Newfield

Newfield is a nation in Soltera located to the west. It is the politically most important nation in all of Soltera, and possibly even the world.

The History of Newfield
The Nation of Newfield first came into existence as a colony of Acweald, a nation from another continent called the Auld Lands. In Acweald, like the rest of the former continent, Weavers and Renders coexisted together in relative peace, the countries battling between each other rather than among the religious sects. But a more militant group of Renders eventually rose to prominence, insisting the Weavers were sinners against Sol. These dissidents were given the Acweald Queen’s permission to therefore immigrate to the newly discovered continent of Soltera and they departed in droves, establishing the first colony of Arcus, and then the colonies of Neider, Mimas, New Albion, Karlwych, and Miryammayn soon following, collectively called Newfield.

The colonists found abundant lands awaiting them, much warmer than the Auld Lands from which they came. They also found fertile fields, bountiful game, unspoiled rivers and lakes as well as vast mountain ranges such as Havant, Ichuguk, Tendoy and Bone Ridge. In addition to this they located an intricate and unmapped system of Lines of ley. These intersected in the massive Nodus of Brimstone which would become the Eastern capital of Oreana and a hub of trade for the fledgling states.

The colonists also discovered the indigenous people, referred to as the Ingios, which were a nomadic set of tribes without understanding of the ley. As the Ingios were both technologically inferior and uninterested in learning from the new colonists, they simply packed up their camps and headed east, leaving the colonists to fend for themselves.

Based upon the Render principals of hard work, self-reliance and letting Sol’s Breath guide them, the colonists flourished, pushing ever east to form newer colonies like Walshvan, Ida, Overhurst, Rhea and Meskon over the next four decades. Tinkers plied their trade and harnessed the power of these lines of ley, connecting the countryside with Trains capable of traveling great speeds while hovering over the ley. This connected the sprawling continent, allowing for trade and a flourishing economy. The nomadic people called the Dobra soon arrived from the Auld Lands, using their ability to send messages down the ley and forming a communications network. With the economy roaring ever ahead, the colonies of Newfield were soon known the world over as a land of promise.

Establishing the East
News of their bounty drew more immigrants from all over the Auld Lands, their numbers including Weavers. Though the Render dominated colonists did not approve of the Weavers’ presence, they allowed them to remain. An uneasy peace existed in the burgeoning cities of Newfield, and because of that many of the Weavers decided to head east into the unknown to forge their own way. And into the East they found even more fertile fields, much more than any group of people could cultivate on their own.

The Weavers soon set up their own university of Ceilminster to study the emets they encountered. Though the Render government did not approve of the interactions with the emets, Ceilminster was far enough away from the capital of Vredenburgh that they continued their studies, learning from an emet Greybone how to make their manifestations permanent. Unlike naturally occurring emets with a Breath fragment for the Body, Mind and Soul, these artificial constructs only had fragments for the Body and Mind, and though they had the intelligence of a human, they had no Soul, making them the equivalent of animals to the Weavers. And since animals could be owned, the Weavers created them to work in the fields of the newly forming plantations.

As the western Render-dominated government considered this an abomination against their belief that Sol’s fragments should remain free-flowing on Ayr, a legal battle soon unfolded as to what to do with the newly created Manifestations. The legal wrangling raged for months and would have continued further if it were not for the war with Acweald…

Independence
Fighting a costly battle with the nation Bance, the Queen levied heavy taxes upon the colonies of Newfield. As over seven decades had passed since the Render dissidents had fled Acweald, three new generations had been born, and their loyalty was to Newfield rather than the Auld Lands from which their ancestors hailed from. As such, the citizens of Newfield revolted against their Queen, and though she sent troops to reclaim the wayward colony, the citizens of Newfield proved more tenacious than she expected. The Manifestations bolstering their numbers, the citizens of Newfield repelled her attacks again and again. Now facing a war on two fronts, the Acweald Queen had no choice but to allow the colonies of Newfield to form its own nation independent of her control.

As the Weavers’ Manifestations had proved instrumental in their victory, the Renders begrudgingly allowed their continuation in the East, the compromise being that the fragments of Sol making up the Manifestations would be destroyed upon the death of the one who commissioned their creation, the understanding being that these fragments would still be allowed to continue Sol’s flow eventually.

With the compromise in place, the eastern colonies became very agrarian, huge plantations dominating the land under the hand of the richest citizens, Manifestations working the fields without a care. New immigrants arriving every day, they were sent east, establishing new states like Aoiu, Nahuat and Yuta.

The Lacus War
The state of Lacus proved the most problematic for Newfield, as it was already claimed by the Mynan Nations to the east. Though their capital was on the other side of the Bone Ridge Mountains, the Mynans had formed their own colony in this land. Again the Manifestations proved indispensable in the short six month war between the two nations. Thousands of citizens headed east to fight the Mynans, finally claiming the state of Lacus as the last in the newly forged nation of Newfield.

The newly minted nation continued to flourish over the next five decades, a bright beacon of learning, finance and governance to the rest of the world, again drawing floods of immigrants. But while their borders were safe from outward opponents, a new threat began to fester within the nation itself. A new, more militant sect of the Renders loudly objected to the East’s use of Manifestations, swearing them to be abominations against Sol’s will and perhaps the creation of Waer herself.

Again this issue dominated the press but newly elected President Oran M. Ruhl tried to keep the tentative peace by pointing out the already established legal precedent of the Manifestations' status. Though many of the Western states made creation of Manifestations illegal, Ruhl hoped that this issue could be resolved on a state by state basis.

The Spark
But the Renders would not be denied, one young firebrand Aloysius Pulley gathering a group of like-minded Renders to make a press into the eastern state of Karlwych. There they destroyed any Manifestation they could find, hoping that this would force another referendum on the status of the creatures. But when the nation barely raised a collective eyebrow, Aloysius doubled down and destroyed the naturally occurring emet at Creightonville.

His target was not by chance, this benevolent emet much beloved by the local citizens. State militia seizing the wayward Render and his comrades, they put him on a quick trial. While the Manifestations he destroyed could be considered simply the destruction of property, the emet itself contained a Breath of Sol, and therefore his attack was considered tantamount to murder and Aloysius was summarily sentenced to death.

This legal decision sparked outcries from the Render dominated states in the West, until finally President Ruhl was forced to send federal troops into Karlwych to halt the execution in favor of a new trial in a higher court.

Fearing a crackdown by the federal government and a loss of autonomy, the citizens of Karlwych decided to secede from the nation. Though President Ruhl was willing to let the little state fend for itself and fail, Render pressure forced him to martial another federal force to retake the breakaway state. Fearing their own loss of independence, the Eastern states of Mimas, Rhea, Lacus, Aiou, Nahuat, Yuta and Meskon joined Karlwych’s cause and seceded from the nation in a matter of weeks. Later stuck in the middle of this conflagration, the state of Neider could not collectively decide on which side to take, the state splitting into West Neider and East Neider.

Calling themselves the Covenant, the breakaway states formed their own government in their capital city of Oreana under the leadership of Chaney Langdon, the nation of Newfield’s own former Secretary of War. Though they asserted their right to secede, Ruhl would not allow this, calling for volunteers to bring these states back into the fold. His call to arms was heeded; both sides soon marshaled large armies, neither willing to give an inch.

Finally word came that Aloysius’ execution was near, Ruhl sent his forces into the Karlwych capital of Creightonville to retrieve him. There the former Newfield general Clyde Loree, and now head of the Covenant militia, met future general Davis Underhill, who learned too late Aloysius had already been executed.

Despite the fact President Ruhl specifically ordered his troops not to fire upon their fellow citizens, a bloody battle soon ensued. Though each side swears the other fired the first shot, whoever actually began the bloodbath has never been ascertained.

And though he died, Aloysius succeeded in his goal and a war over the will of Sol began.

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The Grand War
Unlike the war with the Mynan Nations in which their enemies spoke a different language and hailed from a different culture, or even with Acweald where they shared a language and similar culture, the war between East and West was a new type of war, both sides indistinguishable from the other except by uniform and separated solely by an ideology between Renders and Weavers…

…and if you want to know more, you should probably read The Woven Ring since this happens to be a large part of it. So no more will be included here about the Grand War because, you know, spoilers.