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The Redlands is a vernacular region in the Pacific Northwest of the former United States. It is a region mainly inhabited by many forest tribes, many of them hostile, as well as some small trading
communities, and most notably the Grizzly Pact. No clear borders exist, and so other perceptions of the region include the Executive Republic of Portland to be inside it, as well as St Rose, though almost all other city-states besides St Rose are normally considered to be part of the region. The region is named for the Redwood Forest and red clay that the region is known for. The region is also known for being one of the most unstable in the world, as war between tribes and city-states is extremely common.
History[]
Pre-Chaos[]
Post-Chaos[]
First Wave[]
After the Chaos thousands in Northern California were displaced, especially in small logging, gold-mining, and fishing communities as well as Native American reservations found across the region, these local refugees would be come to be known as the "First Wave" in Redlands history. The towns of Coos Bay, Eureka, Redding, Redbluff, Saint Rose (then Santa Rosa), Klamath, Falls Shasta, Wilits, Big Lagoon, and Crescent City took the majority of immediate refugees, but soon the small townships began to be pushed to the breaking point. Luckily the towns managed to rely on their quantity or resources such as redwood, fish, gold, land, and cattle to keep themselves somewhat stable.
In this time the Native American reservations of Big Lagoon, Trinidad, Yurok, and Hoopa would merge to form one reservation and taking the name from one of the smaller reservations, Big Lagoon, and became the short-lasting Free State of Big Lagoon. Big Lagoon's founder, a devout Native Pentecostal named Henry Parrish decided to donate large amounts of fish to refugees and other cities falling on hard times, and in this time the culture in the Redlands began to shift towards being more accepting to the natives. At this time the Natives in the region actually began to do well for themselves, compared to the past few decades at least.
The region remained somewhat stable compared to its later years, many small cities of refugees began to settle around other cities, and due to plentiful amounts of land for a few ears there was surplus. Despite this, lawlessness also reigned supreme. Overpopulation in major cities lead to a rampant crime rate as well as the issues of poverty, and not all refugees were accepted, no Mormons, Blacks, or Asians, for example, were not accepted in almost all major cities, partially for population control and partially because of xenophobia. These that stayed in the Redlands usually didn't leave, but rather began to form tribes, save for most of the Asians who sought refuge in Jiāzhōu
Second Wave[]
The Second Wave of of refugees came less than a year after the First Wave. This wave of refugees came from various regions in the Western United States, primarily Southern California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Arizona, Washington, Montana and Utah. Mexicans were also a sizable minority, but most of them settled before reaching the Redlands. During this time towns truly pushed to the limit, and towns began to realize this. Many of them stopped giving refuge or aid to refugees, Eureka, Wilits, and Coos Bay even built large walls to try to keep them out. Shasta outright collapsed due to a passing of the region's carrying capacity. Since then Shasta has been a cluster of city-states and tribes fighting bloody ruthless wars over Blood Gold, often sold to other city-states, tribes, and later the Grizzly Pact and traded throughout the Pacific.
Saint Rose would also at this time create a re-settlement policy that would later define the nation. The policy would be the utilization of refugees in a rather draconian method as serfs and soldiers, which would be one of the contributing factors to the War of the Roses, which resulted in its name change from Santa Rosa to Saint Rose. During this time the North Valley City Cluster and the Sub-Portland clusters would both form. The North Valley Cluster from settling refugees in agrarian havens, and the Sub-Portland Cluster from settled refugees who mixed with native Oregonians and were then brought under warlords.
The Second Wave would last until late 1852, when a cold winter killed off many of the refugees that were not taken in or had shelter out in the mountains and forests, and would result in the devolution of many of these people into tribesmen, which would become a far larger issue in the post-Red Winter Redlands.
Red Winter[]
The Red Winter of 1852-1853 was a severely cold winter for the region, especially considering most migrants and refugees coming in the Second Wave hadn't even been properly settled yet, and were running low on supplies and good faith. During the Winter it's estimated that about 60% of all refugees that came in the later half of the Second Wave and almost 50% of all refugees during the Second Wave died from starvation and freezing alone. The whole region was devastated, and the famous Redwood Mass Cremations occurred, in which redwood trees were felled, hollowed out, and filled with bodies before being burned.
Eureka, Wilits, Big Lagoon, and Coos Bay fared the best, though that really does not mean much. The Shastans continued their wars, at this time mainly about supplies, throughout the Winter. Big Lagoon decided to begin taking in primarily Native refugees, which still continued to cause stress on their resources, but luckily in Big Lagoon their were plenty of fish to catch and trees to fell which kept them from the fate of Shasta.
The Winter got its name not from the mass starvation and freezing of countless people, but because many of the surviving unsettled refugees formed into tribes, and began raiding settled people for supplies. The tribesmen were said to have fought savagely, men and women alike and armed with clubs for the most part, sometimes occasionally muskets but most ran out of bullets around this time, and had reverted to using them as clubs for the most part. Another commonly believed reason for the particular savagery of these raids is that the raiders were also very angry and vengeful of having to received proper aid from the cities and settled-folk in the region.
During this time the savages actually became organized amongst one another to better organize raids, share ammunition, and ultimately get vengeance. Eventually, a man named Charles Vicar managed to become the leader of this loosely-united band of savages. Despite being "united" several notable tribes did not even join, and those that did still have the occasional skirmish, and when it came down to food fights were common.
Raiding of Coos Bay[]
December 18th 1852 was the day that Coos Bay was savagely raided by this disorganized commonwealth.
Geography[]
Landscape[]
The region is dominated by one of the only rainforests in the Northern Hemisphere, the Redwood Forest. This bi-ome of colossal trees stretches across the mountains, valleys, and coasts that make up this rugged region. Along the coast are also many jagged peaks and cliffs, and farther inland is a copious amounts of lagoons. The region is also home to Humboldt Bay, the 2nd largest bay in California, and largest between the Puget Sound and San Francisco.
Political[]
The largest political entity in the Redlands is the Grizzly Pact, formed in 1853 some years after the Chaos, which Redding joined in 1855. The rest of the Redlands is divided amongst forest and mountain tribes, who are are semi-nomadic. To the north the uncivilized tribes end and the border is met with that of the Executive Republic of Portland, one of the Eureka Pact's major trade partners. This border is widely considered the end to the Redlands region, but some say that the region ends at the Portland's northern border rather than southern.
To the south of Portland is a small cluster of city-states in the mountains, mainly consisting of refugees from many California towns that were ravaged in the Chaos who came together in the mountains and coasts, tough most of the coastal ones were picked off by the Grizzly Pact, Portland, Tribesmen, and each other. Eventually stood standing was coastal Saint Rose, and "Gate-To-the-North" Red Bluff. Amongst the two regional powers are three large clusters of smaller states, the Shasta Cluster, Sub-Portland Cluster, and the North Valley Cluster. The Redlands betwixt these clusters of and independent city-states are tribal regions of mainly nomadic forest-people.
Economy[]
The majority of the region is impoverished save for some of the wealthy trading-hubs and havens such as, Eureka, and Northhaven, and Redding: the only major industrial center in the region. This is a result of the rather basic and sustanence-oriented lifestyle of many of the Redland Tribes whose only major economic contributions are exports are venison and clay. Unfortunately the region's economy suffers significantly due to poor infrastructure. Redbluff and Redding are the two largest industrial centers in the region, industry being where Redbluff makes most of its money. Redding being the major industrial hub of the Grizzly Pact.
Regions claimed by civilization have actually proved quite prosperous. The Grizzly Pact managed to become one of the world's largest traders in gold, the largest regional producer of slaves, and the largest trader and producer in cannabis. Saint Rose and the North Valley Cities make tremendous amounts of money from caravans who stop by when going to the north or south in tribal-infested regions. The Sub-Portland cities managed to create wealth by trading slaves to the north, and the ever-warring and devastated Shasta City Cluster managed to procure significant amounts of wealth from gold and lumber, most of which was spent on wars which would result in the Cluster's poverty.
Resources[]
The economy of the region is mainly reliant on basic resources in the tribal regions which are usually sold to crudely to the Grizzly Pact or some other city-state, which often refines and sells them off. These resources include lumber (Redwood), red clay, marijuana (the region's cash-crop), venison, and beef.
Trading[]
A trade route exists through the heart of the Redlands from Oregon's Willamette Valley to California's Great Central Valley, more specifically the city of Portland to the city of Sacramento known as the Siskiyou Road, following the route of the Siskiyou Trail, a path between Oregon and California used to great extent in the California Gold Rush. The Siskiyou "Road", however, is known to be little more than a path in some regions and extremely hard to pass in certain areas such as the Klamath and Shasta Mountains, which are also infamous as bandit haunts. Despite the danger involved in traveling, it remains the only route that rural tribes and towns have to local hub-towns. Due to the danger of getting goods from the Redlands to other regions, prices are high on goods from the Redlands.
Several relatively prosperous city-states are located on the route, such as Eugene, known as the "Borderland of Cascadia", which is the main entrance to the Redlands, Grants Pass, a major trade junction situated in the middle of the Redlands, and Redding, which is located at the confluence of the Redlands and the Great Central Valley.
Culture[]
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