CascadiAAR; or An Experiment in NNM and Modding

[Dadarian]

A Cascadian AAR​

An experiment in writing, modding and the newly downloaded NNM, I will explore the world as the recently established Dominion of Cascadia through it's trials and tribulations.

This is mostly for myself, as both a push and a reward to start to learn the game, learn modding, and to actually finish an AAR.

If I end up with readers, well then, I have no idea.

Some Goals for Myself:

1) Finish the AAR
2) Learn Modding
3) Write Gooder
4) Have Fun

Special thanks to Firelordsky for teaching me some of the finer points of modding

Also to DensleyBlair for nominating this for the:
Weekly AAR Showcase 05/11/15​

 

[Dadarian]

Chapters

Preamble: Confederation - 22nd December, 1865

Elliot Ministry [Whigs/Cascadian Liberal Party] ~ 1866 - 1875

Chapter 1: Settling Down - 25th December, 1865
Chapter 2: Birth of a Nation - 1865 ~ 1866
Chapter 3: Land, Liberty, Lockouts and the End of an Era - 1866 ~ 1869
Chapter 4: The Beginning of a Legacy - 1869 ~ 1871

Walkem Ministry [National Democrat Party] ~ 1875 - 1885

Chapter 5: A Change in the Wind - 1871 ~ 1876
Chapter 6: Changing of the Guard - 1876 ~ 1877
Chapter 7: End of the Dominion - 1877 ~ 1878
Chapter 8: Stagnation and Independence - 1878 ~ 1881
Chapter 9: Just Another Day - April, 1881 ~ December, 1881
Chapter 10: Populism and Propaganda - 1881 ~ 1885

Berger Ministry [Socialists] ~ 1885 - 1886

Chapter 11: The Revolution of 1885
Chapter 12: Enter Gladstone - 1885 ~ 1886

First Davie Ministry [Cascadian Conservative Party] ~ 1886 - 1891

Chapter 13: The Lost Year - 1886 ~ 1887
Chapter 14: Slash-and-Burn Immigration - 1887 ~ 1891

Ferry Ministry [National Democrat Party] ~ 1891 - 1894

Chapter 15: Trust Found and Trust Busted - 4th to 12th of October, 1891
Chapter 16: Railroads and Railroading - 1891 ~ 1894

McInnes Ministry [National Democrat Party] ~ 1894 - 1896

Chapter 17: I Dream of Yukon Skies - 1894 ~ 1895

Second Davie Ministry [Cascadian Conservative Party] ~ 1896 - 1899

Chapter 18: What would you do for a Klondike Bar? - 1895 ~ 1896
Chapter 19: A Matter of Moments - 1896 ~ 1899

McBride Ministry [Cascadian Conservative Party] ~ 1900 - Present

Chapter 20: A Cascadian Century - 1900
Chapter 21: God, Liberty, Cascadia - 1900 ~ 1905

Governor Generals:
Sir Fredrick Seymour ~ 1866 - 1870
Sir Anthony Musgrave ~ 1871 - 1885
Sir Arthur Charles Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Baron Stanmore ~ 1885 - 1895
Robert Carrington, 1st Marquess of Lincolnshire ~ 1895 - 1900
Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn ~ 1900 - ?​

 

[Dadarian]

Preamble: Confederation​

22nd of December, 1865:

Governor Seymour looked at the assembled representatives. Ever since the annexation of the Oregon and Washington territories into the British Empire from the United States life has been hard for Frederick. His already unruly jurisdiction of British Columbia was expanded by nearly one third of it's size and now contains even more colonial upstarts. Sick and riddled with debts, he wanted nothing more then get away from these uproarious colonists and the twice bothersome natives that populated Cascadia. Now they have the arrogance to present a demand to the Queen for the formation of a Dominion?

Governor Frederick Seymour of the Pacific Territories
​

Frederick sighed, perhaps this would allow him to go home to Belfast instead of staying here in some barbarous slum. He over viewed the delegates, not that there was a lot of them. The Oregon contingent was highly divided, with Yankees making up the largest portion of delegates from Portland while Texans and Catalan immigrants were represented in Baker City. The strangest mix in Oregon, and perhaps of the whole Conference was the Klamath Falls delegation, with fifteen percent of their delegation being Greek or Armenian immigrants.

The Washington contingent was much less interesting, featuring Yankees dominated Walla Walla and British shared Seattle. The only minority of interest in the whole territory was the small Texan minority in Spokane.

The British Columbian delegation was over sized and loud mouthed, because seemingly every tribe and their wives decided to send a man or three to represent their interests in this new government they wished to form. It seemed they were quite focused on getting the rights they have, and advancing them within this new Confederation.

From Idaho, the last group was not much to look at. A motley bunch of Southern American prospectors glared at an equally motley group of British prospectors representing Couer D'Alene while Yankee homesteaders from Pocatello represented the majority of the rest of Idaho.

Seymour had received the answer he was waiting for that day from the Queen. He read it to the assembled politicians, representatives and "individuals of concern".

It is my duty to announce that, in my position as Governor of the Pacific Territory, that your petition to create a Dominion, and form a semi-autonomous government in the Pacific Territory has been accepted. From this date, the Twenty Second of December, in the year of our Lord Eighteen Sixty Five, the Dominion of Cascadia shall hereby be created ruling the lands south of the Yukon to the Oregon Valley to the Idaho Mountains in the name of Her Majesty, Queen Victoria of the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. I do so hereby appoint Sir Fredrick Seymour, newly knighted, as the first Governor General of Cascadia, to rule in my name.

Signed Victoria Regina

"That damned slip of paper" Sir Frederick Seymour, December 22nd 1865, the Article of Confederation of the Dominion of Cascadia
​

Seymour stuttered for a moment, both at his new found knighthood and the fact that he had to stay in this God forsaken country for even longer then before. His shoulders were slumped in defeat went unnoticed as the gathered assembly cheered at their new freedoms. But, being the patriot he was, he stiffened his upper lip, getting ready for the massive amount of paper work that was to be done in the name of Confederation and the Queen.

 

[Fire and Ash]

Subscribed

 

[Enewald]

I have no idea what this might be, so might as well as sub.

 

[John Forseti]

Most interesting!

 

[Onikujo]

An AAR about a region encompassing my own state?

...Color me intrigued.

 

[firelordsky]

Subscribed for narcissism.

 

[Noco19]

This should be interesting.

 

[GreatUberGeek]

Color me subscribed. To copy someone's else's post.

 

[DensleyBlair]

An obstreperous parliament? A fictitious dominion? The British Empire?

Colour me subscribed.

Oh, and Victoria would sign Regina as opposed to Rex, which actually means "King".

 

[Dadarian]

Chapter One: Settling Down​

25th of December, 1865:

Sir Frederick Seymour, Governor General of the Dominion of Cascadia, settled down uncomfortably into his chair in the House of Commons located in Victoria, Southern British Columbia. He looked towards the picture of Queen Victoria in order to gather strength in this first sitting of the House. Rubbing his temples he over viewed the assembled political parties, happily arguing under a map of their new Dominion.

The Dominion of Cascadia in all of her glory; 1865
​

Each had been hastily organised and were built primarily around the rhetoric of their speech rather than the individuals speaking them. The ruling party, Frederick huffed at the thought "party" indeed, was the Cascadian Conservative Party. It was built off of traditional beliefs of newly liberated peoples, that of protecting and strengthening both domestic economics and armed forces. Their only redeeming qualities seem to be their loyalty to the Queen. Aside from them, the next largest gathering were the Whigs. A rather wholesome group of men dedicated to the principles of the free market and peaceful intent. Other somewhat-sane groups included: the Traditionalist Clique, a group of aristocrats that sought to enforce some kind of reactionary, Czarist-like government and the Imperialist Party which sought to ensure Cascadian domination of the Pacific Coast.

Unfortunately there were two other parties as well. The Radicals, republican anarchists that sought to overthrow Good Queen Bess and establish some God awful backwoods independent state away from the Grace of God or Order. Lastly, and most certainly least were the United Worker's Union. A bunch of illiterate workers who were too stupid not to see the repetition in their own name.

Not listed are the Radicals or the UWU, much to Sir Seymour's glee. Also pardon the modded mistake, I try.
​

However he was not thrust to his station because he was weak, and taking that in mind Seymour stiffened his spine and started the parliament's first sitting. He followed it somewhat, not paying attention to the economic prospects of Greek lumberjacks, native disputing their rights in British Columbia nor a rather embarrassing amount of murders in Couer D'Alene between the Southron Gibson family or the British Stuart family. However Fredrick did note some rather significant problems that needed to be addressed by this assorted bunch of landed gentry and newly rich.

The first was a lack of actual social cohesion. British, Yankee, Dixie and somehow the French are all accredited citizens while large minorities of Texans and Greeks are overlooked. This lack of an actual "Cascadian" identity makes life difficult, not only politically but socially as well. That is combined with a lack of any, and much to the chagrin of the Dominion and the Crown any, white immigration into the BC Territories, making the two physically largest components in Cascadia essential politically dead zones.

Image of the 1865 Cascadian Census. Not shown is the 15% Orthodox population of Spokane or the 100% native population of both BCs
​

On top of that the Americans still held claims to Idaho after the Treaty of Ottawa 1855, that seceded the states of Oregon, Washington and Idaho to the British Crown. If not for the rights given to both the northern and southern american cultures, it could be understood that those people would seek to either secede the territories or try to coup the Dominion and force all of Cascadia to join the United States of America. Even now, the Yankee and Dixie members of parliament are facing extremely discontent populations who were unhappy with their level of representation.

To top it all off, no one actually thought about being a soldier. The largest militia was in Victoria numbering a bare two hundred young men from Seattle and Portland. Any organised army would be able to swiftly overwhelm the new Dominion, who relied on the Crown to protect her. Giving another sigh, Seymour slowly stood up. A hacking cough forced him to lean on his desk for support, as yet another illness has decided to grace him with it's presence. But, knowing that his term will be over in a short five years, Seymour blocked out the pain in his lungs to walk to his carriage after the first of many busy and hopefully fruitful days.

 

[Onikujo]

Hey, if The US gets arbitrary cultures like Dixie and Yankee, you ought to get an arbitrary Cascadian culture.

 

[Dadarian]

I would, but I don't know how to mod it. Even if I learn id have to do the game over again since the lack of transferral.

What's a little difficulty in a game eh?

 

[DensleyBlair]

As ugly as those borders are to mine eyes, accustomed as I am to a US/UK border along the 48th parallel, Cascadia certainly looks to be in an interesting starting position. I'm liking your prose, too, which is always a bonus.

Looking forward to more, Dadrian.

 

[John Forseti]

I would, but I don't know how to mod it. Even if I learn id have to do the game over again since the lack of transferral.

It's actually fairly simple, just go into common and open the cultures.txt, adding a new culture should be fairly self-explanatory just from looking at the others.
To edit the save to give you it as a primary culture open your savegame in a text editor and search for "human=yes" which should take you to your country's info and then scroll down until you find the cultures(its pretty far down so alternately do another search this time for "primary_culture".
Then you'll want to edit atleast a couple of pops so search for a province name such as "spokane" and youll find all the inhabitants of it listed, change for example "british=protestant" to "cascadian=protestant" and there you go.

Don't forget to back up your save before you edit, Ive lost too many games that way.

 

[Enewald]

Would be cool if you were to go for a fully Native American culture absorbing the rest.

 

[Dadarian]

Chapter Two: Birth of a Nation​

6th of August, 1866:

Sir Seymour rested back into his chair. It was not as uncomfortable as it was a bare year earlier, but it still ached his back. Looking back, quite a bit has changed since he called the very first elections for the Dominion. Well, called them after forcing the reactionary caucus to accept an expanded franchise or face the wrath of both the Hudson Bay Company and the Crown. It's unfortunate that a single company held as much power as the Queen in this part of the world. But that was life and one had to both accept it and make the best of it. Indeed, the year started this mass celebration, as people organised festivities for their new found independence.

The celebrations of a new people; 1866
​

It was to be an orderly election, one calmly organised with few real disputes to throw the new nation or it's people into a disarray. But those God awful Traditionalists had sunken their claws into Washington in early March, causing both a moralist resurgence in the state and early talk that the Traditionalists will take the Government. However a liberal counter-surge in early April equalised the playing fields and put the Whigs ahead. Sir Seymour didn't mind this in the slightest, as the Whigs seemed like proper British gentleman as opposed to the addled land owners that populated the Traditionalist Clique or the Imperialist Party.

Effects of the Liberal Counter-surge during the 1866 Cascadian Elections
​

The Whigs further endeared themselves to the populace by spearheading two initiatives. The first was the spread of pro-Cascadian propaganda in mainland Europe advocating the immigration to the Dominion, specifically British Columbia. It was mildly successful, as people started to trickle into the newly independent state in greater numbers over the course of eighteen sixty six. While nowhere close to the thousands that streamed to the United States, every individual was needed in the tiny nation of fifty six thousand men. The second was the mass relief of affected farmers during a potato blight in Southern British Columbia. While some of the more conservative politicians opposed this action due to the loss of international prestige associated with pandering to the masses, the Whigs alongside the UWU forced through legislation that protected said farmers.

The potato blight and it's effects; mid-April 1866
​

Sir Frederick was pleased with this, as he was always a proponent of proper British treatment of those in need. It was here that he knew the Whigs were going to win, as they showed some kind of compassion for the enfranchised and even the disenfranchised workers that laboured in the great Cascadian forests. His pleasure with the Whigs was well know during the election as well, and much to the chagrin of the Conservatives and the delight of the Victoria Times. Frederick briefly shuddered, the "Vic" Times, as it was called in the capital, was a disgusting tabloid that was run by a strange man that had a too powerful fascination with his person. Sir Frederick much preferred the Daily Cascadian, run by well known Whig Amor De Cosmos. But back on topic, when the Whigs won the election Sir Seymour was pleased and so was the electorate. Even if they did end up working with those damned Socialists.

Election Results; 1866
​

Seymour thought back to the foreign affairs of the year. It was an interesting time, as ultranationalists took control of both the British and American lower houses after settling the Idaho border dispute. It was a warm thinking Seymour had at that moment, though some land was lost in the east the Idaho territory was declared sovereign Cascadian territory to be held in trust for the rest of time. What was more worrying was the abandonment of Cascadia by Britain, as the ultranationalists removed ambassadors from a country they never believed should have been ever been formed.

Sir Frederick stood to shake hands with the Prime Minister of Cascadia, but was forced to sit during an especially intense coughing fit. Prime Minister Andrew Charles Elliot, always worried for his friend, provided support for Seymour as he slowly recovered himself. Seymour looked up, eyes watering from the fit, and thanked Andrew. These climes had never been friendly to him. At least the Sheriff was Prime Minister now, Sir Frederick could trust him to make proper decisions.

"Sheriff" Andrew Charles Elliot, ex-military man and first Prime Minister of the Dominion of Cascadia​

_________________________________

Notes: I have no idea how, but fascists (which aren't a thing yet) are in control of the UK and the USA. I had to uncore Idaho or face the annexation of everything south of the 49th. So I fired the Caribou Treaty. Oh, and creating a "Cascadian" culture ended ... oddly. It was a "no culture" so I'll try again in a decade or so

 

[DensleyBlair]

Liberals in power. Wonderful. I'm looking forward to seeing the new nation flourish under the enlightened leadership of the left.

 

[Ab Ovo]

Liberals in power. Wonderful. I'm looking forward to seeing the new nation flourish under the enlightened leadership of the left.

Boo! Imperialists shall triumph! Cascadia forever (under the wise and benevolent reign of Her Majesty)!