Cascadia

Bulletin from HQ, it had a section from Crimson Team themselves.

More information on this topic is available on Wikipedia's Cascadia article.

Cascadia
Full name	United Cascadia
Government body	Unknown
Location	Western North America
Capital	Presidia
Leader(s)	Unknown
Military	Cascadian National Guard
Demonym	Cascadian
Motto	Unknown

Cascadia, officially United Cascadia, is a nation that comprises of the whole North American Pacific seaboard, all the way to the former Baja Sea area. it is one of the largest countries in the world and is famous for its abundant geothermal resources.

History

Cascadia was formed just before the start of the After Calamity Era to normalize relations along the Western Seaboard, having suffered a lot of internal strife between city-based and regional factions. Its founding cities included Presidia, Prospero, and Solstitium. Little is known of its history over the next 400 years, although it is known they had hostile relations with the Dustlands for an unknown period of time.

Cascadia became an associate member of the Pacific Federation in AC 382 and worked with them in a number of endeavors, including dealing with the first artificial exclusion zone in Solstitium and helping them win the Oceanian War. However, when the Federation began using Cascadian resources to expand by conquest in recent years, Cascadia sought to withdraw its Federation membership, leading to the Cascadian Conflict where the nation collapsed into infighting between pro- and independence/anti-Federation factions.

Although the war initially went poorly for Cascadian independence, with much territory taken by the Federation including the capital city Presidia, the Cascadian Independence Force, the largest group opposing the Federation, rallied and was able to continue waging a conventional war against Federation forces with aid from mercenary groups. Together, they eventually drove Federation forces out of its territory, leading to a ceasefire. The conflict also wreaked literal hell on earth for Cascadia through Federation use of cordium weapons, which led to the Prospero and Presidian Disasters and resulting in the deaths of millions and much of the country being irreparably ravaged.

Following the disastrous end of the war, Cascadia rallied to itself Periphery states attacking the Federation and became a haven for mercenary groups. Depending on which path the world is taking, the now-rebuilding nation may see itself lead the crusade directly.

Government and politics

The formal signature of the official government is the "Free and Civil Government of Cascadia."

The government, in its early days, had to quell factional infighting and maintain unity by establishing large military bases. It used its capital to link up the Periphery and the rest of the world as well as flow world commerce in and out, and is centered around the Port Authority Building. They also maintained a sparse amount of rules with the Federation and, before the Cascadian Conflict, worked with them to support less fortunate countries worldwide. Perhaps similar to the Federation's state-sponsored Icarus Armories, the government has a binding contract with munitions companies such as Cascadian National Industries to manufacture war machines, oddly including the Mercenary Cabal-originated ACG-01 Chimera, and was presumably given leeway to manufacture them in case they went to war. They have firefighting and park service departments as well as an airliner company for economic activities.

The country had mediocre relations with the Federation prior to the conflict, perhaps because it was never completely federalized beforehand nor did it bring them into the hands of enmity. This was not always the case, however, as a tax scandal in AC 429 involving a Federation billionaire did not end in Cascadian governmental favor. Compared to the Federation, the international community receives it more positively, mainly due to its direct interaction with Periphery countries at its own capital, to the point a lot of them chose to support their cause for independence if only verbally despite its misgivings with its border communities' constant conflict with the Dustlands, especially with Cascadia potentially becoming another superpower. Its old Pillars of Communications project, previously built in cooperation with the Federation, was turned against the disloyal via the Solana Communications Array.

Military

The Cascadian National Guard serves as a mainly defensive military force, having only one offensive operation under its belt in the Oceanian War. However, before the Cascadian Conflict, it was described as large enough to stand decently against the Federation itself in a hypothetical conflict. Crimson Team was their contribution to the elite Federation Peacekeepers.

The National Guard is comprised of an Army, Coast Guard (Navy equivalent), Marines, and Air Force. Because of extreme damage from both the Cascadian Conflict and resultant split, it expanded to include the Cascadian Foreign Legions, an organized mercenary corps.

Economy

Cascadia is described as the most powerful nation in the western hemisphere, and has huge resource output that rose by a third during its time associated with the Federation. This, however, created a state of inequality; a lot of Cascadians are urbanites in the more populated regions, while the wildernesses have tribal groups and families still living off the land and living in isolated compounds. Its tourism industry is sizeable, with main attractions including its numerous forests, enhanced by it standing in contrast to other large nations' mass urbanization and industrialization.

The trade port of Prospero was once the largest transportation and commerce hub in the continent, taking in naval and aerial traffic from the Scarred Sea and elsewhere and being considered the world's busiest airport. Not only Prospero, but aerial trade routes such as the Zhirov Air Corridor, connected to global ones, account for more than 15% of daily worldwide commerce and travel. Cascadia has a sizeable agricultural industry likewise, with winery centered around the Salvemini Vineyards and fishing sourced from the Scarred Sea and the Bering Strait through fishermen gathering king crabs, though having to contend with rival Federation fishermen for the net.

The Cascadian economy was troubled to some extent by stringent Federation taxes, which led to high prices on at least some luxury goods, to the point bits of infrastructural development were shut down solely to counteract them. In addition, its rich resources made it an interest to Federation Core States, which is constantly starved for energy. It was perhaps extremely hit hard by the carnage of the Cascadian Conflict and needed a lot of reconstruction to get back on its feet.

Geography

Because of the country's large amount of deposits, there are various exclusion zones dotted around the country, most prominently Exclusion Zone 3A and the Yellowstone Exclusion Zone, which the government had created a zone around to safeguard against geothermal events. It is divided between a large "island" section in the continental midwest, and had, for a long time, retained ecological stability with careful environmental planning. In general, the country has snowy tundra to the north and deserts to the south, giving an incredibly diverse climate while being simultaneously sustainable, in stark contrast to other large countries such as the Federation. More than a quarter of its energy is generated by the Apodock Fracture alone, one of Yellowstone's more stable fractures.

The northern coasts contain plenty of remnants from the Calamity and have geothermal hotspots and thunderstorms all over, but its countryside is primarily dotted by numerous forests maintained well enough to establish Cascadia as a place of natural marvels. The Golden Ocean's existence as a body of water surrounded by risen landmasses around the capital even gave it a mythical reputation as a place of gold, attracting treasure hunter wannabes. People even take to establishing artificial waterborne rigs and homes in the Scarred Sea. Because of the Pillars of Communications project, three-kilometer-long towers can be seen all across Cascadia, giving a distinctive mark on the landscape.

Unfortunately, because of the new Calamity and related disasters, much of the environment along with its cities were essentially glassed, possibly rendered uninhabitable for a long time.

Culture

The country has its own language completely unrelated to English itself, which is still primarily used as a means of communication. It has a religion centered around the Dust Mother deity, along with some related books. While in the Federation, it took part in at least some festivals such as the Wine and Dine Showdown at the Khan's Castle.

Etymology

Cascadia may be based on the independence movement of the same name, which proposes a country based in the eponymous bioregion in the same area. In the World on Fire, however, it is expanded to include Alaska and parts of northern Canada.

Trivia

Cascadia may be a direct descendant of the United States, based on Independence Force HQ's opening quote in the Second Battle of Presidia, which could allude to the American Revolution.