Iapeta lore:

For the Iapeta lore before Christianization, watch this.

https://youtu.be/3Y9GcfdGwwI

In May of 2023, Redeemed Zoomer opened his server to his community to build churches.
Before then, it was a server for him and his friends which they played on for years. Iapeta was
vacant for a time, attracting no settlers. However, due to the need for new mininglands, Zoomer
created a warp for the region, located in what is now Theopolis. Due to the lack of plots in the
main cities, people started to build their structures in the region. Some of the earliest builds after
Christianization include the (former) warp rotunda, spruce plank paths, and Cornpop's house.
Iapeta was home to the Christian Fighters Guild (CFG). Founded by Headstock, it was formed
as a civilian response to the griefings of New Nicaea and Freiland. Unfortunately, the CFG went
rogue and committed various acts of trolling and griefing (read Knadank’s “Shroomland Lore” in
the Spurgeonsburg University Library). They were disbanded, banned from the server, and
labeled as a terrorist group by server management.

Inspired by the success of New Nicaea and Freiland, two cities founded by members of the
community, Monsoon visited Iapeta to find land in which he would form his own settlement. He
and his fellow explorers, Jopesh and The Total Tootsie Roll looked for potential build sites, until
one of them found an area less than 100 blocks west from Iapeta’s warp. There, Monsoon built
Rock of Ages Baptist Church, a simple wood church with a cobblestone tower in the front,
boasting a stained glass cross. He then extended one of the existing spruce plank paths from
the warp rotunda to his colony. Additionally, he made a dirt path to function as a main street
which would accommodate future builds. Finally, he built a small welcome hut where the plank
path ended, completing it by installing a sign which read “Welcome to Spurgeonsburg!”
Spurgeonsburg was officially founded as the first city in Iapeta after Christianization. It was
named after Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the most influential Baptist pastor of the 19th Century.
As founder, Monsoon appointed himself as mayor of Spurgeonsburg.

In the span of one week, players from all different cities of the server decided to build their own
structures in Spurgeonsburg. Some of the most significant ones included the Rock of Ages
Storage Facility, the Irenic Corner Cafe, Metropolitan Tabernacle (finished in December 2023),
and the communal farm across the river, east of the rest of the city. Players also improved the
aesthetics of the spruce plank path leading into Spurgeonsburg. Additionally, a bridge
connecting the main area to the communal farm was constructed, as well as leaves and street
lights to decorate the city’s paths. The portion west of the river, the part that was first settled,
was zoned as the Main District. The eastern portion with the communal farm was zoned as the
Eastern District.

A player named Peydoon arrived in Iapeta one day with the intent of creating his very own city,
which he named Fides Prosperis, located 176 blocks north of Spurgeonsburg’s Main District.
Whereas Spurgeonsburg was a communal effort with its structures built by other players, Fides
was entirely built and planned by Peydoon. He even created houses which prospective
residents could buy in exchange for iron. A wall was created to divide the two cities, and a path
was built to connect them.

Given the establishment of Fides Prosperis and the exponential growth in Spurgeonsburg, the
warp area of Iapeta was designated as an official city named Theopolis. Headstock became
mayor despite his prior involvement with the CFG. Most of the builds in Theopolis are Catholic
or Orthodox churches, whereas Spurgeonsburg’s churches are mostly Protestant. In Theopolis,
an Orthodox neighborhood was created called St. Stephensburg. It boasts a handful of
Orthodox churches as well as one Baptist church.

Not long after, an ambitious player named TheSpurgeonator (Spurge) came to Spurgeonsburg
after he had established a church in Sovereigntown, now its villager trading hub. He built a
Church in the southern half of the Main District. He also constructed rail lines connecting the
three cities, cutting travel time from the warp significantly. Most notably, he expanded
Spurgeonsburg north into the forest between the Main District and the wall for Fides Prosperis.
There, he established Spurgeonsburg Reformed Baptist University, the Spurgeonsburg
Archives, a massive library below the university, and the Spurgeonsburg Villager Trading Post.
After these initial builds, he terraformed the remaining forest to make plots to accommodate the
influx of players who wanted to build in the region. Impressed by his efforts, Monsoon appointed
him as mayor, stepping down from his position.

For a brief time, building was impossible in Fides Prosperis due to a likely accidental
overextension of build protections in the region. A few days later, moderator Knadank resolved
the issue after he was alerted by Spurge, unintentionally making a lot more land buildable near
Fides than before the incident. This allowed for Peydoon to expand his fair city even further. In
the northern section, an intergovernmental building was erected, boasting the flags of all cities
in the region. Iapeta had acquired for itself a strong reputation among the rest of the land.

Iapeta’s foreign relations, after the CFG was overthrown, were amicable. During Monsoon’s
term as mayor, there was a brief rivalry between Spurgeonsburg and the quickly growing
Shroomland. Spurgeonsburg’s growth had stagnated at the time. However, this rivalry fizzled
out quickly. When Spurge succeeded Monsoon as mayor, he commissioned an embassy for
Shroomland in the Northern District. Shroomland residents are free to use/modify it as they
wish. On July 12th, 2023, Spurge founded the colony of Camp Edwards, a Presbyterian
settlement in Cetrippa. He designated it as a colony of Spurgeonsburg despite the city’s Baptist
heritage.

On July 23rd, 2023, Monsoon, Spurge, Jopesh, Peydoon, and Naloback met and discussed the
formation of a central government to oversee the region. It was decided that Iapeta would be
governed as a confederal state, giving it the official name, The Confederation of Iapeta. The
incorporated cities would retain their autonomy while under the protection and rule of a central
government, which was known as the Confederal Council of Iapeta (CCI). Theopolis was made
its capital. Additionally, Copper Valley, a protected city founded by Gabe, just south of
Spurgeonsburg, was officially incorporated. Theopolis was placed under confederal jurisdiction,
as there was no municipal government.

Around the same time at the formation of the confederation, Turtlesryummy (Turtles) founded
the city of Weiss Hollow. It is a city nestled on the peak of a mountain northeast of Theopolis.
The CCI and Turtles came to an agreement to incorporate it, making it the fifth incorporated city
in Iapeta.

The CCI’s main focus was developing the nation’s economy and infrastructure, making it one of
the most amicable and peaceful nations on Kingdomcraft. Thus, they gained the support of the
mods. This came at the perfect time since rumors circulated regarding a possible resurgence of
the CFG. They constructed a vault upon their disappearance, hidden somewhere underground.
The mod team looked tirelessly for it, but they eventually found it under Theopolis. Nothing
threatening was found, just some flags and copies of their manifesto. It was opened to the
public as a historical site. The rumors of a resurgence dissipated and nothing else has
circulated regarding the CFG.

For most of Iapeta’s history (post-empire), Theopolis was simply a place to warp to for players to
get to Spurgeonsburg. Theopolis was settled by the CFG, inefficiently planned, and regarded as
an eyesore. The entire city was poorly designed and awfully cluttered. There was random snow
left by snowmen mobs which made the city look even worse. Since Theopolis was placed under
confederal jurisdiction, Spurge led an effort to revitalize Theopolis under the banner of the CCI.
He was assisted by Peydoon, Jeify, Gabe, and Knadank. This effort included tastefully moving a
couple of buildings to make the city more orderly. The buildings were once organized in a way
that made the city look populated and dense, but their reorganization made it clear that it was a
rather undeveloped city. Its appearance as such was a mere illusion created by large amounts
of clutter. Peydoon revitalized a lot of the roads and paths, making it easier to navigate the city.
Spurge created a zoning plan for the city, preserving the historicity of downtown by restricting
building, while opening various neighborhoods in the outskirts for free building.

To create the space necessary, Spurge terraformed much of the land and created plots with it.
He reserved space for the proposed Iapetan Capitol Building and Courthouse in Downtown
Theopolis. The old warp rotunda was torn down and functionally moved to where the rail station
was. This is where he built the Spurj Khalifa, a massive iron tower where players would be
teleported when they typed in the /warp Iapeta command. Zoomer eventually changed the warp
to the tower. Spurge saw that he was in-game less than an hour before Zoomer took a four
month break from the server, asked him to make the change before he left, and he did so (talk
about close timing). Spurge added a food pantry and equipment hub in the tower to equip new
players with free supplies as well as an information center for new players and visitors. He also
simplified and expanded the Theopolis Rail Station to be in the tower’s northwest corner where
it exists today. Some Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, and other Christians have moved to
Theopolis since there was plenty of land available. Spurgeonsburg remained the larger city, but
Theopolis grew quickly with it.
Towards the end of the summer of 2023, a resolution was created regarding the CFG. Their
former leader, Headstock, met with the CCI to make peace. The resolution was that the CFG,
nor any vigilante militant group, would be permitted to exist in Iapeta. This was encoded into the
11th amendment of the Iapetan Constitution. Additionally, all who were involved with the CFG
were permanently barred from holding any position of power, whether councilor, mayor, or any
other governing role. Despite this, they were deemed citizens and permitted to live freely in the
region, provided they would adhere to the server rules and Iapetan laws.

Around the same time, the_lone_wonder (Lone), from the Kingdom of Mangroveia, learned of
the Confederation of Iapeta. Mangroveia is a kingdom which has territories and cities on a
handful of different servers, primarily operating on RustCraftMC. He came to Kingdomcraft to
form a Christian settlement for his kingdom, since the other servers they operated on are
secular. Monsoon expressed an interest in building an embassy in Cetrippa, a community which
was growing at the time. Lone saw this as an opportunity to build relations between his kingdom
and Iapeta. There was a mutual effort between the two to create a trade agreement between the
two nations, but progress was halted due to Lone’s disposition towards military activity. He
wanted military support from Iapeta should their kingdom be attacked, but Iapeta received
defense from the server mods for the sake of efficiency and remaining in line with server rules.
Thus, the trade agreement was never formalized.

Informal relations were maintained between the two nations, with most of the effort coming from
Lone. It even went as far as Lone declaring Spurge as his “trusted advisor.” This came in handy
because in September of 2023, due to Lone’s excessive LARPing and refusal to attend a church
in real life, he was banned from Kingdomcraft and Mangroveia’s holdings were ceded to Iapeta.
However, Iapeta did nothing with this land due to the fact that Swampgroveia was on the other
side of the world. Because of this, it remained without a government for about a month. In
October, Loghead was crowned as king of Swampgroveia. Mangroveia continues to oversee
their territories on other servers.

Kingdomcraft began to see a decrease in players in August, with a significant decline in

September. Most of its player base was in school or going to university. Less people were
building, so griefing increased. A lot of the griefings were targeted towards Theopolis, especially
the Spurj Khalifa. To combat this, Spurge became a server mod, equipping him to preserve the
nation when under attack. Griefing remained an issue all across the server, and there weren’t
enough mods consistently online to monitor it. Zoomer then whitelisted the server, making it so
only verified players could join. The server was hardly active during the rest of the academic
term.

During this dormant time, Spurge modified existing rail lines and created new ones, increasing
connectivity between cities. He redesigned the rail system so all lines would intersect at
Theopolis Hub Station, making it the primary hub. Spurgeonsburg Central Station was
expanded to become a secondary hub with access to nearly all destinations within Iapeta.
Spurge also created more plots in Northwest Spurgeonsburg, giving it two rail lines to
Spurgeonsburg Central and Theopolis Hub Stations.
In November, Zoomer announced the boundaries for new denominational provinces. The map
showed that Iapeta was entirely encompassed by the Baptist territory. Monsoon did not take
kindly to this, so he addressed this to Spurge in hopes of moving the territory elsewhere so
Iapeta would remain free. Spurge reported to him that it would not be possible for that to
happen. Spurge came up with a compromise. Iapeta and the Baptist province would be
separate and Spurgeonsburg would remain interdenominational like the rest of the
confederation, but Spurgeonsburg would be given more land to the west for exclusively Baptist
plots. It would be called Greater Spurgeonsburg and be part of the Baptist province, not part of
Iapeta. The original part would be called Spurgeonsburg City. Both parts would be one city,
existing in different territories. Monsoon was pleased with this plan.

A few weeks later, when the server’s whitelist was removed, the Baptist territory was named
Rivershire. Out of all the names the Baptists suggested for their territory, Zoomer liked
Rivershire the most. Around this time, Spurge had finished negotiations with Zoomer regarding
the future of Iapeta. The resolution was that the existing cities would be an interdenominational
zone within the province of Rivershire, including Spurgeonsburg City. In practice, nothing would
change. The cities would exist as they always have since their founding, autonomous and
self-governing. On paper, this meant Iapeta would not be recognized as a distinct nation or
government from Rivershire, much to Monsoon’s chagrin. However, the CCI hadn’t been active
since the summer. It was mostly Spurge overseeing the region and Monsoon would sometimes
help him. No one really knew what the Confederation of Iapeta was.

On December 10th, 2023, Monsoon formally dissolved the Confederation of Iapeta. In practice,
the civilian government was long inactive. It was really the mod team watching over the region.
He formally designated it as Iapeta (Interdenominational Zone of Rivershire), recognizing its
cession to the new province and the mod team. It was effectively only a name change, but for
him, it was a LARP that needed to be retired.

To Monsoon’s surprise, the new provinces didn't seem to make as much of a splash as initially
intended. The mods set up new plot cities which were hastily planned and lacked character, but
could be expanded easily. New players did go to these cities in the provinces, including some
Baptists who went to the new city in Rivershire. However, growth was slow, and players
maintained a stronger affinity for the user-created cities such as Nikopol and those in the
Nuclean Empire. Monsoon changed the official name once more to just “Iapeta,” realizing the
distinction was confusing and unnecessary.

In an attempt to put Iapeta back on the map, Monsoon started to talk to the Nikopol Rail
Company in January. They planned to extend the Mainline, their inter-provincial rail line, from
Ballygowan to Theopolis. Monsoon gladly welcomed this. When selecting a site for the new
station, Theopolis Hub Station was shown to be at capacity, with little room for expansion.
Through skillful negotiation, he convinced the NRC to change the terminus to Spurgeonsburg
Eastern Station. Monsoon expanded the station by building the exterior of the Grand
Concourse, the largest partition of the station which would house the NRC Mainline upon
completion. He left interior decoration for the NRC to complete.

In February, a player named Andersy found Iapeta and settled there. Seeing how built up the
land was with so few people roaming the streets, he wanted to become the region’s governor.
Monsoon declined since there was no one to govern, but offered him the position of mayor of
Theopolis, which he accepted. During his term, he repaired and named many of the streets,
built a blimp in the air, built a communal mine, and added parks to the city. Unfortunately, he
was banned from the server because of various comments he made, thus could no longer
serve.

In March, Redeemed Zoomer assigned governors to each of the provinces. Existing mods were
promoted to focus their powers on a particular region to grow, develop, and maintain it. Spurge,
due to his massive infrastructure accomplishments for Iapeta in the past, was selected as its
governor. Iapeta became the Baptist province, expanding beyond its de facto borders of the 5
main cities and some nearby mininglands. Rivershire now refers solely to the plot city south of
Spurgeonsburg. Nearby cities Titan Bay, Sumbalor, and Mosston were united under the same
governance and headship as the original 5. Additionally, Spurge appointed Monsoon as
Lieutenant Governor, giving him an advisory role to give second opinions when requested.

In his first days as governor, Spurge began construction on Immersia, the new capital city which
would replace Theopolis. It would have an abundance of plots on a flat surface with plenty of
roads to navigate, plus easy expansion with the world edit feature if more people were to need
land to build on. Most of the existing cities lacked the room for a new capitol building as well as
build space in general. With the new Baptist direction that Iapeta was moving in, it made sense
to build a capital that reflected that.

Authored by Monsoon
Edited and co-authored by The_Spurgeonator