Grouse
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Grouse, officially the City of Grouse, and sometimes informally spelled Grous, is the county seat of Cariboo County, the modern cultural and political hub of Northern Cascadia, and the second-largest city in Cascadia, with 130 residents. Located in the central region of the British Columbian interior, it is one of Cascadia's most important cities in modern times, substantially influencing commerce, politics, and culture; not just in the north, but nationally. The city has a ceremonial mayor, currently Pancen, with governing power vested in the Grouse City Council, presently consisting of 3 members, and the city manager, currently PavTheYT, who oversees the administration of the municipal government.
History
Early history
The area in which Grouse currently resides was originally uninhabited, even as the Oregon Empire dominated the broader northwest region. This was changed when, shortly following the formation of Cascadia, the town of Bend was founded in what is now Central Grouse in July 2022, by CatPerson136. Bend was the only Cascadian settlement located in the still-sparse BC Interior. Bend's status as the dominant town in the Cascadian north was short lived, as the coastal town of Hope Island, and the former Oregonian town of New Salem (renamed to Avola), soon outpaced Bend in terms of activity, population, and development.
In 2023, Bend would be one of the territories apart of the Rocky Mountain Rebellion, although the town would go into ruin at some point in 2024, with major cities such as Prince George and Baroque Works, and smaller towns such as Mazama, taking up most of the influence in the region now associated with the Grouse metropolitan area.
Then, on January 20, 2025, the remains of what was once Bend had been claimed by Grouse’s founder StarsOverriden. During this time, he developed a spawn area but with no success in achieving a proper stagnate population. He remained hopeful for a few months before then becoming disinterested in EarthMC. With the help of what was Cascadia’s then Home Affairs Secretary LadyEsquimalt, he transferred ownership to Pancen who had been residing in Augusta, Vermont. He was an immigrant from the North Sea Republic who yearned for a place to call home.
Throughout the course of mid-2025, Grouse experienced a population boom, renaming to simply "Grouse” after it had been named Grouse Mountain by StarsOverriden. It quickly outpaced towns like Avola and Mazama to become the largest settlement in Cariboo County by far, and eventually the whole of Northern Cascadia. It became the county seat in mid-2025, taking the role from Avola. Cariboo County itself experienced a massive population growth as well, previously being a relatively insignificant and sparsely populated rural county in the north in contrast to the traditional "urban north" along the coast of British Columbia.
Political and economical development
It was very early on when Pancen, with the help of his residents ka_tie, NightGhost821, and Candaman had decided to form a mix of a council-manager/weak-mayor city government structure. Residents were able to vote for three council members, and in turn the council would then nominate a town manager and its deputy counterpart. The first council was enacted into power sometime in late May of 2025, and through this first session the town had begun to sort out its identity.
The council decided on NightGhost821 to be their first town manager. During this first session, the council had chosen a city flag that resembled the real life Grouse bird and begun construction on the town’s infrastructure. The council passed ordinances that aided in the town’s first PVP arena and hired builders in the town to construct a new spawn that had since been outdated. The roads saw massive improvement as ka_tie led its development from changing its dirt paths to a mixture of stones that had azalea leaves. Other council members constructed a faster way in obtaining drops from animals, along with creating their own businesses that boosted economic growth in the small town.
Dabbied’s Bakery was one of the more notable businesses as it served as the first bakery to be created in town. Owned by Dabbied, his influence in town prompted usage of the market stalls in the town center. A variety of items were sold, such as an underrated business that was owned by MC_Bubbls that promoted 3g mending – the lowest price in the entirety of EarthMC at the time of its creation. Filled with inspiration from businesses springing up, ka_tie made and advertised the first grocery market in the town. Her store had become popular among residents and tourists alike as it became a pit spot for free food and resources. To this day, the building still stands with its copper roof just north of the market center. As town politics became more popular in town, this came with unwarranted drama. DrPogFoot, a notable resident and businessman, had begun to create a monopoly on land that Grouse offered. He owned so much at one point that the town had to buy from him in order to accommodate and provide homes for new residents. The consequences of his actions then led to a chunk resell bill that limited just how much a resident could sell. Dissatisfied with the decision that council passed, he then ran for councillor between the months of June and July and promoted a capitalist campaign that focused on giving businesses more power. The council at the time was dissatisfied with his actions, which led many to believe that DrPogFoot would undermine the government. They gradually came to accept him, and as ka_tie took over for NightGhost821 as the new town manager, she took the risk and promoted him to deputy. DrPogFoot to this day is highly regarded for the work he completed, even more so as he, Pancen, and ka_tie brought Grouse onto the national stage by becoming renowned representatives and cabinet members during the three term span of BergenFly’s presidency.
The town continued to see development as more jobs were created. Infrastructure became a subject of importance as ka_tie hired a resident by the name of hx06a (formally known as med_hadi_a). He had become the first Director of Infrastructure and held this title until December of 2025. Under hx06a’s itinerary, the town saw improvement in poor areas that lacked any infrastructural progress. Town projects had also become more increasingly popular, which in turn promoted residential growth and made Grouse more appealing for other Cascadians to visit. One of the most notable to move to the city was melvinm04, the mayor of WildWood, who saw Grouse as an opportunistic venture. Another resident by the name of Mjap04 had used Grouse’s popularity as a way to create a political party in the city that promoted the idea of seceding from Cascadia called the Amethyst Party, but it didn’t get far.
Tensions began rising when melvinm04 tried doing what DrPogFoot had done – which was trying to obtain a monopoly on the land Grouse offered. He challenged many laws but wasn’t close enough to breaking them. Hx06a, along with another resident by the name of skklz, constantly tried to undermine and make laws that were to specifically target melvinm04. This led to fights that slowly transformed into political toxicity that started to affect all members in the city government. It had become so strong that on December 12, 2025, half of Grouse’s government and about a dozen residents had fled and sought refuge in the respective towns of WildWood and Oakwood. This event is known as the Great Grouse Exodus.
Battle of West Grouse
Grouse Bombings
On December 12, 2025, med_hadi_a (now hx06a), skklz, MucsleMommies, and average9199 placed hundreds of blocks of TNT all over Grouse and detonated them across the city, damaging a majority of the buildings in the city. In addition to this, med_hadi_a also emptied the town bank of all its funds, nuked the Grouse discord server, and kicked everybody else out of town.
Within 48 hours of the incident, med_hadi_a and his co-conspirators were outlawed from the town and Cascadia, and the destroyed chunks were returned back to normal. As such, Grouse was able to recover, and former residents rejoined the town and the discord server. med_hadi_a and his associates now reside in North Alaska.
Today
Business
The famous chain steakhouse franchise, Alliance Steakhouse, is based out of and has its HQ in Grouse.
