THE PEACEFUL AND FRIENDLY CHARACTER OF THE WESTRIAN PEOPLE, HOWEVER, NATURALLY SERVED AS AN 'INVITATION' FOR OTHER NATIONS TO TAKE ADVANTAGE, AND WESTRIANS WERE GRADUALLY DRIVEN FROM THEIR OWN HOME SOIL BY MORE AGRESSIVE POPULATIONS.
THE EXACT ORIGIN OF THE WESTRIAN PEOPLE ON VEXILLIUM IS NOT PRECISELY KNOWN. MANY WESTRIAN HISTORIANS FIRMLY BELIEVE THAT THE ORIGINAL WESTRIAN HOMELAND IS IN SOUTHERN ANGLIYAA, WHERE A LARGE CONCENTRATION OF WESTRIANS STILL LIVE TODAY. OTHER, EQUALLY RESPECTED, HISTORIANS ON THE OTHER HAND FIRMLY BELIEVE THAT THIS THEORY IS FALSE. THE BWA'S OFFICIAL POSITION IS, THAT THE WESTRIAN ORIGINS ARE NOT ESTABLISHED BEYOND A DOUBT, AND ARE THEREFORE CURRENTLY UNKNOWN.
WESTRIANS WERE FORCED TO DISPERSE INTO THE OTHER COUNTRIES OF VEXILLIUM, SEEKING REFUGE, AND LIVING IN EXILE AS A NATION WITHOUT LAND. WESTRIA EXISTED ONLY IN ITS PEOPLE STREWN ALL OVER THE PLANET, LIVING AS MINORITIES IN FOREIGN NATIONS, WITHOUT MUCH OF A NATIONAL IDENTITY. MANY ETHNIC WESTRIANS BECAME CITIZENS OF THE COUNTRIES THEY RESIDED IN, AND OFTEN THEIR WESTRIAN CULTURE WAS HEAVILY INFILTRATED BY THE CULTURE OF THE PEOPLE THEY LIVED AND INTERACTED WITH EVERY DAY.
FOR CENTURIES THIS SITUATION EXISTED, AND ALTHOUGH THERE WERE REGIONAL ASSOCIATIONS OF WESTRIANS IN 16 COUNTRIES, TRYING TO PROVIDE A CULTURAL AND SOCIAL ENTITY TO LINK TO, WESTRIANS BEGAN TO REALIZE THAT THEIR CULTURE, LANGUAGE, AND WAY OF LIFE WAS IN DANGER OF BEING DILUTED TO THE POINT OF INDISTINGUISHABILITY. IT WAS THUS IN THE YEAR 275 AP THAT THE BUREAU OF WESTRIAN AFFAIRES (BWA) WAS FORMED.
VERY SOON AFTER ITS INCEPTION, THE BWA BEGAN TO RECORD ITS FIRST SUCCESSES THROUGH THE ORGANIZATION OF CULTURAL EVENTS, THE FORMATION OF WESTRIAN EDUCATIONAL CENTERS, THE PRESERVATION OF NATIONALLY SIGNIFICANT IMAGERY, ARTIFACTS, AND SCRIPTURES, AND THE LIKE, AND REPRESENTING THE INTERESTS AND CIVIL RIGHTS OF WESTRIANS. THE BWA ESTABLISHED A NATIONAL REGISTRY OF WESTRIANS, AND ISSUED BWA IDENTITY CARDS TO ANY ETHNIC WESTRIAN WHO APPLIED. THE BUREAU ALSO RECORDED AND RESEARCHED THE NATIONAL ORIGINS OF EXILE WESTRIANS, AND ANY PEOPLE WHO HAD REASON TO BELIEVE THAT THEIR ANCESTORS CAME FROM OLD WESTRIA. SINCE ITS BEGINNINGS, THE BWA HAS BECOME INDISPENSABLE IN ITS ROLE TO WESTRIANS VEXILLIUM-WIDE, AND THANKS TO THE BUREAU'S INITIATIVE, THE NATIONAL IDENTITY OF WESTRIA WAS PRESERVED AFTER ALL.
IT WAS FURTHER PREDICTED, THAT THIS REBIRTH OF THE WESTRIAN NATION WOULD OCCUR IN THE SOUTHWESTERN REGIONS OF NUARMIA (THE CONTINENT OF NOVA VEXILLIUM), WHICH TURNED OUT TO BE THE VAST AND MOSTLY UNEXPLORED LANDS OF NEW ARMATIRION, THE OVERSEAS COLONY OF THE GREAT AND POWERFUL REPUBLIC OF ARMATIRION.
IN ANTICIPATION OF THIS PROPHECY, THOUSANDS OF EXILE WESTRIANS FROM ALL OVER THE PLANET BEGAN A PILGRIMAGE TO THE REFERENCED PLAN SECTOR , CONGREGATING THERE TO EXPERIENCE AND BRING ABOUT THE PROMISED EMERGENCE OF THE NEW WESTRIAN NATION. THE WORD OF THIS UNUSUAL PHENOMENON SPREAD SO QUICKLY, THAT THE RATE AF ARRIVALS INCREASED TO MANY THOUSAND WESTRIANS PER DAY.
THE BWA TOOK NOTE WITH CONSIDERABLE CONCERN, AS IT WAS NOT TO BE RULED OUT THAT THE REPUBLIC OF ARMATIRION MAY BE VERY ALARMED AT THIS HEAVY INFLUX OF FOREIGN MIGRANTS INTO THEIR REALM, AND POSSIBLY CONSIDER IT SOME SORT OF HOSTILE INVASION. TO ENSURE THAT THE ARRIVAL OF WESTRIAN POPULATION IN THE JURISDICTIONAL TERRITORY OF ARMATIRION IS NOT CONSIDERED AN ACT OF HOSTILITY, BUT MERELY AS A DESPERATE ACT OF A PEOPLE SEEKING A DOMINION WHERE THEIR NATIONAL IDENTITY CAN BE RE-ESTABLISHED AND BE ALLOWED TO FLOURISH, ON JUNE 12, 298 AP, THE BWA HQ IN CHRISTIANA RELEASED AN URGENT OFFICIAL COMMUNIQUE TO THE PRESIDENT OF ARMATIRION, THE HONORABLE KJELL ROLL ELGSAAS, EXPLAINING THE SITUATION, AND OFFERING THE IMMEDIATE EVACUATION OF ALL WESTRIAN NATIONALS FROM NEW ARMATIRION TERRITORY, IF SO DESIRED BY THE GOVERNMENT OF ARMATIRION. YET, THE BWA ALSO EXPRESSED ITS HOPES AS TO WHAT POSSIBILITIES MAY BE AVAILABLE TO THE WESTRIAN PEOPLE TO REMAIN THERE.
WESTRIANS WERE OVERJOYED AT THE MOST GENEROUS OFFER BY ARMATIRION, AND THE STEADY STREAM OF IMMIGRANTS TO THE NEW HOMELAND REACHED LEVELS NEVER SEEN BEFORE. WITHIN JUST A FEW WEEKS, HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF ENTHUSIASTIC WESTRIANS HAD ARRIVED TO BEGIN BUILDING THEIR NEW NATION. CONSTRUCTION IS AT INTENSITIES NEVER BEFORE SEEN ON THE PLANET, AS LARGE INDUSTRIAL CORPORATIONS ESTABLISHED BY WESTRIANS IN OTHER COUNTRIES COMBINE THEIR RESOURCES WITH THE TREMENDOUS AID AND ASSISTANCE PROVIDED BY THE REPUBLIC OF ARMATIRION. THE FIRST CITY FOUNDED WAS MONTROY ON THE ISLAND OF EXAMINI.
THE DESPOTIC RULER OF TERRAMARC, TOM KOH, HAD BEEN NEGLECTING HIS DUTIES IN HIS IRRESPONSIBILITY, SELF-INDULGENCE, AND SLOTH, AND OVER TIME, THE POPULATION OF HIS COUNTRY BECAME INCREASINGLY DISENCHANTED WITH ITS GOVERNMENT. THE FORMER CHIEF CENSOR OF TERRAMARC, C. H. LEE, ABANDONED HIS POST AS HE REALIZED THE TRUTH ABOUT THE KOH REGIME, AND PROCEEDED TO SEND ANTI-GOVERNMENT MESSAGES TO THE NATIONS OF VEXILLIUM FROM AN UNKNOWN HIDING PLACE. ALTHOUGH EFFORTS WERE MADE BY THE KOH REGIME TO CAPTURE THIS ELUSIVE OPPONENT, LEE MANAGED TO REMAIN IN HIDING, AND CONTINUED TO SUMMON FORCES TO UNDERMINE THE DESPOT'S RULE.
EVENTUALLY, TWO REGIONS OF GREATER TERRAMARC BROKE AWAY FROM THE REALM OF THE DICTATOR KOH. THESE BECAME LATER KNOWN AS EASTERN ZARTANIA AND WHITLAM. KOH ATTEMPTED TO STOP THE SECESSION, BUT HIS DISGRUNTLED MILITARY WAS DISINTERESTED IN THE TASK, AND ONLY A FEW FANATICALLY LOYAL UNITS ACTUALLY DEPLOYED, WITHOUT MUCH SUCCESS. FACED WITH THE DISOBEDIENCE OF HIS ARMED FORCES, KOH CONTINUED TO WITHDRAW EVEN MORE FROM HIS OFFICIAL GOVERNING DUTIES IN THE REALIZATION THAT HIS POWER WAS FADING, WHICH EVENTUALLY LED TO NEARLY UNBEARABLE LAWLESS AND CHAOTIC CONDITIONS IN THE COUNTRY. WITHOUT EFFECTIVE AND UNCORRUPTED LAW ENFORCEMENT AND LEADERSHIP, WIDESPREAD RIOTING AND CIVIL UNREST ENSUED IN THE REMAINING LANDS OF TERRAMARC. THE NATION'S CITIES AND STATES WERE PLAGUED BY LOOTERS, GANGS, AND CLANS UNDERTAKING PILLAGING RAIDS, AND INVOLVING THEMSELVES AND INNOCENT THIRD PARTIES IN LARGE-SCALE SHOOTOUTS AND ACTS OF TERRORISM, AS THEY VIED FOR POWER AMONGST THEMSELVES.
AFTER REPEATED APPEALS BY THE PEOPLE OF TERRAMARC TO THEIR GOVERNMENT
- REQUESTING IMMEDIATE INTERVENTION - WENT UNANSWERED, THE SITUATION QUICKLY
DETERIORATED INTO A STATE OF NEAR ANARCHY, WHICH PUT THE ENTIRE NATION
INTO TURMOIL AND PANIC. IN VIEW OF THESE UNACCEPTABLE CONDITIONS, AND THE
INABILITY OF THE POPULOUS TO SOLICIT FROM THEIR LEADER A RESPONSE, LET
ALONE ACTION, THE BWA (AS THE ONLY NON-GOVERNMENT AGENCY CAPABLE OF ADMINISTERING
A 'NATION') WAS APPROACHED FOR ASSISTANCE NOT ONLY BY THE CONSIDERABLE
NUMBER OF WESTRIAN NATIONALS LIVING IN TERRAMARC, BUT ALSO BY THE LARGEST
CIVILIAN ASSOCIATIONS AND UNIONS REPRESENTING THE TERRIFIED CITIZENS OF
TERRAMARC, WITH THE BACKING OF WHAT REMAINED OF THE COUNTRY'S ESTRANGED
MILITARY.
MEANWHILE, TERRAMARC'S NAME WAS REMOVED AT THE REQUEST OF A MAJORITY
OF VOTERS, AND TEMPORARILY REPLACED BY THE TERM "TERRITORY OF THE BWA".
CHARGE D'AFFAIRES LOURDES RAQUELI, WHO HAD BEEN INSTRUMENTAL IN NEGOTIATING
THE BWA'S ROLE, WAS APPOINTED VICEROY.
BY COINCIDENCE, WESTRIANS HAD NOW GAINED NOT ONLY THE SO LONG PROMISED AND ELUSIVE HOMELAND, BUT IN FACT TWO NATIONS WERE NOW UNDER WESTRIAN ADMINISTRATION. THE GENIAL CHIEF CARTOGRAPHER OF THE BWA, NIKO STERNSBERGEN, ORIGINATED THE IDEA OF PROPOSING TO TRADE SOME OF THE UNINHABITED AND RATHER RUGGED SOUTHERN LANDS OF THE TERRITORY OF THE BWA TO ARMATIRION, IN EXCHANGE FOR MORE LAND FOR THE NEW WESTRIAN HOMELAND IN NEW ARMATIRION, IN THE REGION SO IMPORTANT TO WESTRIANS THROUGH THEIR AGE-OLD PROPHECY. A TREATY PROPOSAL WAS PREPARED AND EXTENDED TO PRESIDENT ELGSAAS, WHO, AFTER DUE DEBATE WITH HIS CABINET, AGREED TO REDRAW THE BOUNDARIES OF WESTRIA, ARMATIRION AND THE TERRITORY OF THE BWA TO WHAT THEY ARE AT THIS POINT IN TIME (SEE GEOGRAPHY). THE NEW BOUNDARIES OF THE TERRITORY OF THE BWA ARE SHOWN IN THE MAP BELOW (THE LIGHT BLUE AREA LABELED 'WESTERMARC'):
THE TREATY WITH EASTERN ZARTANIA:
A HISTORIC 'TREATY OF AMITY, FRIENDSHIP, AND COMMERCE' BETWEEN
OUR TWO NATIONS WAS NEGOTIATED IN SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER OF 298, WITH THE
LAST RESERVATIONS ACKNOWLEDGED AND THE TREATY TAKING EFFECT ON NOVEMBER
4, 298. VISIT
THE TREATY ONLINE!
THE REFERENDUM IN DEUCOLAND:
AFTER INVASION BY DJERIGAN TERRORISTS, AND A SUBSEQUENT DESTRUCTIVE
WAR TO EXPEL THEM FROM THEIR COUNTRY, THE PEOPLE OF DEUCOLAND WERE FACED
WITH A NATION IN RUBBLE, RAVAGED BY THE WAR, AND THE RUTHLESS SCORCHED
EARTH POLICY OF THE DJERIGANS. THE PEOPLE OF DEUCOLAND, UNDER THE
LEADERSHIP OF THE DEUCOLAND RESISTANCE, WHO HAD SUCCEEDED IN DRIVING THE
DJERIGANS OUT, WERE ASKED TO THE POLLS TO DECIDE ON THEIR COUNTRY'S FUTURE.
FACED WITH THE BLEAK PROSPECTS OF A DEUCOLAND IN SHAMBLES, THE DEUCO PEOPLE
VOTED BY IMPRESSIVE MAJORITY TO COME INTO THE NURTURING ARMS OF THE WESTRIAN
NATION, AND TO MAKE DEUCOLAND A PART OF WESTRIA. AFTER A QUICK NEGOTIATION
PERIOD WITH THE RESISTANCE LEADERS, DEUCOLAND BECAME A FULLY INTEGRATED
PART OF WESTRIA ON DECEMBER 21, 298. THE TREATY
CAN BE VIEWED ONLINE AS WELL.
PAYMENT WAS MADE BY WESTRIA PRIMARILY THROUGH DELIVERY OF
NATURAL RESOURCES, SUCH AS OIL, DIAMONDS,
URANIUM, MANGANESE, AS WELL AS MACHINERY (SUCH AS AIRPLANES,
AUTOMOBILES AND HEAVY CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT) AND
TECHNOLOGY/ELECTRONICS (SUCH AS COMPUTERS, CONSUMER
ELECTRONICS, AND ROBOTICS). THE PURCHASE AMOUNT REMAINS
UNDISCLOSED TO THE PUBLIC.
THIS TRANSACTION WAS THE LARGEST LAND PURCHASE EVER ON THE
PLANET VEXILLIUM, AND THEREFORE A RATHER SIGNIFICANT
HISTORIC EVENT. WESTRIA'S REASONS FOR THE PURCHASE ARE THAT
THE
TERRITORY WILL ALLOW IT TO ESTABLISH AN IMPORTANT TRADE
POST ON THE EAST COASTS OF THE NEW CONTINENTS, GIVING IT A
PERMANENT STATION TO CONDUCT TRADE AND BUSINESS WITH THE
CONTINENTS OF LONGERATH AND SMALIK, WHILE AT THE SAME TIME
ALLOWING VARIOUS WESTRIAN BUSINESSES TO TAKE
ADVANTAGE OF THE OFFSHORE MANUFATURING, PRICING AND LABOR LAW
ADVANTAGES, AND OTHER INDUSTRY OPPORTUNITIES A
REMOVED TERRITORY SUCH AS THIS PROVIDES.
THE PURCHASE AGREEMENT WAS SIGNED ON THE 14TH OF JANUARY, 299, IN
CHILANGOTITLAN - AT THAT POINT IN HISTORY, OOST-OTAGO BECAME A
PART OF THE WESTRIAN REALM. VIEW THE PURCHASE AGREEMENT
HERE.
BABEN-OVERBABEN BECOMES OFFICIALLY WESTRIAN:
ON FEBRUARY 18, 299, THE FORMALITIES REGARDING THE LEASE OF BABEN
AND OVERBABEN FROM THE COOPERATIVE COMMONWEALTH OF THE UNION OF NORTHERN
GRONK, WERE FINALLY FINALIZED, AND BABEN-OVERBABEN BECAME A PART OF THE
WESTRIAN REALM UNDER A TIME-LIMITED LEASE AGREEMENT, AS HAD BEEN PLANNED
BY NG AND THE BWA MONTHS BEFORE IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE EQUIVALENT LEASE
OF THE CITY OF REGINA BY THE BWA TO NORTHERN GRONK.
GLACIARIAN AND POLARIAN TERRITORIES ADDED:
DURING THE DISINTEGRATION OF THE FREE CONFEDERACY OF LENDIAN REPUBLICS
(FCLR) IN FEBRUARY 299, PARTS OF THE LENDIAN GLACIARIA TERRITORY WERE SIGNED
OVER BY THE FLCR TO WESTRIA, WHITLAM, EASTERN ZARTANIA, LEXICON ISLANDS,
AND ISLANDIA. WESTRIA NEGOTIATED A LARGE GLACIARIAN TERRITORY TO
BE INCORPORATED INTO THE WESTRIAN REALM AS A SPECIAL STATUS DEPENDENCY.
THE DEAL WAS SIGNED WITH THE FLCR ON FEBRUARY 28, 299; SHORTLY THEREAFTER,
WESTRIAN TROOPS AND SCIENTIFIC MISSIONS BEGAN ARRIVING ON THE ICY CONTINENT.
ON MARCH 5, 299, HIGH-RESOLUTION SATELLITE SCANS UNDERTAKEN BY THE
WESTRIAN ACADEMY OF MAPS AND FLAGS (WAMF) REVEALED THE PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN
EXISTENCE OF A LARGE LAND MASS AS WELL AS SEVERAL ISLAND GROUPS UNDERNEATH
AND ADJACENT TO THE NORTH POLAR ICE CAP. A DETAILED MAP WAS PUBLISHED
TO THE VEXILLIUM COMMUNITY, THE FIRST OF ITS KIND FOR THE NORTHERN POLAR
REGIONS. THE BWA CLAIMED THE NEWLY DISCOVERED LANDS AS PARTS OF THE
WESTRIAN REALM AS A SPECIAL STATUS DEPENDENCY, SIMILAR TO THE GLACIARIAN
TERRITOEY ACQUIRED JUST DAYS BEFORE. SINCE THEN, SEVERAL SCIENTIFIC
MISSIONS HAVE BEEN ESTABLISHED ON THE POLARIAN TERRITORY, AS WELL AS ON
INGEBORG AND HEINRICH ISLANDS, THE ONLY LAND DISCOVERED NOT SUBMERGED UNDER
THE ICE CAP.
LOMBRIGA'S ANNEXATION:
LOMBRIGA WAS TAKEN OVER BY THE BWA AFTER THE COLLAPSE OF THE FREE
CONFEDERACY OF LENDIAN REPUBLICS (FCLR) IN MARCH 299. THE POPULATION
OF LOMBRIGA, 89.5% OF WHICH WERE OF WESTRIAN ETHNICITY, EXPRESSED THEIR
WISH TO BECOME PART OF THE WESTRIAN REALM IN A REFERENDUM HELD BY THE LOCAL
COUNCIL OF CITIZENS. THE BWA OBLIGED WITH THE WISHES OF OUR FELLOW
WESTRIANS, AND LOMBRIGA OFFICIALLY BECAME PART OF THE REALM ON MARCH 12,
299. LOMBRIGA IS NOT A COLONY OR DEPENDENCY, BUT HOLDS EQUAL STATEHOOD
STATUS WITH THE STATES AND PROVINCES OF WESTRIA, WESTERMARC, AND WESTRIAN
DEUCOLAND. AS SUCH, LOMBRIGA HOLDS A PERMANENT SEAT IN THE WESTRIAN
PARLIAMENT.
FOOTBALL TRIUMPH:
ON APRIL 17, 299, THE WESTRIAN NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM DEFEATED THE
LEXICON ISLANDS IN THE FINAL MATCH OF THE COPA VEXANOVA ORDLAND'99, IN
AN ACTION-PACKED MATCH IN THE NATIONAL STADIUM OF NEWTON, ORDLAND, TO WIN
THE INAUGURAL COPA VEXANOVA TROPHY, AND TO CEMENT THEIR NUMBER ONE RANKING
IN THE IVEFA SATOSAN RANKINGS.
NIOKOLO KOBAN ANNEXATION AND PROTECTORATESHIP:
ON APRIL 18, 299, THE WEEK-LONG NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN THE BWA AND
THE CHEF LIBRE DU NIOKOLO KOBA, M'BUTU DIÉYE-DIOP, AND HIS DELEGATION,
CAME TO A SUCCESSFUL COMPROMISE. THE CHIEF AND PEOPLE OF NIOKOLO
KOBA HAD EXPRESSED THEIR WISH TO JOIN THE WESTRIAN REALM TO ENJOY THE BENEFITS
OF WESTRIAN MILITARY PROTECTION, AS WELL AS WESTRIAN ECONOMIC, FINANCIAL,
AND ORGANIZATIONAL BENEFITS. THE BWA AND NK THUS AGREED TO A PARTIAL
ANNEXATION OF TERRITORY IN COMPENSATION FOR THE EXPENSES ASSOCIATED WITH
THE REBUILDING OF THE NK MILITARY AND ECONOMY, AND THE PAYMENT OF NK DEBTS
TO EASTERN ZARTANIA. THE REMAINDER OF NK WAS PROCLAIMED A PROTECTORATE
OF WESTRIA, WITH STATUS TO BE DETERMINED IN FINALITY IN THE FORESEEABLE
FUTURE. THE ABOVE MAP SHOWS THE NEW BOUNDARIES OF THE WESTRIAN SOVEREIGN
TERRITORY, AS WELL AS THE EXTENT OF THE PROTECTORATE.