported it into an entirely new map on the newest version of Minecraft. At this time, Friend Zone as in full swing, so the new map was put up at a vanilla server for the members of Friend Zone to enjoy. It was here that the area that would later become Southland Island began to emerge. Morgan was responsible for much of the building north of the manor, including the now derelict Tower of Friendship and a statue to herself.

With the release of 1.4.2 on October 25th, 2012, and the addition of the Wither, a test was conducted on the southern end of the island to spawn the Wither. The attempt was successful and the area of destruction left can still be seen at Wither Hill.

As FriendCraft became more popular, the Friends would move to a different pack and a completely new map, leaving Southland behind.

Various Revisions

In the years following FriendCraft, Shelarahn independently would continue working on the map sporadically. The first major moves were creating the various islands by cutting them off of the adjoining landmasses using VoxelSniper and WorldEdit, creating rivers and bays as natural barriers. Secondly, Southland Manor itself was overhauled, removing the tower on top and converting it to a log roof. The surrounding island was also landscaped, adding huge trees to file in the empty areas.

Northport was added next, as a second area independent from the main island. Two compounds were built along with the bazaar and port. Roads linking the two locations were also built.

TayPack

In December of 2017, Southland was moved to The TayPack, a custom collection of mods meant to increase aesthetics and give the world life via furniture and other QoL additions.

Locations

Inner Isles

The Inner Isles as they appear on The TayPack currently.

The original area where Southland Manor was placed when imported into the new maps is the area that is now considered The Inner Isles. The island is limited to handmade projects and is usually restricted against everyone building. There was countless hidden and lost buildings, underground tunnels, and roads scattered throughout the map as a result of years and years of building and improving the islands.

Southland Island

The area immediately surround the manor and the main island of the Inner Isles, Southland Island features most of the oldest structures on the map. On the northern shores of the island, the two colossus, Southland and The Traitor Queen, stand. Next to the latter colossus, the ruins of The Tower of Friendship are seen, overgrown with vegetation. The Black Warrior River serves as the natural border along the western, northern, and eastern sides of the island, with Southland Bay forming the southern border. Along the river, are the 3 beacons, that light the path around the western bend of the river. In the heart of the island lies the marble gazebo that serves as a memorial to all those lost building Southland.

North of the manor is the old Royal Hotel and Bickham Square, which is surrounding by Southland General Hospital. To the west from the square is the New Nether Portal site and an old abandoned graveyard. East from the old hotel is the Captain Kitty Memorial Bridge that leads to Northport Island, built on top of the old gravel road that crossed the river. Past the bridge to the east in a hollow is Brendans Workshop. Just south of that is the entrance to the massive underground facility of Southland Engineering, including the Research and Development complex known as "the Coke can", a massive 5 story metal building that extends all the way down to bedrock. The site was originally used for testing and showcasing more complex mods and for testing dangerous and new systems and features.

On the very Southern tip of Southland Island is Southland Point (formerly called Danlandia Harbor). The prominent buildings here are the old customs warehouse and the Southland Beach Resort & Spa, which sits on the most southern beach of the island. There is a small bazaar in between the two buildings, and a fountain do the west of the customs warehouse. Northeast of Southland Point is the perpetually under construction Ministry of Justice complex, and the newly added Foreign Embassy (A base imported from an old Goon map called Derts Server, built by Taylor in September of 2011). Just before the bridge to these two buildings is the old site of the first Wither spawn, Withered Hill. West of the Point is the bridge leading over the bay to Wallace Island.

Directly south of the manor is Munny Sokol Park, the site of a former administrative building that was torn down and converted into a green space. The old TNT cannons from Fort Dicks were relocated here, and are currently on display, but non-functioning.

Southland Manor Complex

Southland Manor Complex as it was on May 29th 2019

The complexes official entrance is just south of Bickham Square and the old hotel in an are known as The Old Park, which was formerly a much larger park that included to old hobbit hole where the original trio began. The park was later used as the site for various portals, such as the Twilight Forest and Nether. The southern end of The Old Park leads in 3 directions: 1. East down a set of stairs to another courtyard with the Southland Portal Terminus, The Old Tram Station, and a tunnel leading under the old park across to the DoD complex 2. West up an elevated corridor to the Bob L. McKinley Agriculture Complex 3. South into Southland Courtyard

The Lower Courtyard is just off the Old Park, and leads directly into the Southland Portal Terminus, which is a two floor lobby for portals leading to various portions of Southland, such as Alamkhet, the resort, and the university, as well as free build areas. The Old Tram Station once had lines running in all 4 cardinal directions to various parts of the FriendCraft map, and before that on the original map led to Dantopia City. The station is now completely closed save for a walking path west to Southland Plains Island and WaterZone. The old tunnels are now mostly used for maintenance by Southland Engineering and are off limits.

The agriculture complex to the west is where most of the food for Southland is grown, The structure is a massive greenhouse, with 10+ rows for growing, all properly irrigated. However, the farm is mostly useless since the map is rarely played in survival and when it is, the manor is not used at all.

Southland Courtyard is the leads directly into the manor itself, as well as a hidden door to Tays Hidden Garden, and to the south, leads further into the complex. Formerly, the courtyard extend west to Fort Dicks, but as part of renovations in 2014, the area in front of the fort was converted into a memorial for those lost in the Northland War, and that section of the courtyard was cut off. Tays Hidden Garden, just off of the entrance to the manor, is a small walled in garden, which was the site of the Old Southland Oak until it was cut down on April 20th, 2014 as part of the previously mentioned renovations of the manor complex.

Southland Manor itself begins with a modest living room, featuring a fire and 4 doors leading off to the guest chambers, pool, servants area, and dining hall, as well as stairs leading to the second floor of the manor. The guest quarters are a small detached apartment area for guests to stay. The chambers have been under renovation since 2018. The pool was built sometime in 2012 and is just a pool with a glass ceiling. The servants quarters are actually the former survival area of the manor, where the crafting and chests were once located. The area is now a kitchen, storage area, and quarters for servants. The dining hall off the south of the lower floor, is a sunken room with a decorative fountain, fireplace, and large table.

Upstairs of Southland Manor has been extensively remodeled over time. The stairs up now lead into a small sitting room with bookshelves, this area leads into a larger room that breaks off into the library, roof access, a balcony, and Taylors Tower. The library is the old bedroom of the manor and is now just a small room with bookshelves. The roof access leads to the attic, which was formerly the rooftop area of Southland Manor before the spire was removed in 2013. The balcony overlooks the Miners Memorial and the small lake to the west. Taylors Tower is the new personal quarters of Taylor. The first floor is a small sitting room with a balcony overlooking the hidden garden. The second floor of the tower is the personal office, with a desk area and walls lined with bookshelves. The staircase to the top floor was once hidden behind a bookshelf, but now is just an oak door. The domed top of the building is a private living quarters. The basement of Southland is a recent addition, with nothing but access to under the park and an ash dump for the living rooms fireplace.

Further South into the complex is the arena, built by Arkon as part of the very first Dantopia Manor in 2011. The arena was relocated from the hill above the manor to beside it as part of the move to the new map in 2012. The arena formerly featured just once viewing box, but as part of restoration in 2014, several more were added, as well as the old PVP logo in the center being changed to SOUTH. A small locker room, known as the James M. Fail Locker Room, was also added. Going east from the arena entrance is The New Park, a large open area that serves as the commons for the greater part of the Southland Manor Complex. Immediately upon entering the park to the north, is a memorial to the Faglandia War and the new entrance to Fort Dicks and the Northland War memorial, as well as access to the DoD complex, which is largely under renovation as of 2019. The decision has yet to be made whether or not to move the entire DoD complex to Alamkhet or keep it in Southland Manor. South of that, is the Crypt of Kings and the Old Spawn Park. Down the road further is a small fountain in front of Southland Cathedral, a small church built on the western shore of the island. The First Bank of Southland is southeast of the church and was recently renovated in 2019. The bank also features, as of 2019, the only NPC in Southland Manor. He does nothing. East of the bank entrance is the tunnel that runs under the stands of the arena, leading out of the manor complex. At the end of the tunnel is a small viewing area where The Old Spawn Park can be seen at eye level, and the entrance to the old spawn can be seen.

Northport Island

Northport Island is largely undeveloped outside of the northeastern portion, but roads crisscross the island on its western side leading to several different islands and locations. The nuclear power plant sits in the middle of the island, and is still under construction. In front of the power plant is an old portal memorial from a long forgotten modpack. Roads lead north to Gupp Island, as well as the Southland Resort tunnel. West leads to Southland Woods and a road to the northern point of Southland Island.

In "map lore", the island was formerly the holding of Northland, a rival faction to Southland.

Northport

Northport at night

Northport began as a small walled village, ruled over by Northland Keep. The original are was actually a prespawned "dungeon" as part of Hexxit or another equivalent modpack, but was converted into a city after it was cleared of monsters. Northland Keep was destroyed by a random weather event, specifically a giant frozen meteor on July 20th 2013. The city expanded north when the port was built, as well as the Northport Bazaar and the Port Authority & Customs warehouse, that was linked to Southland Manor via the old tram system that ran under the island. The old harbor wall was built not long after to prevent flooding. Fort Northport was another randomly generated structure that was but close by to replace the now destroyed Northland Keep. The courtyard of the fort holds the portal that takes players back to Southland Manor. The suburbs of Northport were constructed in October of 2013, starting on the 6th after a Reddit guide was posted on how to build a certain style of buildings. The second set of suburbs was also built across the street, as was the barn and windmill. The church was added at a later point, as were the inn and general store. The old blacksmith on The Black Warrior River was part of a partially spawned village on the island, that only spawned the blacksmith. The gravel road that leads to it also leads to a small dock on the Black Warrior River, looking across at Southland Island. Several ruins are spread across the city, including the old Northland Bridge to the east of the fort, that once reached across the river to an old prison on a landmass that was cut out during a revision of the map. Today, just the foundation of the first strut of the bridge still stands, right next to an abandoned underground tunnel entrance.

Southland Plains

Southland Plains island as seen from above, with the bay in the distance.

West of Southland Island is a larger island that is mostly flat, save for a lone hill or two. The most 3 prominent features of the island however are the glass pyramid adorned with diamond and gold blocks, known as the Tomb of Forgotten Kitties, which is a memorial to the cats lost by members of THE COMMIEVERSE. Secondly, is the Old Southland Manor, which in map lore is the precursor capital of Southland, but in reality is a pregenned manor placed to give the island more character. Lastly is the massive Southland Christmas tree, which is a rebuild of the original 2012 FriendCraft Christmas tree that was lost after a map wipe. The tree is marked with each year that was celebrated while the map was running and sometimes lists a little snippet to mark the occasion, such as Made America Great Again for the 2016 Christmas celebration. Under the road south of the tree is the groundskeepers grotto, which serves as a small point for players to craft and rest. North of the tree is a red and white pole, marking the 0,0,0 coordinate of the map, mostly useful for teleportation and other server administration needs. East is the ruins of the Old Southland Plains Church, on the banks of the Tombigbee River. Further West, is an old survival cottage now called the Southland Plains Cottage Museum. Several miscellaneous ruins at scattered across the island that have no real significance.

Southland Woods

The largest of the Inner Isles, but also the least populated. The only two buildings on the island are both either generated or imported. The former is a the Southland Hunting lodge, which is a survival living point for players. The latter is to the south, and is called The Southland Historical Society, and is to serve as a massive in-game museum to Southland. A portal to the Southland Manor Terminus is right outside of the historical society. The basement links to the Southland Engineering rail line. The ruins of an old challenge tower can be see just north of the historical society and extends down into the island. However, the tower is in very bad condition and is considered a hazard.

Old Proving Grounds

The old launch platform viewed in MCEdit from an earlier map. The platform has since been demolished.

During a version of the map that was running more tech based mods, The Proving Grounds was used as a launch platform for Galacticraft shuttles. The pad was a massive circle enclosed by tall walls on all sides and light cross ways with glowstone, or at times, lamps. In 2018, with the launch platform no longer needed, the area was demolished and leveled to make way for the Southland Industrial HQ building.

Wallace Island

Wallace Island (Named after former Alabama governor George Wallace) is a defacto nature reserve in Southland. The island is almost entirely undeveloped, outside of the Old Southland Graveyard on a hill on the northern part of the island, and roads connecting to New Spawn to Southland, as well as a new road to Alamkhet. Near the center of the valley is a hut that holds a Southland Engineering ground integrity survey hole, documenting the degradation of the ground with each revision. To the southwest, is the notorious Gun Runners Cover, which was once the sight of a deadly shootout when the map had a gun mod.

New Sheep Island

The Sheep statue of New Sheep Island.

The island was entirely undeveloped until July 18th 2013, when the New Sheep Island statue was erected to celebrate the return of Prude to COMMUNISM. The statue is built on a raised dais, on which is a dedication plaque documenting the building and dedication of the statue. Access to the interior of the statue is restricted, but inside is a viewing area and access to the head of the sheep. Along with the statue, a road linking the island to Harbor Town and a dock were built for travel. The original Sheep Island was an island full of sheep that was in the bay off of Dantopia Harbor on the original map. The new island was only named after it because of the placement decision of the statue, not because it had a lot of sheep.

Harbor Town

The town was a randomly generated village on an island in Southland Bay. That's it. It just looked cool so it was kept.

Old Bay Watchtower

The watchtower was formerly a challenge tower, which was a randomly generated tower full of monsters with a boss at the top, spawned by the Hexxit mod pack. Once cleared, the tower was turned into a watchtower/lighthouse for The Old Bay. With new revisions mostly limiting the bay to a glorified lake, the watchtower now makes no sense. The island also linked to Pigeon Island, before the latter was destroyed and relocated.

Gupp Island

Dedicated in honor of our lost COMRADE, Yung Gupp. Rest in Power, King.

Pigeon Island

:colbert:

When Pigeon agreed to play Minecraft with Taylor (A promise he later reneged on entirely) the entire island was dedicated to him. Today it only holds a small memorial to his betrayal, as well as some bird baths for GOOD BIRDS WHO WONT LET YOU DOWN AND SAY THEYLL PLAY MINECRAFT WITH YOU THEN WONT REEEEEEEEEE.

WaterZone

A veritable Atlantis, WaterZone was built by Brendan, a member of Friend Zone, in 2012 right off the western coast of Southland Island. Construction began when Taylor emptied a cylinder area out for Brendan to begin working in. The basic design of the underwater city is loosely based on Rapture from the w:Bioshock series of games. During one of the mod pack moves in 2014, the city was massively flooded and cleanup efforts didn't conclude until 2017.

The city is spread across many levels, and features parks, a hospital, even a movie theater. The gem of the city is the two story art gallery, featuring a massive marble water feature that runs from the top of the gallery to the bottom. The two exits are on the road leading west from Southland Island to Southland Plains, and another back exit that leads under Southland Island into an undeveloped area.

Alamkhet

With space for larger projects running out on the Inner Isles, the idea was pitched for an entirely new area away from the Inner Isles for a new shining capital city for Southland. The city was planned based on old designs from FriendCraft using the idea of circular cities. A massive outer ring was built as a border, and a smaller inner ring was built to be the city proper. From there, the inner ring was cordoned off into 4 "districts", each to be developed with their own theme and aesthetics.

The name of the city is taken from a city in Taylors fictional novel universe.

Park District

The first developed district was the northeastern slice. The area was walled off with stone and then a hedge wall, falling in line with the nature theme. The inside of the wedge was landscaped, with a running river that flows out into the outer ring, a small lake complete with a beach, and a lush forest of oaks.

The Park also holds the portal that links the city to the Southland Manor Terminus. Conversations however have been had to move the Terminus to Alamkhet at some point, when the city is finished.

Residential District

The Four Seasons Alamkhet was constructed along the central square, at the corner of the northwestern district. The hotel is 6 stories tall featuring a full bar and restaurant, 48 guest rooms, and great views of The Park District. Construction was finished on March 3rd, 2019.

The remainder of the district is planned to be filled with houses and apartment blocks, as well as an old style manor at the very back, along the outer wall.

Merchants District

The Merchants Square sits at the corner of the southwest district, and is the more prominent feature of the district as of yet. The square will be lined with shops and roads leading deep into the district. Very few plans have been made for the district and as of May 2019, the entire district is walled off.

Administrative District

The primary focus of the district is The Great Library of Alamkhet, which is a sunken pyramid shape, descending down to a reflecting pool at the bottom. The library, when completed, will also feature a massive complex of research facilities and archives. Other government offices will also be relocated to this district, such as the DoD and DoJ, both of which were previously located in Southland Manor and Southland Island, respectively. The two buildings have long been under renovation and construction.

Palace

[[File:Javaw 2019-05-29 17-24-40.jpg|right|thumb|upright|The throne room of Alamkhets palace, still heavily under construction. The palace sits outside the eastern end of the inner ring, and itself is just another giant circle. Inside, in the middle of the room, is a raised dias with a throne. Around the dais and leading up to it, are many rare sets of armor. Behind the dias, is a set of stairs down into an unfinished area and the foundations of the dias. In the center of that foundation is an elevator that leads to the top spire of the tower, which is intended to be a royal living area.

Doors leading north and south will lead into gardens and private areas of the palace.

The Outer Ring

As of current, the outer ring serves mostly as a natural green space, with lakes and forests.

The Undercroft

The city superstructure extends all the way down to bedrock, and has two massive facilities under the city. Both as of current are empty, but are intended to be used for extensions from the upper buildings, and for the very lower part, whatever is needed eventually.

Other Places

• Dr Wheels Farmstead
• The Old Bay
• Saint Georges Tower
• The Old Bay
• The USS Swift
• The Floating Temple

Historical Locations

• The Old Tomb of Forgotten Kitties
• Mob Grinder
• Danlandia Harbor & Lighthouse
• C-Team Continent
• Dantopia Southern Watch Tower
• The Great Wall of Dantopia
• Bordertown
• Dantopia City
• Northern Border Wall & Fort

Contributors

• Morgan
• Josh
• Brendan
• Pigeon - Just kidding he NEVER FUCKING PLAYED WITH TAYLOR
• Prude
• Arkon
• A few unnamed pubbies