Tuntaun

Vincenzo Ricci is a Burgamerian android, redstone engineer, and architect. Invented in the UBSR, he now resides in the Mercurian Republic, in Eldham. There, he has designed and built various structures in the capital city of Maia. He also spends his time studying the integration of redstone technology into mainstream architecture, and experimenting with new redstone mechanics.

Early Life
Vincenzo Ricci was first created in Voskovy, UBSR, on August 3, 2021. His inventor was Armando Ricci, a prominent industrial and mechanical engineer who once served as a logistics officer in the Corps of Engineers. After the defeat of Bardonia in the Bardonian Wars, the UBSR entered a period of rapid economic and industrial growth. With the demand for new factories and machinery going up and an ever-increasing workload, Armando needed a way to speed up design process by automating the tedious parts. It was for this reason that he designed an "autonomous, mechanical human", which can perform calculations at a rapid pace, as well as handle other miscellaneous tasks, like fetching supplies and taking notes. After many weeks of research and hard work, Armando created the Vitruv Mk 1, a programmable, redstone-powered android that was capable of running many kinds of programs and autonomous movement.

However, because it was brand new, it was only capable of walking around. To help his new android learn the necessary skills, Armando made him read books on writing, mathematics, engineering, and building. He also taught it speech, and how to use a pen and a slide rule. Eventually, the Vitruv was ready, and during its first test, Armando found it was surprisingly effective at helping him with his work.

Not long after the first test, Armando began making improvements to some parts. It was around this time that he noticed something strange with his machine. Every time he made some improvements, the Vitruv will start to act without any input from its creator; it would look out the windows or say hi to strangers on the streets, much to their shock and surprise. Eventually, the Vitruv would often start friendly conversations with Armando and read random books he saw on the bookshelf. Armando starting to see him as a mechanical "son", and in turn, the Vitruv saw him as a father; in honor of this developement, Armando decided to rename the android to Vincenzo Ricci.

Unfortunately, this relationship would not last for long. The Voskovy city council started to hear reports from citizens about a strange metal human seen around and inside Armando's house. Suspicious about Armando's actions, police officers raided his house, arrested Armando, and confiscated his papers and Vincenzo. Thinking that Vincenzo was just another one of Armando's machines and not fully understanding how he works, the police officers decided to lock him in an old industrial warehouse, and they also imprisoned Armando. A month later, during the Western Expansion of the UBSR, Armando was falsely indicted by the Executive Commitee for conspiracy charges and working with squatters in the newly acquired territories. He was found guilty by a tribunal, and was hanged a week later. For the next 2 years, Vincenzo would stay locked up in the warehouse, not knowing about the true fate of his father.

Journey to Eldham
2 years later, the UBSR announced that it will launch an expedition to create colonies around the eastern world of New Rathnir, now known as Eldham. Many citizens signed up, hopeful to start a new life in what was seen as a prosperous and peaceful land. Among these citizens was a retired naval officer and merchant sailor named Captain Adrian Côté. Like many who embarked on this journey, Côté hoped that he will become the governor of colony and gain a lot of wealth and recognition, and he was willing to do anything to get it. During the month of preparation before his voyage, Côté obtained from his military friends in the police force the blueprints confiscated during the Armando Ricci case. After reading and studying them closely, he learned about Vincenzo Ricci and his abilities, and he believed that Vincenzo will give him an advantage over the other colonists. A week before his voyage, he unlocked the door to the warehouse and found Vincenzo. He told him about the expedition and how he wants him to join his crew. Although Vincenzo was apprehensive at first, he eventually accepted the offer when Côté promised he'll hire an engineer to look after him. Thus, on August 14, 2021, Vincenzo joined Côté aboard the Prosperous, along with an engineer who was hired last-minute, and the crew took off for Eldham.

Aboard the Prosperous, Vincenzo found himself busy with all sorts of things. In the morning, he was in the boiler room, monitoring the engines and making sure they don't overheat. By noon, he was on the bridge, helping the navigators guide the ship. By afternoon, he was in the storage room, tallying up the supplies used during the day and the amount that was left. By evening, he was with Cpt. Côté and the other high-ranking officers in the navigation room, looking over maps and plotting the journey for the next day. And by midnight, once everyone else was asleep, Vincenzo would sit in the captain's quarters, reading books from his large collection.

However, not everything went smoothly aboard the ship. Many of the crewmates felt uneasy around Vincenzo due to the fact that he was an android who didn't have any organic parts, and would often try and avoid him in the hallways. The fact that he was created by an alleged traitor to the UBSR didn't help either, leading to some of the more nationalist crewmates calling him a spy and hitting him. Meanwhile, the engineer that was responsible for looking after Vincenzo turned out to be less experienced than he claimed to be, and didn't really understand the blueprints he was given. Any time one of Vincenzo's parts needed to be repaired or replaced, the engineer would accidentally miscalculate the measurements, or use the wrong materials, and Vincenzo would end up worst then when he came in. This resulted in frequent glitches and errors in Vincenzo's behaviour and movement, some of which persists to this day. After numerous incidents caused aboard the ship by Vincenzo's glitches, Côté relieved him of all duties, and sacked the young engineer. Although Côté planned on exiling the engineer when they landed, he would soon discover this would not be necessary.

One night, the weather outside was snowy and foggy. A blizzard had hit the crew and had been raging for the last week. It took a heavy toll on the crew, who all wore coats and huddled together to prevent freezing. Captain Côté was in his room, looking over the reports given by the lookout crew, while Vincenzo was standing in the corner, looking out of the window at the harsh and dreary landscape. Believing that the ship was nearing its destination, Côté ordered the men in the boiling room to work double time, and to make the ship go faster than normal. Suddenly, there was a loud bang at the doorway. One of the lookout crew was standing there, exhausted and shaken. He to the captain that a large field of ice was spotted up ahead, and the bridge needed help. Côté stood up and ran out the doorway, with Vincenzo following close behind.

When the pair arrived at the bridge, the bridge was in absolute chaos. Men were scrambling around, trying to find their station while their officers were having a loud argument. Côté settled down the crowd and tried to manage the situation. He ordered the crew to try and steer the ship around the ice, while he sent a message down to the boiler room to slow the ship down. However, it was too late. The ship rammed into the ice at full speed with a deafening crunch. The crew could hear a loud squeal as the walls of the ship rubbed against the ice. Everyone on board fell over and got stuck as the ship decelerated at a rapid pace. When the cacophony finally died down, everyone stood up. A shocked silence weighed heavy in the room. Then, after a couple of seconds, Côté gave the order to evacuate the ship. Everyone hurried out of the room to try and help with the evacuation or alert the other crewmates. Vincenzo, having enough of the ship's crew, decided that now was the time to get out. He ran down to the deck, amid men carrying boxes of supplies. Then, he jumped down on to the ice and ran off into the distance. He ran until the cries of the other crewmates fell to a whisper. He ran until he reached the coastline, and then he kept running. This was the last that any UBSR citizen saw of Vincenzo Ricci.

After what seemed to be an hour of running, Vincenzo saw some smoke trails in the distance. When he got closer, he noticed a town on the coast of a lake. He wandered around a bit, taking the sight of the small houses, the large government building, and the tavern. He then heard a voice behind them. He turned around and saw a man in a large cloak. The latter, who was a bit startled by the newcomer's appearance, collected his courage and asked Vincenzo about his business here. After recounting his story about the shipwreck and asking a place to stay, the cloaked man asked Vincenzo to follow him to the tavern. The contrast between the tavern and the outside was bewildering to Vincenzo. It was warm and homely, with oak walls and a spruce floor. Paintings and torches hanged on the walls, and a bar and some tables sat on one side of the room. The man took off his cloak, revealing a rugged set of iron armour. He introduced himself as Merc1377, chancellor of the Mercurian Republic, and said that they were currently in the capital city, Maia. Vincenzo introduced himself to Merc, and asked if he can become a citizen of this nation. Merc nodded, and he gave Vincenzo a room on the second floor, along with some basic tools and materials. Vincenzo made a crafting table and a bed, and sat down. He looked out of the window at the snow whizzing right next to his face. For the first time in two years, he felt completely at ease.

Life in Mercury
Over the course of 10 years, the nation of Mercury would grow rapidly in terms of land and population. The effects of this growth was evidently apparent in the transformation of Maia from a town to a large city. New housing and building projects were started every week. Vincenzo, who had knowledge about architecture and building, contributed to this construction boom. He planned and built the Crop Towers, a multi-layer potato farm, a new agricultural storage building, a floating house off the coast of Maia for drying kelp, a meeting area and an outdoor theatre in the nearby village of Neutravia. He also designed other minor builds, like the new redstone streetlights, a public bookcase, a chessboard, and a gambling machine in the tavern's lobby.

During this time, Vincenzo also met some of the other members of Mercury, such as Kami Aurelian-Tryanius, a famous warrior and Uraki noble who gave Vincenzo his first diamond armour set, Spectral Mage, a demon necromancer who studies the Neihernspried fungus, Bloody Belgian, a monk who leads the village of Neutravia, and Ninjacraft, who built a floating house off the coast of New Aurea. Vincenzo also started exploring and visiting other Eldham countries, learning more about the geography, culture, and politics of Eldham as a whole. The more he learnt about Eldham, the more connected he felt to it, regarding it as a more progressive, advanced new world compared to the backwards, aging world of Rathnir.

Mercurian Elections (October 28-November 3, 2021)
On October 28, 2021, Chancellor Merc announced a new series of elections for filling in some new and old positions. One of these was the new Secretary of Infrastructure and Development, who would oversee all infrastructural projects throughout the nation. Vincenzo, who was concerned about the state of the nation roads, decided that he would run as a candidate, alongside Vvitekk, Vitonx033, and TrustedCaden.

In his campaign speech, Vincenzo set forward specific goals that he believed will advance the nation structurally. They include starting a national planning guild, upgrading all roads to the current national standard (brick and stone with 75% speed upgrades), building the Northern Channel bridge, and starting a canal network. His speech was well-received by the general populace, and attracted the support of many people.

On November 1, 2021, voting for the Secretary of Infrastructure started. Although the race was tight at first, with all 4 candidates having similar number of votes, that quickly changed the next day. In total, Vincenzo received 13 out of 26 votes, or 50% of the vote, placing him in first place. His next competitor only had 7. Vincenzo would've likely won with a majority, had it not been for the national crisis that soon followed.

The Rohkian Crisis (November 3, 2021)
WIP