Ouisconsin

From IBWiki

**Province of Ouisconsin**

Subdivision of:	North American League
Cities:
Capital:	Saint Francis
Largest:	Chicago
Other:	Milwaukee, Creve Coeur
Languages:
Official:	English (language of administration)
Others:	Othaakiwaki, Bodewadmi Zheshmowen, Ho-Chunk, Francien, Brithenig, Scots
Viceroy:	H.E. the Rt. Hon. Ben Nighthorse Campbell
Lord Governor:	H. E. Brion Martens (Whig)
Admission to NAL:	1835

Ouisconsin is a province of the North American League that touches Lake Mishigami and the border of Louisianne.

History

Background

Ouisconsin takes its name from a river whose name origins are obscure (believed to derive from a word that means "red stone place"). However, beyond doubt the earliest European settlers in the region were French. A diverse group followed, including Kemrese and Scots as well as Native peoples from regions to the north and east. Interestingly, the ethnic differences were more-or-less soothed by the spread of Cambrian-Rite Catholic Missionaries. At least this allowed for several trading posts to spring up under the auspices of monastic Missions, such as those in Peoria, Chicago and Milwaukee. The fur trade proved very profitable and attracted many more settlers from Les Plaines and Ontario as well as Illinoise and Miami.

Road to provincehood

Black Hawk, Ouisconsin's first Lord Governor (1835-1840)

The origins of Ouisconsin have been described as "the SLC in miniature"-- like the League as a whole, the province first arose as a coming-together of Native tribes and Newcomer settlements. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the region between the Illinoise River, the Mississippi River, and Lake Mishigami was dominated by two large tribes. The Othaaki-Meskwaki or Sauk-Fox confederacy was consolidating into an important regional power along the Mississippi, Ouisconsin, and Rock [1] Rivers. The Southern (or Prairie) Bodéwadmi, or Potawatomi, lived to the south and east along the Great Lake and the Illinoise River.

North of these were two smaller tribes, the Kiwikapawa or Kickapoo to the northwest and the Ho-Chunk to the northeast. The Kickapoo spoke a language that was mutually intelligible with Sauk-Fox and today is not considered a separate language. The Ho-Chunk spoke and continue to speak a Siouan language distinct from their Algonquian neighbors. All of these tribes were relatively recent arrivals in the area following the collapse of the Illinoise Confederacy which had dominated the region throughout the eighteenth century.

European settlement at this time was confined to a few settlements, but by the early 19th century, the southeastern part of what is today Ouisconsin was largely peopled by Newcomers.

These diverse peoples came together under the leadership of Chief Black Hawk, a Sauk, during the 1828 War, when they preserved their mutual independence in the face of French/Louisiannais expansion.

Geography

Rough map of Ouisconsin

Major subdivisions

A description of Ouisconsin's internal geography, and how it came to be that way.

Ouisconsin is divided into five regions called fifths or fithings [2], along with four cities not part of any fithing. The fithings are Othaaki- Meskwaki, Bodewadmi, Kiwikapawa, Ho-Chunk, and Four Nations. The cities are St. Francis, Chicago, Milwaukee, and Creve Coeur.

The fithings originally had lots of autonomy, reflecting the confederate nature of early Ouisconsin. As time went on, and the fithings' populations became more diverse, they gradually surrendered more of their autonomy to the provincial government, or devolved local powers to the counties and municipalities. Today their role is largely administrative and ceremonial. They are each led by a small elected Council, which elects a chairman still called a Chief. The four northern fithings' Councils maintain a considerable amount of tribal pomp. The Council of the Four Nations, which lacks a tribal heritage, is considerably less interesting.

The cities

St. Francis [3]

St. Francis (Rockford *here*) was a tiny mission settlement on a strategic ford of the Rock River when it was chosen as the province's capital in the early 1830s. It was located almost at the geographic center of the province and almost on the border between Sauk-Fox and Potawatomi territory. Today it is not the gritty industrial town of *here*; rather, it is home to all the bureaucratic and cultural elements that go along with modern provincial government. Its Cathedral of St. Francis is the seat of the Cambrian Rite Archbishop [4] for the Province of Ouisconsin.

Chicago

What can be said about Chicago that has not already been said? It is the commercial and (for better or for worse) cultural center of modern Ouisconsin. Originally a Potawatomi trading village, the city whose name in Miami means "stinking onions" grew at an alarming rate, attracting one of the most diverse sets of people America, before being split off from Bodewadmi Fithing in the mid-19th century. A century ago, Chicago was especially notable for its German, Greek, and Venedic flavors: Venedic-Chicagoans invented the bizarrely complex game called Squamish in English. Chicago's Pizza Queen restaurants cheapened the American palate, while its Chicago Press made superhero comics grittier and its Dandy magazine made pornography classy. It is also home to more highbrow entertainments: Chicago Jass is now a sophisicated music genre, while the University of Chicago Press is one of the premier academic publishing houses in the SLC. Chicago remains a major destination for foreign immigrants, lately especially Castilian-speaking Floridians.

Milwaukee

Chicago's "little brother," Milwaukee was also former Potawatomi territory, also changed by large numbers of Germans and Veneds. It was split off from Bodewadmi Fithing somewhat later than Chicago, and more so than its larger neighbor, still has a strong Potawatomi character, with strong traces of German. A century ago, Milwaukee revolutionized American beermaking.

Creve Coeur

A growing Anglo-French settlement in the 1810s-20s, Peoria aligned itself with the growing province of Illinoise despite being located inside Potawatomi territory. When Ouisconsin was admitted to the Council Fire in 1835, it was with the promise that it would hold to a border compromise with Illinoise over Peoria.

The solution was to place the city in both provinces, a not-unheard-of-situation, but one which in this case became a point of purely local contention (and the butt of many a joke about Peoria and Peorians). It made for a certain amount of complexity regarding the city government, having to deal with the laws of two provinces. But the system did work, however awkwardly. Socially, the situation proved more argumentative, a matter of dispute and sometimes fistfights over whether to seek union with one province, dividing the city into two, or letting matters remain as they were.

After considerable debate--and many attempts by factions to bring it to a head--a referendum finally came to a vote in 1968. It split the city into Peoria and West Peoria. The latter voted to change their name to Creve Coeur in 1973.

The fithings

Kiwikapawa

Or Kickapoo. A small and sparsely populated fithing stretching along the northern border of the province. It is still largely Native, the people speaking a northerly dialect of Sauk-Fox. It is administered from the small town of Prairie-du-Chien, an old French fur post at the confluence of the Ouisconsin and Mississippi Rivers.

Ho-Chunk

The Ho-Chunk language survives, but is declining. The fithing is administered from Baie-des-Puants, "Bay of Stinkers" (*here*'s Green Bay). The town is known for its eccentric inhabitants-- they have kept their odd name throughout the centuries, despite frequent jokes and proposals to adopt something more ordinary-- and for its hibercrosse team, the Stinkers, an professional team of exceptional quality for a city so small. The city is mostly English-speaking but is proud of its Ho-Chunk heritage.

Othaaki-Meskwaki

The Sauk-Fox fithing is home to perhaps the most vibrant Native culture in modern Ouisconsin. It is administered from Saukenuk (*here*'s Rock Island), capital of the old Othaaki-Meskwaki confederacy. The Saukenuk Mining and Freight Company is a major landowner and economic force in the fithing. It was established in the 1830s by Sauk-Fox leaders to maintain their control on the valuable lead mines north of the city. When the mines became unprofitable, the company expanded into shipping. It owns a sizeable fleet of trucks, freight trains, and airships.

Wa-Tho-Huk Thorpe was an important local hero from one of Othaaki's northern villages. After becoming famous as a rugby player, he went on to dominate the track-and-field events at the 1912 World Games in Stockholm, receiving a special award from Archking Christian X of the Scandinavian Realm for his extraordinary performance in so many events. He played various other sports professionally through clubs in Saukenuk and Chicago. Any patriotic Ouisconsian knows that Thorpe was the greatest athlete in the history of humanity.

Bodewadmi

Administered from Assiminehkon (*here*'s Paw Paw, Illinois), the area is a mix of Potawatomi, English, Scots, and Brithenig speakers. Much Prairie Potawatomi territory was lost to Illinoise during the border disputes.

Northern Bodewadmi is located between the metropolises of Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Francis. While in ecologically minded and train-riding Ill Bethisad, suburban sprawl is nowhere near as heinous as *here*, the region is nonetheless changing rapidly as people move there. Journalists and advertisers have dubbed the region "Chiwausis," and it is home to ever-increasing numbers of professional suburbanites. Overcrowding and the loss of green space, much of it sacred or nearly so to the original inhabitants, is becoming a major issue.

Four Nations

A small fithing in the narrow stretch of land between the Mississippi and Illinoise Rivers. It was established by French, English, Chomro, and Scots who moved into the vacant land following the fall of the Illini confederacy. The settlers mixed well and resisted both cultural pressure from Louisianne and absorption into the English loyalist province of Illinoise. They joined instead with the Natives to the north in Black Hawk's new province.

Four Nations is administered from the city of _____ (*here*'s Quincy, Illinois), but its largest city is Alton, a thoroughly Francophone suburb of Saint-Louis, Louisianne. Alton *there* is in a different location from Alton *here*-- in the wedge of land between the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, the only part of Ouisconsin on the other side of the Muddy Mississippi, and the only part to border Louisianne. [5] Alton is a big bedroom community. Many citizens live on the NAL border with Louisianne to be able to take advantage of the lower taxes and prices, even if they're crazy and use that weird metric system.

Borders

To the west is Les Plaines. To the East is Lake Mishigami and Miami. North is Mascoutensi. To the south is Louisianne and Illinoise.

Government

The provincial government is headed by a Lord Governor elected every five years. A provincial legislature known as the Ouisconsin Council faces election every two years and numbers 146. 80 of these are elected by the first-past-the-post system, riding-by-riding, then the remaining 66 are nominated by the parties so that the proportion of seats held by each party are as close as possible to the proportions of votes. This is, then, a PR system. A Supreme Tribunal is the highest provincial court, with nine members nominated by the Lord Governor and approved by the Council. In general the cities tend to be strongly dominated by the Whig Party while the outlying regions are strong with the Progressive Conservative Party.

Brion Martens, a Councillor from Milwaukee, was elected Lord Governor in 2005 from the Whig Party in a hotly contested election in the wake of the Watergap Scandal, when many issues over the forgeries had not yet been resolved. At that time the Whigs lost control of the Council, helped by the PR system, so the new Speaker was Martens' opponent in the election, Warren Hutch (PC). The Covenant Loyalist party became increasingly popular running up to the 2007 election. The Whigs lost a lot of votes to the CLs; the PCs have the most seats but there is a Whig/CL coalition in government.

Flag

The three stars on the flag's shield represent the three broadest ethnic groups: Natives, Newcomers at the time of incorporation, and more recent immigrants from other lands. The wolf represents tribal authority and the shield, Newcomer and League authority. The field of green and blue represents land and water, especially the Great Lake.

Languages

Ouisconsin is the proud home of "eight nations" speaking seven different languages: Potawatomi, Sauk-Fox, Ho-Chunk, French, English, Scots, and Brithenig. All have official status, but English has been adopted as the lingua franca of administration and trade. The many immigrants who settled in Ouisconsin, especially from Germany and Veneda, added their own voices to the mix, but generally learned English and one other language. Today the province sees many immigrants coming from Florida, so Castilian can be heard there as well.

Economy

Sometimes called the "Cheese Capital of the NAL," Ouisconsin is mostly a province of farmers, with however a few large metropolitan areas and surrounding suburbs. Chicago is a major trading nexus, including rail and air and water-traffic. This is true as well, but to a lesser extent, of Milwaukee and Creve Coeur.

Conclusion

Ouisconsin is nothing if not diverse. Following the legacy of the great Black Hawk, its people have a long history of thriving together despite their differences and prejudices.

Notes

[1] Undoubtedly it has a different name *there*.

[2] If a "thirding" becomes a riding and a "fourthing" a farthing, then might a "fifthing" become a fithing? Not necessarily, and I'm open to other suggestions.

[3] The name St. Francis is QSS, but it is uncertain which St. Francis it refers to. Francis of Assisi might have some ecological appeal to Native Americans, but as an Italian, might be an odd choice for Cambrian Rite Christians. He might be a local missionary or convert.

[4] Or whatever the correct title is.

[5] This is an attempt to coordinate various QSS bits about Ouisconsin's borders. I'll provide a more detailed explanation if needed.

Provinces of the North American League & Solemn League Covenant

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Unincorporated Territories