Nation Building The Sundered West Lore

[Emperor Scorpious II]

This thread is for developing lore for the Sundered West nation building RP.

The Beginning of the End

In the year of our lord 1784, former general and American hero George Washington went on an expedition to western Pennsylvania to survey land he owned there. While out on the trip, he caught a terrible case of pneumonia, leaving him bedridden for days. Though after a month of illness, he recovered from the sickness, it left him frail and with a permanent cough.

Three years later, a convention of the states was held in Philadelphia, PA to discuss reforms of Articles of Confederation and their failure to govern. Washington was invited to lead the convention, but due to his health, he solemnly turned it down, stating, "The future of America will be governed by the future generations." Delegates from all states disputed ways of reform, and eventual replacement of the Articles of Confederation. A Virginia Plan was proposed giving large states more power, along with a New Jersey Plan to counter it for smaller states. As the convention continued over the weeks, partisanship grew between federalists and anti-federalists.

After unending debate, Rhode Island withdrew from the convention. Patrick Henry, leading the anti-federalists, then withdrew Virginia's delegation from Philly. With the most populous, and central state, of the union gone, the convention unraveled. Disputes over territories west resulted in the rest of the southern states withdrawing, along with Connecticut. The remaining delegates concluded that the United States could no longer function as a united country, publishing a declaration:

We the People of the United States, unable to form a more perfect union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our States, do veto and disassemble these United States of America.​

Sixty Years Later...

In the decades following disunited states of America formed their own republics and factions arose. In 1801, the first border war between united states erupted with the Republic of Maryland invading the Republic of Delaware in a 3 month “Summer War”, resulting in the annexation of all of Delaware. With Boston’s strong economic power and diplomacy, the republics of Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire joined Massachusetts to create the Commonwealth of New England in order to counterbalance the Republic of New York’s growing power and wealth. New Jersey, suffering from corruption and economic stagnation following the failed constitutional convention, was partitioned between the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Republic of New York.

Without a unified government, native tribes west of the Appalachians strengthened their holds against settler expansion. The Cherokee people, seeing the advances of a European-style government, began to centralize and “civilize” themselves with their own writing and republic. The Shawnee Confederacy centralized under Tecumseh while neighboring Illinois Confederacy followed suit. The Seminole Tribes unified also under a central chief, but after numerous wars with the Georgian Republic were pushed to the southern reaches of the Florida peninsula.


Rise of Empires & Revolutions

Without strong republicanism in North America, a retention of monarchy spread in the west. Mexico retained the crown of the Iturbides, though has become unpopular since the crowning of Agustín II in 1829. Considered weaker than his father, his 20 year reign thus far has been wrecked by constant secessionist movements and an ever weakening economy. The Empire of Brazil continues, economically prosperous but politically unstable with several civil and secession wars in its short imperial history also. Managing to survive his plight with yellow fever, Toussaint Louverture managed to secure the entire island of Hispaniola and with political pressure, took the crown of emperor. The “Caribbean Crown” continues to rule the island under Saint-Jean I, despite 2 unsuccessful rebellions thus far with more expected in the future.

Conflict and instability in the old US drove many American immigrants into Canada, which fueled the Upper and Lower Canadian Rebellions into successful independence movements, leaving the United Kingdom holding only Newfoundland & Labrador and the Hudson Bay Company holdings in the northern continent, which have swelled in the past few years with Roman Catholic Irish immigrants fleeing famine and death in their homeland.

Simón Bolívar continues to rule Gran Colombia into his old age, continuing to centralize power around his presidency which he is elected to unopposed every time. While a war with Peru has carved out the Republic of Ecuador as a buffer state between the two nations, Bolívar has kept his nation together if only by his name alone. His continued presence in South America have inspired many other republican movements, carving themselves out of the Empire of Brazil and fragmenting the Argentinian Confederacy.

For God, Country, and Crown

The Second Great Awakening brought forth Joseph Smith’s Mormonism movement, though finding no home in the east moved into the center of the continent, carving out the Republic of Zion along the Mississippi River but a schism within the church led James Strang to found the Kingdom of New Canaan north of the republic, with himself as monarch. The Mormon States have remained at an uneasy peace three years since their establishment but tension over dogma and borders continue to grow.

Many other religious revivals continue throughout the North American continent, creating a wave of missionaries “set forth to liberate the savages of the west from their heathen beliefs”. Many Amerindians have adopted the Christian faith, but often mix it with traditional beliefs.

The Catholic Church, once a pillar that held society and government together, has weakened with many republican secession wars, having property seized and rights reduced wherever liberal governments in Latin America have arisen. As a reaction, the monarchies and conservative governments have grown closer to the Church to ensure the survival of the One, True Church in their realms.

New Nations, Old Institutions: Slavery in the West

While slavery has been abandoned by the Old World, nations in the west continue to build their prosperity on the backs of the chained. The economies of the “Old American South” have ingrained their wealth on enslaved Africans and their descendants while nations in Latin America continue with their policies of enslavement as most abolitionists secede from the nation with various republican rebellions. With the diffusion of culture, many Amerindian tribes in North America neighboring these slave nations have slowly begun to adopt the institution in some form. Despite all this, abolitionist movements in general are on the rise, with Freedom Societies forming in the Old American northeast and Canada arguing for their nations to intervene on behalf of Negroes south of them.

Further pressure from the United Kingdom has put diplomatic strains on most of the Americas, as the Royal Navy actively hunts slave ships off the coast of Africa as well as the West Indies. English pressure have pushed Spain to end slavery in its remaining colonies, while its politics have reduced some trade between the Americas and Europe.

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Religion in the Western Hemisphere, 1850

Yellow: Catholicism
Blue: Protestant Denominations
Green: Mormonism
Brown: Amerindian traditional beliefs



Slavery in the Western Hemisphere, 1850

 

[Emperor Scorpious II]

The Ozark Federation

The most unique nation of the North American continent remains to be the Ozak Federation, defining itself as a nation of opportunity and freedom while its neighbors define it as "The Lawless Country". Settlement began in the early 1800s with little governance by the French, Spanish, or Anglo-Americans to the east, leaving many towns and colonies to develop their own laws and leadership.

As nations began to build themselves around the region - Mormons to the north, Amerindians to the west and east, and Louisiana to the south - the Ozark towns began to be filled by pioneers, frontiersmen, and bandits alike trying to find their own individual freedom from civilization around them. As the population swelled, inter-town governments emerged until the largest counties of the region joined into the creation of the Ozark Federation in 1833. While Springfield has been named its capital, the city of St Louis with its size and wealth along the Mississippi has been at times a political counterbalance to the rest of the country, acting in some years as a city-state rather than part of a greater nation.

As it stands today, with President John C. Frémont as leader of the Federation, it stands in a fragile state. Enforcement of uniform laws throughout the country is difficult, if not impossible at times and barely more than a band of loyal sheriffs and their deputies act as any kind of formal military for the federation. The main industry of the nation seems to be bounty hunting, as any criminal or fugitive slave with a price on his head seeks a new fortune or a new hideout in a country whose foundations were built on peripherals of civilization.

 

[Emperor Scorpious II]

Commonwealth of Virginia

As the oldest colonized region on the eastern seaboard, Virginia stands tall as one of the most powerful countries in North America with a rich history and powerful military and naval tradition. After the failure of the Continental Convention, Virginia struck out on its own with Patrick Henry at the helm. Having borne some of the most famous members of the American War for Independence, Virginia's leaders had been established as heroes and legends in their own right. Thomas Jefferson, Richard Henry Lee, James Madison, James Monroe, Patrick Henry, all these names are brought into the annals of history as some of the greatest men to have even been from Virginia.

But now, a new generation comes to take the reigns of the presidency as the reins pass from old to the new with Kentuckian-born Abraham Lincoln being sworn in as 8th President of the Commonwealth of Virginia. A self-made, non-slave owning man coming into the presidency would have been unthinkable 20 years ago. But the times are changing, as it the climate of politics. Abraham Lincoln represent the next-generation as Virginia soldiers on into the future. The new president faces the issue of the Cherokee and the Ohio-River Valley Indians as well as growing border tensions with Pennsylvania while internally Virginia sees a growing movement for the better treatment of slaves as well as the counter-movement opposing it. Can President Lincoln hold the nation together in the face of tensions outside and within?

List of Presidents of Virginia

1. George Washington
2. Patrick Henry
3. Thomas Jefferson
4. James Monroe
5. James Madison
6. John Tyler
7. Zachary Taylor
8. Abraham Lincoln

 

[Emperor Scorpious II]

Los Cosiatos

The term “La Cosiata” has no meaning in Spanish. Coined by the followers of General José Antonio Páez, it was meant to be a word whose meaning would be built by the movement whose adherents called themselves Cosiatos. The great Caudillo who had fought alongside Simón Bolívar to free his country from the grasp of Imperial Spain now turned against his old master after a series of indignations that had seen Venezuelan patriots accused of improprieties and convicted by juries not of their Venezuelan peers, but of Gran Colombian bureaucrats. With the health of El Libertador failing and the unity of Gran Colombia on the decline, Venezuelan cadres flock to the side of Generalissimo Páez, distributing pamphlets and holding secret committee meetings on the vast plantations and in the basements of Caracas.

Among the Cosiatos, a consensus has emerged for a sovereign Venezuelan Republic that can pursue its interests separate of Gran Colombia. Many questions remain outstanding. First and foremost is the form of government. The poor who clamor for radical change hope for an abolitionist democracy with all the trappings of a modern enlightenment nation. Meanwhile, the elites who have the ear of Páez see the experiment of federative democracy as failed and push the Generalissimo to declare himself a dictator and lead an authoritarian government that puts national prosperity first at any cost.

As the ties that bind Gran Colombia begin to unravel, the Cosiatos appear to be a death sentence for a Latin American superpower. What will be seen is how many lives it will cost to move Venezuela into the next chapter of its history.

 

[Emperor Scorpious II]

The Aristocracy of New York

New York is a land of old names and old wealth, many whose origins pre-date those of the englishmen and various others who call what was once New Netherlands home. During the colonial era their wealth grew to immense proportions with familial estates numbering in the hundreds of thousands of acres, superb for the era. These families, whose names include Livingston, Schuyler, Van Der Donck, and Van Rensselaer, amongst others, would intermarry and inherit their wealth and lands from one another, solidifying a rigid upper class that accepted few but the most wealthy and cultured new comers.

During the revolution many of these families vehemently supported the American Cause, seeing it as both a way to further their status and stop British impediment on their wealth. Though many of their tenants sided with the British they were soon cowed by both General Washington and the New York militias. These landholders were the men who first sat as New York’s representatives during the Continental Congress, and later on to help draft the Articles of Confederation. And when the great dream of a pan-American union came quashing down it was them who would become the senators and presidents of the Grand Republic.

To date all of the Presidents have had some kind of marriage or blood ties to one another. Yet under the righteous and wise leadership of President Hamilton the New York population would acquiesce to the presence of their de facto nobility, voicing their concerns and maintaining control of the House of Representatives. However with the Senators holding life long terms, and the Presidency in the hands of the Lords of the Hudson, few can deny that New York has become a Merchant Republic to the likes of those that once dotted Italy. Though time will tell if these manorial lords, including the Patroon of Rensselaerswyck, a title shared by now two Presidents, will retain their power indefinitely as New York steams its way into the Modern Age.

 

[Emperor Scorpious II]

Georgia, God's Green Earth.

Georgia of the 1850s is either one of the best places to live (outside of London or Paris) or one of the worst. The crucial difference is, of course, one’s socioeconomic status, which is a distinction that is often clearly demarked by race. Put simply, in the finest tailors of Savannah, Atlanta or Jacksonville, you will never see a negro.

The country has a robust economy and utilises its massive slave population for agriculture, mining (notably except gold mining) and cotton picking. This then clothes and feeds the white middle-class whose contribution is predominantly skilled employment, one of the main occupations is gun-smithing and weaponry engineering. As aside from making some of the nation’s money off of the backs of the slaves and mining, Georgia’s riches have come from selling guns. A lot of guns. Naturally this has brought Georgia into brief conflict with England but thanks to countless wars against its neighbours and near-neighbours in the early part of the century, a significant naval build-up and fortification network has guaranteed Georgian independence. If only because the British bookmakers have done the math and understood that more money would be lost than gained via any hostile takeover of the Georgian gun trade.

The proliferation of guns throughout the country and the high concentration of slaves are, in hindsight, obviously a bad combination and numerous minor slave revolts culminated in a major slave uprising in the late ‘40s. This was eventually put down, sadly after the razing of Atlanta. Which declined in status from the country’s largest city to its third largest, despite investment into a robust rebuilding and resettlement program.


Given its history and continued proximity to the most plantations and farms, it is unlikely to regain its popularity for some time. Why travel to Atlanta when Savannah is the seat of power, has a street literally plated in gold (rumoured to have been put in place to attract European tourists, though there have been scurrilous allegations it is fool’s gold) culture and has a wonderful series of golf and social clubs?

As a result of the aforementioned ‘Johnny Black’ uprising, Alexander Hamilton Stephens became President of Georgia on a ‘segregationist’ platform. The main thrust of this was a measure dictating that blacks are barred from entering any of the main cities, even as servants and it was opposed by none, even the liberals (if they could be called that- Georgia is not a place such an idealist would feel welcome). This works threefold, it prevents a future uprising from accessing the weapons factories (which was judged a key factor in their early success), for the rare free negro it keeps them from well-paid jobs and, as put by Stephens, there is a ‘social’ benefit as well. Whether this is a good policy, only history will tell, but, for the moment at least, Georgia is a bastion of wealth, industry and happiness amid the current unrest that rankles across the Americas.

 

[Emperor Scorpious II]

The Three Canadas, in Brief​

The Quebec Republic
Following a successful rebellion against the English colonial government, the territory known as Lower Canada rebuilt itself into the francophone nation of the Quebec Republic in 1839. With independence came the dominance of the Parti Canadien which focused heavily on republicanism and liberalism. Winning election after election over the following decade beating out the conservative Blue Party and the Quebec Monarchy Party, leading to closer ties to the Republic of France and the Commonwealth of New England. However, a unity move between the Blue Party and the Quebec Monarchy Party in 1848 led to the election of conservative Narcisse-Fortunat Belleau. Goals of Belleau and the conservative coalition is to grow closer ties with the Catholic Church that dominate domestic life in the country and other conservative policies, but only the future will tell how long the coalition between the Monarchists and the Blues will last regardless of their conservative values shared.

Republic of Canada
Following on the footsteps of the Lower Canada Rebellion in 1837, poor farmers and lower class workers rose up in rebellion in Toronto fueled by filibusters from the Anglo-American nations south of the colony. With the English suffering a disastrous campaign in Lower Canada already, the rebellion in Upper Canada cut off critical supplies to the English, eventually allowing for both rebellions to throw out their English colonial governments. Heavily influenced by the American nations around it, the Republic of Canada quickly established a parliamentary constitutional government and a presidency. Unlike Quebec however, no one party seems to have dominated Canadian politics throughout the nation's decade long life as there are two liberal parties - the Canadian Republican Party and the Patriots Party, splitting urban and rural voters, while also having two conservative parties - the Unionist Party and the minority Parti Français, one for general conservative policies and renewed ties to the English crown and the latter built by the minority francophone speakers wanting union with the Quebec Republic. Despite the divisions in Canadian politics, Wolfred Nelson, an English-born liberal with sympathies to the French has managed to unite the country behind him with his election in 1849. Unlike other Anglo-American nations, the Republic of Canada maintains healthy and good relations with the various Amerindian tribes around it.

Republic of Acadia
The republic of Acadia has derived its history more from outside pressure than what the inhabitants have wanted. Following a Quebec invasion and occupation of the region in the latter years of the Lower Canadian Rebellion, Acadians once expelled from the region soon returned with Quebec's hopes of turning it into a french speaking province. However, stronger ties to the English crown than any other part of the Canadian region led the English speaking residents to throw off Quebec control in 1840, after Quebec had won its war of independence. Heavily mixed between pro-unionist English speakers, pro-Quebec francophones, and Irish Catholics in between, the nation managed to organize itself into an independent republic, though heavily modeled after the parliament of England. The current president, English-born Edmund Walker Head, keeps an uneasy union between the different factions of his country, helped heavily by the Commonwealth of New England whose goals are to keep stability on its northern frontier.