Tierra Roca

Map of Newportian Empire with Tierra Roca highlighted

**Tierra Roca** (/'tjɛrə 'rokə/) is one of the three provinces of the Newportian Empire. Established in its modern form by Emperor lonellamaMV on January 5, 2021 (Day 5, Year 35 AK), Tierra Roca is the second-largest Newportian province by area. Compared to its urbanized neighbor, the province has historically remained underdeveloped. Tierra Roca is largely uninhabited, earning it the nickname "Newport's Wild Backyard". Tierra Roca is bisected north to south by the Castlevanian Mountains, the largest mountain range in the Empire. The province contains two NPC settlements: Mordor in the southeast and Alderaan in the northwest. Notable player-built landmarks within Tierra Roca include Mount Newport and Bridgerton Castle, the latter of which also serves as the provincial capital. The current governor of Tierra Roca is lostcity99.

## History

Aerial imagery shows that the area now known as Tierra Roca had been first explored by players by late May 2020 (9 BK). Following the discovery of the Eastern Mesa in mid-June (6-4 BK), the area became more frequently travelled as part of a trade route between Newport and the mesa biome. The first major player-built development in the region was the historic Bridgerton Castle, built by lostcity99 in late June 2020 (4-3 BK).

The region remained unclaimed by any government until November 23, 2020 (27:2), when Newportian Emperor lonellamaMV declared the area surrounding Bridgerton Castle as the Imperial territory of Castlevania. According to *The Newport Report*, "Imperial Edict XXVII was the largest expansion of Newportian territory since the era of Empress crustyceans". Imperial expansion continued on November 28 (28:2), when lonellamaMV issued an imperial edict claiming the land between Castlevania and Newport as a new territory, dubbed the Middle Lands. The new claim caused a brief dispute between the Empire and the Server Federation, which maintained that Federate Senator isaacr4760 was the rightful owner of the Middle Lands as its sole inhabitant. On December 4 (29:3), the Server Federation passed the Hoth Act, incorporating a large area of land to the north of Newport and Castlevania as the territory of Hoth. The territory included a significant part of the northern half of future Tierra Roca.

Issued on January 5, 2021 (35:5), the sweeping reforms of lonellamaMV's Imperial Edict XXXVI consolidated Castlevania, part of the Middle Lands, and part of the newly-Newportian territory of Hoth into one province: Tierra Roca, meaning "earth rock". The edict also appointed lostcity99 as the provincial governor. Soon after the establishment of the province, some minimal developments began cropping up along Tierra Roca's border with Newport province. On March 29 (52:3), the Castlevanian Mountains of Tierra Roca were selected as the future location of Mount Newport, a massive landmark commemorating the first anniversary of the founding of Newport. Castlevania Highway, the first road connecting Tierra Roca to Newport, was constructed by the Newport Department of Transportation soon after.

## Nickname controversy

Tierra Rocan Governor lostcity99 has been a vocal critic of the province's nickname: "Newport's Wild Backyard". The nickname was chosen by ratatoing8990 of the Newport Department of Transportation (NDOT) during the construction of the Castlevania Highway in late March 2021 (52 AK). It was written on the welcome sign at the border between Newport province and Tierra Roca. lostcity99 removed the sign multiple times, calling the nickname "offensive". At one point, ratatoing8990 and NDOT threatened to sue lostcity99 for vandalism, but legal action was never taken.

## Cities

* Alderaan
* Mordor
* Mount Newport

## Notable builds

* Bridgerton Castle
* Mount Newport