Braunlande

Braunlande is a city located just north of the major city of Ludenstadt, in the Valrean Empire. The Valriegenschlange translation is 'Brown Land' after the rich brown soils beneath the forest that once stood there.

Early history
Braunlande was originally gifted as only a parcel of land to the adopted noble relations of Charles Astilor, Bruno and Sulla Astilor on October 18th, 2023, with Bruno as its first Mayor and founder. The original name for the plot was Carantania, but was changed by popular settler demand to Braunlande.

The land was ridden with jungle trees and there was some evidence that someone had tried to make this place home before. Bruno and Sulla persuaded some local people from neighboring towns to help them clear the forest and develop a town of their own with a brewery at its center. The brewery was entrusted to one of the settlers, Jebediah Blonut who took very eager ownership and established The Creature Brewing Co on the 21st of October, 2023. The settlement quickly grew into a town with a population of seven in just a few days. Since then the main export of Braunlande is an array of various brews made by Jebediah Blonut, including health potions and Jebediahs own beverage called "Braunlandian Brew".

Bruno did not hold mayoral power for long, as the very first Moistening was held on the 21st of October 2023 and moist-monke was the victor. Under moist-monke's very short term in power, Braunlande gained two new citizens, with a population of nine.

Smite of the 22nd
During his term, Mayor moist-monke was caught x-raying, unbeknownst to the rest of Braunlande. A very un-mayorly act indeed. His punishment was dished out by omnipotent mods, who destroyed anything that moist-monke had bought; materials, weapons, items and all. They also destroyed portions of the Braunlande Townhall, a message as to what happens to un-just players. Braunlandes' people vowed to never make this mistake again and erected a memorial to moist-monke in the town square.

New Monarchist and Braunlande First Coalition
An emergency election was held on October 22nd to determine the new Mayor upon monke's suspension, and the out come was a tie between Sulla Astilor of the New Monarchists and Joe of Braunlande First. The emergency election following The Smite of the 22nd resulted in a tie between the New Monarchists led by Sulla Astilor and Braunlande First led by Joe. The two parties decided to form a coalition council for Braunlande.

Joe and Sulla, while both quite radically different in policy, came to an agreement on how to govern Braunlande for their term. They divided Braunlande in two, with Braunlande First governing the northern half and the New Monarchists governing the southern half. Their end goals are similar: beautify Braunlande, introduce district zoning for new developments, relax immigration laws and increase the overall wealth of Braunlande. The difference however is how they chose to approach those goals.

Tensions between the two sides was calm at first, but animosity towards each other grew as Sulla and Joe both had very different ideas on the ideal power structure. While Joe wanted to uphold the the democratic traits of Braunlandes governance, Sulla Astilor wished to turn Braunlande into a monarchy, where he would hold absolute power until the end of his time.

Instead, the two parties again chose to cooperate for the betterment of Braunlande. They did away with the divison and established the Braunlande Consulship, with Sulla Astilor as consul of international affairs and Joe as consul of domestic affairs.

Charles Astilors Passing
The passing of Charles Astilor on 28th of November 2023 was mourned widely by the Braunlanders, as if it had not been for him, many of them would now know where they would be now. In particular, Bruno and Sulla Astilor were particularly distraught as this was their uncle, who had brought them in under his wing and had given them a chance to make a name for themselves in Edenheim. So, as tribute, the construction of a memorial park was brought about and completed a short time later. Fitting for such an integral and defining character in Braunlandes story.

The park features a small water feature, many trees and flowers and its center the Lion of Ludenstadt, a near mythical creature related to Charles' city of Ludenstadt.

The passing of Charles also gave way for the founding of a new noble house in Valreach, House Braun.

Moist
The Moist are a very rare species of hivemind creatures that took refuge in ancient tunnels beneath the Braunlande claim, well before it was given to Bruno and Sulla Astilor. The new citizens, un-aware of this sub-terrain threat were infected by the Moist while spelunking for resources. The way of infection is by a jellyfish like tendril that creeps into the brain of un-aware miners and explorers, and forms a small bump on the hosts head. Infected citizens are fully aware that they have been infected, but due to the Moist infecting the brain, it has altered the citizens willingness to be rid of the Moist. To not treat it as a parasite, but as a friend.

While infection is possible for anyone, the presence of alcohol in the body of a potential host allows the Moist to have a greater chance of success at infection. It is unsure why this is, but the running theory is that while someone is inebriated and their brain is not functioning properly, this is what makes citizens easier to infect. The first industry in Braunlande was brewing and the local tavern supplies free booze to its citizens, so the population of Braunlande make for easy hosts.

The Moist are mostly docile, as they do not feed on their host, nor do they take full control of their host. While they don't feed on their hosts body, infected citizens have been noted to have lower than average brain function. Interestingly, they have a very aggressive urge to democratically elect a head of their society. So, every two weeks, the hivemind takes temporary short term control of their hosts and all participate in The Moistening.

Moistening
The Moistening is an event that was created by the Moist hivemind that has infected the citizens of Braunlande. The ultimate goal of is to select a new head of their society, the Mayor of Braunlande. The current Mayor is free to change the Moistening process at will prior to the next Moistening.

Iteration One: The Moistening is done by a skirmish in an underground arena, where the Moists attempt to concuss each other until there are only two conscious hosts left. They unanimously agree on fair terms of combat, which can be changed by the current Mayor prior to The Moistening. The rules prohibit crouching, as the Moist believe that to hide is to fear concussion. They further prohibit wearing armor or weaponry due to their believes that the flesh is weak, the mind is superior, there is no need for exterior protection. Finally, all members of the moist are allowed one potato as "Brain food".

The final two Moists then fight one on one, with whatever gear the current Mayor chooses for them to use. The current Mayor decides who the next Mayor will be based on who actually won the fight and public support of the combatants.