Gerosha

Gerosha is the town of central focus to The Gerosha Chronicles in Dozerfleet Comics. It is the setting of The Battle for Gerosha, a story which all Gerosha history centers around. Its forest outskirts are the birthplaces of Stan and Shalia Flippo; the parents of Ciem and Sniperbadger and grandparents to Ciem II, Verdecent, Emeraldon II, Marie McLaine, Trina McLaine, Larry McLaine, Lex Philippine, Andy Baret, Kirby Flippo, and a few other heroes (depending on version.)

It was at one point one of a few hometowns to Imaki Izuki, a mentor to both Ciem and Mukade (and in one version, also Jackrabbit.) In-universe, the town is named after the Gerosha Stone, a top half to a seashell that once belonged to a French scallop that was eaten by several oyster drills and a lightning whelk. The whelk carved a letter "G" in once side of that seashell. The seashell used to be part of a trillion-dollar-value treasure owned by a pirate named Henry Lohtz. The town is also the namesake of the Sodality of Gerosha, a superhero league with a few of its members having originated from Gerosha or nearby towns.

Gerosha, first created in The Sims 2, has grown from a simple in-game map to a literary and comic multiverse that has far surpassed its Sims fanfic origins.

Relative location
It is generally agreed-upon that Gerosha is located at or around the same area as real-life Boonville, Indiana. Its geography is considered to be like that of its real-life counterpart, unless otherwise noted.

History
See also: Timeline of events in Cataclysmic Gerosha

Note: Gerosha's exact definition has changed numerous times throughout the series' development. For purposes of this section, only its Cataclysmic Gerosha history will be documented.

Early history
Gerosha began its life in 1818 as Boonville. Life was peaceful in Boonville for the most part for quite some time. Lincoln was once in Boonville practicing law. In the early 20th century, Evansville native Alexis Hood settled down in a cabin outside of Boonville to live out the rest of her days following the assassination of her husband, Sadasheeva Cherupara, by Thuggees in India. She was pregnant at the time she moved back, and gave birth to a daughter named Marissa. The mother-daughter team lived peacefully in the woods for quite some time, never making much of a stir or fuss around town. Most of the townsfolk were sympathetic towards Alexis over the loss of her husband; though others were curious as to why she married an Indian.

Alexis eventually died of cancer, leaving Marissa to take over the cottage home. Marissa lived pretty much the same way as her mother did, but noticed trouble brewing in the culture and wanted to play more of a hand in combating it. The town would later become of interest to Tobey Flippo, who sought to move there from Evansville after WWII. He did so in 1956, after he and his new wife Alison had a child they named Stan. It was not long afterward that Marissa's cabin home came under attack from an escaped criminal known as Dwayne Lloyd. He broke in and raped Marissa brutally, but the cops intervened and - after a long and violent struggle - managed to once again apprehend Dwayne. Marissa survived her injuries, eventually giving birth to a daughter named Shalia.

Shalia may have inherited her mother's virtues, genes, and love for life. But she inherited her father's fighting spirit. Tobey and Marissa amazingly went years without discovering each other. They did in 1972, two years after Alison died and left Stan without a mother. They met at random in a grocery store, but didn't realize the significance of that meeting. However, 1972 was also the year that Tobey died of a heart attack while at home. This left Stan as an orphan taking care of himself and using his ingenuity to survive alone. He developed three goals for his life: get married, become a baseball player like his biological father, and discover the lost treasure of the pirate Henry Lohtz - who gave the secrets to its location to one of Tobey's ancestors. Stan was homeschooled his entire life, unlike Shalia - who was only homeschooled for the earlier parts of her education.

Little did Stan know it, but he himself was already a father. His DNA was extracted while he was a baby, and was used by the Phaelites to experiment with cloning. They had to make due with a half-clone when their initial full clone experiment failed. His DNA was mixed with that of a volunteer lab scientist named Insila Murtillo, who then became the mother of Stan's technical firstborn son Ploribus Murtillo. Ploribus would grow up to join the National Guard and later a Phaelite-US military liaison organization called SCALLOP, where he'd become the director. He changed his name to "Darius Philippine," so as to protect his birth parents' identities.

Battle for Gerosha timeline
In 1973 Stan met Shalia in the woods. The two fell in love in short order. However, their courtship came to an end when Marissa died of a stroke in 1974. Stan and Shalia decided to get married, even though it was frowned upon at the time. They set out to find Henry Lohtz's treasure, and succeeded. It included the Gerosha Stone, which Stan began to fancy as much as Lohtz did before him. They returned to Boonville with their fortune, and began making a living for themselves. Stan finally lived up to his dream of becoming a baseball player. Shalia gave birth to Reily in 1975. The family spent many years in Boonville happy and successful, though they dreamed of building a house that would come to be known as the Triangulum. In 1976, the Wyers gave birth to their daughter Erin. Shalia had a young friend named Trina Domingo, who helped her get into local-area politics.

In 1989, when Reily was 13 years old, the Hebbleskin Gang abducted him to get revenge on Shalia having frustrated their political agenda for the area. He was soon rescued by Darius. However, the Hebbleskins created a dome around the town. Stan and Shalia were made fugitives of "Netheel Boonville." Sgt. Luddin and Fantisk Hebbleskin establish their diamond-fisted control over their occupied city-state. In 1990, Stan and Shalia are reunited after spending time as fugitives. Luddin and Fantisk's shared obsession with weeding out opposition has ruined much of the town. The Wyer family is declared enemies of the state, and hunted down. Only Erin survives, rescued by Darius. Mitch Brandel heads in as an operative to take out key establishments of the Hebbleskins and prevent them from further keeping Gerosha isolated from the outside world. His efforts are successful enough that he builds a sufficient resistance within the city. He also disables the dome long enough for the National Guard to conduct an air strike. Thousands of Meethlites are killed in the air strike, including Luddin. Fantisk is killed in battle against Mitch, in what becomes known as the Battle for Gerosha. Boonville is renamed Gerosha officially, to celebrate the triumph of Stan and Shalia's legacy over that of the Hebbleskin Gang. It becomes the home town of the Gerosha Stone. That same scallop shell later becomes the reason for "SCALLOP" to have its name, when Stan suggests it to them. It is later backronymed into "Security-Centric Alliance Lending and Learning Of Phaelites." In keeping with this scheme, SCALLOP would later build the Chen as one of its mobile bases of operation.

Among the many men that Stan and Shalia befriend during the siege was Imaki Izuki. He informs Stan about the latter's having been subject to another Phaelite test. This second one assures the likelihood that one of Stan's children will be a Centhuen Prototype. He promises to be the godfather of that child if that should happen. After meeting Erin, Shalia decides she should be adopted. Stan likes the idea of it, and Erin becomes a Flippo. Reily eventually meets and marries Ashlee Kornsdall. The two are married, and have a child named Kirby in 1999. Shalia gives birth two a set of triplets in 1999: Candi, Miriam, and Marina. Candi is revealed to have latent Centhuen Prototype abilities, so Imaki becomes her godfather.

Pre-Sodality timeline
asdf

Sodality timeline
See also: Sodality (series)

asdf

Centipede + 49 and aftermath
asdf

Notable inhabitants
The following individuals notably lived in Gerosha at one point in time:

&dagger; Canon from Gerosha Prime until Classic Gerosha. Ceased being canon in Comprehensive Gerosha.

&dagger;&dagger; Was Vince in Gerosha Prime, was Tom in Despair and Classic Gerosha.

&dagger;&dagger;&dagger; = Gerosha Prime-only.

Spots of interest

 * Imaki's houses / bunkers: Imaki, no poor individual himself, worked closely with SCALLOP even before they had that name. He also set up several basement bases across Gerosha to serve as operation shelters in the event of another Hebbleskin takeover.  His shelters proved more useful in helping the Exodus Agenda establish underground bases to hide from the Ameristani regime until they could organize their exodus.  Entrances had to be well-hidden and well-guarded, in case regime forces should find a way in.  Not only were these bases used to establish communications, but also to issue orders to ground troops when looking for individuals who'd been scattered or were missing due to the regime's ethnic cleansing campaigns.  The goal was to rescue as many as possible before they were rounded up and sent to the regime's mass execution camps.


 * Triangulum: Built from 1992-1994, this futuristic, triangular house became home to Stan and Shalia. It later became Reily and Ashlee's home after Stan and Shalia are assassinated.  It was eventually sold to the city of Gerosha as a museum, then later served as a regional headquarters for a figurehead of the Ameristani regime.  After the regime was ousted in the 2050s, it eventually became a private residence again.  Devin Spanz and his new wife Dana Spanz work to restore it to its original glory.


 * Gerosha Middle School: This school is located in the same basic area as Gerosha Elementary, combined they are known as the Gerosha Grade Schools Complex. The Flippo triplets attended here from K-8.  It is located around the same area as real-life Loge Elementary School in Boonville.  It was in the shower stalls for the girls' room of this school where Candi was assaulted by Don the Psycho, and where Fred went after Marina&dagger;.


 * Gerosha High School: Where the Flippo triplets attended high school. This was where Candi was attending on the fateful autumn when she went to a convention with Imaki and it came under attack by the Ameristani regime and Hebbleskins.  She met Donte, even saving his life from one of the attackers.  The two began a relationship not long afterward.  It was the football fields near this school that Candi and Donte first made their relationship official.  This was also the school at which Miriam met and began her relationship with Phil Couric, and where Marina met Matt.


 * Erin's house: Where Erin Flippo returns home from college and lives, working menial part-time jobs and taking care of her younger sisters. In spite her wealth and theirs, she often pretends to live as middle class or lower.


 * Wyer family home: The original home of Geoffrey and Patricia Wyer, Erin's birth parents.


 * Hood Cabin: The location of the cabin where Alexis and Marissa Hood lived their lives almost identically to one another, except Marissa vowed that she'd find Shalia a suitable husband so as to live her life differently. Shalia was born and raised in this cabin as well, as "Shalia Hood."  The cabin's original location became a historic landmark when Boonville was replaced with Gerosha following the Battle for Gerosha.


 * Gerosha Cemetery: A new cemetery that was established after the great battle to oust the Hebbleskin Gang, after most of Boonville had been destroyed. Steve McNolan's remains were relocated to here.  Also buried here are Alexis Hood and Marissa Hood.  A special locale representing Hell was established for Dwayne Lloyd's grave, as well as the graves of Sgt. Luddin and Fantisk Hebbleskin.  After their assassinations, Stan and Shalia Flippo are also buried here.  The cemetery goes unmaintained and unused for decades after the Ameristani regime takes over the northeastern United States in 2018.  In the 2050s, the cemetery is restored.  A special mausoleum is set up to house the graves of Flippo family patriarchs and matriarchs.  Honorary tombs are set up for Reily, Ashlee, and Kirby Flippo, as well as one for Erin and another for Imaki.


 * Breckenridge Park: Formerly the Flippo triplets' favorite childhood place to go on weekends and hang out, the park and others like it are torn apart by the regime and the vegetation is destroyed. Where playground equipment once stood, the regime erects a guillotine.

&dagger; Coincidentally, there was one reported rape in real-life Boonville in 2011. The Flippo girls never reported the sex assaults done to them, for fear of drawing the attention of Hebbleskin operatives. However, there were no murders reported in 2006; which conflicts with Gerosha history in which Stan and Shalia are assassinated. Other crimes for 2011, according to City-Data.com, included 68 assaults, 16 burglaries, 121 thefts, 11 auto thefts, and 2 arsons.

Inspiration
When the town was first given a name, it was considered that "Gerosha" would be a good name for an "any town." In the 1992 X-Men animated series, there was an island defined as "Genosha," based on the one originally written about by Chris Claremont at Marvel. The Dozerfleet founder spent a few years of his early life living in real-life Kenosha. Words like "germ," "geriatric," and "Gerswhin" went through the Dozerfleet founder's mind in May of 2005 as well, when thinking of names for the city that Stan and Shalia founded. A name for the city was deemed necessary, as Stan and Shalia's adventures were starting to be defined but lacked a setting. Earth-G2 established the basic characters, but did not define which city or state the events happened in. Based on some brief images of scenery in Indiana, the Dozerfleet founder decided that the geography of BrineyFjord.sc4 right before the bridge and fjord part on its western(?) edge resembled Indiana most. Southern Indiana was therefore determined to be the "magical place" that the BrineyFjord.sc4 file represented.

While Gerosha Prime and Despair Gerosha (the latter a failed attempt to rewrite the former) used the term "Gerosha" rather arbitrarily to define Stan and Shalia's home town, Classic Gerosha saw its continuity retooled in 2008 to adapt a seashell into the plot. This is because the real-life Gerosha Stone was discovered by the Dozerfleet founder in early January of 2008. It was worked into the plot that Stan Flippo found the stone, and named a new city after it when that new city was built atop the remains of its predecessor. The predecessor was defined in Comprehensive Gerosha in 2010 as being Booneville. Also in 2010, the continuity was revised so that the seashell was arbitrarily named "Gerosha" by a pirate named Henry Lohtz. Stan became the second to find it in-universe. Wealth of a Seashell as a story was then proposed as a way to explain the life of Lohtz, source of Stan's wealth and treasure via Lohtz, and bring some context to all the retcons.

Previous versions
The closest equivalent of a Gerosha town in franchise history dates back to Proto Gerosha, which was initially a town by a very different name in The Sims Deluxe. The idea to call it "Gerosha" didn't officially come about until around early May of 2005. Test Gerosha was a primitive attempt to make younger versions of Stan and Shalia Flippo, to tell their origin stories of before they married as well as cover their married life by giving it a plot. The Battle for Gerosha was first made a webcomic in the remainder of May of 2005, ending its production around the first week of June that same year. Like with many stories of that time, exact history and geography were deemed flexible. Gerosha Prime utilized the Briney Fjord default town file in The Sims 2 as a stand-in for southern Indiana geography, though the map's smaller piece across the bridge was seldom used. Despair Gerosha likewise used that map in order to attempt a reboot of Gerosha Prime. Both versions essentially has Craterville as the town's predecessor.

Classic Gerosha was the first time that it was established that Gerosha used to be known as Boonville. However, the map used for Classic Gerosha barely resembled real-life Boonville at all. Comprehensive Gerosha sought to fix that, establishing for the first time a concept art scheme that sought to use real-life geography to guide its presentation. This carried over into Cataclysmic Gerosha, with exception of the fact that much of the scenery was to be shown as having been demolished.

Pre-Cataclysmic Gerosha versions usually depict the town as carrying on like not much is happening from 1990-onward. However, the town grows to be an increasingly hostile place to live as American culture grows coarser due to out-of-control liberalism. In the 2050s, the Phaletori take it over. It is up to Dana and her cousins to set things right in the timeline of Ciem Tomorrow. In Cataclysmic Gerosha, Centipede + 49 has an ending which leaves open-ended the possibility for a similar plot to happen.

Design
Gerosha as a town was initially generated using the same map that was used for Craterville: the Briney Fjord map that came with The Sims 2. This pattern remained consistent even with Despair Gerosha Ciem. For the Classic Gerosha version, it is likely that Crystal Springs was used instead. Dirbine was made initially as a set of stages within Gerosha. Later, it was defined with the Downtown neighborhood that came with Nightlife, as well as a campus map that came with University.

Comprehensive Gerosha changed things around, with Gerosha being defined as having been built atop the remains of Boonville, which was destroyed in the alternate history that is the Gerosha multiverse. Gerosha's map is defined as being Boonville's, map, with actual locations in Boonville serving a purpose in the story. Erin's house was modeled after a real house in Boonville, for example. However, Sims 3 concept art has been all over several maps in terms of where to depict events. Much of early concept art for Ciem: Vigilante Centipede was made using the Twinbrook neighborhood; though Appaloosa Plains and Bridgeport was also used heavily. As of the Cataclysmic Gerosha narrative, concept art for Sodality has utilized Appaloosa Plains, Bridgeport, and Sunset Valley most extensively. Sunset Valley typically is used for Gerosha itself, with most major downtown areas being represented with Bridgeport. Regime-demolished Gerosha required several hours and numerous mods from The 13th Sim to depict in concept art as being a place of total ruin.