So using rail in some capacity is probably going to be very important for speed. Unless we implement some sort of teleportation mod… but that somehow feels like cheating 
Edit: Also, what do you lot think about putting the portal/beginning of the journey in one of the forests? I feel like they’re underused, and there could be a mysterious trail leading to it a bit like that labyrinth!
Reports are coming in from across the lands that an evil magic is sweeping through. One traveller reports that he saw several buildings spontaneously combust disappear in flames. Now all that is left are broken husks, one clearly having been a windmill.
Just who or what is responsible for this tragedy remains to be seen. The farmland, which is just south of Ardinia’s main gate, was responsible for much of the food production for the city.
No people were harmed in the fires, although there was a strong smell of bacon within one of the ruined buildings.
…
…
Who left the fire on?
You mean the farm is destroyed?
I knew I should have expanded the protected area there. How many buildings?
The other farm is destroyed too! A player named minedravd was online and quickly logged out once I logged in. If that name is not in use by anyone here I suggest we ban him.
And Lomsor… any local backup retrieving possible? The farms are totally destroyed. I’m afraid he might have destroyed other places too.
Minedravd just logged back. Claims he is innocent. Not sure what to believe tbh.
And also…
Lomsor. The before mentioned things should be done quickly. The guy could still come back
Xamino’s Ja’Min is intact. Same for Cheston. Looks like the damage has been done mostly on the farmlands near Ardinia. I will check the nearby villages.
Edit: the destruction is visible in the map too. So it has been done before the previous map update.
Was the farmland captured or wasn’t it?
If it wasn’t I have to disagree. The system is secure enough as it is. I can always give Ardinia more power if needed but only that way can old buildings be renewed and only that way do I have the least hassle.
The farmland wasn’t protected, but I have to agree that we’re exposed to more of this kind of behaviour outside of faction regions - so maybe setting build permissions server-wide might be a good idea.
The farmland was intentionally left as a rural unclaimed land. And even if it wasn’t they could still do it to just f*** up the terrain or unbuilt rural areas, which is still bad looking.
Can those areas be retrieved from a backup or are they permanently lost?
I agree with Sab1e
They can be retrieved from backup. I’m prepared 
I’m working on a video at the moment … so I’ll look into it later.
Still, I prefer accessibility over control.
I am slightly worried about someone targeting things like the villages and travel connections such as @xamino’s railways and things that lie outside the bigger constructions.
Will other progress be lost?
Like the Dum Tower for example. I copied it to schematics just in case.
The whole point of the factions is that it allows dynamic protections … so that I don’t have to do the dynamic part myself and people don’t have to ask but can manage themselves.
For unprotected areas there’s the backup system.
No it’s area selection specific.
According to the map a small fire is taking place in the Forbidden forest too. Must have been set while this mature fellow was moving from one farm to the other.
Well backups sound good to me if they’re area specific 
So. Damage was made before the 18.01.2015, so outside of the range of the automatic backup. World Edit is still unable to find the world folder inside zip files. Going to write a bug report now.
But I have some manual backups from before. Areas restored.
So both the farms and the forest between them?
Great news 
Edit: the forest is still damaged, but I can re plant the trees in 5 minutes so no problem.