Difference between revisions of "The Freethinkers"

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The Freethinkers

Flag of The Freethinkers
Motto: 'Our strength is our courage, our honour, our unity.'
No Map Available Yet
Region	Haven
Capital	Navarre
Official Language(s)	English
Leader	HRH King George IV
Population	1.458 Billion
Currency	Mintel = 100 Coppers
NS Sunset XML

Overview

The Sensible Commonwealth of The Freethinkers is a large, centrist nation spread out across numerous territories and islands. With the main island, 'Mainland' located in the Equatorial Atlantic, it also maintains the large 'Midland' colony in Haven in the North Pacific and owns the Fargon Archipelago in the far North Atlantic.

Because of its position, the Freethinkers became, by necessity, some of the most accomplished mariners and ship-builders around, and the shipyards at Navarre and other ports have produced some of the most famous ships in history, including the mighty Doujin Class Super Dreadnought. The skills inherited from previous generations lead to The Freethinkers becoming both the UnAPS Naval Warfare directors and becoming one of the founders of the Organisation of Maritime Powers.

As can be guessed, ship-building and arms-manufacturing are staples of the economy, although banking services and telecommunications are also big business. The relatively harsh climates of almost all of The Freethinkers' territories means the Commonwealth as a whole is a large net importer of foodstuffs and other primary goods.

Brief History

The Beginning

Though there are numerous reports going back to the late Middle Ages of lost ships being stranded and lost near a large desert island, (some of the Legends of Atlantis are based upon this, according to some scholars), the first confirmed sighting (and landing) occured on the 17th July, 1654 when an expedition seeking passage to South America from England came across the Eastern shore of the Freethinkers, 'a lande barren and torne, a deserte seeminglie abandoned by the Lorde Himself,' the Captain of the expedition, Sir John Barham, noted in his Journal. After taking supplies and noting the location, the ship completed its voyage and returned to England.

Immediately an expedition was mounted by the English (and soon enough the Spanish as well) to chart and then colonise this seemingly uninhabited island in a strategic point in the mid Atlantic. The first settlement, Pebble Landing (named after a natural harbour formed by a long arm of pebbles on the South-Eastern shore), was founded by the English on the 1st June 1656, and this date is now celebrated as a national holiday in The Freethinkers.

The Spanish were not far behind, however, and just before Christmas in the same year, the town of Navarre was founded on the Northern Shores of Mainland. More and more colonists arrived from both nations, and eventually the tensions inherited from their mother nations plunged the colonists into an all-out war, latter known as the 'War Of The Mainland', in 1670. In order to preserve peace, England and Spain agreed to help niether side in order to maintain the balance of power in Europe, leaving the colonists to fight a series of brutal battles by themselves. Eventually, after a series of inconclusive battles, the English managed to gain an upperhand and the last Spanish troops surrendered Navarre in the Autumn of 1672. The following Spring, Spain decided to concede all claims to the island to the English.

The New Arrivals

By 1700, the population had risen to half a million people, and almost all of the island had been charted in some way through a series of dramatic expeditions that also uncovered some of the large, previously mythological beasts that roamed the island's interior. A network of roads had also been establish, and 25 years earlier Navarre had been made the main port and capital of the colony.

Immigration to the islands was increasing. Large amounts of land (although somewhat worthless), high civil and political rights by the standards of the day (including a representative assembly), religious tolerance (though this was due more to the isolation-inducing geography and the difficulty of surviving in general which forced everyone to co-operate) and bountiful offshore fishing and mineral stocks all attracted settlers from many different parts of the world. The first Vampires settled into Pebble Landing and Navarre around this time, according to their history.

The colony's most important immigrants, however, were a large number of agnostics and freethinkers from the various Christian nations of Europe, attracted by the previously mentioned lack of intolerance, and over time their numbers became so great they became the dominant individual group on the colony by the mid-Eighteenth century. Initially worried, many colonists began to try and place restrictions on the new arrivals, but to no avail. In the end, tolerance and mutual respect kept tensions from becoming too high, and the constant slurs from the Homelands regarding the 'nation of the Freethinkers' were taken at their word, with the colony unofficially adopting the title in a show of defiance.

The Commonwealth

Colonisation continued. In terms of history for Mainland, little of consequence happened over the course of the next hundred years. Immigration continued as before, the population reaching over 3 million by the end of the Eighteenth century. The nation began to finally exploit in earnest the abundant fishing stocks found in the offshore waters as well as making significant sums of money exploiting newly discovered (and other established) gold and silver reserves. Money was also, sadly, made off of the slave trade, with the city of Navarre especially, being considered an top marketplace on the route from Africa to North America. Slavery was only abolished in The Freethinkers only when the British Empire as a whole disbanded it in 1808.

Many new cities were established by this point. Port Blanche was established in 1777 on the closest point to Navarre on the Southern coast by French emigrees, and soon became one of the largest new settlements on the Mainland. Portanova, Ademsea, Benarbor and Delta City were all established by 1800.

With the arrival of even more agnostics and other groups, especially at the end of the Eighteenth century, the colony of Mainland began to officially call itself The Freethinker Commonwealth in 1799 (for want of a better title, soem contemprary observers noted). Derided in Christian communities because of this, the colony was nevertheless both an important strategic base and wealth generator for The British Empire. The small Colonial Navy had now grown into a surprisingly powerful force, and its expansion was forced by the ever present risk of invasion and also the gargantuan task of simply patrolling the large coastline of the Mainland. After the official adoption of The Freethinker Commonwealth as the nations name, the Colonial Navy itself became the Freethinker Navy in 1800, with the Army soon following suit.

In 1814 the Government of The Freethinker Commonwealth began to look at ways of expanding their territory further. Although the Freethinker Mainland was still mostly uncolonised, it was becoming obvious that there was only a certain number of people that the Mainland could support with the limited agricultural oppurtunities avaliable. It was decided that several expeditions would be mounted to acquire territory for The Freethinker Commonwealth in other parts of the world. Several expeditions, formed under the guidance of the Freethinker Navy, were sent out in search of new islands and territories. Unfortunately, most ended unsuccessfully, with almost all the places visited either occupied by a colonial power, fierosciously independent, or simply economically unaviable. All apart from one.

Fargon

Only July 2nd 1817, three ships under the command of Captain Johan Foster sighted land in the far North Atlantic. After having travelled through treacherous icefields for days on end, the crews were happy to make landfall. They were greeted by a small group of tribesmen of distant Inuit origin, who called the island Hacia after a local god of the seas. From the architecture of the camps and some of the words and weapons of the tribes, it is also believed by some that there were Viking visitors in Fargon sometime in the distant past.

In keeping with traditional attitudes of the time however, the new of the landfall caused another expedition to settle the island and tame the natives. Although not as horrendous as the almost genocidal European colonisation and American expansion, nonetheless the islanders tranquil exsistence was shattered by a rapid imperial colonisation effort that was almost breath-taking in its speed. Fargon City was founded in 1820, and the entire Fargon Archipelago was charted and mapped within five years.

Although, unlike in some other places, there was no dedicated effort to destroy the Hacian's way of life, the lore of Western culture and advancement had nearly wiped all traces of their heritage away. Only a dedicated effort by some of the more isolated communities on the Archipelago saw the culture survive at all.

Unfortunately over the next hundred years the treatment of the Fargon natives, and even the colonists of Fargon themselves, found that they were being malaigned by the rest of The Freethinker Commonwealth. Considered inhospitable and backward, the colony found itself falling further and further behind the advancement of the rest of the nation. This second rate treatment eventually lead to what can be called the closest thing to civil war to happen in The Freethinkers.