SeOCC

The History of SeOCC

This is the official history of SeOCC, please do not edit.

The first known inhabitants of the area that became SeOCC were Aperins who set up small fishing villages around 500 BCE. Rougly 50 CE, western Aperin suffered a critical famine that, archeological evidence suggests, was the result of a 100 year climate shift that diverted moisture bearing winds towards the south, denying the mountainous ranges of the Aperins rain their crops depended upon. During this time, the fishing villages thrived, as their food supply was not so affected by the lack of rain, and soon the villages became moderate sized cities.

The real change, though, came during hte 17th century, when Rigan settlers arrived in western Aperin; the Rigans settled, most often by force, the land west of the mountain ranges that ran north and south through northern Aperin; this resulted in either the extinction of many of these cities or their conversion from simple fishing villages into hubs for Rigan vessels bringing supplies to move inland. As the Rigan settlements began shipping goods home, these cities became trade centers, largely due to their stragetic location between the two major Rigan settlements and on the eastern edge of the Orcas Sound.

By 1800, stable nation states had begun to form, and the territory that would becomer SeOCC was split between Terronos and Helios. The area continued to be an important center for trade, housing the major ports of Terronos and Helios, Sequilla and Olympic respectively. Through these ports all goods going inland moved; the northern territory of Svea Riga was bordered on the eats by impassable mountains, and their southern territories were too distant from the Aperin cites in the center of the continent. Major trading houses emerged in Sequilla and Olympic, and by 1850 capitalist industries were emerging in Svea Riga, Helios and Terronos. The volume of goods flowing in and out of Sequilla and Olympic increased exponentially, and was further enhanced with the formation of the Coal Cartel, which joined eight of the ten largest coal reserves into one multinational trust.

The outbreak of the Great Aperin War slowed trade volume, but the formation of the Federal Republic of Aperin in 1932 ushered in a new era of economic cooperation between western Aperin nations, and this applied to the twin cities of Sequilla and Olympic as well. The two cities had previously been linked by only a small, poorly maintained road, since overland travel was rarely, if ever, used. However, the end of cutthroat competition between the two cites brought an increase in travel and trade; firms in each the two newly formed states of the FRA had the markets of their neighbors opened, increasing the need for an overland route to link the two of the economic centers of the newrly formed FRA. The first highway in the FRA connected Sequilla and Olympic, and new cities grew along the highway to service the growing international trade industry.

In 1946 the first instance of the phrase 'Sequilla-Olympic Commuter Corridor' occurs in an editorial discussing rapid urbanization along the highway. The abbreviation 'SeOCC' entered common use shortly after, and the name, along with the unique capitalization, becan synonymous with the region. It was urbanization, though, that created the common identity shared by those living in SeOCC. Gentrification had already begun in 1950, as those wealthy enough began moving away from the urban centers and into satellite suburbs around the network of highways that ran between Sequilla and Olympic. The constant expansion also challenged city limits, and eventually the state boundaries, as communities were built that straddled two or more legal jurisdictions. It was in the 1950's that the movement for statehood began in SeOCC; the proposition was vehemently opposed by Terronos and Helios, as independance for SeOCC would mean both states lost their most productive cities. Residents of SeOCC, though, flocked to the proposal, as proponents argued that the governors or Helios or Terronos were concerned more with the rich citizens who owned the businesses in SeOCC rather than the people who lived in the cities and worked in those businesses. Statehood would allow SeOCC to pass its own law and give the people of SeOCC representation, rather than their votes being lost because they were a population minority compared to the large population centers to the east.

After several years of general strikes and political outcry, the Federal Republic granted SeOCC statehood in 1961; by this time, the Federal Republic itself was beginning to show stress in the seams, and it was hoped that by giving in to the demands of activists in SeOCC some of hte instability would be defused. This strategy worked in the short term, but only because SeOCC became a center for all manner of anti-government activism. The citizens of SeOCC elected radical representatives who enacted legislation capping hikes in rent, food, and medical care, as well as protecting squatters and the homeless. In 1963, a group called SeOCC Economic Reform LTD incorporated under incorporation law of the FRA, which was at once a powerful act of political speech and also a clever strategy; under federal law, corporations were granted greater protection for speech than individual citizens, as corporations were allowed to keep work product confidential. This allowed the group to plot, in secret, under the nose of a government increasingly restrictive and repressive.

It was during this time that construction of the signature hallmark of SeOCC, the arcologies, began. When SeOCC was granted statehood, part of the deal was that the suburbs remain the territory of Terronos or Helios, and housing in SeOCC quickly became a rare commodity. This was one of the primary catalysts for the protection for squatters and caps on rent hikes, but also created the drive for a new form of city planning. Construction on the Cascade Arcology began in 1967, and provided a steady source of work for many SeOCC citizens who were, at the time, being laid off as the FRA was entering what was to be its last recession.

In 1971 SeOCC delcared independance from the Federal Republic, beginning two years of bitter political and street fighting, which culimnated in the Barricade Riots, after which the FRA removed the last of its troops and recognized SeOCC's sovreignty. The new government immediately socialized all industry and expropriated all assets held within SeOCC banks, beginning a policy of radical economics that lasts to this day.