Important Disclaimer: This post is born out of a first draft written while semi-delirious with fever and pestilence, and may or may not be readable to human beings. I make no guarantee of factual or grammatical accuracy of the events recorded. Prolonged exposure to feverish writings may result in a dramatic change in vocabulary and/or sanity. Proceed at own risk and with skepticism.

So, after discovering this (new?) blog feature, I decided that I might as well try it myself. And what better way to break it in by explaining my (tragic?) backstory?

The story of my involvement in Nation Sims is very much intertwined with my life story. This started, as many of my stories do, in a hospital. At the tender age of nine and a half, I underwent a very dramatic hospitalization which resulted in my being diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. This was far from the first time that I had been hospitalized in a dramatic fashion, but it stands out because I was initially in such critical condition that I had to be transferred by critical care ambulance from our local private hospital to the Children's Hospital at Westmead in order to be admitted to the pediatric ICU under the care of several of the best doctors in the country. I will save the gory details for a later post with a longer disclaimer, but needless to say, it was bad, and there was a time when the doctors were unsure of whether I would survive.

At any rate, after I was stable enough to be put in a regular room on the endocrine ward, I quickly discovered that in order to make up for the incredible boredom which permeates through hospital corridors, each ward was equipped with a "Starlight Children's Foundation Fun Center", a mobile omni-console gaming platform which I affectionately called the Purple Egg for its shape and hue. I discovered a game called Age of Empires II. This would become the first game where I developed my own nation and lore. I was discharged a few days later.

It was not until roughly a year after, when I was readmitted and placed under prolonged isolation for an unknown ailment which manifested flu-like symptoms and encephalitis that I really had a chance to delve into the world of nation-building. (Interestingly, the cause of the encephalitis remains unknown, despite endless tests and regular visits from literally every specialty except oncology and the burns unit. To this day it is listed as "presumed viral", which I have been reliably informed is doctor-code for "we've no idea, but it went away like viruses do". This is pretty much par for the course as far as my health goes, which probably says a lot about my life.) With a month in quarantine, I began to develop the background for my imagined world, and what would later become the Campbell Nation.

For a time, I was content with building scenarios on Age of Empires. The Internet, as we were taught in Australia, was a daunting and dangerous place, full of distasteful and degenerate characters. Several factors, including a change in continent, kept me occupied for a time. Several years later, a fellow classmate mentioned a social studies project where students created nations and acted out diplomacy and war and such. Intrigued by the idea, I signed up for NationStates. They say NS is structured so that one can participate as much or as little as one desired, and that with no clear metric of success, players could receive satisfaction proportionate to energy input. I certainly found this to be true.

About the same time, I tried to join CyberNations. I say "tried" because I became quickly overwhelmed by the level of micromanagement (compared to NationStates, you see) and, after flunking the admittance test for the first alliance I tried to join, decided (That terrible game that is totally irrelevant and I shouldn't be bringing it up anyways) was too much for me at that moment. Instead, I doubled down on NationStates, and joined some communities for roleplaying, and the Raiding/Defending sub-game. I met some nice people, and took up some responsibilities running a region with a few other players.

Some time later, I was persuaded by an old and trusted member of an NS region I was in to join the revamped Project Terra, which was still early enough in (re)development that I managed to get the hang of it. After getting bored with the slow pace of development from inactive admins, I joined P&W in open beta. About the same week I joined another similar game, but then there was an advertising scandal with their admin and TAC (which I was in at the time), and I decided it was in my best interests to leave quickly and quietly.

On P&W, I joined the United Independent Nations in beta, where I was quickly promoted to second in command, mostly because I was active and willing to engage/negotiate with raiders. After speed round ended, I joined The Atlas Confederacy, and stood by them during their darkest hours, as they transformed into Rose. I have stuck with them since, and I generally like the vibe they bring to the game. I have participated far more on the Rose forums than the P&W forums. Large communities kinda freak me out, especially those that have been around long enough to form a sort of unspoken hierarchy. I've always been one to take my own path first and possibly meet others along the way if things go well, although Rose has somewhat reshaped my view on this.

I currently reside within nuclear fallout distance of New York City. I have a multitude of part-hobby, part-jobs, including coaching fencing, Type 1 Diabetes advocacy and research, and consulting. My health situation prevents me from doing anything full time, including studies, so I have a tendency to go full-on 250% for a short period, and then take a long time recuperating. I am acutely aware that this method isn't exactly normal or healthy in the traditional sense, but it seems to be working for the time being.

So there you have it; my backstory. I hope to use this blog more, but if nothing else, there's this.