Alliance City

Alliance City (abbreviated AC) was founded upon the 1.16 Nether Update and is the headquarters for USUV. It is made up of multiple town-sized districts that are currently under development, hence the name "Alliance". These surround a City Center featuring a mixture of colorful modern designs, and a grid-style city street layout. AC is home to a variety of community projects, as well as a public mine. There is a railway heading east from the city which connects Alliance with Sky Temple City and new spawn.

=History=

Before 1.16
Once it was known that spawn would be moving to a brand new area of the world following the 1.16 update, plans began to be made by existing town leaders on whether to continue working on their existing locations or start fresh in the "new world". A few weeks before the update, a new organization, ASUV (later USUV) had been founded as an alliance between a few towns on the server. The town leaders, most notably Southern Hollow, began to put together a plan to build a new city that would act as headquarters for the new alliance, hence "Alliance City".

The original plan was for large themed districts of representing different towns, each surrounding a large City Center that would act as the hub of the city. The plans were put into motion, and diagrams, designs for the headquarters and in-game models were created to prepare for the update and spawn move. Alliance City was therefore one of the most pre-planned settlements on the server, and had the advantage of being immediately ready to start construction after the update was implemented and a location was chosen.

Since then, AC has evolved to focus more on its own identity and less on themed areas of other towns, and distanced itself from ASUV's name to avoid confusion. The name "Alliance" became more about the residents and the different districts.

The First Day
The 1.16 update arrived on July 4 2020 and as soon as the new spawn location was accessible, work began on finding a perfect spot for AC. It didn't take long, as a coastal site with an excellent mix of biomes such as plains, swamps, mountains and forests was found very close to new spawn and directly on the western axis with it. It also had a great nether location, being on a cliffside overlooking a huge lava lake which was important for plans in this dimension.

Work started on claiming the land by using small huts and homes across a large area, plus a nether portal and access from the hub were set up. It was decided that the City Center would be the most important area to start with in a large plains biome, so designs for the road network were chosen. The first road (eventually called Manhattan Street) stretched from the coast to where the plains met hills. A fountain was set up and plots were marked for ASUV headquarters as well as the transport hub which would link several transport modes together. The very first city plan was put together which outlined detailed roads and plots in the city center, plus a wider view of possible district locations.

Early Developments
AC was extremely fortunate to have a neighbor settlement to the east also starting out, Sky Temple. A project was being worked on to connect Sky Temple to the spawn area via a railway bridge, and it just so happened the bridge lined up perfectly with AC's Transport Hub location. A deal was reached and the railway was extremely rapidly built, connecting into the Transport Hub's second floor, AC's very first building to be completed. The railway was extremely important for AC's growth, allowing players to naturally discover the city from spawn. The plains chosen was very hilly, so a lot of work was going on to flatten out the land to make way for City Center developments.

Activity was beginning to happen in AC's other districts. The eastern mountain range was going to be transformed into "Utopia", a blackstone and warped wood themed medieval town, while a resort representing WestHaven was outlined to the north. East of the City Center, areas were also reserved for future shopping and industrial zones.

Throughout the month of July, progress was rapid. ASUV headquarters was completed and hosted its first meeting on the 25th, just three weeks after AC was founded. The meeting culminated in the first Battle of Alliance City as the ASUV representatives defended against the attacking Murder Gang, with a peace treaty being agreed later in the pub.. The central park area was outlined, and Ye Olde Alliance Pub, an unplanned but eventually famous venue was set up south of the park. Smoke Tower, the city's first skyscraper began construction, and the Alliance Gate Bride linking to the Southern Swamp was finished.

AC had quickly become the server's most active and fast-growing settlement, and has retained a lot of that momentum ever since.

=Districts=

City Center
The City Center is the main hub of Alliance City and by far its largest area, being the first district to be started after the city was founded. It utilizes an American-style city grid layout, with square blocks of streets with buildings filling the gaps. There are multiple skyscrapers in the area, including Smoke Tower, USUV HQ, Eco Tower, two Hobo Towers, Pipe Tower (including the Stonkmarket), ER Tower and Yin-Yang Tower. There is also a large central park in the middle of the district which includes tennis courts and gardens. Other notable builds include: AC Transport Hub, Alliance Gate Bridge, Ye Olde Alliance Pub, Post Office, Parking Garage, Customs House, Seaside Cafe, Big Ben, Department of Advertisement, Intelligence Agency, USUV Security Force, Roman Embassy, Courthouse, Fire Station, Harbor area, lighthouse, Cyber-Net Cafe High-Rise, and many many more.

Under construction projects include the Hospital, Police Station, Dwarf Tower, Party Tower, Museum and the City Hall, plus various building interiors. There are plans for a Mediterranean-themed restaurant, large yacht and boats, seaside attractions and beach, a university campus, a zoo and multiple other projects, mostly as part of a massive northern expansion of the region.

City plans are developed regularly to guide development of AC.

Horde (Nether)
Horde is the Nether dimension gateway of Alliance City, and is counted as a district. It consists of various portals to different city districts, piglin and basalt farms, a Hollow Knight statue and a link to both the roof and lower nether highways. On the nether roof there is a gold farm and a public porkchop/leather farm.

There are plans for an enormous Satanic Temple by Zythose.

Mercuria Shopping
Mercuria is Alliance's shopping area and lies to the north-east of the City Center, behind forested hills. Its road design is a mixed stone pattern with glowstone lamps. The area was originally the only and most popular new world shopping destination prior to Borealis and is currently undergoing revival and expansion. Its theme is mixed and it does not require a minimum height for all builds like the city center.

Industrial Zone
The Industrial Zone is the the redstone and farming hub of the city, providing produce for its residents. Most of this is centered around the Mega Factory, a huge but incomplete build that contains farms such as gunpower, iron, sugarcane, wool and others. The factory is planned to host many more farms, both underground and surface level. Additionally, decorative builds such as other factories and industrial tech are planned in the area.

Entertainment District
The Entertainment district is a planned district on the east of the northern lagoon. It will be a purple steampunk style and consist of bars, clubs, music venues, a stadium, minigames, and possibly theme park rides. Currently the only project is the large PvP arena, which is currently on hold.

Forestry and Lumber
Just past the Mega Factory lies the forest and logging area. It has tree farms set up in the style of Southern Hollow and will in future feature lumber mills and various other projects to fit the aesthetic.

Agricultural Valley
South of the city in a narrow valley is the agricultural area. It is not yet developed but will feature large open crop fields and farm style builds.

Utopia
A uniquely styled area situated on the eastern mountain range overlooking the rest of the city. It uses a unique warped wood, basalt and blackstone design. There are many homes, with plans to add more buildings in the near future.

WestHaven Resort
The WestHaven Resort is at the northern tip of Urbhattan Island and features a hotel in the style of the town. Possible future projects include gardens, metro station, docks and other styled areas.

Jovaphobic's District
Jova's district was initially separate to AC, but agreed to join later. It is a walled medieval town lying on the eastern plains.

Seramalen's District
Sera's area is north of Dean's district, in the birch forest. It's a wooded village with apartments and a few houses, plus some farming fields.

Dark Settlement
The Dark Settlement is an underground base below the city center. It is hell and nether themed and is currently only accessible via the AC Metro or its portal. There will be an entrance skyscraper on the surface in the future.

Ender's District
Ender's area is a large circular underwater base off the western shore of the city. It is being drained to allow for future building.

Wooptey Farms
A district on the far eastern edge of the city on the border of Sky Temple, inhabited by Wooptey and their friends. There is a large pink and magenta tower, crop farms, and various other small builds.

Southern Swamp Area
The Southern Swamp does not yet have a designated style or leader. It lies at the south end of the Alliance Gate Bridge.

=Transport=

Nether
The city is very well connected in the nether. It is the only location to utilize all three levels of nether highway from spawn, making access simple and easy. Almost all districts have their own portal which makes fast travel very efficient.

Western Railway
AC City Center is at the terminus of the Western Railway which connects directly to spawn, Borealis, Sky Temple and AC's Shopping and Industrial Zones. There is an ongoing project to provide boat access to the railway in addition to minecart.

Harbor and Canals
Being a costal city, it is very simple to access the area by boat. Canals through the city allow boats to travel to inland areas also.

AC Metro
AC Metro is a very large project to connect the city by underground ice boat highways. Currently the metro serves the Transport Hub, Dark Settlement, City Hall and Mercuria Shop district. There are plans to expand this greatly to every single area of AC and even beyond to other towns.

=Foreign Relations=

Being the home of USUV, AC gets on very well with almost all other towns. It is currently one of the most popular and active places on the server. HoboNation, Sky Temple (and of course Southern Hollow) are considered its closest allies.

Cara
AC and the Cara Union towns (most significantly Cara Nova) have differing economic systems with some dubbing their relationship as a "Fake Cold War". However, there have been very few incidents between the two and generally a good if not cautious relationship is maintained. AC has a DEFCON system to indicate the likeliness conflict.