This is mostly an introductory Post just to give background on the places (hood and subhoods) that I have been playing collectively for about 10 years now... I will add more about families and new builds in later posts.

Main Hood

This is a sleepy little island town that has a few small businesses such as a bakery, dance studio, and family-owned restaurant. Not much happens here, at least since the syndicates have gone away nearly twenty years ago. Some of the most affluent families in the region own estates on the east-side of the island. The central portion contains a main street with shops and a small town park. There are even a few farms on the south-side. There is a community college nestled in the foothills of the north side and the west contains suburban homes. Most residents commute to Scandalica City for work.

Downtowns

When the syndicates reigned supreme in the region, this city was known as 'Scandal City' but now that crime has calmed down more or less the citizens have taken to calling it it's original name again. It's a boisterous type of metropolis with warehousing, office buildings, bus lines, a rich night life, and plenty of activities for it's residents from bowling to karaoke. King's Station is a district on the east side that is lined with a variety of restaurants. The main thoroughfare hosts the old public library as well as the classic neoclassical theater and ballroom. This city is also the seat of all political activity in the region. There's many apartments in all shapes and sizes from duplexes to tall penthouse towers for sims craving a more urban lifestyle.


This is Kashmire's cosmopolitain area that celebrates the arts, nature, fine shopping, and gourmet food with it's unique ampitheater, state park, botanical gardens, community produce garden, and Metro Museum of Modern Art. It's also the only place in the region with an indoor concert arena. A sim can grab a coffee and set out and look at the bay, or enjoy the enourmous ice skating rink at the plaza in the colder seasons. Cross Corner District on the west-side is quaint and contains a small playground, cafe, and resident homes. The Memosa Hills on the north-side is place containing numerous cliffside homes that wealthy or famous sims tend to occupy. The south-side portion of the downtown has renter's row for those wanting a city life but not wanting to buy a house just yet.


It's a desert town to the far south of the region where anything goes. Shady motel hook-ups, brothel-service, drive-by weddings, local gambling joints, and a commercial casino are some of it's main draws for visitors. Not many live in such a place. Some of the more savory attractions are it's rugged campground, unique oasis and spa, and the local artisan market. Considering how unruly the place can get, its odd that the syndicates never touched this town, or if they had, it's one of their best kept secrets.

Shopping District

A small settlement that packs a lot of pizazz. It's mostly a series of boardwalk shops and prime beach front for surfing and sunbathing for sims looking to come out from the city on a weekend. The shops have just about everything to buy, there's an art gallery, family aquarium, food stand, and even a small amusement park! The other beach of Kashmire Point contains expensive sea-side homes, but the housing market isn't doing too well at the moment.

Families

The Calhouns | The Cosgroves | The Harts | The Kapithas | The Louises | The Orbinsons | The Schoulsburgs | The Thackerys | The Wellingtons | More to come...

Businesses

Skye's Produce Farm | Le Theatre | Pandora's Playhouse and Pleasure | More to come...

Projects

Awesome neighbourhood, Charmful.
How many sims are living there?
Love the name "Scandalica city"

Beautiful hoods! I love the city, Pandora, and Isle we Kashmire! I'll be looking out for info on the families that live in the hoods! They're all beautiful, well developed regions (based on what I've seen). The desert is so scenic and the city looks so realistic! The areas also have an underlying sense of mystique to them.

:lovestruc :lovestruc :lovestruc
Wow, beautiful neighbourhoods! I really love the terrains, with the high bridges and the steep hills.

The best thing is that you have the character of each place summed up- you know exactly what type of towns they are! Gorgeous, can't wait to see more images!

Thanks, Essa!

So based off the top of my head/memory here are the population stats:

Isla Del Kashmire - 70 sims
Scandalica City - 32 sims
Memosa Bay: 35 sims
Pandora- 12 sims
Kashmire Point- 1 sim
Sims at Uni (SSU, Le Tour, La Fiesta combined) - 37 sims

My little sister used to have a downtown in one of her hoods called 'Scandal City' and I thought that was kind of fun like how 'Sin City' in the graphic novel is short for 'Basin City' So I gave my downtown a fuller name so it could be shortened like that :P

Thank you for reading as well, simsample and Emperor Crat - I will definitely start outlining some of the older families from the region, considering the hood itself is 9 years old there's a lot to cover, lol.

You manage very well with that number of sims. You rock. :-)
I had almost the same amount in my previous hood and I had hard time at the end.

Haha it's not easy I will admit.

I have help a bit, I let my sister and friend play sims when they are over so some batches I don't play often get played. I do very loose rotations, enough that my most-played families are all kind of aging up at the same rate so no kids are left behind as kid-aged while their BFFs are in college. I have a backlog of Uni students at the moment that *need* to graduate and replenish the cities (which is why the cities have lower populations than the core hood at this time)

Aha ha, beautiful neighborhood, and subhoods, with their own stories..........I'll be following this one !

The Cosgrove Estate is one I built myself back in the 2007-08 era of playing. It is a patriarchal estate which means the eldest male heir inherits it and all family assets.

HISTORY:
The original family consisted of Elder Raul S. Cosgrove, a retired politician, his adult children Dillon and Mindy, and Mindy's child-aged daughter, Delilah. The estate currently is in possession of Pryce Cosgrove, the eldest grandson of Raul. The Cosgroves are considered a family from 'old money' - they are affluent, influential, and prestigious. It is said that their wealth began back in the early days of Kashmire and was gained through syndicate activity, however, the family writes that off as a vicious rumor.






OTHER PROPERTIES/ASSETS

When I got the OFB EP, I downloaded Le Theater and added it to their business holdings. It is a fancy theater and ballroom that can be rented out, it's also a place the family holds their annual masquerades .



The Cosgroves are considered a very kind and elegant family as well, pouring their funds into charity masquerades as noted above and various fundraisers to help the community. When Delilah went to Academie Le Tour she initiated a scholarship program for young women and had a Raul S. Cosgrove Scholarship house built (I built) that works loosely with the intra-college greek society.



The Cosgroves also own a lavish vacation home (I did not build) at Twikkii Island that they frequent in the winter season.



CURRENT FAMILY

Pryce Cosgrove is a charismatic and persuasive businessman. He has ties and allies with many of Kashmire's elite families - such as the Calhouns, Orbinsons, and Greystones. His father was Dillon Cosgrove and his mother was Samantha Cosgrove ('nee Harris) who was an heiress to a candy company and an Olympic swimmer. He has a twin brother named Peirce who has branched off to create another section of Cosgroves in Isla Del Kashmire. Peirce is a much more reserved and contemplative individual and they will often meet up for a game of chess at the estate.

Pryce currently runs the Le Theater business with his wife and childhood sweetheart, Adrianna ('nee Orbinson) whom he's know since he was a boy. The Orbinsons are another wealthy, established family in the region and it was a perfect match between Pryce and Adrianna.

Adrianna has been a sort of blonde bombshell her whole life, but she's more than a trophy wife. She is actually quite a schemer, has a degree in psychology and is very charitable, and heads the Isla Del Kashmire Neighborhood foundation. She enjoys yoga and socializing, and scheming to get her kids hooked up with the children of her BFF Natalie Calhoun.



Together they have three children:



Miranda, or Mira as her friends and family call her. She has just graduated Academie Le Tour, and is an alumnus of the Raul S. Cosgrove Scholarship House like her mother. She is a junior architect for a firm in Scandalica City and just purchased a home downtown.

She is currently dealing with her fiancee's memory rehabilitation. She's been best friends with Jimmy Calhoun since she was a girl and fell in love with him during college but an unfortunate accident that is still being investigated rendered Jimmy without memory so he is currently living with his parents until there is a better time to have a wedding. Mira has found herself frustrated with the loss of physical and mental intimacy she used to have with Jimmy and has turned to her ex-boyfriend (Jimmy's best friend) for a little too much comfort but what Jimmy doesn't remember won't hurt him.



Melinda Cosgrove is in her last semester at Sim State University. She is a smart cookie and has her priorities straight. She is engaged to Marty Calhoun, Jimmy's next youngest brother and they are so in love with each other it makes everyone around them gag. They also grew up as best friends and were each other's first everything. She is highly empathetic and is super nice to everyone she meets. She and her elder sister are close and the both think Marshall can be an insufferable cad.



Marshall is the youngest and only son of the Cosgroves and will inherit the estate. Marshall has always been kind of bratty and spoiled and his character has something left to be desired. He currently is president of the prestigious Hoh Frum fraternity at Sim State and is a minor character in my current sim story 'Nest of Vipers .' He is engaged to Charlotte Calhoun, Jimmy and Marty's younger sister, to appease his parents' expectations, but his desire for more has led him to cheat on her multiple times with a Cosgrove Scholarship woman named Saskia Loche who he has been close with for many years. Charlotte has not found out about this deceit yet.

I should mention that Pryce and Adrianna are best friends with the Calhouns and they've been plotting on getting all their kids married to each other since before the kids were born. It's technically worked so far with exception of Jimmy's unfortunate memory loss and their son's wandering eyes.

Thank you for posting your sims! Not only do I find the hoods themselves beautiful, but I also find that your sims are very interesting and multi-faceted as well. You did an awesome job of not only developing the sims, and giving them backstories, but ensuring that they looked interesting too! 10/10. There is also a lot of drama, and complex interpersonal relationships! I hope to see more sims from your hoods soon, okay?

Everything about this neighborhood is very beautiful. And a bit mysterious.
I really want to see more.

@Emporer Crat - thank you for the great compliment! After nine years, the families have sort of given themselves a backstory through extended play and the drama comes via mods like ACR and then technological glitches, such as Jimmy's amnesia. I had recently accidentally moved his home into the lot bin with him in it and it shredded his character file X(. So then I had to find his file in a back up and then replace it and when I came back to him, all his memories were gone! And I have a lot written up already for more of the families, I just need to get the pics to go with it!

@Booney - thank you! I do try to keep everything pleasing to the eye, especially since I am the one playing it, haha. The mysteries of Kashmire mostly stem from technical glitches throughout the years that I spin into a narrative justification. There's more to come!

Aww, lovely sims and beautiful lots!

I particularly like Marshall- and not just for his inheritance! :lovestruc

Don't fall for that handsome face simsample! He's a little shit.

Your neighborhood is just gorgeous!

Like everyone here has said, beautiful neighborhood and intriguing history from the info you've given us. :lovestruc

Thank you, everyone for your wonderful compliments on my hood so far. For this post, I am introducing another prominent family in Kashmire - The Orbinsons.

FAMILY HISTORY

The original family consisted of adults Kent and Margaret, their children Missy (teen), Milo (child), Kerry (child), and Garrison (toddler). The Orbinson family estate is one of the first homes I built in Kashmire, it is also a patriarchal estate, so the eldest son inherits the home on the provision his parents can also live there until they pass away. I guess they just don't like the idea of being put into assisted living and it helps them get along super well with their grandkids as they grow up. The estate has three bedrooms and a fourth bedroom that was renovated to a study. A sitting room/parlor, an upper living room that is also a rec room, a backroom workshop, a small orchard, and a large private pond.





Kent was an up and coming scientist developing robotic AI, and with his newfound wealth in grants, he purchased an estate on the east side of Isla Del Kashmire. This is why the family is considered 'new' money as far as the history of the region goes. Margaret was a meek woman, she didn't socialize very much but loved her family with all her heart. It shocked the entire community when she disappeared* There were no leads on what happened to her or where she could have gone. The repercussions of her disappearance were staggering to the Orbinsons. Her eldest daughter started acting out, she fought with Kent constantly and refused to take up the burden of caring for her younger siblings. Kent's work suffered as he became despondent. Kerry, the youngest daughter withdrew into herself and stopped socializing. Garrison was too young to really remember and Milo had a good network of school friends to console him after the incident.

Kent eventually re-married to a woman named Joy Palmer and she moved to the estate with her two daughters, Janna and Kimmy. It made for a slightly awkward situation because the only reason he met Joy was through Milo's girlfriend, Janna. Joy was her mother. So Milo and Janna broke up for awhile when they lived together as step-family.

The original Orbinson Children (Clockwise from back left: Kerry, Missy, Garrison, and Milo Orbinson - about when they were turning into elders)


Missy eventually took her portion of her mother's assets and moved to Scandalica City to play semi-pro tennis. There, she was seduced by a grifter that had a liking toward blonde, wealthy women and he left her with a surprise pregnancy and broken heart. She had one daughter named Adrianna, whom we know as Mrs. Pryce Cosgrove. The con-man eventually was eaten by a cow plant because karma is a bitch. No one was sad he died.

Kerry came a bit more out of her shell and turned out more like her mother than anyone realized. She found love with Maxwell Wellington and had two children, Jillian and Jonas, with him but eventually divorced him when she caught him making out with her sister-in-law. Later in life, she found a second chance at love with a lawyer named Paul Mills and lived with him and her son's family until her death.

Garrison went to Sim State University and found himself. He found out he liked men and had a series of flings but then fell in love with a younger man, who was friends with a few of his nieces and married him. They are settled down with three cats in Memosa Bay and Garrison writes advice columns for the Kashmire Quirk, the regional newspaper.

Milo was a popularity sim and it did him well in his political ambitions. He established himself by winning many elections. He ended up saying 'screw it' and married Janna despite her being his step-sister. Besides, they loved each other before his father married Joy Palmer so Kent and Joy could suck it up. There was a minor scandal cover up when his wife drunkenly made out with his brother-in-law at a dinner party. The fallout mostly affected Kerry and Maxwell's relationship. He couldn't afford to cut Janna loose for the indiscretion in an election year and have supporters question his ability to keep his family under wraps. There was a definite coldness between them for many years for that, and this was when it started being imperative that the Orbinsons keep a good public face or risk tarnishing the family reputation. Milo and Janna had three children--Sophia, Maggie, and Lawrence. Milo was elected Mayor and served the position for many years until he stepped down due to poor health. He enjoyed working on old cars, fishing with his family, and listening to his granddaughters play music and watching them dance.

Sophia was not at all satisfied with the mild manners and propriety she was expected to have as part of the Orbinson family. She rebelled in many minor ways during her teenage years by sneaking out at night, not doing her homework for days, and her biggest rebellion of all was the affection she carried for Halen Louis (who will be covered in a later 'Louis family' post). Her family vastly disapproved of Halen but she went ahead and married him after completing college anyway. It wasn't as big of a hit to Milo's career as they had originally thought but the whole family nearly came undone for what Maggie did. Sophia produced four daughters with Halen named Amanda, Cecily, Millie, and Madeline. She also opened up her own dance studio where she publicly berates people for their horrible pliets and also teaches them how to slap dance.

Sophia right after she had an elder birthday


Maggie, named after her vannished grandmother, and being a middle child was prone to attention-seeking and reckless behavior to get noticed. She slept around, was on the arm of many prosperous men of Kashmire, and had a bad gambling addiction. Her father shunned her after an article in a tabloid surfaced of her embezzling town hall funds to fuel her gambling. She lived with Sophia for awhile and au paired for her nieces but found it tiresome and left. Since she was cut off from her family funds she reached into her little black book for some permanent cash-flow. She played a dangerous love game with the notorious playboy of a musician, Shaun Piper and ended up entrapping him into a marriage. She currently makes herself scarce, can be found gambling in Pandora most weekends and ignoring her husband completely. He is fine with the arrangement since he hates her.

This was the exact moment Maggie owned Shaun.


CURRENT FAMILY

Lawrence was the only child that Milo and Janna didn't have to worry about embarrassing the family. Lawrence was a thoughtful kid, and he knew he wanted to go into politics just like his father. He was an honored member of Hoh Fruhm fraternity at Sim State where he made many connections and he graduated with a political science degree. He ended up marrying a woman named Noelle Wellington, who was his ex-girlfriend's older sister, and produced three children--Victoria, Evelyn Jane, and Reginald. Lawrence is currently the mayor of Kashmire, like his father before him and currently in-game it is actually an election year and he hopes to serve another four seasons. One thing to note was that he was good friends with Pryce Cosgrove in college, as they were in the same fraternity however due to Lawrence's unwillingness to veto a bill while Mayor to protect some acreage of land Pryce was eyeing for business development, that relationship has gone sour.

Throwback Pic of Lawrence


Current Picture of the Mayor and his wife


Victoria Orbinson is Lawrence and Noelle's eldest child. She is considered very kind and princess-like but she's also kind of an enthusiastic nerd when it comes to stargazing or bug-collecting. She is the perfect blend of down to earth and proper elegance when it comes to representing the Orbinsons. She is a fabulous dancer, has taken lessons since she was a girl and made up her own dance routines for her and her sister to perform during the childhood summers. Victoria is engaged to a man named Sawyer Wellington (damn all these Wellingtons hooking up with Orbinsons, what gives?) and has as of late, turned into a bridezillah.



Evelyn Jane Orbinson is a very calculating individual. She is considered cold-hearted and ruthless by many of her peers but through intense observation of her family, she knows how the game for power is played and she usually plays it very well. She is a main character in my sims stories (BOTB /NOV ) and through events in there, she currently is in a heck of a predicament. The powerplay went awry and now she's being blackmailed into an affair with a much older man while she tries to maintain her grades at Academie Le Tour. She is president of the Raul S. Cosgrove Scholarship House and is a remarkable violinist.



Reggie Orbinson, or 'Reginald' as he is called by his mother when she is angry is a socially awkward young man who has confidence issues due to being picked on in grade school. He has tremendous pressure on his shoulders and is also known to brood, knowing he is expected to go into a political career and needs to start seriously considering his future on that path. Some may call him a pretentious tool just because of how he was raised to appreciate the finer things in life and his privilege can be seen a mile away. He is a decent pianist and he's slightly obsessed with a girl named Alanna Thackery. He is also a main character in my sims stories.





OTHER PROPERTIES/ASSETS

This is the city hall where two generations of Orbinson Mayors have worked (Downloaded here )


Lawrence and Noelle were married on a beach in Twikkii, therefore they sprung for a seafront vacation home for the family to keep going back and basking in romantic memories (Downloaded here )


Footnotes:
*'Dissappeared', as in I did a VBT and the game offed her character file in the days before I had SimPe.

Uh oh, poor Margaret! Did you have to repair any damage- does she still appear on the family tree? So nice that she has an ancestor named after her!


For some reason, that made me laugh out loud!

I really love the Orbinson estate, what a stunning house! My favourite pics are the ones of Vikki and Evie. :lovestruc

PS: I'm betting that the current mayor and his wife both dye their hair! Noelle has beautiful eyes.

I'm glad you got a chuckle out of it. Sophia and her specific brood are a hilariously quirky family, her daughters are based on my friend's family in real-life (including her dance-studio owning mother) so their ridiculous happenings I chronicle and send to her and will link in the Louis post.

I'm willing to bet your guess at hair dye is true for the mayor and his wife. That would be something they would do as they are always in the public eye, being such a prominent political family. It's about time for them to go grey for real and embrace age! Noelle's black hair/green eye combo is known as the 'Wellington' look, she passed it to Evie and several other descendants of the first Wellington family sport the hair/eye coloring.

As for Margaret, I could do nothing. This happened back in my very naive days of play and when I was playing the hood on a mac no less - it's actually a small miracle this hood is still bumping along. Margaret got replaced on the family tree with a random kid named Simon Stone but then years later when I found simblender, I removed him from all family ties as their mother and wrote the situation off as her disappearing into the night/cold case.

Thanks for reading!

First of all that part about Maggie made me laugh


I love how deep the backstories of your families are. You did a great work.
You have great building, decorating and posing skills. I love your pictures.

I'm wondering if you're using an aging mod.

Essa, I started using an aging mod a few years ago, I want to say around 2015. I forgot which one but it essentially lengthens toddlers to 6 days, children and teens may get a few extra too, adults lifespans are about 30ish days and it shortens elders lifespans as well. That's why after 9 years, the Orbinsons are only into a fourth generation and not more. I was just kind of annoyed how fast adults seem to age with natural born children vs a CAS family made with children. The latter always seemed to stay adult longer because they never had to 'raise' their children and got all their adult days back as soon as they were plopped on a lot to play.

The backstories develop naturally through the length game play and it's kind of fun to go into depth for some memorable personalities. If you are ever interested in more exposition/pics and haven't already, I invite you to read my stories in the sims 2 story forum - there's a lot more drama and in-depth looks at my Kashmire sims there.

Thanks for your comment

I did start to read BOTB and I liked it and then life went on the way. I really enjoyed the drama in the story and the posing.

I barely create CAS family with children. I'd rather get born in game sims.

Pesky life distractions! Lol. Maybe some day you can get back into it when you have time and let me know your favorite character.

That makes a whole lot more sense, I didn't ever think of it! I think I was just eager to play different life stages when I started that I tried a whole different variety of CAS families (using the pacifier to at least get genetic children in CAS - which you would get with a born-in-game sim). Right now though, a majority of my current playable sims were born in game because after so many CAS famillies at the beginning, they have all repopulated and I rarely need to add new CAS sims anymore.

This hood might have a time travel aspect coming. Hard drives died on me today, SSD with the back up is looking grim. The last viable back up files I have are from July 2013. Dead sims would be alive again, young sims...not even born yet.

Oh my, that's really bad news.