Aurora:Cascadia
This page is for the current sovereign state on Terra Aurora named the Republic of Cascadia. For the federal republic by the same name on Terra Nova, see Cascadia (Nova).
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Cascadia, officially the Republic of Cascadia, is a country located on the West Coast of North America. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, forests, lakes, mountains, and grassy plains, and borders the USA and Wollaston to the northeast, Texas to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west, and Yukon to the northwest. With a population of 250, it is the most populated nation in the Pacific Northwest and is the 2nd most populous in North America, ranking 10th worldwide. The capital of Cascadia is Olympia and its largest city is Seattle, with major blocks of population fairly evenly distributed across the nation's territory. Since October 8, 2022, the in-game nation of Washington has been apart of Cascadia as a vassal, and is treated as apart of the nation of Cascadia for all political purposes, despite its status in-game as separate.
Cascadia originated from the settlement of the city of Seattle on the first day of the server, which was established as the third town in North America. It was founded by Chrysoprasus, along with Vorobyevite, EstiQT, and SayerQT, and was intended to be a trading outpost and to eventually form a nation called Washington. This plan soon turned downhill, with an unfavorable and unstable geopolitical position in the Region dominated by California, with many members from this original cast of founders leaving to Russia, leaving SayerQT alone to run the rump of a settlement, eventually moving to a new settlement in Olympia. SayerQT created the nation of Cascadia, with its capital in Olympia, and including the town of Seattle, on July 13, 2022, much to the dismay of the nearby Oregon Empire who saw their northwest hegemony threatened. Cascadia soon became an associate nation of New Mexico, a state of the United States of America, and signed a mutual defense treaty with Australia. It soon grew, with many new towns in the area either joining or being founded by Cascadia, and while a full democracy was planned from the start, a Provisional Constitution was ratified and first general elections for President, Chief Judge, and the House of Representatives were held on August 17, 2022, electing acting President SayerQT for a full term as its first President with 82.4% of the vote.
Under the presidency of ViolentVampire, the nation experienced rapid growth, and oversaw the Six-Hour War and the subsequent liberation of Washington from Oregon and the incorporation of Washington into Cascadia. This, tied with the later outright purchase of Oregon in December 2022, led to Cascadia being the undisputed power in the Western United States, with territory as far north as the Arctic Ocean and as far south as Phoenix. Throughout the course of 2023, Cascadia solidified its influence, both regionally and internationally, while simultaneously fending off against internal and external forces, including divisive politics, regional populism, the secession of the Rocky Mountain Federation, the fascist Osoyoos movement, and the nascent Wagner Group, and dozens of minor forces that chipped at the sovereignty of the Republic. In June 2024, Texas invaded Cascadia and started the Great American War, which concluded with a Cascadian victory with the signing of the Treaty of Vancouver that September. Despite the challenges, Cascadia continues to be a strong and influential liberal democracy.
Cascadia is a unitary constitutional presidential republic, with three separate branches of government, including a unicameral legislature consisting of an elected House of Representatives, an executive branch headed by a President, and a judicial branch headed by a Supreme Court. Cascadia is a founding member of the Organization of Free Nations and enjoys key relationships with major trade partners such as Brazil and regional political partners such as Vermont. It is a social democracy with a social market economy, notable for its large public sector. The nation is notable for it's democracy, currently existing as not only one of the largest democracies on the server and the longest continuously existing democracy in minecraft. The nation's Department of State maintains active relations with multiple nations across the server, while the Department of Defense combats it's enemies.
Etymology
The earliest attested use of the term "Cascades" in real life the mountain range dates to 1825, in the writings of botanist David Douglas. During geological explorations in the early 1900s the term was first applied to the region. The name 'Cascadia' was first used by the town Cascadia, Oregon that was settled in 1890 in what is now Linn County. The name "Cascadia" was first applied to the whole geologic region by Bates McKee in his 1972 geology textbook Cascadia; the geologic evolution of the Pacific Northwest. Later the name was adopted by David McCloskey, a Seattle University sociology professor, to describe it as a bioregion. McCloskey describes Cascadia as "a land of falling waters." He notes the blending of the natural integrity and the sociocultural unity that gives Cascadia its definition.
On many earth towny servers in the vein of EarthMC, Cascadia is a somewhat common nation name to occur in this region of North America, typically being centered in a city such as Seattle or Astoria. On the previous EarthMC server, Terra Nova, the Republic of Cascadia was a democratic republic existing for nearly 3 years in the region, waxing and waning in size and influence throughout the continent. While some members from Terra Nova's Cascadia are apart of Cascadia on Aurora, most of the population and government are different, and Cascadia on Aurora is a completely different nation and entity.
History
Pre-History
In Terra Nova, the region was mostly dominated by first by the Republic of Cascadia, then later split between Cascadia, the Salish Confederation, and the State of Jefferson, the former two eventually merging to form the Evergreen Republic four months prior to the announcement of Terra Aurora. Cascadia on Nova, the Salish Confederation, and the later Evergreen Republic were all pillars of democracy and self-rule in a mostly autocratic server; and the system's dominance over the region was profound. When Terra Aurora was announced, the Evergreen Republic was not unified in their path to settle on the new server. A large chunk went on to form Nevada in the southwestern united states, some citizens who ended up leaving Evergreen just before the release of Aurora ended up forming what is now the Oregon Empire, and many settled and formed Mexico, as well as lots of other evergreen diaspora across the new server in places such as California or Indochina. However, a few Evergreen citizens, led by EstiQT ended up deciding on staying in the Northwest, and to create a trading outpost called Seattle on the first day of the server, to gather resources, to become a trading hub, and to eventually create a nation called Washington.
Settlement of Seattle & Pre-Creation
When Aurora Early Access was released, Seattle was made fairly early, becoming the third town to be made on the North American continent. The town expanded and began development, however, the nearby Oregon Empire was soon established, nearly completely eclipsing their planned nation, by now referred to as "Cascadia" as an idea. Oregon, then under the authority of California, did not respect any claims or stakes of Cascadia to any part of land whatsoever, and in border talks laid claim to all areas under claim by Cascadia, which by now was whittled down to just a tiny pocket of Cascadia. Due to the increasing pressure, stress, and unfavorable geopolitical situation in the region, major leaders Vorobyevite, EstiQT, and Chrysoprasus left Seattle to form towns in Siberia, named Tomsk and Novosibirsk, taking with them most of the gold in the Seattle bank, and leaving town councillor SayerQT to become the second mayor of Seattle. With the town left destitute, SayerQT began a period of regaining wealth for the town, as well as gradually increasing the playerbase of the planned nation from just herself to a handful, with herself eventually leaving Seattle to xX_cMac_Xx, and forming the settlement of Olympia on May 21, 2022. This was a giant period of inactivity for the planned nation as a whole, who was not seen as legitimate by any nation due to most of the towns being nationless towns in a region increasingly dominated by the now-independent Oregon Empire.
Nationhood, New Mexico, and Hostility with Oregon
On July 13, 2022, Cascadia was formed by SayerQT, with its capital in Olympia, and was quickly joined by the town of Seattle, and an alliance was formed with the Oregonian duchy of Washington. Cascadia became an associate nation within New Mexico, a state of the USA, for diplomatic protection, and signed a mutual defense agreement as well with Australia. The creation of Cascadia provoked a giant backlash from the King-Emperor of Oregon, OriginalDogster, and the opinion of Washington soon flipped mere hours later, and the position of the Oregon Empire was, in the words of OriginalDogster, "to encircle them and eliminate this threat once and for all". Later that day, Oregon established several towns on every side of Olympia, in order to block the expansion of Olympia, named Elma (to the west), Liliwaup (to the north), and Tacoma (to the south). Renton, a town made a day prior, was assumed to have been a claimblock town, as it was apart of Oregon, however it was just a normal town that happened to join Washington, and later that week joined Cascadia, with its mayor eKatxe taking over the Mayorship of Seattle. It was also around this time that Bend, in Northern British Columbia joined Cascadia. SayerQT formed an interim government in a Grand Council, consisting of all mayors, and the Grand Council granted SayerQT the full authority over the state in a referendum, until inaugural elections would be held in August under a new constitution.
The claimblock towns made by Oregon were assumed by the leadership of Oregon to not be in violation of the EarthMC rules, which state intentionally creating towns to block the expansion of another town is against the rules. However, OriginalDogster repeatedly said "They aren't claimblocks, so they won't be deleted". However, two days later, EMC mods deleted all three towns in conflict with Olympia as violations of EMC rules, and Olympia quickly expanded to absorb the towns. Mayor of Astoria, Ryzenix, soon proved to be an even larger foe to Cascadia than the Oregon government, due to his extreme hostility and defiance of any law or instruction from any authority. Ryzenix during this period killed many Cascadian citizens, with the Oregonian government doing nothing as Oregon considered Ryzenix to not be a state actor.
Nearly a week after the nation's creation, the founding members of Seattle that left to form the Central Siberian Republic, including Vorobyevite, Chrysoprasus, EstiQT, and shattered2907, expressed to SayerQT their decision to move back to the Pacific Northwest due to the lack of opportunity in Central Siberia and to support Cascadia in its struggle against Oregon. They set their eyes on creating the city of Spokane, but this territory was widely seen as hotly contested and disputed between Cascadia and the Oregonian Duchy of Washington. With Cascadia's economy and population skyrocketing, and with attempts by Oregon to eliminate Cascadia failing, Cascadia and Oregon entered negotiations to create a border on July 22, 2022.
The first day of negotiations resulted in a stalemate, with neither side giving up any claimed territory. On the next day, however, EstiQT, mayor of Tomsk and an impartial mediator due to having recruited both SayerQT (leader of Cascadia) and OriginalDogster (leader of Oregon), became a neutral arbitrator between the two parties in the negotiation process. The negotiations were successful, with the Treaty of Tomsk was signed and put into force on July 23, 2022, ending hostilities between the two nations. Despite this, Ryzenix continued attacking and threatening both Cascadians and the Oregonian city of Neah Bay, being perceived as a nuisance by the general populace of both Cascadia and Oregon. However, OriginalDogster still held out hope that Astoria could stay an Oregonian city due to its close proximity to their capital of Salem. However, Ryzenix left Oregon shortly after the treaty was signed, joining Norcallia and only returning to Oregon occasionally for claims. OriginalDogster eventually won him over and he begrudgingly rejoined Oregon.
Period of Expansion, and First Elections
On July 23, 2022, Cascadia experienced a boom of expansion, introducing new towns to the nation such as Gifford Pinchot, Helena, Spokane, Kelowna, and a day later purchased Victoria from Nevada, with EstiQT moving back to Cascadia to become Mayor of Victoria. Olympia, the capital, also underwent a large expansion, claiming all the way to the Pacific Ocean, to counterbalance the claiming aggression from Astoria. Ryzenix soon played a different tune, when he sold a few chunks to Olympia for a fairly cheap price, but that was not enough to save him from being banned for alting on July 29, putting Astoria in a statis that it is still in today. Over the course of August, Cascadia would acquire more towns, such as Ruby Ridge, briefly Abbotsford, Port McNeill, and Neah Bay, which quickly catapulted into a booming center of population and activity in the nation.
Alongside the August 2022 American Presidential and U.S. Senate elections, Cascadia held its inaugural elections on August 17 under its newly ratified Constitution written by SayerQT and ratified by the people, electing SayerQT for a full one-month term as the very first President of Cascadia, against Port McNeill Mayor Toasterburnt, with SayerQT receiving 82.4% of votes and Toasterburnt receiving just 17.7%. Bubba_Tea also emerged from a competitive 4-way race to be elected Chief Judge for a two-month term with a plurality of votes, with 35.3%; as well as the voters electing all 12 seats in the first session of the Cascadia House of Representatives, the unicameral legislature of the nation. SayerQT chose ViolentVampire as her Treasurer, a choice that influenced her term tremendously.
Presidency of SayerQT
History section is still a WIP
Presidency of ViolentVampire
ViolentVampire, Treasurer in the SayerQT government, is elected President for the month of September 2022 with 95.2% of votes, the highest in the nation's history, against Mayor of Yakima PavTheYT, receiving only 4.8%. Half of the 12 seats of the House of Representatives were won by newcomers. Former president SayerQT remained in the government, with the position of Vice President. At the same time, cascadian Arathorn52 was elected as Grand Councilor of New Mexico, the Empire's second-in-command.
Cascadian Independence from New Mexico
As Grand Councilor, Arathorn begins the redaction of a new Constitution for New Mexico with the goal of democratizing the Empire that Cascadia is still part of. This new Constitution restricts the powers of the monarch and establishes a new legislative body, composed of all citizens of the Empire, the Popular Assembly. The Constitution is approved by the New Mexican government and Empress Pastamancer, however she blocks the creation of the Popular Assembly. What follows is a serie of controversial decisions by Empress Pastamancer, leading some cascadians to start to question her leadership.
On September 27th, President ViolentVampire, Secretary of State xBest and Grand Councilor Arathorn, push to reorganize New Mexico into a confederation giving Cascadia an almost complete autonomy. Pastamancer refuses and evicts Arathorn and all cascadian ministers from New Mexico's government, violating the new constitution and marking the definitive rupture. On September 29th 2022, the House of Representatives votes the independence of Cascadia.
Presidency of TylenolEC
TylenolEC, who was elected in one of the first truly competitive elections in the nation, went on to implement a number of policies promoting the young Republic's rapid growth, allowing it to see some of the largest peaks in activity and population in it's entire history.
Under President Tylenol, all three branches of governments were reformed, with the nation moving past a foundational stage. It's territories expanded greatly, especially outside of the Pacific Northwest, such as into Idaho, Northern California, and Northern British Columbia. The nation also purchased Yellowknife, also accumulating controversy during the purchasing process. Cascadia formed the Pacific Coast Alliance, a short lived but useful alliance with Sonora (in Mexico), and Yamato (in Japan), both of which were quite powerful. This alliance was particularly useful during the Washington Rebellion.
Operation Dragonflame
During the Tylenol Presidency, the nation of Washington rebelled from Cascadia. The small nation had been purchased during the Six Hour War and was implemented into the Republic of Cascadia shortly after it's purchase by illinformed. However, at the time prominent Cascadian DaPigThatBig joined Washington and officially seceded from Cascadia, engaging in an "undeclared war" (in the words of Tylenol), by hunting Cascadians and harassing it's members. However, unbeknownst to anyone in Cascadia, this was part of a planned operation by DaPigThatBig (Pig) in order to acquire the Oregon Empire for Cascadia (which was still, at the time, an enemy of the nation who had engaged in a aggressive behaviors against the nation). The Washington rebellion acquired the town of Newport (a large nation on the southern Oregon Coast) amongst others, leading to Cascadia to call upon it's allies across the server to assist. However, in just two weeks after the original secession, Washington was able to acquire the nation of Oregon for free (as they promised to combat Cascadia, a goal Oregon agreed with). Washington promptly ended the rebellion and revealed it's plan, named Operation Dragonflame, signing a peace treaty with Cascadia and selling the nation of Oregon itself. The towns of Portland and Salem would join Cascadia shortly after, ending the Oregon Empire's foothold in the region.
Presidency of EstiQT
After EstiQT was elected in a less contentious election, but shortly after went inactive along with much of the nation. This resulted in a stagnation of the nation's growth, with the political dynamics of the nation shifting from the united, rarely-contested elections to more political divisiveness with groups such as the Frontier establishing within the nation.
Presidency of Milgorn123
Banff Insurrection
On March 5th, 2023, the town of Banff seceded from the nation to form a new capital, prompting its sister city Avola to sever ties with its western neighbor, while Cascadia declared Banff mayor EdgyIsRandom among others to be enemies of the state.
In response to a claim arm campaign launched by Banff, Cascadian President Milgorn on March 14th funded Avola mayor cheeseballfluffy with 832 gold to bolster the town in an act of defensive claiming. Soon after an active demilitarized zone was established between the two towns, peace talks concluded on March 16th with the Treaty of Banff being signed by Cascadian and Rocky Mountain officials. This recognized the Rocky Mountain Federation as a sovereign nation, albeit under the direct colonial rule of Portugal, while additionally setting a border between Banff and Avola.
Presidency of AghastBlock
WIP
Government and politics
Constitutional framework
Cascadia is a unitary constitutional presidential republic with a representative democracy, with supreme power vested in the National Constitution. The constitution however, grants significant reserved powers to the municipalities and towns, meaning that Cascadia can be considered a hybrid system between federalism and unitary government; however nearly all policy is decided and administered nationally. In Cascadia, all power is constitutionally vested in the people, and are exercised through their elected representatives and officials.
Executive branch
The executive branch of the government of Cascadia is headed by the president of Cascadia, which the Constitution vests with the executive power. The president is both the head of state (performing ceremonial functions) and the head of government (the chief executive). The National Constitution directs the president to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed" and requires the president to swear or affirm to "preserve, protect and defend the National Constitution of Cascadia." Many presidential actions are undertaken via executive orders or other presidential directives, and it is the president's responsibility to administer the Executive Branch and make all appointments and nominations as necessary under the law. The president appoints the Cabinet, which is made up of the heads of the several executive departments responsible for executing public policy and laws. The president is also the commander-in-chief of the National Guard, and is the chief diplomat of the nation. The president is elected together with the vice president for a one-month term at general elections. The current president is Dracnoian, having been first elected at the September 2024 general election.
Legislative branch
The legislative branch of the government of Cascadia is the Legislature of Cascadia, consisting of a single house, the House of Representatives. General elections are held every month concurrently with elections for President, and as of the most recent election it consists of 15 seats. Members represent multi-member constituencies to which they are elected from. Legislation may be initiated by any representative. The House also elects a Speaker, who is the presiding officer of the House of Representatives, currently Paper1emur. The Vice President has the power to break any ties if necessary, a relic of the Vice President's former power as President of the Legislature prior to the ratification of the current Constitution. All laws passed by the House of Representatives must either be signed or vetoed by the President, however the Legislature may override a presidential veto with a two-thirds supermajority. The Legislature also holds the sole authority over the national budget, declarations of war, treaties, confirmation of presidential appointments, and the sole power of impeachment of all officers of the state.
Judicial branch
The Judicial Branch of the government of Cascadia is operated as the Supreme Court of Cascadia, headed by a single Chief Justice of Cascadia, as well as two Associate Justices. It is widely considered the least important branch of the government, due to how infrequent it is used and the small size of its bureaucracy and process. It has original jurisdiction over all matters relating to Cascadia, its towns, or its people, and the Chief Justice presides over impeachment trials in the Legislature. While cases at all are rare, criminal cases are even rarer, with the most common type of case taken by the Court being civil suits that often turn into cases of constitutional review. The current Chief Justice is SayerQT, having been appointed to the post by EmpressCorgo. There is also an elected Public Advocate, serving for a term of two-months, that acts as a public defender and a legal representative of the people in contrast to the state, represented by the cabinet member and presidential appointee, the Attorney General.
Elections
Elections are held every month in Cascadia, every month electing the President, House of Representatives, and deciding whether to retain the Supreme Court justices for another month. The President is elected by instant-runoff voting, and the House of Representatives is elected in multi-member divisions electing several members each via nonpartisan proportional representation (also known as Single Transferable Vote). Elections are nonpartisan.
