It all began with a single step. From the region of Extèria, into Fälea. Almost six years ago, at present. To launch Base δ – now sundered by the Greenridge – back when the Ridge wasn’t green. Before the named Bridgian days. Mid-2019 marks the true start of the Foundation.

This was, of course, a basic precursor to Bridge Base, started by the would-be Devious One with his few friends at the time. It occupied an area that is now the grassy slope above the new building, and lasted for around six months, until it moved to Base η, aptly named “Rebel Base”, after the first COVID-induced lockdowns.

The Foundation, in essence, descends from this, in its explorations of Fälea: the Fídend, Base ζ, even Base λ near the end. (For those who are not familiar with Greek letters, λ, or “lambda”, is the eleventh in the alphabet; this says something about the rate of base-naming at the time.) Around the middle of 2020, the Precursor was put against a rival group, located slightly to the west of their base. This would, again, be a recurring theme in the true Foundation, with both the Group and Beryllians posing a threat to base-integrity.

In late 2020, though, the Precursor was looking weak, and it is believed to have disbanded in early 2021 – the Devious One, however, was not there to see the events. Out with Fälea then, and in with – where? There was nowhere for the Precursor to go. Remember that, at this point, all the members are Extèrians, and building work is going on to produce the Greenridge. So they waited. Until September 2021, when they seized the opportunity to colonise a little-known set of logs in the south-west of the Bridgeland.

The Devious One, having escaped Extèria’s curse a year earlier, had already given those logs a name, one that would go on to become particularly infamous: “Bridge Base”. It was a latecomer to the Bridgeland Maps (19th out of 24, according to its Greek letter, τ), with its region being only added in 2021’s Map. Back then, it was Edge Forest, but was later renamed to “Dthenden” to give it a Bridgian root: dthen den(-ga) means ‘the forest that lives’.

The Bridgians thrived here, using planks and pallets for the first time to build structures like the Office and the Chasm Bridge. Some even attributed the Base’s name to these constructions, although it was really from a tree by that looked like a bridge over the fence. This was, of course, until the Beryllians detached from the main group, and inflicted their wrath upon the Foundation.

The edifice of Bridgianity, shattered both materially and socially. Almost all of the Base’s resources, taken by its new rivals. The Great October Collapse truly deserves its name. The eighth entry of the Bridge Base Log starts thus: ‘A raid seems to have taken place earlier today, with all our stuff (besides the bin, and the items in the Deep Chasm) being stolen.’ The Base would never be the same again – or so we thought. Little did anyone know, but the groundwork was already being laid.

Do you recognise the name “Bridgehaven”? To most members of the Foundation, certainly. To others, less so. This sector of Dthenden was gradually building itself up – plank by plank, pallet by pallet – in preparation for the time when Bridge Base would return to power. The Haven was the idea that gave the Devious One his name, plundering from Seldeth almost every day at times. He collected the items for supporting the eventual revival of Bridge Base, whenever the others saw fit.

However, the Bridgian revival never came, at least not in its intended form. Rather, Bridgehaven itself, once a secret storage location, became the centre of activity for the Foundation. The Bridgehaven Treehouse epitomised this change, breaking ground in late May 2022 and continuing to its maximal form in early October. Then the Beryllians struck again. Apparently not content with crippling Bridge Base once, they decided that they would come a year later. The Haven lasted for precisely three hundred and sixty-five days.

To Gilnar we go

‘We looked for a base to relocate to – Base β, Flank Forest, and the Eastern Extremity of Back Forest [now Fälea’s Rídend] all looked promising. The two of us agreed that Base β was the best.’ So runs page 181 of the Bridge Base Log, the main primary source for Bridgian history. This marks the start of the “Early Beta” period, where the Foundation occupied Gilnar Base for the first time.

It started with beams being setup in the Entrance Room, between which tarpaulins were hung. In mid-November, pallets were added as flooring, with a bench acting as a partition in the east of the Room. Technically, this was also when the Media division began (with the 2022 Bridgeland Map), but that name was only adopted a year later.

The greatest – and most controversial – achievement during this time was the Second Floor, where the Upper Branches were cut down for the erection of a large plank-and-beam structure. This, obviously, caught the attention of the Group, who ordered the Foundation’s members to dismantle it. They did, deciding that a better use of their resources would be in constructing a “tyre-wall” afront the Base. Sound familiar?

Soon, though, the Bridgians would move to Base ρ, then merely a sector of Flank Forest. Not much happened there, besides another small tyre-wall, so skip to late March 2023 and the return to Gilnar. On the same day, the Second Floor began to be rebuilt, and the first iteration of the Front Tyre Wall was built, in a “pyramid” style. (This is where each tyre is supported by the two below it, in contrast to independently supported towers.)

The Tyre Wall subsequently went through several reconstructions, where it got progressively grander; it eventually gained a wooden platform – the “Entrance Office” – atop it, much to the disdain of the Group. The Front Tyre Wall page on the Website documents this well. On the other hand, the Second Floor was taken down less than a week after construction, to provide materials for the rest of the Base.

At the very end of March, the Bridgians stole Base γ’s bench, much to the annoyance of the Beryllians. Expectedly, they retook it, which led the Lintæans to threaten the complete destruction of all Bases. What actually happened, though, was that the Beryllians destroyed their bench, with no damage to the Foundation besides that wrought by them. This event is now known as the “Easter Scare” – by the Devious One, at least – and marks the end of Beryl as a threat.

The Entrance Room’s tarpaulins were reinstated in mid-April. A “door” was added to the Front Tyre Wall, where two separate tyre-walls were connected by beams to form a passage between them. This would be the main route of entry and exit for the Base, and the Entrance Office would be put atop it in early May. At the same time, the Outpost (in Base κ, or Domebush Base) was developed, with a bench formed by two parallel wood-beams.

In early June 2023, a blue bench was taken from Fälea’s Central Hideouts and placed in the Meeting Room. This came at the same time as the Foundation’s Media division began proper activity, with the Base’s flag being designed and the first Bridgian song being released then. A rulebook, Bridge Base Rules & Appendices, was also created; this grew into an overly bureaucratic and increasingly unfollowed document, so was abandoned soon after its creation. (The latest version reads ‘Revision 5b; 27/6/2023’.)

In fact, the Meeting Room gained its name from the buildup to this régime, and obtained a desk – a wide beam supported by tyre-towers – specifically for administrative purposes. But then the Group struck again. The First β-Collapse led to the loss of almost all the materials in the Base, except the tyres. After a brief foray in Bridgehaven, the Foundation’s members resolved to stay in Gilnar, rebuilding the Front Tyre Wall into its seventh, final iteration.

This continued well into September, with another door making its way onto the designs, this time supported by sticks. Earthworks took place to flatten the area by the Near Gilnar Tree, which eventually evolved into the “Gilnar Mine”. (The Bridgian use of the word ‘mine’ is to refer to any slight dip in the ground attributable to human activity.) Unfortunately, this was the main cause of the Second β-Collapse – the other one isn’t called the first without a reason – where all the tyres in the Base were taken, as well.

The Haven calls

This time, the Bridgians decided that they had no choice but to move. Bridgehaven was the obvious choice, as the Foundation had done well when it was last there. The Devious One pioneered this with his boringly named “Edge Forest Path Improvement Project”, or EFPIP for short. The EFPIP involved flattening and landscaping the path through the Bridge Gap, between Base τ and Bridgehaven. Allegedly, this made transportation of resources easier, but he mainly did it because there was nothing else to do.

Until the others arrived, that is. In the middle of October, planks and beams from Seldeth were used to rebuild the Bridgehaven Treehouse, arguably to a better standard than the original. This remained through November, when the first Bridgian Convention – or “BridgeCon” – took place with speeches given from atop the Treehouse. This commemorated three years since the naming of Bridge Base, with the release of various media-pieces for the Foundation. (Not quite For The Foundation, though.)

The “Treehouse Canopy” came next, with a metal net being used to cover an area to the west of the main Treehouse. Sticks were also used, forming a wall around the Bridgehaven Hollybush. The Bridgehaven Den was a short-lived structure, built of sticks in the west of the sector, which never reached its full potential due to poor planning. In January 2024, barricades were added to the Haven’s South and East Ports (entrances), and stick-fighting became a frequent activity.

This, clearly, was not liked by the Group, who decided to threaten destruction again. The Head Guard likened it to the Siege of Gondor, from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, although no fight actually took place. Instead, the members decided to flee, moving materials to Bases β, υ, γ, and finally κ, in what would be known as “the Scramble”. In Domebush, though, the Foundation settled, beginning with the formation of a small beam-structure and a tarpaulin.

This soon grew into Domebush Treehouse (no “the” for whatever reason), which then became at least four beam-and-pallet constructions, with countless smaller ones. These included the Central Pallet, the Bridgend, the Gatehouse, the Gate itself, Domebush Canopy, and the Lookout, to name only the most important structures. Suffice to say, the Domebush Era – or, as the Devious One now calls it, “mid-Kappa” – was a time of great prosperity for Bridge Base. A bridge was set up all the way across the bush, from the Treehouse to the aptly named Bridgend; but, being a single, weak beam, almost nobody used it.

Nevertheless, there was an even larger build than any of those listed above: Domebush Wall. Again excepting the definite article, the Wall was somehow even larger than Base β’s one, and spanned around a quarter of the Base’s perimeter at one point. This turned into two separate walls in May, when more protection was apparently needed in the entrance. (This was despite the fact that all the other entrances were almost entirely undefended, making the Inner Wall useless.)

Nothing can last forever, though, and Base κ was no different. After this, the Foundation remained inactive for a while. Small developments were made in Gilnar, but nothing significant came of it. Base ν, or Twinside Base, was the site of 2024’s BridgeCon, in which was announced this very Herald, amongst other things.

In late January, the return to Domebush seemed to mark a new chapter in Bridgian history – “Late Kappa”, following the Devious classification – with the reconstruction of Domebush Treehouse. This was certainly true, as the Treehouse was expanded to a far larger size than the mid-κ one, although there were fewer other structures to speak of. Domebush Canopy, the tarpaulin in the centre of the Base, was also rebuilt.

But in February, this too concluded, and the Foundation has been scattered ever since. One would suppose it makes it harder for the Group to monitor their actions, but there has simply been no reason to reconvene in one base. That was the state of the Construction division. The Media division, on the other hand, is stronger than ever – this can be seen in the Herald’s continued release, Bridgian Phonetics’ syllabic form, and many other projects that have taken place during this period.