A tour of Courdelane

As you may know: The Courdelane Callisto is the Official Newspaper for the city of Courdelane. Though we don’t yet have an official headquarters building, it’s in the works so be sure to see a post when that’s finished. 

But in the meantime: I’ve decided to give you all a tour of Courdelane! And I’ll begin with the oldest part of town, rightfully called the ‘Historic District’ 

The historic district is similar to many other old villages around the world, though throughout the years the buildings have been remodeled to resemble their originals only in shape and general materials, they still predate any other buildings in the city. 

From the beginning, the city has needed some form of government, from whatever the original village had, to the more modern system there has always been some building that was the seat of governance for the city, and to this day that is no exception. 

The courdelane Town Hall, located directly outside the entrance to the Historic District,  is interesting, as it’s a ‘mixed style’ building, as the back of it is built in the more savanna style, while the front is more modern-esque. It’s one of the oldest buildings to still exist, being almost as old as the modern city itself and still to this day is the house of the city government. 

Of course, the downtown area around the historic district needs a transit center, and no better to fit that role than a grand Railway Station, let me introduce to you: Courdelane Jovial Station! 

Courdelane Jovial Station is truly one of a kind, covered in vines and trees, it was made to be a centerpiece for the city, and oh how it serves that purpose! Seen above from the center of a fountain park made in the place of a now relocated apartment tower that would have disrupted the sightline, the building still exists and is located slightly northeast of the station. 

But of course, what would a city as grand as Courdelane be without a place to stay and play? I mean, no vacation is complete without having to walk through a gaming hall to leave your hotel, and our 4 Casino-resorts fill that role perfectly! 

The Oriental is the oldest Casino-resort, being apparently one of the first buildings to ever be built in the city, and older than Jovial Station, and about equal in age to the apartments next door. Having a, well, Oriental theme the hotel consists of 5 floors of regular hotel rooms, and 6 floors of luxury hotel rooms, as well as a Chinese restaurant on the very top floor. Though it has one of the smallest gambling halls of any of the casino-resorts, it seems to advertise itself as a hotel more than a casino. And even though it may be one of the smaller ones, it’s downtowm location and proximity to transit stops and the Boulevard makes it an attractive option that is still one of the most visited locations in the city. 

The splitside was built shortly after the oriental ad it’s surrounding buildings were finished. Having a larger gambling hall and more luxurious rooms than the Oriental makes it a direct competitor, as well as their proximity and the resort’s beachfront location can make the Splitside an even more attractive option than the Oriental, even if it is further from major transit stops. 

The ocean spray is one of the newest Casino-resorts in the city, as well as the smallest. Located actually very northeast from the others there seemed to be a long hiatus between the construction of the Splitside and the Ocean Spray, perhaps due to the area between the two being mostly low-density residental and not as suitable for tourism. Perhaps the announcement of a new ‘second downtown’ right across the lake from it prompted the owners to construct it. The Ocean Spray has 5 floors of regular hotel rooms and one large penthouse at the very top, as can be clearly seen. As well as a theatre and small restaurant the Ocean Spray was perhaps the most all-in-one option at the time of its construction, even having a beachfront similar in size to the Splitside and almost built-in Light Rail stop that links it to the new development, putting it on the track to be one of the most seen casino-resorts in the city. Though the title might have to go to the final one on our list:

The Lucius is an 8-floor behemoth of a resort. Having 5 floors of regular hotel rooms and two floors of luxury rooms, it is by far the largest Casino-Resort in the city and likewise has the largest gambling hall. It comes with 8 floors of hotel rooms, a restaurant and a theatre, which are planned to be slightly relocated and largely expanded, with rumors that the Theatre is to be moved underground and made the largest in the city, though that’s not exactly a high bar as currently, the only theatres in the city are in the Ocean Spray and The Lucius. The Lucius is by far the newest Casino-Resort in the city, being located in the new development mentioned earlier, which will be focused on in a later article. But for now, the only developments are The Lucius, a Condo tower and under-construction shopping center and apartment building. 

This currently unnamed shopping center-apartment complex doesn’t have all that much info known about it. What we do know is that there are to be two apartment towers, identical in appearance to the one on the left, and an already build Light Rail stop going through it. The apartment towers look to be 10 floors tall, perhaps equaling 10 apartments or condos, and with the other tower that would be 20. It seems to be fitting with the current theme of the area: Fancy as hell. Made mostly out of quartz and having some quite nice waterfalls on either end it’s slated to be quite the shopping experience. 

Now that’s all for that area, we can go back to downtown. 

You remember the Rainbow Apartments mentioned earlier? Well, this is where it is now. Located next door to the Slpitside. One of the oldest buildings in the city, it’s a mere 5 floor tall, and though this picture doesn’t show it, it’s a great rainbow color, going, from bottom to top, Orange, Blue, Purple, Yellow, and Green. Having a command block elevator rather than stairs is something not often seen in the city anymore, as most places see it as just easier to have stairs going all the way up. Since there’s only one apartment per floor I can see it’s rainbow color being a way for you to easily tell what floor you’re no when focusing on pressing ‘up’ over and over again. A little aside here real quick: The system used in these old buildings usually had two command blocks, one for up, and another for down. so if you wanted to go up or down you would have to keep pressing that button, luckily they’d often be placed in the same pot on each floor so you could just sit there and press you way through, They did take up less floor space than stairs, but I’m able to see where the tedius construction comes from. Now back on track: The roof of the building had a small park on it, with trees, a path surrounded by grass and even a few picnic tables for just hanging out. A focus of the early city was definitely on green space, with each building seemingly being surrounded by trees and pathways. 

The Beachfront is located at the coastal end of the Boulevard, having only a few things, those being: A restaurant, Two boat docks (though one is more of a cage) a lighthouse, two transit stops, two market-style canopy-roofed storefronts, an actual store building, a carousel and changing rooms. It’s one of the older attractions (expect everything on the boulevard north of HALCenter (more on that in a bit) to be fairly old) and hasn’t really changed since Blue’s Old Boulevard Grill was completed a week or so after the rest of the beachfront opened, with the newest addition being the boat cage. 

HalTower is the corporate Headquarters of HAL Supermarkets (No relation to HAL9000, I hope.) a supermarket chain similar to Walmart, being more or less a large box with groceries and clothing inside, but mostly groceries. It also has Command Block elevators like it’s neighbor, Rainbow Apartments. HALTower is not to be Mistaken with another one of its tower properties, HALCetner, mentioned Earlier. 

HALCenter is a Shopping Center-Apartment Complex hybrid tower, not do dissimilar with what I believe that unnamed project I covered earlier is, just on a smaller scale. HALCenter is composed of 3 floors of shopping, the bottom floor just being a HAL Supermarket, and the two above being rentable space, currently taken up by a few locations such as Super Subs, Coffee Palace, and Nether Leather. The 3 floors of apartments currently have yet to be filled or even listed as available for that matter. It’s a mystery why as HAL has yet to reply to any questions, making me believe that there may be a defect in construction that would make it unsuitable for living, perhaps the shopping center below would cause too much noise? or maybe the top floors are of a quality not allowing for residential? Until HAL makes a statement we can’t know. Though the floors and even empty apartments can be visited at any time, as well as the park-like roof, similar to that on Rainbow Apartments. 

Beef Co. Seaside Rentable Office Space is quite an interesting place, similar to HALCetner in pretty much only the concept of rentable commercial space and nothing else, Beef Co. Seaside actually predates HALCetner by a few months and is more office space than location leasing, not really being open to the public except for its lobby, which is to go under renovation sometime soon. The building is actually the oldest development south of Town Hall, predating anything else seen in the picture, and formerly having a great ocean view, until the Coudelane Docks were built behind it, a crane of which can be seen behind the tower. As well as it’s grand private road heading straight towards it really is quite the unique building. 

Sometimes,. I just have to level with you guys, and this is no exception. I have no idea what this is or why it’s here. Who owns it? I don’t know! How old is it? Older than the docks. What is it for? I have no idea! What’s with the banners? Advertising…? One day it wasn’t there, the next boom there it is! Sometimes that gate is open, showing me the rows of empty seats and tunnel…? in the back, sometimes it’s closed and I hear musical notes but not always! Sometimes it’s closed and there’s dead silence! I’ve never tried to go in and see what there might be inside, because, frankly, I don’t think I want to know! and those banners? All over the place! In random, hidden places. It’s a dark red banner with a black sun, and next to them are signs that say The Convergence is upon us… What? Is there some sort of regime taking over? If so they haven’t changed anything, are they terrorists? They haven’t done anything thus far! Sometimes I’ll see their flags inside houses and apartments, but That’s it! This is the only place they’re displayed! To be honest, I hope I learn that it’s like a church or something so I know I’m not being watched by the secret police! But, speaking of churches… 

The Courdelane Church, I’m happy to say, Isn’t some weird cult following caves in the sides of mountains, it’s just a regular church. I’m not exactly sure what version of Christianity they follow, since I don’t attend and am an Atheist, but I’ve heard it’s some strange hybrid of Catholic and Protestant, though I’m not sure what exactly it is. A mid-age building, not bring new but also not being old, the Courdelane Church is built in the Savannah style I was talking about with the Town Hall, unfortunately, there are only about 3 buildings that use that style. I know there used to be two houses in the style near Bayah’s (once again, more on that later) that were destroyed to build Bayah’s. The church is surrounded by a park and is located near a Transit Terminus. 

The Courdelane Docks were built after the city government realized that we need some way to get our stuff. Though there were, and still are, farms and mines… somewhat close to the city, the government decided that having large docks for import/export would be much better than horse-deliveries. The docks sat as no more than a big concrete L for the longest time as funding had yet to be confirmed, and the government only gave enough to lay the foundation. Strangely the docks were initially (and still are to an extent) Bunded by the Owner of the Beef Co. Seaside, the TwentiethBeefCo Corporation. Despite almost entirely ruining the view from their offices, they funded the dock, perhaps so they could more easily get goods in and out of the city, as well as have them pass directly by one of their major office buildings, and their only direct presence in the city. 

As of about a month ago, the docks have had 2 cranes operational and one built, with more on the way. Currently, shipments are coming in at a steady rate and have definitely helped with the city’s economy. Even some other, very distant cities have chipped in, and once is quite strange and I can’t seem to find where they’re coming from. But more on that in a future article. 

Pleateu Stadium is the only stadium in the City, located north of HALCenter it’s a very long stadium, used for mock PvP battles and races, the way it’s set up the ground is at a much lower level than where people stand to watch, so they sometimes fill it with water and have boat races or mock battles. 

The stadium is in a long ditch, with the top being at ground level, with a retractable glass dome for sports in rainy weather. It was also the first structure to be built atop the Savannah plateaus which separate the rest of the city from a massive desert, which currently has a development plan in early stages. 

The Courdelane ‘Land of Authentic Furries’ is a large, safari/zoo-like attraction, with winding paths through large open savannah fields, and a Polar Bear den in the middle of it all.

The Land of authentic furries is one of the most recent attractions, having to have been completed sometime in the past week. I don’t frequent the area to when I did come down here I was surprised to see an entire Savannah. I had heard of an attraction like this being planned in this area for quite some time, but I forgot about it until it was finally here! 

At the end of the winding path, you’ll find what looks to be an old railroad station. Though I have no idea what it’s doing here. The sign is even more peculiar. I asked a few guides and they said that it was there before they even started construction. Really a strange and out of place building. 

We’re nearing the end of our tour and one of the last stops is the resident Satanic Altar. It seems to have appeared as quickly as the Safari, but with less planning, t would seem as I had never heard of them placing a Satanic Altar over here. It’s right next to the Safari, albeit atop a Plateau, and seems to serve no real purpose. I’ve never seen any activity there in the week it’s been up there, perhaps a secondary meeting place for the red banner cult? Though I don’t see any symbolism here and none around the city of what lay inside. 

Inside is what seems to be a Dragon’s head, similar to the dragon in the ‘Ender Dragon’ fairytale. Though it seems a bit barren and is made mostly out of chiseled concrete and nether brick, neither of those materials are in the fairytale and are very real if you brave the nether, unlike the head, they seem to be worshipping. 

Here we are, the Penultimate destination of our tour. And finally back in the realm of ‘I knew this existed before they started building it and know it’s purpose’ and the last stop is no different. The Saqqara Waterpark is a truly unique destination in the city, a small waterpark located down the street from HALCenter (HALCenter is located at the corner of a 4-way intersection. I’ll have to upload a full map of the city sometime.) And across a lime of trees from the Land of Authentic Furries. The park is Egyptian Themed and is fairly small for a Waterpark, though the first one I can say for sure exists. Neighboring it you can see is one of the only 3 buildings left with Savannah-style architecture, it’s a building split into 3 houses. The waterpark is a fairly busy attraction, being right next to some residential, commercial and the largest Department store in the city also helps, though this predated Bayah’s. 

Now, for the final stop on our 3 Thousand work tour of the city. Bayah’s 

Bayah’s is the largest Department store in the city, and just might be in the world. I know I’ve never heard of one larger. It has everything from Clothing to Appliances, as you would expect, It has a food court, 4 floors and is overall very large. The place takes up the location of the former two other buildings in the Savannah Style. And Bayah’s Department Store is the last stop on the tour of Courdlelane! 

I sure hope that you enjoyed seeing the great city that we’re located in, I’ll be sure to update you on everything Courdelane! After all, We’re the Official Newspaper for the City of Courdelane!