Goomtown
This article is about the venerable Eastern city. For the player from which it receives its name, see goomyman77. For the country also named for the player, see Goomlandia. For the defunct mesa state, please refer to Bagelonia.
Overview
Goomtown, originally called Bageltown, is the capital of Goomlandia and currently the largest city in the world, a position it has maintained for more than half the lifespan of the server. It is a very international city with many part-time foreign residents, and often shelters refugees and nationless players. The city features many landmarks and tourist attractions such as the Goomtown Library, Cheesegrate Tower, Goomtown Gabeford, the Great Mother Tree, the Museum of Goomlandian History, Rosegold Tower, the scenic neighborhood of Jaune, the Champignon Nature Reserve, Plasma's Tower, Bowilla Statue, Gabe Head, the University of Goomtown, the Platform Gardens, and the Goomlandian Capitol building. Many businesses have made their home in Goomtown throughout its existence, most notably WikiLeaks. Goomtown is also the most densely populated location in the server.
History
Goomtown was founded as Bageltown on December 7, 2018 (two days after the founding of Goomlandia by brothers awesome_ketchup and goomyman77) as a collaborative project between Goomlandia and its only neighbor Bagelonia. Despite being meant as a border town, it became the center of Goomlandian activity throughout the next few months (despite extensive developments also being made in then-distant Champignon and the province of Clappia), eventually becoming the capital. However, the Bagelonian side of the town never developed as heavily as the Goomlandian side and Bagelonia eventually gave up on the joint project. As Goomlandia grew in size, members, and influence, Bageltown became a known destination for trade; but not for tourism, because the architecture was among the worst on the server. Upon the merger of Goomlandia with Voidnest to form Goomnest, a second wave of development of the city occurred as new members continued to join and need houses. However, many criticized the city's layout and architecture at this time; including many Voidnestian Goomnesters who were used to the much prettier Voidnestian landscape. Many buildings were also attempts at automated commerce which fell through and rendered the buildings empty and unused for months. Despite these complaints, Goomtown remained the cultural and economic center of Goomlandia (and arguably, of Goomnest as well; Voidnestian development was much slower at this time.) After the collapse of Goomnest, the city plunged into a depression; the once busy streets became quiet and theft rates greatly increased. The ensuing Bagelonian Questions and several later raids on the city by Bagelonia prompted the city's renaming to Goomtown; the remaining members of Goomlandia wanted to have a more national name for the city and also had deep resentment towards Bagelonia after the Occupation of Goomtown.
Renaissance-era Goomtown
After the newly renamed Goomtown had the majority of its members return from inactivity, then-leader goomyman77 and recent Voidnestian immigrant brokate (soon to be Coleader) set up the Goomtown BBQ, which used consensual crowdsourced burning and demolition to destroy the majority of the city. The purpose behind this was to clear out the ancient and often extremely ugly buildings to make way for more aesthetically pleasing and functional ones, and to redo the street plan of the city (which had grown erratically over the months) to be less confusing. After the event was over and the debris had been cleared (though some remained for months afterwards, most notably the ruins of the original Goomtown Hotel) construction began on modern Goomtown, beginning with the port and spreading eastwards. A subway system was implemented and construction began on the Goomtown wall, intended to guard against Goomlandia's then-hostile neighbors VOC and Bagelonia. (How much guarding it actually did is questionable as the majority of it was not completed until long after those two nations ceased to exist.) During the Renaissance, literature, architecture, and activity flourished in Goomtown, and the streets became busy again despite the small size of the city. It continued to slowly develop eastwards throughout the months after the Renaissance and through the short-lived leadership of brokate. After the transfer of power to the current leader Grooge64 after brokate's resignation in October 2019, Goomtown and Goomlandia as a whole slowly became more economically prosperous (it had been very poor since the Bagelonian Questions, when Sylvian and Bagelonian forces looted most everything of value out of Goomlandian storage). Under the new leadership, goomyman77 became Mayor of the city and began to develop it further.
Early city expansion and foreign interest
As the nation grew once more and new members came looking for residences, the city expanded outwards from its original core area and swallowed up preexisting settlements, which became neighborhoods in the city. These were Cratertown to the north, and East Goomtown to... the east. In February 2020 the city began not only becoming increasingly international but also began building upwards at the original urging of guptacakeman; the Goomtown Library was the city's first many-storied building, receiving international praise for its design, and it was soon followed by the Capitol which began construction later that month. As turmoil raged elsewhere in the world during the Balkan Troubles and other related conflicts, many refugees passed through the Goomtown Hotel and became familiar with the city. As a third wave of development (driven mostly by goomyman77's desire to procrastinate on the Capitol) brought Goomtown to be almost completely bound by its original walls, swallowing up the eastern town of Champignon (much to its residents' original dismay) as well as Cattlehead, real estate inside the city became increasingly valuable as space diminished. This development led to several transactions of plots within the city between foreigners as they sought either a vacation residence in the city or business opportunities. During this time, several "occupations" of the city were perpetuated after the original during the Bagelonian Questions, often by members of Sylvia or inhabitants of the Balkan countries, but none were serious and were often just messy parties. (However, one Sylvian-led "occupation" did lead to several fires in the city, which led to a short-lived counter-"occupation" of Rhett, as well as widespread internal Sylvian outrage against then-consul MTJNC.) Goomtown's population grew throughout mid-2020 to become again the most densely populated region in the world. However, lag problems plauged the residents of the city; this lag was cleaned up mid-July after its cause was found to be the numerous campfires on the walls, and inefficient industrial development in the northwest of the city. It then become a frequent tourist destination, so much so that many foreigners sought residence within the city itself.
Goomlandia-Voidnest border skyline tensions
In July of 2020, Goomtown residents noticed a stone column being constructed just behind the at that time Sylvian Voidnest border, west of Cratertown. After approaching the Voidnestian leadership about it, it was realized that Voidnest intended to create a large tower to tower over the city-- likely as retribution for the increasing height of Goomlandian buildings, as well as the recently-finished city wall and the opulent Capitol towering over their own countryside capital of Voidmouth. Goomlandia, especially goomyman77 and MedimaNN, were not happy about this development, and decided to build a solid gold skyscraper towering over the Voidnestian tower, named Cheesegrate Tower, with the officially stated goal of "flexing". By the time construction was complete, Voidnest had been struck with a wave of inactivity, and the half-built Voidnestian tower wasn't given much more thought by Goomtown residents.
However, several months later, Voidnest became active again after declaring independence from the Sylvian Union, and were this time even more upset about the Goomlandian skyline-- considering there was now a golden casino-esque skyscraper looming directly over their peaceful countryside. At this point, PlasmaMintz had his last burst of energy and along with boboismissing completed the construction of the Plasma's Tower that had been left unfinished a few months previously. After this development, the inhabitants of Goomtown had mixed reactions; the tower was one block taller than Cheesegrate, and definitely threw off the Goomlandian skyline, but was also very pretty. Voidnest was satisfied with their flag planted above the city, and Goomlandians weren't complaining about the nice new tower, leading to an unannounced end to the skyline tensions. The two nations allied each other again later in December of that year, and Voidnest later sold Goomlandia back the northern region of the Corbeau swamp, which Goomlandia cleaned and turned into the artificial Bomber Bay Islands in pursuit of more developable space. Ironically, however, these were never needed, due to Goomlandia's nearby expansion right after they were built.
Later city expansion into Jaune and Voidnest
Once Voidnest became permanently inactive and disbanded on February 1, 2021, its land was split between Banapo and Goomlandia after short negotiations between them later that day. Much to the dismay of the last active member of the Voidnestian diaspora, Coblue, Goomlandia very quickly made plans to expand the city into the south Voidnestian borderlands, cleaning up the tattered terrain that had been devastated by endermen, lightning, and player-made pillars (for getting over the Goomtown wall, as there was no northern gate) for the past year. Most importantly, a hill overlooking the city upon which Plasma's Beacon sits was of great value to Goomlandia, its foreign and later Sylvian control having been a severe security concern for the entirety of Goomlandian history. The next day, the Kingdom of Fianna, a longtime Goomlandian ally, gifted all the land lost by Goomlandia in the Bagelonian Questions back to Goomlandia (the areas of Jaune and Chene), as well as the north region of Bagelonia, including the neighborhood of Bageltown (which retained its name after the renaming of Goomtown, as it lay behind the Bagelonian border.) This move came after many months of requests from the stubborn Goomlandians who wished to regain their remaining homeland of Jaune, which was original Goomlandian territory upon its founding, through diplomatic means. Upon the unification of the entire city's area under the Goomlandian banner, Goomlandia planned to expand the city walls to 3 times their original size to encompass the entire bay, follow the new border with Fianna (including Jaune), the flat plains of Argile to the northeast of Champignon, and expand into the previously-mentioned southern regions of Voidnest surrounding Voidmouth. This project was achieved with incredible speed thanks to the efforts of BossMasterOrigin, Grooge64, Saashin, goomyman77, Habit Cat, Banksy007, MithicSpirit, and especially StonkseleksI, who did an incredible amount of work in only a few weeks' time. However, not everyone was happy with the new expansion; Coblue especially was upset about what he regarded as a trampling of Voidnestian heritage, right after Goomlandia had promised to respect it. After much international debate, the walls which previously surrounded Voidmouth closely were scaled back away from the town and dense trees were planted in the median to distance it from the big city. However, upon the construction of the new skyscraper Rosegold Tower in previously Voidnestian land, which overshadowed the previously tallest building of Plasma's Tower, Coblue had had enough. He gathered several supporters, including the Goomlandian coleader at the time Captin Roman, and lobbied at the base of the tower while it was being constructed, mining down the golden Goomlandian sun on the side of the tower and putting up large signs at its base. In response, goomyman77 put up an even bigger, more detailed purple Goomlandian sun on both sides of the tower, and eventually Coblue realized he couldn't do anything about its construction and settled for being vocally resentful of its existence. Additionally, the city also expanded very heavily into Jaune, and it became almost completely urban and a busy part of town. Jaune began developing its own sub-national identity after several new Goomlandians moved there, including Saashin; goomyman77 panicked, due to his previous unfortunate experiences with secession under his leadership, and in classic goomyman77 fashion quickly developed the area even more to connect to the main city and moved in long-term Goomlandians. This had the desired effect, and also made the neighborhood quite possibly the most active in Goomtown, becoming a major center for tourism, food, housing, and material goods. Later in the year, the defunct neighborhood of Corbeau in the Corbeau swamp was developed by Saashin, and expansion projects started into Canaltown and Bageltown near the end of 2021.
Daily Life
Goomtown is a bustling place where many people come to visit and see the sights of the city. There are many job and trade opportunities, and more often than not someone's doing an odd job. Running into someone in the streets is not uncommon; horses, originally from an ArenaFest event but later bred intentionally for transportation, roam free within the walls and are a convenient way to travel quickly. Chickens (affectionately dubbed "pidgeons") also roam free within the city, though they tend to stick to the old part of town. Native residents or frequent visitors often have to bail out first-time visitors as they tend to get lost in the size of the city. Neighborhoods have their own names (some more creative than others), mostly named after the small settlements absorbed by the city as it grew. Visitors and new players are welcomed and, if lacking gear or food, will often be unexpectedly equipped by a passing Goomlandian, often on their way to one of the many national storages located around the city. Despite its closely packed design, there are many open plots near the outskirts of the city and development is always ongoing!
Neighborhoods
-Goomtown 'old part of town'
Featuring mostly short, architecturally diverse buildings, this neighborhood is the site of the Goomtown Library and also of many original parts of town, some preserved for nearly the entirety of the city's three-year history. It is contains large amounts of propaganda and has main connections to the NELT and HyperBELT, as well as to the city's defunct subway system and its shadowy undercity.
-East Goomtown 'city center'
In the shadow of the Capitol, this central neighborhood was actually once a few free-standing buildings, though now it serves as a low-lying relief around which the surrounding skyscrapers encircle. It has some of the busiest roads in the city, as residents pass through to get to other neighborhoods frequently.
-Cratertown
Originally Multimob's farm estate on the Voidnestian border, it became one of the most developed and tall neighborhoods after the construction of Cheesegrate Tower in its north and several important towers north of the Capitol. It also contains a large arena and the biggest hotel in the city. Multimob's original house still stands, directly beneath the Capitol's shadow.
-Jaune
A mesa peninsula in the south of the city, with aesthetic buildings perched lightly on the curving plateaux, flowing with the land. This neighborhood is one of the most vital of the city, and the land has its own rich history; originally part of the Goomlandian nation upon its founding and the residence of awesome_ketchup, it was conquered from Goomlandia during the Bagelonian Questions and lay empty outside the city walls for years until it was eventually reclaimed as a Fenian gift and quickly revitalized.
-Champignon
Also an important neighborhood with its own rich history, this once-freestanding town was established only a few weeks after the original Goomtown, 300 blocks away. It has been the residence of Grooge64 for three years, and has undergone many changes; as of now, it contains several important sites, such as the University of Goomtown to the south, the Champignon Nature Reserve, and Gabe Head. Residents of this neighborhood originally resisted the encroaching of Goomtown, and when the original potato fields (now the Platform Gardens) were destroyed to make way for the skyscraper of Tater Tower, its residents used their influence to shut down the project. Instead, the tower was replaced with the much less industrial Platform Gardens and the University of Goomtown.
-Caserne
The site of the original settlement of Goomlandia, which still stands and is now the Museum of Goomlandian History, Caserne is a mix between the older architectural styles carried over from East Goomtown to the north and new experimental styles from early 2020. It is made up of mostly small buildings surrounding the large museum, and also contains the Goomlandian Courthouse-- though Goomlandia has no laws.
-Corbeau
A waterlogged town with many bridges and canals, originally a Goomnest project modeled after Baile nUisce, a Gael town built by Pirka (the neighborhood's namesake) in the swamp area of the former Sylvian Federal Province. It was never completed and lay in disrepair for two years, eventually being bought by Voidnest after the Bagelonian Questions, though later bought back by Goomlandia and rebuilt by Saashin. In an impressive feat, Holy_Shrimp manages to occupy the entire neighborhood.
-Bomber Bay Islands
These islands west of the main city and southwest of Corbeau were artificially constructed by goomyman77 after Goomtown ran out of developable land within the confines of the original walls. They were never extensively developed, as the temporary natural landscape on the islands was widely internationally praised, ironically leading to resistance to the development of the islands, which was their original purpose. They still would have likely been built upon if the city had not expanded into nearby Voidnest and Jaune immediately afterwards.
-Bageltown
Another extremely old part of town, Bageltown lay behind the Bagelonian and later Fenian border for years after its original development as the joint project that was Bageltown. It is the site of the Great Mother Tree, and several original buildings-- though nearly half of its development, including the original Goomlandian courthouse, was torn down following the Bagelonian Questions and Goomlandia's decision to build a city wall. It has been developed in recent months after being given to Goomlandia by Fianna, notably hosting the headquarters of Chariot Inc, but is still in many ways the rarely-visited edge of town.
-Cattlehead
This town was constructed as a villager trading center to the northwest of Goomtown after the dissolution of Goomnest. The land upon which it sits was one of the three gifts left by Voidnest to Goomlandia upon their secession, the other two being Plasma's Gate in the old part of town and the Goomnest treasury. It was rapidly developed and was the first site of the Goomtown wall upon conflict with neighboring then-independent VOC, who attempted to expand into the area several times.
-VOC
A small section of town at the very east end of the Corbeau swamp and west of the old part of town, it was at one point an independent country led by dennypower outside of the Goomtown walls (the walls were built to protect against VOC's ambitions to take over more of the city, which were halted by FlyingGMM and Vailan) that splintered off of Goomlandia following the Bagelonian Questions. This led to a situation where, even after the re-annexation of VOC and the expansion of the wall, the area was perpetually seen as the old outskirts of town and therefore became underdeveloped (similar to the situation in Bageltown.)
-Middle Ridge
A low, flat plateau ridge west of Jaune, this area boasts spectacular views of the inlet with its several bridges below, and of the north Goomtown skyline. It is currently being developed, and does not have much history except for being a fuzzy, undefined region on maps between Goomlandia and Bagelonia that caused it to switch hands several times in the past depending on the cartographer.
-Canaltown
Originally a forest around the Goomtown canal, it was decimated by lightning and only very slowly redeveloped after the expansion of the walls. It is a low-lying area cut in two by the artificial river, and surrounded by hills, tall buildings, and plateaux. It is the home of the People Museum, and hongstoes' old house from the Goomnest era.
-Slopehill
The northern area expanded into after the Voidnest annexation, this very hilly, semi-forested neighborhood primarily features Plasma's Tower and Rosegold Tower, though it has numerous other landmarks as well. In a way it is an extension of Cratertown, but is different historically and population-wise. The steep hills are stockily built upon, in contrast to the more gentle shapes of the Jaune neighborhood, 500 blocks to the south. It was the location of several protests, and is just south of the former Voidnestian capital of Voidmouth.
Climate and terrain
Goomtown's climate is very warm, being partially composed of and mostly surrounded by arid mesa regions, birch hills and mountains to the north, and connections to two oceans. It started as a town on the shore of the Corbeau Swamp bay, but later expanded to the other coastline on the Goomlandian internal sea, and surrounds the inlet north of Jaune. The plateaux in the mesa regions of Goomtown are small, and the buildings are often built on or sticking out of their sides rather than on top of them, though there are exceptions. The center of the city was originally very dense dark oak forest with irregular terrain, which was flattened as the city expanded in early days without the modern understanding of ecological preservation. That being said, the hills of Goomtown are still gentle slopes, and the land by no means appears artificial even in the oldest parts of town. Goomtown's climate is very conducive to lightning storms, and lightning fires plagued the city for years, often destroying whole buildings (most famously when the entire Museum of Goomlandian History burned almost to the ground while being constructed in early January 2021, though miraculously the original structure on the first floor was preserved). This constant harrassment by lightning caused many to develop and move to the surrounding mesa areas of the city, where lightning does not strike. After the invention of lightning rods, this problem was thankfully solved, and Goomlandia was very happy to be the first to completely shield their area from unwanted lightning fires.