Aurora:Cascadia
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Cascadia, officially the Republic of Cascadia, is a country and nation in the pacific northwest region of North America, on the Aurora world of EarthMC. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, forests, lakes, mountains, and grassy plains, and borders the Kingdom of Alberta to the east, the Oregon Empire to the south, Russian Alaska to the northwest, and Alaska to the north. With a population of 393 as of January 3rd, 2023, it is the most populated nation in the Pacific Northwest and is the 2nd most populated in the world. The capital of Cascadia is Olympia and its largest city is Victoria, with a vast majority of its citizens residing in the Olympia—Neah Bay—Seattle—Victoria—Oceanside metropolitan area, with other notable populated regions in Eastern Washington and Northern British Columbia. 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 on 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 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.
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 Chief Judge. Cascadia is a founding member of the Pacific Northwest Diplomatic Forum and Pacific Coast Alliance. It is a liberal democracy and social market economy, and the one of only two republics in North America, with the other one being Michigan. It is a growing nation and a significant growing regional power in the Northwest and beyond.
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 vain 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 that 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
Before the current world of Terra Aurora, on the World of 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, and nearly completely eclipsed 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 wittled 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 Mayor 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, and the Oregon government did nothing in response.
Nearly a week after the nation was created, several of the founding members of Seattle that left, such as Vorobyevite, Chrysoprasus, and shattered2907, with their fortune of over 3,000 gold, expressed to SayerQT the willingness to move back to the Northwest, due to Siberia being a stale environment. They had their eyes set on creating the City of Spokane; but this territory was widely seen as hotly contested and disputed between Cascadia and other nations in the region, specifically the oregonian duchy of Washington. With cascadia on the up and up, and with many attempts by Oregon to eliminate of Cascadia failing in utter disasters, Cascadia and Oregon entered negotiations to create a border on July 22. The first day of negotiations resulted in absolutely nothing of note being accomplished, with both sides refusing to give up any land to the other, and the end result being exhaustion from both parties and retiring the discussions for another day. However, for the next day of negotiations on July 23, EstiQT, who was the Mayor of Tomsk and was impartial due to personal friendships between both SayerQT (now the Chief Councillor of Cascadia) and King OriginalDogster, became a neutral arbitrator between the two parties in the negotiation process. The talks ended up being successful, and the Treaty of Tomsk was signed and put into force on July 23, 2022, ending hostilities between the two nations. Despite this, Ryzenix continued being a burden to cascadians, even to towns in Oregon such as Neah Bay, and was perceived as a nuisance by the general populace of both cascadia and oregon, however OriginalDogster still held out hope that Astoria could stay Oregonian, due to its close proximity to the Oregonian capital of Salem. However, he still left the nation of Oregon, and became apart of Norcallia, however still joining Oregon occasionally for claims, and Dogster eventually won him over and he begrudgingly rejoined.
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.
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 an active claim arm campaign launched by Banff, Cascadian President Milgorn on March 14th funded Avola with 832 gold to bolster itself in an act of defensive claiming. Soon after an active demilitarized zone was established in between the two towns, peace talks concluded on March 16th with the Treaty of Banff being signed by Cascadian and Rocky Mountain officials. This officially recognized the Rocky Mountain Federation as a sovereign nation, albeit under direct colonial rule of Portugal, while additionally setting a border between Banff and Avola.
Government and politics
Constitutional framework
Cascadia is a unitary constitutional presidential republic with a representative democracy, with supreme power vested in the Constitution. The constitution however, grants significant reserved powers to the municipalities and towns, meaning that Cascadia could be classified as a quasi-federal state among its towns being federated states; however most of anything of real note is administered nationally. Cascadia, being within the realm of New Mexico as an associate nation, and as a state in the United States, put Cascadia under several jurisdictions of law, but the autonomy of Cascadia is considered to be exceptionally high within New Mexico, and the United States is effectively more of a confederation than a federal republic in any literal sense, giving the Constitution of Cascadia full and supreme authority within the jurisdiction of Cascadia. In cascadia, all power is 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 in the President of Cascadia, and their Executive Council. The Constitution vests sole executive power within the President alone, however also establishes the Cabinet, made up of the heads of all major executive departments, and the Vice President, elected on a joint ticket with the President for one-month terms. The Vice President serves in the Cabinet, while also serving a legislative role as the President of the Legislature. The current president, since September 17, 2022, has been former Treasurer ViolentVampire, elected in the September 2022 election. His vice president is former president SayerQT, with his Secretary of State being xBest_Name_Everx, his Treasurer being jtwokay, his Secretary of Recruitment being EstiQT, his Secretary of the Interior being PCRCKR, and his Secretary of Defense being shattered2907. All heads of the executive departments are nominated by the President with the advice and consent of the House of Representatives, and are subject to impeachment by the Legislature, as is the President.
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 12 seats. Legislation may be initiated by any representative. The Vice President, in their capacity as President of the Legislature, may preside over the Legislature and may break any ties if necessary. All laws passed by the House of Representatives must either be signed or vetoed by the President, however the Legislature may override a gubernatorial veto with a supermajority. The Legislature also holds the sole authority over the distribution of national treasury funds, confirmation of gubernatorial 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 State Court of Cascadia, headed by a single Chief Judge of Cascadia, elected for two-month long terms concurrently with elections for the House of Representatives and President. 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 can take criminal, civil, or constitutional cases, and the Chief Judge presides over impeachment trials in the Legislature. Criminal cases are decided by trial by jury, and the rest are decided by judicial ruling. While cases at all are rare, criminal cases are even rarer, with the most common type of case taken by the Court being cases of constitutional review. The current Chief Judge is Bubba_Tea_ since August 17, 2022, elected in the August 2022 election.
Elections
Elections are held every month in Cascadia, every month electing the President and House of Representatives, and every two months electing the Chief Judge. The President and Chief Judge are elected by instant-runoff voting, and the House of Representatives is elected in three multi-member divisions electing 4 members each via nonpartisan proportional representation (also known as Single Transferable Vote). There are no political parties in Cascadia.