Norlund: Difference between revisions

Prior to the release of the expansion islands, the Federal Council had assembled the Norlundic Expeditionary Corps, which were tasked with organising the search for the new continent, as well as establishing Norlundic presence there. This exploration was the largest and most structured exploration mission to date, which included 10+ citizens at different distances from the main continent, sent out to explore - ensuring that Norlund would be the first to find it, regardless of luck. The initial routes were completed with Kingsluund not yet found, so the remaining explorers went even further out - resulting in Joadgr finding the new world, naming it "Kingsluund". The expedition was a great success, with Norlund becoming the first nation to reach the shores of the continent of Kingsluund. Norlund's colonial present was however short-lived due to an invasion which happened only hours later.

At 4:30 GMT on the 19th of July 2020, Norlund was invaded by the forces of Blackwater, with backing from Yggdrasil, starting the [[Northern War]]. The Norlish colonizers were ambushed in the freshly set up bunker in the colony, and the mainland was invaded shortly after. According to reports, a few people were pearled, who were solely non-combatants, public utility buildings were damaged, and goods were stolen from homes and communal storage facilities in some Norlundic cities. At 10:00 GMT, the Norlundic Government issued a statement regarding the invasion.

As the day went on, and people from Norlund who hadn't been initially pearled during the events were either waking up or coordinating efforts, resistance against the invaders grew more and more, despite the majority of the nation viewing the events with a pessimistic attitude. With the remaining forces of Norlund grouping up and coordinating efforts to resist, namely the majority of the Federal Council, the remnants of the military/colonization efforts, and the brave efforts of the civilians of Norlund, Blackwater and Yggdrasil began facing increasingly difficult odds, with their PR taking a giant plummet as the international community condemned them for their aggressive actions, but despite this, the ceasefire was not called until the near end of the day of the invasion, because of a few certain actions.

Secondly, was the actions of the Federal Council, mainly the Prime Minister Jacob Grox, and the King, Leobonet, both with direct negotiations with the invasion force, and the behind the scenes actions with several international communities to garnish military support for a possible retaliation against the invasion.

With these combined actions, Blackwater and Yggdrasil agreed to a temporary, 48 hour ceasefire, where the invasion force withdrew, and began unpearling anyone who happened to get in their way, and Norlund began to regroup as negotiations began. At first, it wasn't exactly sure why the invaders had first attacked the islands, and then the mainland (though that just made the outrage even worse), it was soon discovered that Blackwater had been hired by ComradeNick, an Imperial Federation senator and former Norlish citizen, who had wanted Fortuna, Norlund's colony, for the IF, and despite Norlund bargaining for the lands, had hired Blackwater to kick them off. When Norlund refused to take off the claim for Fortuna, some sources say that Blackwater had offered to attack mainland Norlund, with Nick taking the offer, sparking the attack, while others say that ComradeNick, after Norlund refused to surrender the claim, ordered the attack on the mainland, to which Blackwater complied.

Yggdrasil, on the other hand, had merely joined to support their ally Blackwater, with Grave being convinced by Blackwater that Norlund had instigated the attack with placing the bastion on Blackwater land. However, they weren't the only contributors for the invasion force, excepting Blackwater, who had made up the majority of the invasion force, though Yggdrasil did contribute some of their men to the cause.

Norlund, was in mass chaos, despite their best attempts to reorganize. Most of the military was scrambling about, trying to re-arm, despite a good majority of their gear being destroyed during the events of the colony attack, and citizens, during the invasion, had fled all over the place, many taking refugee down south, in dangerous journeys that could've easily taken their lives and items. As the ceasefire was called, and the summon for all Norlish citizens to come home was announced, people's views were mostly grim. They willing to return and fight for their home, but knowing that the fight wasn't likely to go in their favor.

However, despite this grim attitude, most of Norlund participated in gathering resources for the military and federal council, with mass harvests and collection of materials and gear beginning across the nation, and soon, bunkers were full of crops for xp, mainly from the efforts of TheGreatUniter, ArnasZakas, CuntJesus, and many others. During this time as well, propaganda and memes attacking the invasion force, especially Yggdrasil, were posted in the subreddit, not only by Norlish citizens, but also by others in the international community, making it explicitly clear who the community supported, which aided with negotiations.

Suffice to say, negotiations were rife with anger and hostility, mainly from the Norlish, who were understandably upset from the action of the two nations. Blackwater maintained their position that they were only hired and taking orders from ComradeNick, which Norlund would reluctantly agree meaning that Blackwater couldn't be punished severely without it being just, but Yggdrasil wasn't able to maintain the same level, having joined in on the invasion from their own volition.

During the negotiations, as peace was beginning to be discussed, when GraveKeepersGod, the King of Yggdrasil, and ScubaSteve/ShamelessShamus, both stepped down from their positions of power, allowing the new King, Aeth/Grettir, to take power, alongside his council. While Grave's actions weren't entirely clear, Shamus admitted he had wanted to stop this endless cycle of toxicity between the two nations, noting that during the time spent in Norlund, and the following events like the secession, had, along with others, especially from Norlund's side, started this trend of hatred by the two sides, and knew that him stepping down would be an essential peace to allowing the two sides to begin to heal from one another's wounds. Along with this, he noted that this toxicity had begun to seep into his own life, and has chosen to begin to retire from CivRealms, but not before tying up what loose ends he had left, and seeking forgiveness where he could, and to forgive where he can.

With this mentality in place, a [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AHi545RSonsObhgnZ0TihiBrmsOA9DVTLD-H6O47Yb4/edit treaty] was drafted between the two sides, with Yggdrasil allowing all territories remaining in Norlund to go back to Norlund, with the caveat that some of the more southern farms, located next to Tallum, be allowed to be public to both sides. Along with this, a vault that had been terrifyingly close to the two nation's borders was rendered useless, foreign snitches and bastions were removed from Norlish territory, and Norlish colonization efforts would be honored by Blackwater, as long as it didn't combat Blackwater's own colonization efforts.

With this, the sides agreed to a white peace until the treaty was signed by all parties, and upon this writing, has yet to be accomplished, (mainly because a couple parties are currently away from CivRealms and are unable to sign), but the treaty is unofficially been agreed upon, with both sides reconciling, and even having a coronation ceremony for Grettir and Leobonet in Tallum, where all were welcomed to party alongside them.

However, while the ceasefire was expanded indefinitely until all parties had signed, some controversy came from the treaty, which erupted in the Norlund's discord in their House of Commons, where a citizen argued against the treaty, and accused the Council of violating the House, which was met with backlash not only from the Council, but several other citizens, who protected the Council, especially considering the fact that the Council had both been under great deal of stress at the time, and had informed many citizens beforehand about the treaty. It culminated in a motion to remove Jacob Grox as Prime Minister, which failed unanimously, and then, as the Custodian attempted to put down the hostilities from all parties involved, resulting in the temporary closing of the house of commons, the motion for the removal as Imic from Custodian began as well, which, like the previous motion, failed miserably.

=== Reconciliation ===

Shortly after the white peace granted by the Second Treaty of Kannin, King Grettir of Yggdrasil came forward with a proposition for a new alliance between Norlund and Yggdrasil. Despite initial hesitation from the Federal Council after the Northern War, which some had come to call The Great Backstab, the Federal Council agreed to the treaty, and soonafter, Norlund and Yggdrasil became the first signatories to the [[Northern Defensive Pact]]. This pact was tested when, on August 5th 2020, Yggdrasil was called upon to aid Norlund in the War of the Isles. Yggdrasil honorably answered and was immensely helpful in the counterattack against the Isles. Norlund now considers Yggdrasil to be a valuable ally, and is working toward improving ties between the two nations.

=== Recolonization ===

On August 3rd 2020, the SPQR contacted Norlund to inform them of their intent to leave the continent of Kingsluund, and their intent to grant their new world colonies to Norlund in return for tin-mining rights in the mainland. Norlund, grateful and excited at the premise of new colonial endeavors, signed the treaty that formalized the handover and began preparing the Norlundic Expeditionary Corps for a new colonization mission.

However, it soon became apparent that the treaty was not without controversy. The SPQR had decided to leave the new world after conflict between them and a region of the [[Imperial Federation]], [[Synlandia]]. In order for the Imperial Federation, or IF, to unpearl SPQR citizens, the SPQR had to leave Kingsluund and hand over the territories to a neutral third party. SPQR never specified that the territory should go to an existing new New World nation, and following their decision to hand it over to Norlund, the IF preferred to it to go to a New World nation. Following this dispute, the IF decided to claim over the territory, bastion, and snitch it. However, after intervention by prawny331 as requested by the SPQR's NovaCeasar, the IF backed off and allowed Norlund to continue it's colonization efforts<ref>https://old.reddit.com/r/CivRealms/comments/i4kh6o/if_apology_post_and_explaining_our_current/</ref>.

On August 6th, 2020, Norlund officially began construction on its first settlement within the new territory of New Kannin. In addition, massive deforestation efforts were began to allow for construction of large scale Cocoa farms. A large recruitment effort in order to foster a lively and healthy community in the new world has begun.

Another small nation, known simply as the Isles, had established control of abandoned SPQR land. When the IF gave the land back to Norlund, the Isles decided to enforce their claim to land. Norlund, deciding not to back down from their claims, opted to instead demarcate the border between the Isles and the new territory. Unfortunately, Cortwade, who was demarcating the border, ran out of fences, and opted instead to dig a 1-meter deep trench in order to solidify the border ingame. This angered InfinityXerox, who was the leader of the Isles, and, in a surprise move, attacked Cortwade, CuntJesus, and the Minister of Defense Zamoradin. The Battle of the Border, as it came to be known, resulted in heavy casualties for Norlund, and resulted in Cortwade being logboxed, along with Zamoradin and Hitmehn being pearled.

After the battle, Norlund retreated and Okx, a military councilman, was appointed Minister of Defense pro tempore. In addition, Norlund began to bolster its allies, including Yggdrasil, and volunteers from Paradise. In addition, the SPQR and Sesoria publicly denounced the actions of the Isles. As reinforcements arrived, a counterattack was mounted, and, in the Battle of New Kannin, the Isles surrendered unconditionally. In the end, a white peace was signed where the Isles would recognize Norlundic Sovereignty, and Norlund would promise not to interfere with the internal affairs of the Isles.

Norlund had, at the time, due to its actions - drawn the attention of other nations in Kingslund. After being approached by certain members of what would become the Far Seas Alliance, ( [[Far Seas Alliance]] ), and inducted into the new alliance, which at the time seemingly was anti-IF. There was those within the alliance who had hinted towards the IF's powerhold over the new shard now being challenged by this new alliance. Norlund disliked the IF because of a few reasons, namely, not being included in the Berlin Conference (which was founded by members of the IF), the recent war with the Isles (which the IF tried to support during this conflict), and lastly the induction of ComradeNick with Fortuna into the Imperial Federation (for those who need note, ComradeNick was formerly a Norlish resident before the New Shard was released, and upon the new world being found, ordered an invasion of Norlund so he could claim Fortuna, which would be accepted into the IF just a few weeks later), who Norlund was less then friendly with.

This, would all come to a head when certain members of the Norlish government were approached by Dama, with an offer that could basically be described as improbable at the least. With the promise of land (namely Arlington), and a chance to get revenge against the IF, these Norlish members accepted readily, launching a coordinated invasion into the Imperial Federation whilst Dama used their inside connections to throw the entire government into disarray, and setting up what was believed to be a temporary dictatorship.

Dama's plan had begun to unfold. This temporary dictatorship, was only to grow longer and longer, with notable members of the Imperial Federation growing fearful of the lack of response of the new government for the formation of a democratic nation, and upon the reveal of Raindrop, a Cantina puppet state, formed out of the combination of Paradise and of the Imperial Federation, the Imperial Federation Civil War sparked ( [[Imperial Federation Civil War]] ), in which Norlund was greatly divided upon. Certain members would go to support the Imperial Federation rebels, aiding them when possible, whilst others stayed neutral, believing that they shouldn't worry about this.

Luckily for the Imperial Federation, Cantina was busy with a mainland war, meaning they couldn't dedicate serious manpower to taking this land, and actually found great success in the FSA, to which they would later join, while the FSA would continue attempting to remove Norlund, all members clearly upset about the actions of the nation, and upon the reveal, would be unanimously kicked out.

The Reveal, was the revalation by Onederful, ( https://www.reddit.com/r/CivRealms/comments/iamll2/the_truth_behind_the_invasion_of_the_imperial/) showed that the Norlish force that had invaded into the IF, was partly in the interests of land (apart from the aforementioned dislike of the IF), and not in fixing the supposedly corrupt government. This all resulted in Jacob Grox, aka Groxlord, stepping down from Prime Minister due to both national and international pressure.<br />