Ephrata
Ephrata, Cascadia is a major town located in Central Washington within the nation of Cascadia. Maintaining a population of over 30 residents, it claims over 100 chunks as part of the Tri-Cities Metropolitan Area. Created by and developed by Milgorn123, it grew to become the largest town by population in Cascadia for multiple consecutive weeks. After leaving Oceanside, Milgorn moved to the Tri-Cities with Moxies_hoe and cowilo, each of which created their own neighboring towns. Quickly rising to the largest town in the region, development continued steadily before recruitment.
History
The mayor of Ephrata, Milgorn123, first created the town of Oceanside on the Oregon coast. However, after residing in it for almost six months, he sought out for a new experience using the lessons learnt from the past. During a conversation, he was invited by Moxies_hoe to help her and cowilo create a metropolitan area known as the Tri-Cities. He accepted, preparing for departure and selling Oceanside to Small_Cat and Realimpopo for over 1000G. Ephrata was formed on January 9th, 2023, with the first roads connecting to nearby Columbia Valley (now Yakima) being built. Paradox_1080, a close friend of Milgorn, joined shortly after, as construction on the Cascade Strip began. Within the week, zoning was planned and construction began for the commercial, residential, and main street of the town. After the beginnings of the residential district were created, Milgorn recruited multiple notable residents, including Setrus. Setrus would go on to become a notable member of the nation, creating the nation's capitol, the nearby city of Othello, and more. Recruitment would continue, with residents such as ScandiSpear, q2_0, uszn, Voidus_X, and and more being recruited. Recently, over 20 homes were created before a new push for recruitment.
Layout
Ephrata is a part of the Tri-Cities Metropolitan Area in Central Cascadia. It takes the entire northern portion of the region, with Yakima (earlier named Columbia Valley) being the oldest town in the south, Othello formed by Setrus and later sold to Paradox_1080 to Ephrata's east, and the former towns of Couleeville and Pasco bordering the town of Ephrata post-collapse. The town forms the largest by area and population in the metropolitan area, along with one of the most developed after Yakima.
The town itself uses a style similar to the southwestern united states and real life Tri-Cities in Washington State. Many general ideas such as the use of red terracotta to replace grass (common in desert towns in real life), the existence of a Cascade Strip similar to the IRL Las Vegas Strip, and more are similar to the general layout of American desert towns. However, the main street of Ephrata is based off of the real life layout of Tri-Cities based on the descriptions of Cascadian's who had been to the town in real life. Using terracotta buidlings, the street is a large stucco strip mall for the most part, with realistic buildings and areas such as the Fingernail Stage existing in the region.
Community
The community of Ephrata is fairly active, forming a closely-knit group. The town first consisted of only Milgorn123 and Paradox_1080, close friends from Oceanside. After mostly sole development by Milgorn, recruitment began. Setrus, Voidus_X, AllStarPro90, Dragonlilskib, and ScandiSpear were all recruited in the initial push. Voidus_X would continue on to develop multiple plots as an active member of the nation, and AllStarPro90 had already been an active PVPer and member of the community before getting banned for X-Raying months layer. Dragonlilskib was an active member of the community before being banned from Cascadia, while ScandiSpear remains a major part of the Ephrata community and the potential successor to become the next mayor of the town. Setrus would continue to server as the Secretary of Defense for two terms, create two major towns (including Othello near Ephrata), build dozens of buildings, and create the Capitol of Cascadia in Olympia. Other notable players include Madsnowz who created a number of homes in the region, Penguin_Lite, iShockYou, Pelecinid, Bumble_Lee, and more. Overall, the town remains to be quite active in general.
