Scholars Confirm Curse Of Bashkent Strikes Every Owner, Leaves Peninsula Itself Completely Untouched

Bashkent—Historians this week formally recognised the Curse of Bashkent, after confirming that every nation to own land on the Khalkedonian peninsula has been destroyed or dragged into war, usually somewhere else entirely, while the peninsula itself has remained peaceful throughout.

“It is the quietest place on the server,” said a scholar of Civ folklore. “No fighting, no raids, nothing. It doesn’t need to do any of that. It just waits for someone to sign for it, and then their capital catches fire.”

The curse takes its name from Bashkent, the old Khalkedonian capital. According to CivWiki, Gang Shi held the land first and fell. Zatoka settled part of it and was driven out in 2023. Khalkedonia bought the whole peninsula in 2024 and within about a year had been obsidian-bombed, lost its vault in roughly ninety minutes, lost two states to independence movements and watched its leadership quit the server.

Soren took over in February 2026 and renamed Bashkent “Soren City.” Over four months it mined whole landmasses down to sand and completed exactly one project, a train station. By 24 June, Soren no longer existed. “Renaming Bashkent was a mistake,” said the folklore scholar. “The city does not like being called anything else. Soren City lasted four months. The train station is still there because it never asked to be called anything.”

After Soren fell, the land was divided among new owners, and the curse went with every piece.

A nation called the Imperium took part of the peninsula and collapsed shortly afterwards in a civil war. Westhelm bought a corner in July and named it Southhelm. Westhelm describes itself as “a safe haven from war.” Since signing for Southhelm, it has been sacked three times and invaded by Chiraq, all of it hundreds of blocks away from Southhelm, where nothing has happened at all.

“The fighting is in our cities, our farms and on our skybridges,” said a Westhelm resident. “Southhelm hasn’t been touched. Somebody went down to check on it last week. He said the grass was very green and the sea was calm. Then he came home and found his house had been sacked.”

The Dawn Guard Pact, which declared the peninsula under its control in June in what CivWiki calls “a largely unenforceable proviso,” has been at war ever since. DGP officials described this as “a coincidence.” They then asked whether the proviso could be made a little more unenforceable.

Experts have also turned their attention to the Il of Hisar, a region of old Khalkedonia that CivWiki describes as “heavily restricted,” adding that “nobody knows” why. “Every civilisation has one place it tells you not to go,” said the scholar. “Khalkedonia put theirs on the map and didn’t explain it. We are now starting to think they knew.”

The curse also seems to follow people who leave. Khalkedonia’s exiles went on to found Exegol, which has since lost six councillors to resignation, impeachment and removal. Its official council now consists of one man.

Real estate agents report that peninsula plots remain available, with views of the sea, a working train station and “no recorded fighting of any kind.” Prospective buyers are asked to sign a waiver.

At press time, Westhelm had offered Southhelm to Chiraq as part of a peace deal, and Chiraq had accepted.