Nova:Columbia
Columbia is a Mega-nation which was formed in November 2020. It encompasses large parts of Western Canada, reaching from the Pacific Ocean to the Arctic Ocean. It is comprised of three main provinces or "Kingdoms", the Kingdom of Columbia, the Kingdom of Klondike, and the Kingdom of Hickory. It is a part of the Giga-nation of Cascadia.
It was established by player Dornan on November 1st, 2020 after his first presidency in Cascadia. Columbia grew to encompass most of Western Canada, eventually merging with the neighboring province of Haida to form Columbia-Haida, before Dornan went inactive during May, causing the Kingdom of Haida to leave the union.
History
Beginnings
The idea of Columbia had been imagined of ever since the creation of the town of Valkyria by Dornan in late June 2020. The planned capital of Columbia was to be Valkyria, specifically in the floating city of "Sky Valkyria", however after Dornan's October presidency in Cascadia, he decided to make a brand new town south of Valkyria, in the ruins of a house which was planned to be a vassal of Valkyria months prior.
Dornan made the town of Achilla and the nation of Columbia on November 1st, 2020, the town of Valkyria and the now-fallen-town of Ba Sing Se joined the nation on the same day. Due to both of these towns being in the province of Haida previously, Haidan officials took the creation of Columbia as a threat, and from then on started being cautious with the new province.
The first months of Columbia were marked by its partnership with the nation of Socotra which was owned by Tafffy. The players Camdropz and Sillymilk helped build up and sometimes finance the new nation, with Camdropz eventually leaving Socotra and making the town of Columbia Reserve (now Fort Ggovi), before getting banned for using a cheat client.
During this time, the capital, Achilla, took an ancient/roman approach of building, which was to be replaced a few months later.
During December, Dornan won the presidential election of Cascadia, due to this he decided to give Achilla to Matt77 during the entire month, which led to a lot of inactivity in the nation due to Matt being inactive as fuck. Dornan eventually came back to Achilla during January and he got the nation again.
Columbia's Rise And VC Culture
During January, Dornan became friends with the leader of Klondike, Kamikokoro (now kamdropz), and started to voice channel on an almost daily basis with him, Camdropz, Sillymilk, Roses_are_red (Bluepanther26) and Deadlyfox2003. This "VC Culture" emerged and is still cemented in Columbia to this day. They held multiple events, including a chess competition and Euphoria streams. This activity boom lasted for the entire month, however, during this time, Camdropz was banned from EMC and the town of Columbia Reserve was given to Beepsky.
Expansion began when the province of Haida declared independence from Cascadia, and Columbia saw this as an opportunity to expand, due to the border agreement made previously being null due to "it being a provincial border deal, and not an international border". Dornan managed to negotiate a better deal for Columbia and multiple towns sprung up, such as Libertalus made by sdr2000, and Atlas made by Skyling Saiyan.
Haida eventually joined Cascadia again and talks began to unite the two provinces in an Austria-Hungary-style government. This was the birth of Columbia-Haida.
Columbia-Haida
Dornan after talking with Oilerator about reunification, striked a deal to unify the two countries and on February 15th, 2021, Columbia-Haida was born. It quickly became one of the biggest provinces in Cascadia and it was a powerhouse. Around this time, the former leader of Haida, 32Oreo, made a town in British Columbian claims, which started a crisis between Cascadia and B.C.
The country remained stable trough February and March, with multiple projects being finished, like the Columbian Canal and the remodeling of Achilla into a more Baroque/Neo-Classical style. During April, the constituent nation of Haida formally joined Columbia as a province and not as an equal entity, although it retained much of its autonomy. The rapid expansion of Columbia prompted Dornan to establish formal provincial borders, and it also saw the annexation of Klondike into the country. Columbia was at its peak when Dornan decided to run for the presidency in may, which directly led to the "downfall" of the country.
Columbia on Life Support
The May presidency for Dornan proved to be a drain on his mental health, and to make it even worse, Achilla during this time was given to BigBroPro and as previous terms have showed, this led to a rise of inactivity on the province.
Both the mayors of the province and Dornan himself began to loose interest in the server and began to move on. May eventually ended and Dornan decided to take a break from EMC which lasted a full month. During this month, it surprisingly saw the revival of the almost daily vc's, with the help of Dornan's friends on Pueblo and Klondike, the vc's were packed full of different personalities and different people, all friends with each other. This revival led to more unification than expected, Columbia stopped being about the state, and more about the friends made along the way (yes it is a cheesy thing to say shut up).
During mid June, BigBroPro asked Dornan to rejoin the Cascadia discord in order to be able to vote, Dornan agreed and he joined back on June 15th, however this did not mean Dornan was coming back. During the 2 week period between June 15th and the elections, Haida left the union without any announcement or previous warning, Columbia-Haida was dead, and it didn't go out with a bang, but rather with a whimper.
Dornan eventually regained a passion towards EMC, and has started playing again since June 28th. As it stands, Columbia is regaining its place on the sun.
Architecture
Early Style
During the early days, Columbia was famous for its Roman/Ancient style of building, using lots of quartz and Terracotta. This style, although liked, was way too expensive for the relatively poor country, and also not the style Dornan had envisioned for Achilla.
Most of the early buildings are now destroyed and some have been replaced by baroque buildings.
Buildings in this style include: The Destroyed Temple of Lust, The Columbian Forum and Museum, The Arch of Dornan, and the Old Market.
Late Style
Dornan changed the style of Achilla from Roman to Baroque, he ended up settling on sandstone, dark oak, and stone for a palette, and started building. An estimated 1 million blocks of sandstone have been used for Achilla, and even more stone blocks.
It frequently said that Achilla has more sandstone than a desert town, many deserts were destroyed to fuel the Dornan dong.
Buildings in this style include: Most of Achilla but in specific The Tribune Headquarters, The Church of Obungle, The Comercial District, The City Square, etc.
Fortifications and other Towns
Most Columbian towns have a medieval style of building, using the materials available in the area, which includes a lot of stone, spruce wood, and grass roofs.
Towns in this style include: Valkyria, Libertalus, Atlas, Fort Ggovi, Hickory, etc.
Government
Columbia proclaims itself an "Imperial Oligarchy", with 7 Oligarchs or "Tribunos" administering the country, with one of them being the First Tribune or "Cónsul". They all work in servitude to the emperor or "César"
Their tasks go as follows:
César: Gets the final say on the choices made by the tribunos, is tasked with executing these decisions.
Cónsul: Gets the second to last say on the tribune's decisions, is tasked with relaying them to the César.
Tribunos: Decides what to do with the country, they make proposals and vote on them, if it passes, it is relayed to the Cónsul to confirm it. They are further divided in multiple charges.
Tribune of Development: Is tasked with developing roads, canals, etc. He builds shit.
Tribune of Foreign Affairs: Is tasked with Foreign Affairs and has control of the military.
Tribune of Control: Is tasked with Internal Affairs and the overall control of the nation.
Advisor: They advice the César but also works as a tribune. Any tribune who doesn't specialize in something, are Advisors.