Southern Union for Development

Founded

Industry

The HelloMiners Southern Union for Development (SUD) is an infrastructure and event organisation focused on developing the Southern Hemisphere of the HelloMiners map and community's.

History

It was founded on the 3rd of July, 2021, and as of the 5th of September is the most active non-government organised group of the server, with estimations by certain members indicating 80% of the active community participating in it. S.U.D. has two major and one minor division, the Rail and Roads divisions, and the Events division. The Rail division has constructed 4 major projects; The G.E.R. and the Central, Dubai, Swamp and Lunafern Lines. The roads division has built SR1, 2, and 3 major highways.

On the same day, it's Discord server was created. Precursors to the group include the NTN, a.k.a. the National Train Network, that constructed the majority of the Central Line. The S.U.D. was formed initially to organise infrastructure in the area, but within the first few hours of it's formation S.U.D. also became event-focused. The tenth member to join was bunnywoof, who joined on the 4th of July, 2021.

Branding

On the 13th of July, the S.U.D. seal (often errorneously refferred to as the S.U.D. logo) was created by Beak, and later adopted by the group. It consists of a blue circle with a red outline containing the text "Southern Union for Development" around it. Inside the blue circle are two white rings positioned above the centre and cropped out, representing the chunk glitch rings on the server map. A curved red line, representing travel, goes across the seal.

Before the SUD seal was adopted, another logo was in use for the discord icon that consisted of gold coloured 3D buildings on a gray background with "Southern Union for Development" below in the same colour.

Infrastructure

The first major infrastructure project completed by the Southern Union of Development was SR1, which route went largely straight from Bunnywoof to Florae, with exits at Silver Lake, Freeport, and Valnir. The announcement of the SR3 project followed, however the announcement and completion of SR2 - which connected SR1 and 3 with an exit on the outskirts of Ashford - was finalised before the eventual completion of SR3. By this time, the Central Line built by the NTN had been assumed by the S.U.D.

S.U.D. believed that for future development and further connection, a unified headquarters for the members of S.U.D. needed to be constructed. With the help of another member, Felipe, owner of Montego Bay, and Somfic, another member, they chose to construct and design a HQ in the downtown district of Montego Bay. Within 3 hours the design had been complete and building commenced. It was completed in late August of 2021 and offices began designation.

After this, the planning process for SR4 began. SR4 was seen by one of it's initial planners, beak_boy, as a necessary infrastructure project if the Southern Union of Development's continuous work was continued. This project is to connect the cities of Montego Bay, the Northern Hub of S.U.D. transport, with Valley City, a satellite government city and former warp of HelloClan City.

Membership and Leadership

The S.U.D. has no formal structure or hierarchy, which was the intent of the founders, who, were self described 'good communists'. There is no formalised, or official leadership over the Southern Union for Development.

No membership criteria were made, although this was heavily debated. The vast majority of member states are cities, however the exceptions exist, including regions of Bunnywoof. Bunnywoof plays an important role as a transport hub of the group. Whilst it is a goal of S.U.D. to be focused on infrastructure in the Southern Hemisphere, and it's membership reflects that, certain members and planned highways extend beyond the equator.