Nova:Haida
Template:Republic of CascadiaHaida is a province of the mega-nation of Cascadia located offshore of northern British Columbia on the Haida Gwaii archipelago. It was originally formed by independence from Cascadia in early December 2019, but rejoined Cascadia twice in 2020, once in February, once in May. It is well-known for its well-maintained parkland and forests.
History
Haida is technically a continuation of a nation founded in the spring of 2019 by 32Oreo and his friends. The original nation, known as "Athabasca" was founded where the town of "Tau" in the nation of Nunavut now stands. The nation was founded with the expectation of creating a busy & powerful trading hub, with various public utilities available in addition to shopping to generate traffic. The project began with the construction of a central square, an administration building and a full-sized PVP arena. However, after most of these projects had been completed, the overall project stagnated and the user in charge of construction had a change of priorities and was unable to continue. This led the nation to stagnate as a semi-inactive district of Cascadia.
In late 2019, 32Oreo called upon a moderator to transfer control of the nation to him, relocate the capital to his town in Masset and rename the nation to Haida. The moderator obliged and Haida came into existence, controlling two towns at its foundation. This change of leadership led the users formerly involved in the Athabasca project to re-join for a short burst of renewed activity, which led Masset to be completely redeveloped into a port capital with plentiful space for small shops, as well as tourism opportunities in the vast unspoiled wilderness.
Haida re-joined Cascadia on 1 February 2020, though this reunion was short-lived. On 9 February 2020, 32Oreo was accused of conspiring against the Federal Government of Cascadia, and on 10 February 2020, 32Oreo declared Haida's independence once again, adding to the ever-growing list of breakaway nations from Cascadia.
In early 2020, OreoToast of Haida led the creation of a regional alliance known as the Sunset Confederacy, which stood as a faction in the Cascadian Civil War at first against Cascadia and later against Washington and Rio. As the civil war dragged on, and with the addition of what was deemed to be an unreasonable demand of payment of 100G per nation in the Sunset Confederacy by the Rio Commonwealth, the alliance started to fray, with some member states becoming tired of the war and more open to giving in to the demands. In April of 2020, Haida severed its ties with the Sunset Confederacy following payment of over 200G to the Rio Commonwealth by Sunset Confederacy member states.
After Haida left the Sunset Confederacy, it rejoined Cascadia on May 7th, 2020 and remains a province of Cascadia to this day. Since Haida rejoined Cascadia, it has started to expand their territory as they were able to purchase the former nation of Yukon in August for 400 gold. Yukon was convneiently across the Hectate Strait from Haida and this purchase gave Haida it's first bit of territory on the mainland. Just a few days after purchasing Haida, the town of Valkyria joined Haida which gives Haida more mainland territory.
In October of 2020. Dornan announced the creation of his own Province, which would include the towns of Valkyria, Achilla and Ba Sing Se. This resulted in 32Oreo removing these towns from the Province and reducing Haida back down to 4 towns.
Politics
Haida is administered as a simple direct monarchy, given its small population and area. This method of governance has been effective and has led to Haida being able to stand its ground even when caught in the crossfire of a war taking place on the mainland.
Haida has had an interesting political history, starting with its creation and reorganization as a new nation. Haida later expressed interest in re-joining Cascadia but hesitated. In early 2020, Haida re-joined Cascadia but quickly left due to the changing political environment within Cascadia. However, just a few months later, on May 7th, 2020, Haida rejoined Cascadia and currently exists as Cascadia's 8th province.
The Province of Haida is a member of the United Nations and also seeks improved relations with its neighbours, and in late April of 2020 started talks with Kaska and Glacier Bay to establish a regional alliance of Pacific Northwest island nations, however, this did not happen as Haida rejoined Cascadia.
On September 4th, 2020, the Province of Haida established a provincial legislature for provinicial political issues. Each town mayor of Haida, as well as Deputy Governor Oilerator were assigned as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPP). It uses esentially the same format as the Cascadian parliament, where any MPP can propose a change in the parliament and all the MPPs vote on whether or not the change shall be implemented.
Military
Haida maintains a small armed force consisting of effectively the entire population for purposes of national defence, the Haida Defence Force. The force has only seen combat action in one overseas conflict, the Cascadian Civil War. The Haida Defence Force acts as a national police service in peacetime.
Geography & Resources
Haida is a rocky, but heavily forested province. Most of Haida's original forest still stands and has been expanded through human efforts. Resources such as gravel, coal and iron are in abundance below the province, leading to an expansive network of mines administered by the state-owned Haida Mine Company.
Most of Haida Gwaii is hilly, with many fjords breaking great distances into the coast. There are areas where the west coast and east coast are less than 20 blocks apart from each other, in the middle of the island.
Anthem
On September 25, 2020, the parliament of Haida approved the "Haida Anthem Act" proposed by Deputy Governor Oilerator to adopt an official anthem of the province. The anthem is titled "Haida Gwaii Is Calling" and is by Randall Kimball. It talks about the archipelago of Haida Gwaii and its scenery, history and geography.
Transportation
Haida is connected by a series of highway networks, known as the Haida Highway System. Each highway is numbered based off of when it was built. So Haida Highway 1 was built first, Haida Highway 2 was built 2nd, etc. There is also a short underground iceway connecting Haida Gwaii with the mainland.
Haida Highway 1, aka the Trans Haida Highway:
The biggest and most important highway to Haida is Haida Highway 1, also known as the Trans Haida Highway. The Trans Haida Highway connects every single town in Haida either directly, or via highways that branch off of the main highway. The Highway officially began construction in late August of 2020 and was originally a lot longer, but a large portion of the highway was given over to Cascadia, after the towns of Valkyria, Ba Sing Se, and Achilla left Haida to join a newly created province. The highway starts in Masset, using the already existing Haida Highway 1 that went from Masset to the South Point Docks. At this stage in the highway, you must use a boat to get across the Hectate Strait from Haida Gwaii to the mainland. From here the highway makes a left turn towards the abandoned town of CaribouLou and continues straight before it heads over and then through a mountain. After this tunnel, it turns left before winding up the mountain and heading back south before turning to the west. Shortly after this, it travels through a mountain pass before ending in Skeena.
Haida Highway 1A:
Haida Highway 1A is an old stretch of the Trans Haida Highway that starts just before the mountain pass to Skeena. The highway originally travelled over top of several mountains before ending in Prince Rupert, instead of Skeena.
Haida Highway 2:
Haida Highway 2 is a relatively short highway which travels along the northern end of Haida Gwaii. It travels from the dock at North Point and heads southwest before turning and heading west. It continues through the Town of Masset and heads right through Masset's core before reaching the other side of Masset and continuing west until the western entrance of the Haida Mine. Here it makes a sharp right turn before ending at the northwest corner of the island at the military outpost.
Haida Highway 3:
Haida Highway 3 is another pretty short highway which starts at a junction with the Trans Haida Highway near Rose Harbour. It travels through the forest and heads past the Parks Haida Discovery Centre. Shortly after the information centre is the small settlement of Sandspit, Haida, as well as a small public dock. The highway turns rtight and heads through Sandspit, before ending in Rose Harbour, right next to the Rose Harbour warehouse.
Haida Highway 4:
Haida Highway 4 is a highway that starts in Skeena and travels along a river until it heads through the abandoned town of Sitika before connecting to the Trans Haida Highway.
Haida-Kaska Iceway
The Haida-Kaska Iceway is an underground iceway that connects the Cascadian Provinces of Kaska and Haida. It starts in Skeena, Haida, the iceway heads west to Masset, with a junction in the middle that connects to the National Historic Site of CaribouLou, which is an abandoned town. Continuing past this junction, the next stop is Masset, which is the capital of the Province of Haida. The iceway then continues onto it's final stop in Sitka, Kaska.