Here I will show my country, the Commonwealth, when the site is back up fully.

ok!

Since I've had to set up shop at AFDES twice, I'm just going to go ahead and start from update 1 and work my way up. Expect update 1 in this space tonight.
 
 
Edit: I'll just start from the update I'm on at ST....

DTP: Same here, still waiting for my laptop wth SC4 on it......


Well from boredom, I made this plan of a future interchange. Perhaps you can guess where it is....
 


Blue is freeway, brown is major road black is rail; but you probably knew that already......

 
Just to let you know Paradise isn't dead...
 

 

 

 

 

 
And a bonus...

Thank god it's not dead -- I thought I'd be stuck in the fetal position forever

Nice job on the highways and port refinery!

Thanks guys.....For update 11 I've decided to go the storytelling route Hope you enjoy!



Chapter 1: The Voice
“Good morning Johnson City! It’s another sunny day in the capitol, which is probably being completely ignored by you people stuck in traffic. There’s been an accident on I-1…..” Kenneth turned down the radio as he drove toward work, thinking about the mountains of paperwork he would soon have to look over. It was a slow commute, especially with all the traffic on the roads. Someone should work on that, he mused as he got off Interstate 1 to avoid an accident. Luckily he knew a few back routes and could get to work at a decent hour as he was late to begin with.

 

 
Finally making it to the building where he worked, he parked in his special parking spot in the underground parking garage.
 

 
It was then that he noticed several men in black suits lurking around the area holding walkie talkies. He paid it no mind and locked his car, which promptly chirped to confirm it, and walked through the door to the elevators. Kenneth had plenty of time to think as his office was on the 8th floor. Who would’ve thought that I would have gotten the job I have now, he mused. A healthy man at 25, and was single to boot. I really should get a girlfriend at least, he thought. Maybe eventually, but now might not be a good time. Work is really stressful as it is, and having a significant other this early in the game might complicate things.  Still, he thought, it would be nice to have someone to come home to every night.
“This is the 8th floor,” said a female voice as the elevator came to a halt and the doors opened.  As he got closer to his office, the number of men in black increased.  Went he got to the door to his office, one of them stopped him.
“What now?” Kenneth asked.
“Sir, you can’t keep avoiding us like this,” the man in black said.
“But you’re cramping my style,” Kenneth retorted. “I can’t even go out to have fun with my friends with you all lurking in the shadows; you make everyone uncomfortable.”
“Be that as it may, we’re still under orders.”
Kenneth sighed then, a long drawn out one. “Whatever, but can you at least make an exception for my brother’s birthday party next week? At the very least, you could dress like normal people and act a little more normal.”
“We’ll see what we can do,” the man said.
“By the way, what’s your name? I sorta forgot it,” Kenneth said sheepishly.
“Chris Teniga. I’ve told you this at least 50 times.”
“Yeah, but it’s so hard to remember. But I’m going to write it down this time.”
“Please try to,” Chris said exasperatedly. “Well I’ll leave you to your business.”
“Alright.”
   As Chris left, Kenneth thought, I’m definitely going to forget his name again if I don’t write it down, and entered his office. It was a large circle shaped office with plenty of space. Large elegant paintings adorned the walls. His desk sat in the middle, a large desk by most offices’ standards but in this room, felt smaller than usual. Two couches were in front of his desk at an angle to each other. He laid his suitcase down on one of them and sat in his comfy swivel chair. He turned around and looked out the window for a moment taking in the view. Before him, like a picture, was most of the Commonwealth of Paradise. If he strained his eyes, he could see the next city over, Paradise City. Kenneth really loved this view. It was really quite scenic, at least as close as you can get in a city. As he admired the view, he realized he was supposed to being doing something. Remembering Chris, he turned around and was about to reach in a drawer for some paper and a pen when the phone rang. Wondering who would be calling here, he picked it up.
   “Hello?” he said.
   “……………………………………………………”
   Maybe they hung up….but why call in the first place? He thought, slightly annoyed. He was about to hang up when he heard a voice.
   “It would behoove you not to hang up so hastily,” rasped the voice.
   “Who is this?” Kenneth asked.
   “It doesn’t matter who I am. It just matters that I’m not satisfied with the way things have been going as of late,”
   “What are you talking about? And how did you get this number?” Kenneth questioned.
   “Once again, worrying about things that don’t concern you. I really hate that about you. All you need to know is that things don’t start changing quick, things are going to get really nasty in the Commonwealth.”
   “What are you talking about? I’m going to—“
   “Don’t even think about it. Of course you might want to start thinking about rescue operations.”
   “For what?”
   “Oh, I think you’ll find out soon enough, President Kenneth Johnson.” The man hung up.
What could he have possibly been talking about? Kenneth wondered.
The answer came ten seconds in the form of an explosion……
 

A nice extension of the bombing arc we had planned  . But could you provide us with some pictures? Text only is frankly unattractive.

You are so right.......edited the previous post.....

 

It looks so pretty
But violent.

On another note, I'm amazed at how little has been accomplished at the summit in 13 days.

Yes it is amazing.....

Another chapter for you.....no pics yet sorry....
 
Chapter 2: Rescue

The sound of exploding glass and concrete wasn’t very familiar to Kenneth, but he recognized it as coming from outside. He quickly rushed to the window. Although he couldn’t see the damage from the explosion, he did see the plumes of smoke arising from the building that housed the Departments of Health and Education, and the Department of Commerce. Quickly recovering from the state of shock that had engulfed him since the explosion, he dashed to his phone on his desk. I’m sure glad I thought of this, just in case, he thought to himself as he dialed the special number for natural and man-made disasters. Within 10 minutes, there were firefighters, police, and other emergency personnel at the building. Kenneth had gone down there too to see the damage done, shivering a bit; it was a chilly day. After all it was November, and he had heard mention of snow tonight. He came around to the front, or what used to be the front of the Department of Commerce, Health and Education and stared at the building. The explosion had ripped a hole in all four floors of the fine building, and started a fire on the third floor. He rushed to one of the firefighters facilitating in rescue operations.
                “Is it bad?” he asked.
                “We found 10 bodies and there are a crapload injured. Would you call that bad? We’re still trying to get people out of there, get out of—
                “What do you think you’re doing, talking to the president that way?” The fire chief was rushing over to the two. “You get back in there and get people out instead of smart talking your commander-in-chief.” As the firefighter went in the building, Kenneth caught a glimpse of the firefighter’s face, which was glowing red.
                “I’m sorry about that, Mr. President,” the fire chief blurted out when the firefighter had gone. “Some of these new recruits can be so unruly sometimes. I’m Alex, Alex Young, the fire chief of the city,” as he extended his hand for a handshake. Kenneth grasped it, thinking, Another name I’m going to forget…
                “So is it as bad as that guy says it is?” he asked.
                “Unfortunately, yes it is. Ten bodies were recovered and a good number that made it out alive were sporting burns and injuries from the fire that started up on the 3^rd floor. We’re just lucky this area hasn’t collapsed.”
                “I see,” Kenneth replied absently. He was thinking about the mysterious man he talked to on the phone. But why the Department of Commerce, Health and Education? If he was really dissatisfied, wouldn’t he just have come straight for me and blown up the capital? But still, I can worry about that later… He turned back to the fire chief to ask if he could help, but he had disappeared. That Alan or whatever his name was sure is fast, he thought as he walked over to the building, ignoring the “Keep Back” tape surrounding the area. Suddenly he heard a weak cry: “Help!” The president looked around, wondering if it was just in his head. There were no firefighters or other rescue workers around. He went inside the giant gaping hole and looked around what used to be the first floor. There was debris everywhere. From the explosion, Kenneth reminded himself. There wasn’t a sign of anyone around. He wandered through the hallway, managing to avoid exposed wire and giant pieces of concrete strewn across the floor. He had somehow made his way to the end of the hallway when he heard the voice again. This time it was louder. That was definitely someone! Kenneth realized, and dashed down a side corridor. The voice came from this direction… His thoughts trailed off as he stopped suddenly and surveyed the scene. In the middle of the hallway was a soda machine laying facedown. Protruding from the machine was a pair of shoes. Kind of like the witch from The Wizard of Oz, he thought. He chuckled a little in spite of himself.
                “It isn’t funny, just get this thing off of me!” the voice—a woman’s—angrily bellowed.
                “Sorry, just thought of something,” Kenneth said as he lifted the machine. It was very heavy. This is what I get for not exercising more, he thought miserably as he struggled to get the soda dispenser a couple of inches off the ground.
                “Can you get out?” he choked out, trying to keep the machine up.
               “A little more,” the woman replied. Kenneth gathered what little strength he had left and lifted with all of his might. The machine rose about 2 feet off the ground.
                “How about now?” No answer. “I said can you get out now?” Nothing. Kenneth was at his limit when suddenly he felt someone tap him and say, “You don’t look like a firefighter to me.”
He immediately freaked out, dropping the soda machine in the process. He whipped around. Facing him was a woman. A very attractive woman, he noted.
                “Wait. Where did you come from?” Kenneth asked dumbly.
                “Where else?” Kenneth looked down where he dropped the soda machine and noted the shoes had disappeared. Furthermore, he noted the shoes he was looking for were on her feet.
                “Oh,” was all he could say.
                “’Oh?’ That all you can say?” she asked.
                “Well, I was a bit surprised, that’s all. How did you manage to get stuck under a soda machine?” he smirked.
                “None of your business,” she said defensively. “Why are you here?”
                “Just walking by,” he joked. All of a sudden there was a loud rumbling noise. “We’d better get out of here,” Kenneth remarked.
“Right,” the woman said. “How do we get out?”
                “Follow me,” he answered. As they made their way through the building the rumbling grew louder. “We’d better hurry up,” said the woman. “Are we there yet?
“Almost….” Kenneth replied. They made one last turn. At last they could see the hole he had entered from. They began to dash toward it as the ceiling had begun to start shaking violently. They made it out just as the floors above collapsed, smashing into the first floor. The two sat nearby the building, trying to catch their breath in the brisk autumn air.
“Glad….we….made it out…..in time, else we’d….be pancakes,” he gasped.
“Yeah.”
After a couple minutes passed by, Kenneth stood up. “I’ve got to go. Uh…maybe you should go check that cut on your head out.” She felt her head and felt blood. There was a small cut on her forehead by her right eyebrow.
“And take the rest of the day off. My treat.”
As he left he noticed the puzzled look on her face. He smiled.

Two pics to help the story along...
 

 

 
And the newspaper....(let's just assume the Commonwealth is is in a slower time frame then the rest of the world....)
 

Good pics, and I also catch the Homeland Security alert system in the corner  .

Ummm. Did anyone see the new update I put up? I was waiting for more comments before a new update....but I'll just put it here.
 
Chapter 4: Of Bases and Paradite
 
“You…!” Kenneth gasped as he gazed upon the head of the Department of Defense, who was none other than the woman he had saved from the Department of Commerce, Health and Education before its imminent collapse.
               “Yes, me,” she replied. “But I didn’t know you were the president.”
               “Yeah, I get that a lot,” Kenneth responded. “Lets me get out in the country with the people without all the formalities and such, and lets me see people’s true nature. But back on topic, when did I appoint you….?”
                “Michelle Ladehoff, head of the Department of Defense, at your service,” was her answer as she bowed. “I had some important business to attend to the day you appointed me, at the Pentagon. I thought I sent my deputy to tell you that.”
                “I do remember someone,” Kenneth said, thinking back to when he first met his cabinet. He remembered a small guy, who was very quiet coming up to him and saying something about the head of the department…. “Unfortunately, I was really busy that day, and might have mistaken him to be the head.” (At that moment the aide was in Michelle’s office at her desk wondering “What’ll Michelle say?”
                “I’ll have a talk with him later. Anyway, you wanted to know about the bases.”
               “Yes…”
                “Well, I’m not sure if you know, but the Commonwealth is on the verge of discovering something big. It’s called Paradite-“
                “I’ve heard rumors,” Kenneth mused, “but I never really investigated.”
                “No need now, Mr. President, but before I discuss this with you, I’m going to need everyone else out,” Michelle said, staring at the other cabinet members.
                “Why can’t we stay?” questioned Lyon.
                “Top secret information, and I’m pretty sure the only person in here with a Top Secret clearance is the president.”
                That seemed to convince them, and they left the room, grumbling loudly the whole way. When the last cabinet member finally left the room after pulling his jacket off a coat rack, Michelle went and got her suitcase out of the corner. She walked back over to Kenneth and pulled  a picture out of it.
“Where’s this?” Kenneth asked.“Barton Valley.”
“But I thought that place wasn’t settled yet.”
“It isn’t. This mine is the only thing there, and there’s only one road leading there right now. You see this is a Paradite mine, the only one of its kind anywhere in the world. You know why?”
“No, I don’t. Do tell.”
“Well the mineral apparently is only found in that mountain range. A meteor crashed here long ago…”
“Yeah, yeah, that’s not important, just tell me why this paradite mineral is so important, Michelle.” She raised her eyebrows. “Well I thought, you know, since…” he blushed.
“Don’t worry, I’m just playing with you, Michelle’s fine. You’re so fun to mess with.”
“Yeah, sure...Just don’t forget who hired you.”
“Right, right. Anyway, scientists have been able to produce a force field using means too complicated to explain right now. Just know that this could revolutionize warfighting. Our cities would be protected from enemy attack.”“But who would we need to protect ourselves from? As of now there’s nobody who’d want to wage war with us, and we have the protection of the United States….”
“How long do you think we’ll be at peace once the secret of paradite gets out to the world? This is a dream come true for any nation. To be protected from enemy attack…..”
“Is this why we’re also building military bases?”
“We’ve got to have some defense.” She pulled out another couple of pictures. This is the first Air Force base in the nation. It doesn’t have a name yet. We were thinking you could help with that.”



Kenneth nodded, agreeing, but in reality he wasn't actually paying attention, but rather thinking furiously. Wanting to protect this potentially dangerous secret made sense, but this still was way too much for him at one time. He was ready to leave. He stood up and said, “This is very interesting and all, but I think I’m going to call it a day for now.”Michelle stood up too. “Can we talk about this some more sometime?”
“Sure, when?”“Maybe next Friday…..at this nice little coffeehouse I know?”
“Are you asking me on a date?”“Oh no! Just, you know, just to thank you for saving me…” Michelle blushed. She’s cute when she’s embarrassed… Arggh, what am I thinking? he thought.“OK, I’ll come. What time?”
It looked like Michelle was trying hard not to expose signs of glee. “Is 1pm OK?”
“That’ll work,” Kenneth answered. “See you then.” They got their things together and prepared to leave. He let Michelle leave first. He noticed she seemed to be skipping. Smiling a bit in spite of himself, he left the room and prepared to go home. It had been a long day.

Two things before I sign off. Number one, if anyone would like suggesting a name for the base, that'd be greatly appreciated. I ran out of steam thinking of names for the region. And I'm thinking of fast forwarding to February (being stuck in November is irking me) so expect some subtle changes in next chapter's story.
Cheers!

Someone has a girlfriend!

And looks like the Commonwealth has a new technology to research and apply. However since it's based off a mineral, doubt it will last long, unless the mineral itself can last a long while.

Nice mine! Looks so detailed, wonder who made it.

Very nice! I agree with Mike, that is a really nice mine. And not a bad job on the air force base too.

Not to mention the story...