Server will be Up and What you Should do About it!

http://pigtales.minecraft.net/f1abf15332a343179e29f5677c33f608

Well after a long drawn out hiatus, the server will eventually be up and running in the next few days. Most exploration and building outside of town is not recommended. Why? Well, everything outside of the town limits will be wiped, that's why! Why the wipe? The wipe will not occur until the 1.8 update, ensuring the swell citizens of Bellingrad that their town's surroundings will be fresh and have dice in the mirror, as well as a new biome code, the possibility of neighboring NPC villages close at hand, rivers and the like. Yes, this means your work outside the town will be for naught and yes that means you must begin again. The new biome code ensures us that the minecraft world will be less mish-mashed biomes and more of an actual believable terrain, new places to explore, conquer, shape and exploit close by.

The update is most likely going to release sometime early September, so we must QUICKLY prepare for the inevitable.

We must do these things for a multitude of reasons, which I will delve into once I go over the topic.

1. Gather Your Resources
Obviously those fancy out of town villas and estates will cease to exist, so now is the time to gut and loot them of all your valuables and possessions. Those supplies will most likely be crucial later on and when it comes to refurbishing the town and essential repairs/construction. It's best not to just waste the time it took to gather them, when they can be used

2. Mark Our Territory
More focus on the town means moar space needed. We are going to need to expand the town borders on all sides to encompass more land. We will need the extra land to be safe and ready to be built on, when the time comes.

3. Bolster Our Defenses
Obviously with more land, we will require a new border. Our simple wooden fence is fit for a town. And with the new land and development, our town will no longer be a town, it will be a city. With the upcoming update there are things that we must defend against, notably Endermen. I recommend a Cobblestone wall with the possibility of external cactus/lava/moat defenses around the wall. The Defenses should be dependable, defensible and easy to survey the land around us from. We will also need to build up an armory of sorts for town defense, as well as storage units filled with supplies for fixing the town and it's defenses.

4. Improve Our Infrastructure And Promote New Growth
With the expanded land, comes the need for new roads, lighting, general repair and old construction jobs finished and new ones begun and not abandoned. A supply build up of specialty items and regular construction materials will be needed and those who would volunteer to obtain them would be a godsend.

5. The Three New Districts
The extra land, I believe should be separated by three invisible boundaries, separating them into Private, Public and Commercial districts. The Commercial district will include a Public farm, as well as player shops and privatized farms. The new update will come with Hunger, domestication of animals and more farming techniques, and the server will most likely have hunger. We wouldn't want everyone to starve! The Public district would be a place for attractions, parks and public works of all kinds. Lastly, the Private district will include more land for homes, and other player owned land.

6. Cooperation and Fun are Key!
Obviously we want Bellingrad to be a place where we come together and help and build things together. The process of turning our town from a town to a city will take virtual work. It's required though. I understand you all are individuals and most if not all of you do not wish to be controlled or ordered around. I don't want to bark orders, I would rather work towards a goal with a group of people. I know some of you will busy yourselves in-game with moving supplies into to town, among other things, and I will not force you to help build our town. It sure as hell would be nice if you did though!

IMPORTANTE'

Notch just said in a live stream that Endermen die in water! MOATS. MOATS EVERYWHERE.