Expanse

THIS WAS INTENDED TO BE A HISTORY OF EXPANSE AND ITS POLICIES BUT WOUND UP BEING ANOTHER HISTORY OF THE SERVER

The nation of Expanse began as the heir to the legacy of Crescent, one of the first two nations to form on the V4b map of Chroma Gaming. Crescent and Autumn were the first two nations to exist, up to the War of Hearts. The conflict saw Autumn emerge victorious and the dissolution of Cresent as led by AliSolarFlare. As the only other active member of Crescent, Mr.\_Byzantine took it upon himself to keep Autumn in check by creating a new nation that would honor the past.

Alderon marked the next age. The city-state of Ghostise as his own man, Alderon quickly rose to prominence after a 3-month lull in any nation building on the server. Aggressive expansionism from the city-state was countered by the older city of Reaverrun across the channel. Tensions rose, and conflict ensued between Alderon and Reaverrun, the capital of Autumn. Expanse made certain to not get involved in this squabble, despite Mr.\_Byzantine's attempt to mediate by claiming the contested channel island. Safe to say it wasn't the best of choices, and the claim was reneged soon after. The two sides fought proxy wars over the next several months, with Alderon forming the Central Trade Union to counter the might of Autumn. CTU came out on top, dissolved Autumn and gobbled up Reaverrun as a protectorate. Thus the nations were set as Expanse and CTU sought peace and prosperity with each other.

The Civil Wars of CTU came after. A fresh wave of influx saw many new hamlets spawn, with each nation vying for their allegiance. CTU utilized aggressive negotiations whereas Expanse chose a free-association model. Nether side gained many converts, as an undeclared Nonaligned faction was understood to exist between those who chose no side. Having festered for an age, Creepachu of Reaverrun broke away from the CTU almost immediately after the peace agreement allowed him to, creating the Kingdom of Reaven with Wildhaven and Xynnar, the nation would later be renamed to the New Violet Empire. CTU continued its decline while Expanse stagnated.

CTU dissolved shortly before the Knight Order rose from the grave. The everlasting Gryph667 made a new Redguard to lead his people from and sought to bring Ghostise back into the fold. Greywatch was built under a lease of Ghost's services, while the Shade grew in Weseron. A third towny wave sprang to life, bringing with it new people and new ideas. The Nonaligned faction splintered into various city-states, while the Knights grew in prestige once more with the addition of Britguard in Eisen and Knightfall on the islands West of Eisen. Potag returned and established itself in Zark, predating Asmodious by a few weeks.

Expanse's newest member town of Potag saw a golden age for the nation. Extensive construction and industrialization were ongoing, prompting Mr.\_Byzantine and 8fer to plan for aggressive maneuvers against the Knights, should the need ever arise. Fresh off the Alesia crisis, commonly described as a 'Lando v Vader' event, Expanse had begrudgingly accepted the Knight's terms. The sour taste had not left the mouths of the leaders, and they were eager to strike back at an opportune moment. It would never come. Many describe 'The Darkshock Incident' as 'never should have happened', yet the namesake speaks for itself. Tension had built and collapsed between 8fer and his close friend, MrDarkShock, over the latter's house being burned, be it on purpose or accidental. As the investigation went on, it was deemed that 8fer had been responsible for the arson, despite a wealth of evidence to back up his and Mr\_Byz's argument that it was a mistake and lack of oversight on another Potag citizen whom had a bone to pick with Darkshock. Regardless, the damage had been done, and the town of Potag collapsed to ruin soon after, with 8fer taking leave.

The void of Potag left Expanse on poor footing, regardless of Byz's attempts to debate and bargain with the other nations. The federation suffered from a lack of prestige for some time, until attention turned to Ghost's activities with the Knights, becoming ever more integrated into the folded cloth he had enthusiastically broken away from nearly a year earlier. Alderon was placed in the care of it's ruling council, with chairman flipping between Zanthr and Iie every few months. Greywatch, Redguard, Persephone and Britguard grew as Alderon's loss. Ghost even started on a new project, the return of Ashport.

Legendosh grew dissatisfied with Xynnar moving out of Gratiin. He broke away from the town and decided not to join the Knight nation like he did in V2 and V3 and made the giant city-state of Aurelia instead, fueled by eager newcomers and old friends who built grandiose structures and massive vehicles in the Grattin territories. The nation grew and allied with Expanse, deciding not to mend ties between the Knights. Treavis appeared as a wasteland compared to Aurelia, a glimmering city in the proud plains of Grattin.

An effort was made to have a multinational council to mediate disputes between the large nations. Headed by TheChattyShow, the United Colors was to be a prime example of the cooperation between everyone on the server. All nations decided to join and this went well for some months until tension arose with the Aurelians citing it as an 'illegitimate state', despite it being a voluntary organization. Sadly, it was more of a forced membership that all but Aurelia didn't mind taking part in. As the organization tried to get the gears turning, Aurelia re-branded as the nation of Aurora, absorbing two smaller towns into its domain.

The second golden age of Expanse was ushered in with the revival of Potag, this time in the northeast tip of Alesia, outside of Knight domains. 8fer brought back the fire and a new group of eager citizens, burning the fuse even faster than before. Confidence in the nation was restored in Byz's eyes, yet he was wary of another dead-stop event that was bound to happen, given 8fer's passion and fiery demeanor. Two months passed and a UC dispute blew out the candle of Potag once more. The town was left abandoned and Expanse did its best to keep rolling. It wasn't as bad of a hit as before, considering preparations had been made for such an event.

It was around this time that the Knights invested into Port Purpura, a smaller village near the ruins of Eclipse. The project to develop the town brought in talent from every corner of the map, with Ghost heading the project. Rapid urbanization and industrial works were erected in and around the town. The project was so successful that the mayor of Purpopolis decided that the town should be annexed by Purpura, tieing the two towns closer together.

The city of Britguard in Eisen, a humble hamlet built up by TheShyPig and associates, had just finished their castle upon a mountain on the east side of the subcontinent. Expanse had taken note of this and suggested a joint project; a road to link Britguard and the historic starting point of Treavis in the Central Region. Byz and Shy made a path through the forest, hugging the mountain range, and winding through the mires of southeast Eisen. The remnants of Treavis in Eisen were but foundations of buildings and overgrown roads. The only thing in good condition was a map wall on the cliffside overlooking a shallow floodplain, a testament to the memory of the region. Byz and Shy worked on clearing the roads and rubble of the ruins, electing to leave it as an Expanse national forest.

Horizon had resurged in the south, staging various raids on the city of Britguard and its infrastructure. Due to this, Ghost 'suggested' that a wall should be erected between the Knight claim and Shade claim of the island. Shy complied, making a fortification of stone, obsidian, and lava.

Britguard, some months later, left Knights nation and accidentally formed the nation of Albion, but the friendship between that town (and the new nation that it lead) and Mr Byzantine continued as before.

Recent talks between Expanse, Aurora, and Albion have led to the formation of The Vanguard, an economic and military alliance between the three nations. The organisation aims to be a bulwark of peace and prosperity against destabilizing forces on the server.

The alliance between the three lasted for roughly four months. While inroads were made to try and get each leader to work more closely with one another, the efforts were in vain particularly involving Mr\_Byzantine's wild card streak against the calm and collected tempers of Legendosh and ShyPig. This dichotomy boiled over in what is still debated as a full-out invasion to be taken seriously or a complete joke, the meme pushed to the absolute limit. Frogger in Gogg was the straw that broke the camel's back, as poor decisions by the leader of Expanse caused strife within the cooperation. Whilst Leg and Byz became ever more distrustful of one another, Shy attempted to hold the alliance together with all her might. Unfortunately, it was not enough, and Byz effectively double-crossed the other two leaders, resulting in his expulsion from his brainchild.

The aftermath of the hectic event left Byz denouncing what now appeared to him as a soiled attempt to become better friends with others still active on the server. A fortnite was required for things to settle down, only to blow back up again with yet another leak by the unpredictable one himself. The idea of a map reset even being thrown around by staff was enough to spook the other actives on the server away for a good while. The fallout has resulted in a desolate community, scattered from the core and only reforming in gatherings of communal game nights, where the politics of the server evaporate away into satire and positive hysterics.