Norumbega
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Norumbega
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 Flag
 Coat of arms
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| Motto: An Appeal ta Heaven | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Anthem: Abner Mendez Norumbega Forever  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wampum Belt Gelusewa'ngan  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Norumbega (green) in Merica, circa 2319. Nation-States in light gray, neutral or unclaimed zones in dark gray. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Capital | Awlbany | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Largest city | New Hahtland | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Official languages | Yankee English | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Recognised national languages | Yankee English Deitsch Qadian Scoshun Iroquoian Algonquian Yiddish Mi'kmaq Innu-Inuttitut Newfie Nordestinú Norumbegaans | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Demonym(s) | Norumbegan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Government | Semi-Constitutional Monarchy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• King | Franklin II Dogood | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• Head of Pahlament | David Zekara | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Legislature | Pahlament | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| House of the Elected | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| House of Appointees | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• First New English Colony | November 3rd 1620 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• American Independence | July 4th 1776/September 3rd 1783 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• The Great Collapse | April 15th, 2049 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• Foundation of Norumbega | April 28th 2100 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• Formation of the Commonwealth | December 31st 2221 - January 1st 2222 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• Cemented Status | 2260 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• 2320 estimate | 47,342,359 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| GDP (nominal) | estimate | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• Total | GDP Not used | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
• Per capita | GDP Not used (GDP Not used) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gini (2315) | 29.4 low (6) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HDI | 0.937 very high | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Currency | None (N/A) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Time zone | Eastern Standard Time | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date format | dd-mm-yy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Driving side | right | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Calling code | +02 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Internet TLD | .ag | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
HOLY SHIT WIP
Norumbega, officially the Norumbegan Commonwealth or the Commmonwealth of Norumbega (Yankee: Commonwealth a Norumbega), is a sovereign nation located in Northeastern Merica. Norumbega is bordered by Appalachia and the Neo-Confederate States to the South, Erie and Rontroit to the West, and shares a naval border with Nunavut and Klaalit Nunaat to the North. Additionally, Norumbega shares a large northwestern land border with the Jamésie-Kativik Non-National Land Preserve. Norumbega is one of the largest nations in Merica in terms of both population and land size, holding around 55.3 million people over ###### square kilometers of landd (##### square miles). It is the third largest nation on the continent after Alaska and the Saskatchekhanate. Norumbega's population centres are spread out across the coastlines and a few inland urban areas, but the population density is generally consistent with the exception of the far-northern Commonwealths. Vast tracts of rural and untouched or reclaimed land still remain alongside ample spaces that are government-administered land preserves. It is a semi-constitutional monarchy, self-described in the constitution as "organicist with exceptions" in nature. The largest city in Norumbega is the Enenwoy-New Hahtland Urban Area, or ENH, and the capitol is Awlbany. The "Declahration a tha Commonwealth" establishes the state as majority Catholic, but explicitly provides protection for religious minorities living within it's borders. It also describes the state as "absolute," with it's sovereignty derived from God and military power. It's borders cover what was, in pre-Collapse terms, New England and the Mid Atlantic areas of the United States, the New York, Boston, and Washington DC Metropolitan Areas, and parts of Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritime provinces of what was formerly Canada.
Prior to the arrival of Western European Colonists, Norumbega was inhabited by various Native American and Aboriginal Canadian (term dependent on geography) tribes, who formed their own federations, the most notable of these being the Haudenosaunee and Wabana'ki Confederacy. After the arrival of the Colonists, primarily French and British, the entirety of the land that would later become Norumbega was conquered by European powers, and it served as a major religious hub for Puritanism and similar Protestant Christian religious movements in the Center and South, with Catholicism in the north in Quebec and in the south in Maryland. It was the site of many different cultures meeting, including Norse, Natives, Western Europeans, and Africans. Divided throughout history, it wasprimarily known as different regions of the United States of America (USA) and Canada. Both later became a part of the US-Dominated Western Tianxia, or NATO, pre-Collapse.
Both a part of the British Empire for a large part of their history, the American Colonies, largely in Norumbega's center and south, rebelled in the 1770s following the French and Indian war, and would later become separate nations. The United States would become heavily dominated by New England during the early part of it's history, and the United States would gradually grow to dominate both the continent of Merica and the world. The majority of Canada's population livedin Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes, forming the bulk of Canada's population and political strength. It would achieve Dominion in the 1860s, after the US Civil War, and the two would later go on to fight together in both World Wars and nearly all ensuing conflicts later on as NATO Allies. During this time, both regions experienced massive waves of immigration, primarily from Europe but later on from all over the world, which would greatly change the demographic and cultural makeup of the region. The two nations would help carry on the banner of NATO and the Western Tianxia into the 21st century before getting bogged down by cultural and demographic changes, economic problems, political instability, and climate change, with both collapsing during the Second American Civil War in the 2030s and 2040s. The majority of Norumbegan territory sided with the unsuccessful Democratic Forces and Antifascist militias under the Provisional American and Canadian Governments, and managed to somewhat hold the line against defecting units of the American and Canadian militaries, the Gilead Compact, and various far-right and far-left militias. Despite all of this, the ruin brought to Merica proved too much for them to recover in time before the Great Collapse of 2049, in which the world was thrown into chaos by the forced eruption of the Yellowstone Supervolcano at the hands of Kaczynskiist extremists and the ensuing nuclear exchange between Pakistan, India, and the Peoples' Republic of China.
Following the Great Collapse, the Norumbegan Commonwealth was founded after various towns and cities in what was the Connecticut River Valley allied with one another around 2100, and elected Karl Kosmaczewski as their first "King." Kosmaczewski was, according to sources, a "noted eccentric," and sought to create what he considered to be the "American equivalent of Futurism or Duginism," or "like Caesar's Legion from Fallout, but not stupid." Kosmaczewski pushed to revitalize what he saw as "Traditional Northeastern Cultures" and began to methodically bring in the rest of New England under his rule, pushing east and then north, and most of the region fell within Norumbegan control by 2134 at the time of Karl's death. Afterwards, they expanded southwards into the Deitschland and Pennsylvania, and reached a border with what forces remained of the United States Federal Government. Afterwards, Norumbega expanded north into Canada, taking over the Maritimes, Quebec, and other territories. In 2221 and 2222, under mounting pressure from the Royal Family and Royalist factions within the government, the Norumbegan Pahlament passed the Declaration of the Commonwealth, officially solidifying Norumbega's Commonwealth Status, officially adding the other territories of their Kingdom alongside tributaries into one large Empire. The capital city is the historic Awlbany (Albany) and it is home to roughly over 4,350,000 people, making it the third largest city in the Commonwealth. The King is currently Franklin John Dogood II, the executive head of state. The Head of Pahlament is David Zekara, the appointed head of Pahlament. Pahlament, alongside society in general, is mainly dominated by the monarch-led Norumbegan Patriot(e) Party, or APP/PAP.
Throughout its long history, Norumbega has been a leading global center of culture, reform, tradition, and more, with it making significant contributions to art, science, theology, industry, and philosophy. Norumbega is a great power with significant cultural, economic, military, and political influence. A developed country with the a high standard of living, Norumbegans enjoy a good quality of life, and the country performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, and human development. Norumbega is a member of the Forum for International Dialogue, and was a founding member of the Merican Union, with King Franklin II proposing the idea himself in 2299.
Etymology
The word "Norumbega" is derived from maps and travel logs of America starting from 1529, when Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano travelled the coastlines of the continent. The word is supposedly derived from an Algonquian term meaning "quiet stretch of water."
Since it's formation and the cementing of it's status, the "Commonwealth" title is mostly considered to be an aesthetic-focused synonym for "Kingdom" or "State." Acting more like an Emprie in political function, the term "Commonwealth" for Norumbega harkens back to the days of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, one of the most populaous states in New England prior to the Great Collapse. The term "Commonwealth" was additionally found favorable due to it's connotations of being more egalitarian for smaller groups in the nation. Most Norumbegans of Eastern and Central European descent view the term favorably due to their own history as well, as do those of mainly Anglo descent.
While post-Colonial languages of European descent refer to Norumbega directly as a Commonwealth, the official native languages don't do so directly due to desires by revitalist linguists to keep the languages more "pure." Iroquoian and Algonquian, half-reconstructed languages that were made to be "pan-Native" for the language family, retain the grammatical systems that make the languages seem complex to most people without experience. This makes direct translation of Indo-European terms difficult, but not impossible. The official Iroquoian term being "Ganonsyoni Norumbega," which roughly translates to "Norumbega's Lodge Extended Lengthwise." In day to day speak however, the term "Ganonsyoni" is used by Iroquoian speakers to mean "Commonwealth." The same applies to Algonquian speakers, who refer to the nation as "Norumbega Nutohkemminnit," or "Place of our Norumbegan Land." While "Nutohkemminnit" originally referred to a now submerged place in eastern Massachusetts, the term has been re-fitted by linguists to refer to the country as a whole. The other two native languages refer to Norumbega in a similar way, calling it "Tuggavik Sivuk Norumbega" in Innu, and "Norumbega'gi" in Mi'qmak. Mi'qmak and Innu are languages that had a substantial enough population pre or initially post-Collapse to be successfully revitalized on their own.
The remaining official languages, from Qadian to Nordestinu, refer to Norumbega as something along the lines of either a Commonwealth or a "Kingdom" if the term did not exist in the language or was not adopted by most speakers, such as in Qadia and the Amish Territories. Other Germanic languages, such as Yiddish, refer to it as a "Kamanvelt," or "קאַמאַנוועלט פון נאָרומבעגאַ." Anglo-derived languages such as Newfie refer to it similarly as well.
History
POV: you are reading this again looking for wikipedia posts
Norumbega has a long, rich history that is generally divided by modern scholars into two schools: the Minamian (Geological) and the Spenglerian (Sociological) schools, both of which are post-Collapse schools of historical thought. In spite of both being post-Collapse schools of thought, both are named for pre-Collapse scholars. The Minamian school of thought, named after Katsuyuki Minami, generally follows the belief that geography and land creates the majority of history unique to a culture or society living in it. They tend to study how a civilization interacts with the land throughout the course of history. The Spenglerian school of thought, named after Oswald Spengler, believes, on the contrary, that the culture, beliefs, customs, and in some cases race, of a society is what forms the majority of impactful history.
The following history section attempts to merge the two into a history of the country in as seamless a way as it possibly can.
Pre-Collapse
Norumbega was inhabited for millennia before the first arrival of Europeans. Archaeologists generally consider what is now Norumbega to have been first inhabited around anywhere from 10,000 to 15,000 years ago. The majority of these tribes practiced a mix of agriculture, hunting and gathering, and tribes living by larger bodies of water tended to fish. The majority of these tribal communities tended to be closely knit together, and were generally made up of a few extended families living within the same area, though this differed from region to region. Algonquians, Innu-Inuttitut, and Mi'kmaq peoples tended to live in wigwams, teepees, or occasionally igloos, which were small houses or huts made of bark (or ice and snow in the case of igloos) with buckskin covered doors, and Iroquoian speaking peoples generally lived in longhouses. The largest pre-European, and for a brief time, post-European political power was the Iroquoian-speaking Haudenosaunee, meaning "People of the Longhouse." The Abenaki had similar state-like formations in place, such as the Dawnland Confederacy.
European contact to North America is believed to have come in three waves, the first coming to Labrador around 1000 AD from the Norse, who primarily used it as a resource gathering area from permanent bases in modern-day Nunaat. They had contact with Natives, and traded with them. The second wave, still debated by historians, is believed to have happened in the early to mid 1300s after the Knights Templar were exiled from France and left for the British Isles, afterwards believing to have sailed to America and eventually assimilating within Mi'kmaq society and becoming absorbed into their society. This is backed up by some claims that certain dieties in the Mi'kmaq traditional pantheon, such as Glooscap, have incredibly similar stories to Odin in Norse mythology. Still unconfirmed, this is widely believed by nearly all Mi'kmaq in Norumbega today, and the majority of Norumbegan society as well.
Europeans, primarily from France and England, began to colonize the region beginning in the 1600s after exploring the coasts in the 1500s, with the English landing at Plymouth in Massachusetts and Jamestown in Virginia, and the French exploring the St. Lawrence river and forming Québéc. Initially, relations between the Colonists and the Native Americans tended to be neutral or positive, though these would quickly sour. Europeans ended up conquering most native peoples living within modern Norumbegan borders, and most natives ended up converting to Christianity. Relatively soon on into it's colonial history, English and later British settlers attempted to gain more rights, but were routinely denied, something that would cause numerous problems later on. The French and Indian War was fought alongside the British conquest of Québec in the mid 1700s, leading to the deportation of a substantial amount of the French population of certain regions to Louisiana. A few decades later, due to tax disputes, the American Revolution began in Lexington and Concord, and would last from 1775 to 1783, resulting in the independence of the 13 American Colonies. Quebec, Canada, and the Maritimes remained a part of Canada, while Newfinlan and Labrador remained part of the British Empire proper.
America and Canada rose, especially the United States, and over the course of a few centuries, the US would become the premier world power allied to the British Empire. Joining together in both World Wars, the United States and Britain helped form NATO and the "American Empire," the most powerful Empire in human history. However, the US and NATO would over expand and get bogged down in foreign wars and numerous pointless internal issues, and after 2001 and the War on Terror and the ensuing Great Recession of 2008, Gamergate in 2014 and the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States ended up slowly tearing itself apart politically. The final elections of the United States were dominated largely by violent arguments and riots over what modern historians describe as non-issues, and, while being met with economic problems, demographic changes, and social collapses, served to set the stage for the Second American Civil War.
Second American Civil War
Donald Trump was elected in 2016 in an upsetting victory for the American political establishment, and his presidency would prove to be the most controversial in American history. A nationalist, Trump's first administration ended up being bogged down by a biased media, an uncooperative internal government apparatus, and a massive failure in handling the COVID-19 pandemic. This would lead to Joe Biden being elected in 2020, in the most controversial election in history, followed by a riot at the US Capitol building. Biden would later lose to Donald Trump in 2024 after a tumultous four year term. During the Biden administration, America's geopolitical rivals at the time, such as China, Russia, and Iran managed to successfully wear down the weapons arsenal by attempting to invade Ukraine and staging a mass Palestinian revolt in Israel in February of 2022 and October of 2023. During the 2024 campaign season, the PEEPEEPOOPOO Computer Virus knocked down a large amount of the world's computer systems and intensively disrupting communication. After the Nordman, Idaho standoff in July that resulted in the deaths of 12 law enforcement officers at the hands of a militia group being met with no real response from a temporarily crippled government, Republicans rallied again and came out in droves, with the Republicans getting an astounding 56% of the popular vote in the largest voter turnout in American history. Trump's second victory in 2024 was a massive upset, and sparked riots around the nation. The second Trump administration proved to largely be like the first. Trump would be shot by an anarchist in Pasadena, California, in September 2027. He survived, but would be confined in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. A few months later, after announcing her intention to run for President in 2028, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would be assassinated on live TV by a self described "based groyper braptionalist." Senator Nicholas J. Fuentes (R/AF-IL) would be forced to almost resign, and his wife was later shot in the leg in an attempted murder the following week.
In 2028, Tucker Carlson would win the election, but would resign in March of 2029 due to a cancer diagnosis. His Vice President, Rand Paul, would take over. His libertarian style of government was condemned due to being too ineffectual against political extremists. In 2031, a second "Unite the Right" rally was held in Seattle, Washington, on February 12th, in an attempt to intentionally instigate violence with the political left. A three way conflict erupted between right and left wing demonstrators and the Seattle Police Department, assisted by the Washington State National Guard. 62 were killed, and Rand Paul declared a state of emergency that same day. The next few weeks were followed by reprisal attacks by left and right wing militia groups and the federal government. Soldiers from all branches of the US Military began defecting to opposing groups on both sides, though most defected to right wing groups.
On the 20th of April, in celebration of Adolf Hitler's birthday, the far-right terror group “ATOMWAFFEN” struck the Eastern and Western Power Grid systems of the US. The Texan INTERCOT grid is attacked two days later, but ATOMWAFFEN was driven off by Texas National Guard troops.
Due to a lack of stable communication for most of the population, blame for the attacks routinely shifted from one group to another, and the Paul government quickly collapsed. With states, counties, and various military groups defecting, the Second American Civil War would erupt into full swing by 2032. China, Russia, India, and the European Union all attempted to one up each other for self-defense or imperialist ambitions. Israel and the Arab nations of the Levant, alongside Iran, would almost go to nuclear war.
By 2035, the majority of the United States had fallen to various right wing groups such as the America First Movement, the MAGA Movement, the Patriot Front, ATOMWAFFEN, 3%ers, Oathkeepers, Christian Identity militias, and more. Left wing extremist groups operated in some areas, such as the Seattle and Minneapolis Free Zones, the Burlington Soviet, and the Southern California Socialist Republic. In response, large sections of the remaining US military defected openly, including high ranking officers. A “constitutionalist” emergency government under David L. Goldfein and a few other high ranking current and ex-military officials was formed in Washington, and politicians from both major parties rush to support it, effectively couping the Paul administration. Due to Goldfein being Jewish and having ties with Israel, right-wing militias, such as ATOMWAFFEN, declared it to be the “next and final evolution of ZOG.” A few left-wing militias condemned the new administration on anti-Zionist grounds. In 2036, the largest Christian Identity militia, the Gilead Compact, led by Kanye West, was defeated by “Emergency Governor of Texas” Ted Cruz in the Battle of Lubbock. Ted Cruz almost immediately afterwards declared independence from the United States “until America regains it’s strength.” The Goldfein administration collapsed as what few areas remained with the United States declared independence as well, and by 2035, the civil war had spread over into Canada's borders too. Most of New England and parts of Canada were put under the "New England Emergency Administration" under provisional Governor Bullock.
After 2036, most lines remained stable, though living standards within the United States had deteriorated immensely. Because of major powers attempting to out-do each other regularly, environmental regulations were ignored, and sea levels had risen immensely during the course of the war, causing millions of climate refugees in the United States.
Great Collapse
Over the course of the war, a radical anarcho-primitivist group, the “Stars” (named after Patrick Star, famous Spongebob character and anarcho-primitivist activist), stole Nuclear Weapons from Pakistan and the United States. Sea levels continued to rise, and a plan was hatched: intentionally cause nuclear winter in a chemotherapy-like attack on the Earth. Nuking the Yellowstone supervolcano to set off a massive eruption would be enough to kill off enough of the human population to halt climate change. Gathering help from radical anarcho-primitivists and environmentalist extremists worldwide, nuclear weapons were planted across the world. On April 15th, the Stars detonated a series of nuclear surgical strikes on fault lines in and around Yellowstone National Park, alongside digging a massive tunnel into the barrier of the magma chamber, and at the same time, they set off nuclear weapons in China, India, and Pakistan. A limited nuclear exchange occurred, and the two events combined set off a horrifically powerful nuclear winter. A few, much more small scale nuclear launches occurred elsewhere in the world, such as in Chicago, Seattle, Lagos, Kinshasa, Riyadh, Rio de Janeiro, Yamoussoukro, Dar Es Salaam, Khartoum, Nairobi, Prague, Malang, Dresden, Oslo, and the ruins of New York City, “just to be safe” by radical Kaczynskist standards.
Little Dark Age
The initial years following the Great Collapse were incredibly difficult. Most remaining bastions of society collapsed immediately, but not all. Traditionally isolationist countries and groups such as North Korea and various insular African groups were largely left alone by the nuclear war, though they did deal with climate-related issues. In Norumbega, most cities that were not hit by climate change or nuclear blasts became the sites of mass unrest and looting, and eventual destruction and collapse. Most economic activity outside basic trade and bartering halted completely, and millions died due to not having access to what was considered basic medical needs. Cities largely fell apart and were replaced with a resurgence in small villages and towns not seen since before 1900. Nearly every other state-adjacent entity collapsed or transitioned into becoming bands of raiders, largely targeting pacificistic Mennonite and Amish communities in the Dietsland, resulting in the Amish Genocide. Cultural groups, such as the Québécois and most Native American groups, meanwhile, enjoyed a small cultural renaissance in the few decades after, due to not having as many external cultural pressures from the former West.
Despite not having stable access to reliable communications networks, the dissemination of information and technology had become widespread enough that even though society had functionally collapsed, those born and raised during the years after the Great Collapse had generally been able to read and write and master most tasks required of them, including in Norumbega. With most large scale support structures gone, many who survived quickly turned to small-scale cooperative efforts to attempt to re-establish society to some degree, and within a decade or two after the nukes fell, most of Norumbega became ran by competing cliques of city states or villages, not unlike Ancient Greece. Not being lost on those living in these times, what little academic advancements were made during the 2060s until the early 2100s was typically dedicated to either mass media that mimiced this time period, such as A Canticle for Liebowitz or Fallout, or the Greco-Roman Classics. In New England alone, there were roughly 15-20 various "Minutemen" organizations competing with one another at the same time, and there are a recorded 14 various "Bands," named after the Greek unit of hoplites, that formed across what is now Norumbega.
Origins and Foundation
The later polity that would become Norumbega was founded around around the former Connecticut River Valley. Beginning in the early 2090s, towns and cities like Pelham, Belchertown, and Williamsburg began forming a localized autodefensa that worked as a common-response force to fight against pirates and bands of raiders and hostile warring states. This alliance would rapidly grow in size, eventually spanning all the way down south to the mouth of the Atlantic Ocean around Bethany New Middletown. By 2094, most major settlements in the area up to Claremont and Lebanon on the former Vermont-New Hampshire border would be aligned with this network.
The network was called by a variety of names, but most commonly called the "Connecticut River Commonwealth." The CRC was originally a loose alliance, but became rapidly centralized under the command of it's officers and administrators, who quickly began to co-op or in some cases even coup their localities. One such officer was Karl Kosmaczewski, from what would later become the Pioneer Commonwealth. A noted eccentric from a well-off background, Kosmaczewski led a band of soldiers and sailors on numerous expeditions, before eventually bringing most of what would become New Providence and parts of Massachusetts under the domain or alliance of the CRC by force. Kosmaczewski and his trusted clique of advisors eventually couped the dissenters from the CRC in a power grab in 2098, and began to rapidly transform the organization, renaming it the "New England Commonwealth" in 2099. Pulling from Hamiltonian interpretations of the founding documents of the United States, Kosmaczewski was eventually able to convince the majority of the NEC Officials under his command to temporarily install him as "King," or "Sachem." His coronation was on July 4th, 2100. Speaking from the pulpit and broadcasted to places within New England that could broadcast it at the time, Kosmaczewski called on the need for a "futurist" New England, called "Norumbega," one that admired youth, violence, speed, action, and dedication to a strict moral code. He called upon the "Pioneer, Puritan, Immigrant and Native" bloodlines of the population to come together to form a new future for the region. Whether or not he properly understood the tenants of futurism is hotly debated. Putting the agreement that he had made with his advisors earlier that year into action, the NEC was renamed to Norumbega.
Sachem Karl I launched a series of military campaigns in the White Mountains, pushing east towards the Atlantic Coast and then northwards past I89 and I93. Results were initially mixed, with most settlements around the border of Norumbega willingly joining and contributing forces to the Commonwealth military, but they began to face stiff resistance as they entered the White Mountains. Fearing that they would become bogged down in a lengthy insurgency, the Commonwealth military extensively used drones, air support, and ground scanning technology to overcome these issues. In 2108, the Battle of Rangely was won by General Avery Holland against the Northeastern Defense Alliance, a week and a half long fight that decisively threw the balance of power in New England and the Maritimes in the favor of the Commonwealth. After the Battle of Rangely, due to the pro-Native cultural sentiments of the NEC, most Native American remnants, which had been more isolated from the effects of the Great Collapse due to typically living on reservations, swore loyalty and were rewarded with land. Most of this would later become what would become the Algonquia Commonwealth.
Seeing the rapid rise of Norumbega, the various polities in what was Upstate New York were heavily divided, with some wishing to throw their lot in with the NEC and others wishing to fight. With the conquest of Maine and parts of Acadia going smoothly, the next big focus for the NEC was an incursion into Upstate New York with the goal of establishing a foothold in the territory. This began in 2114, with Norumbegan forces landing at four separate points in Upstate New York. NEC forces made extensive use of speedboats and small helicopters, aiming for speed and mobility, attempting to do a maritime version of a blitzkrieg to overwhelm small states. Most of these missions were to force a surrender of the local elite to swear oaths of loyalty to the NEC, or, in the chance that was not possible, assassinations. The initial weeks were an immense success for Norumbega due to the poor communication encryption of most Upstate localities. The remainder of the 2110s and 2120s saw a slow expansion and eventual stabilization of the Norumbegan realm, stretching from the Maritimes to the former Buffalo-Ontario border.
At the same time, Kosmaczewski attempted to intermingle with the Quebecois up to the north, forming a series of political marriages. This was also attempted in the south, but to less success. The NEC and various Quebecois states had a relatively good relationship, interested in the appreciation and good treatment of Qadians in Acadia. This would lay the groundwork for the eventual merger of most of the Quebecois states, under Jean Théorêt, with Norumbega. Fearing that stabilizing the realm would lead to stagnation, Karl I pulled from history again and attempted to do a low-level form of "Cultural Revolution" in Norumbega, establishing the Norumbegan Patriot Party, and reforming Pahlament to stock it with two houses, one of appointed and one of elected officials who were both largely loyal to him and his ideas. Karl also propped up his son Michael as his presumable heir. Karl would later die at 89, on August 19th, 2134.
Expansion
Great Merican War
The now-unified Norumbega was at the forefront of the Great Merican War when it erupted in 2242. A multi-layered and complicated conflict, the Norumbegan Commownealth is generally associated with the forces of the Milwaukee Alliance, though it did occasionally branch out and fight on it's own. When the Saskatchekhan William I launched his "grand invasion" of Colorado and Tejxas, disrupting the balance of power in the region and causing a massive international crisis due to old American nuclear weapons, Norumbega was one of the first nations to step in diplomatically, though it didn't intervene militarily until the USEG attempted to annex the NCR starting in 2243.
After the Milwaukee Agreement was signed in mid 2243, Norumbega declared war, or was met with declarations of war, by the various forces of the Saskatoon Treaty. Around the same time, brief border skirmishes erupted with the État Michif, though these were resolved by 2245. As the Great Merican War continued to escalate, Norumbega began to deploy troops abroad where possible, generally to Chicagoland and the NCR, and began to focus first and foremost on defeating the USEG. Norumbegan soldiers crossed into USEG territory in late 2243, crossing the Chesapeake with a combined aerial invasion and coordinated EMP and DDOS attacks. As USEG troops pulled out of the southern front to relieve the north, Norumbegan paratroopers had already seized or destroyed valuable assets and crippled most of the USEG's remaining air force. By June of 2244, the USEG territory that wasn't occupied had elected to surrender, and President Miller had committed suicide. The former territories of the USEG was divided up between Norumbega, the NCR, and Appalachia and annexed.
Norumbega began to deploy more troops abroad, specifically to Chicagoland and the Canadian Cossack Host to aid them against Saskatchekhanate Forces after the fall of Minasota, and they had managed to push Saskatchekhanate Forces back in a few locations, and generally hold the line overall.
In November of 2245, Richard Podlezl couped the government of Rontriot, the final effort in a longstanding series of disputes between his Externalist faction and their opposing Internalist faction. Seeing an opportunity to strike at a neighboring nation, Technate Podlezl launched an attack on Norumbega from two locations, the Rontroit-Canada Border and the Buffalo Channel, primarily using armies of drones. After recalling some troops to defend and calling in diplomatic favors with the neighboring states, a coordinated defense and later counter-offensive was launched, and The Rontroit Campaign would be the deadliest campaign of the war for Norumbega due to Rontroit's technological advantages, and it would last until 2247. The Wawa Conference between Norumbega, the Etat Michif, the Yooper Republic, Erie, and Chicagoland organized the punishment that Rontroit was to undergo, mainly war reparations and forced sharing of technology.
As is a recurring theme with most Merican conflicts post-Collapse, Pheeny states generally acted in tandem with one another to work to destabilize other nations to further their political agendas. While Dinétah and New Afrika were mostly neutral, Cascadia was on the front lines for part of the war, due to it's border with the Saskatchekhanate. Due to the Saskatchekhanate's offensives against it, the Pheeny states and their sympathizers across the continent attempted to drive up elements of racial separatism in other Merican nations.
By 2248, the majority of the lines had stabilized, and Saskatchekhan drones and anti-air defenses had largely negated the aerial advantages that Norumbega and other members of the Milwaukee Agreement had. The lines would remain largely static until 2050, when the Alaskan Tsardom joined in on the side of the Milwaukee Agreement. Their extra troop numbers were able to negate the advantage of the Saskatoon Treaty's anti-air defenses. Dinétah and New Afrika joined in officially soon afterwards, though only to assist Cascadia. A three pronged offensive was launched against the Saskatchekhanate, from the North, West, and South. The final push against the Saskatchekhanate was relatively quick, with Pheeny and Milwaukee Agreement troop lines linking up within two weeks. Saskatchekhan William died fighting against Cascadian forces, and the rest of the Saskatchekhanate Government surrendered to MA and Pheeny soldiers.
The war was settled in January 2251, at a meeting in Bruce Mines in Da Yoop. The Saskatchekhanate was required to cede conquered territories, and to also give independence to the Lakotah tribe, which had widely been considered to be one of the more "traditional" members of the Saskatchakhanate as well. Additionally, the ruling dynasty of the Saskatchekhanate was required to step down and be replaced by a dynasty that was more amicable to continental peace. Very minor territorial concessions were acquired, and due to the official laws having not being written beforehand, official borders were set for the Saskatchekhanate, primarily following rivers. There was a minimal garrison force left within the Saskatchekhanate, primarily comprised of Norumbegan, Nunavuti, and Erieite soldiers for the sake of "more neutrality,"
Modern History
Modern Norumbegan history is considered to start roughly around 2251 and 2252, after the end of the Great Merican War. King Gerald attempted to re-vitalize damaged infrastructure and population centers with a "9 Year Plan" beginning in 2253. These included rebuilding bridges, roads, railways, harbors, airports, and various other important buildings. Like the Great New Deal in the wake of the American Great Depression, it also included a substantial amount of social policy as well, including government incentives and propaganda dedicated to encouraging families to have children. The overall Norumbegan birthrate doubled by the end of the decade, and in a few places, mainly rural areas in New England, doubled or tripled. With the population issue being solved, the environment could be focused on. Trees were replanted in war-torn zones, with roughly 125 million trees being planted over the course of the next decade. Hydroponics facilities were built in urban areas in an attempt to provide both food for the populace at large and so that trees could begin to be replanted down the line. Efforts to both preserve and restore different biomes across the nation increased exponentially, and to great success.
King Gerald I would abdicate the throne after the death of Pahlament Speaker Jonathan Cromey in 2255, whom he considered one of his best friends, the two having worked together since Cromey was appointed Speaker in 2230. The remainder of the 2250s and 2260s are regarded as some of the most industrious decades in Norumbegan history, and with the advent of the 2270s, King Eliab I initiated a process of libertarianization of certain aspects of society, namely education, to deal with the strain of children on the education system. These reforms took a while, due to the first Speaker appointed by him, Lewis Gryf, dying in a boating accident. He was followed by Godwin Cao, and proved to be successful in implementing both domestic and foreign policy changes, the most notable of them being the start of Norumbega's "Wlibomkanni" (Algonquian for "Travel Well") program. Eliab's reforms also saw the Norumbegan Government becoming more centralized and less "elitist," and Eliab's personality, contrasted against his father's, was initially a challenge at first. Gerald had spent most of his childhood in and around the Norumbegan government and was brought up mainly around tutors, nobles, and advisors. Due to wars and security concerns after the children of a few nobles were killed, Eliab was raised in a "common" foster family for a large chunk of his childhood and adolescence, forgoing tutors for the public education system. He was seen as much more of a "Common Man" while still being King and set forth the recent trend of the King being a metaphor for Norumbegans as a whole - a trend continued to this day.
During the same time period, many nations in Merica attempted to focus more on domestic issues such as rebuilding from the war. Due to Norumbega's position and limited damage, it sought to interact more with foreign powers in Europa, Afrika, and Suramerica. While trade proved limited as always, Norumbega was still able to garner good trade deals, and, more importantly, positive diplomatic relationships with foreign nations. King Eliab would visit various Europan Powers, such as Iberia, the EC, Russia, and Nederland. In Afrika, Norumbega quickly aligned itself with Sénégambie and Itop'ya, but attempts to interact with most of the South Afrikan nations, many of whom had then and still have ultranationalist and ethnonationalist ideologies, proved less fruitful. Eliab also helped smooth out a diplomatic crisis between Itop'ya and the East Afrikan Commonwealth via his idea of a "foreign jury," a well-intentioned jury comprised of completely impartial foreigners brought in to give as much of a neutral and just ruling as possible for cases that prove to be very inflammatory to native groups. In Asia and the Levant, Eliab would establish ties with Ērānshahr and the Marāṭhā Saṅgharājya. Attempts at formalizing relations with Zion would be ignored until King Franklin II did so in 2289.
The late 2260s and early 2270s saw Norumbegan media explode, with many modern film and TV classics being created. The Algonquian language "Western," Kwaskwai Paskwak (Exactly at Noon) was released in theaters and streaming services in 2268, and is regarded by many today as the best film to come out of Norumbega in all it's history. Other forms of media also flourished too, with music, video games, plays, books, and more being produced at astronomical rates. As was the case in many pre-Collapse American movies, heavy religious influence in media was common, and many media outlets featured the Norumbegan military as "keepers of the peace" and the National Labor Corps as day-to-day servicemen and heroes as well.
These "golden years" were put to a quick stop in the later years of the 2270s after the Huaynaputina stratovolcano erupted off the coast of Tawantinsuyu in late August of 2276. The ensuing winter was brutal for many within the northern hemisphere. The winter of 2276-2277 resulted in long lasting cold spells, even causing ice to coat most of the Quabbin and Hudson Seas, and many islands in Scosha were linked together by ice bridges. The St. Lawrence strait froze in October, and had to be freed up regularly by supplemented icebreaker crews from Nunavut, Alaska, and Russia. The following spring, a La Niña system developed on the coast offshore of the Tawantinsuyu, resulting in increased rainfall and snowfall for months in the northern hemisphere. The spring of 2277 was nonexistent, and when summer came, it was marked by heavy rainfall and floods. The fall harvest was recorded as "abysmal," leading for Norumbega to break out official food stores for the first time since 2248. It took years to recover, with Norumbegan agriculture not returning to pre-eruption outputs until 2281. Norumbega spent the rest of the year relying primarily on hydroponics and international trade to make up for losses. The mutual aid given to and received by other nations in Merica didn't go unnoticed by politicians on the continent, and the Huaynaputina eruption is generally regarded as the main catalyst for the eventual formation of the Merican Union, as well as Norumbega copying over Nunavut's extensive system of greenhouse agriculture.
King Eliab died on December 15th, 2284, and would be succeeded by his oldest son, Franklin II. The early years of his reign were characterized by agricultural revitalization, with a goal of full food autarky, even outside of staple foods. In a unique case, the leader of the Farming and Agricultural Syndicate was overlooked for a position of Pahlament Speaker, and the first "dicatorial," that is, in the Roman sense, appointment of a Speaker was made, to Samuel Sieweczki, a farmer from northern Connecticut. Sieweczki is regarded as having done a great job, and stepped down after fixing Norumbega's agricultural system in 2286, with Zacceus Reinhartz being appointed afterwards.
The 2290s is regarded as the largest turning point in both the reign of King Franklin II and Norumbega's most recent decades. Starting in 2294, Norumbega entered negotiations with neighboring and nearby nations such as Nunavut, the État Michif, Da Yoop, and the New Confederate Republic to form a loose confederation of allied states in the event of natural disasters or a war that would threaten the entire continent. These gradually expanded into covert negotiations with countries with similar values all over the continent, and in 2299, the Merican Union was founded, with the 16 founding nations being Norumbega, Nunavut, the NCR, California, Alaska, Rontroit, the État Michif, Minasota, Tejxas, Colorado, Oregunju, Minasota, the Duchy of Sonora, Coahuila, Appalachia, and The Kingdom of the New Ozarkes.
The early 2300s saw the Merican Union expand, with Chicagoland, Athabasca, and the Tlingit-Xaayda Union joining. Erie, Cahokia, the Five Tribes, and the Midwestern Republic all joined in 2306, and by 2310, even the Ethnonationalist states had joined, though only as observer members. The final additions to the Merican Union were the Lakotah and the Klamloops Rajanate, both joining in 2315. King Franklin II's reign has seen the development of the MU from a primarily trade-based alliance to one becoming increasingly militarized.
Geography
Norumbega is the third largest nation in Merica, after the Alaskan Tsardom and the Saskatchekhanate, covering #### square kilometers of area.
Much like how pre-Collapse Massachusetts was referred to as the "Bay State," Norumbega is generally referred to as "Bay Country" or "Bayland," originally by Yankee speakers as a nickname, and this term has expanded to encompass all groups over the centuries. Most of the nation is within a six hour drive of a coastline or large inland sea. Norumbega's largest land border isn't with any nation, but rather the JKAZ nature reserve. Apart from that, Norumbega borders the Labrador Sea, the Pei and Fundy Seas, and the Atlantic Ocean. The St. Lawrence Strait divides the nation in half from north to south, leading into the Erie Sea, and the Hudson Strait does the same, though not nearly as much. New England and the Maritime Commonwealths have a large number of bays.
Norumbega has a rather slim variation in land. It has only a few mountain ranges, the largest being the Appalachians in the southern half of the region. Norumbega's highest point is on Mount Agiocochook, followed by Mont D'Iberville in the Torngat Mountains. Norumbega's mountain rangers go down most of the center of the nation, diagonally across in the general shape of the nation. The Adirondack, Catskill, and Taconic Mountain Ranges became home to thousands of climate refugees during the Collapse. In the far northeast, however, the Torngat Mountains and other elements give Norumbega a sizeable number of fjords. Between coasts and mountain ranges, most of Norumbega is comprised of an almost never ending stretch of plains, valleys, hills, and rivers. Up north, territory tends to become much flatter and more post-glacial in appearance, with Nord and Newfinlan having many lakes and flat territories carved out by glaciers.
Many pre-Collapse rivers and streams became major rivers during sea level rise, just as major rivers like the Hudson, St. Lawrence, and Connecticut flooded and formed bays or straits. Norumbega's biggest rivers include the Hudson, Mohawk, Merrimack, and Susquehanna rivers, and many more of significant size.
Mount Agiocochook, Green-White Mountain District.
Ice dunes form on the Erie Sea in southern Ontario.
Qadia is generally considered to be one large woodland with flatter, more open spaces towards the coast.
The Torngat mountains in Northern Labrador are home to many high mountains and steep fjords.
Wild blueberries turn red during the autumn in Mi'gma'gi.
The coastline of southern Piscataquis at dawn. The coastlines of Piscataquis and Algonquia are very rocky.
Marshes are a common feature of the coasts of Central Norumbega, especially in New Providence, Massachusetts, and Pioneer.
While less pronounced, most of the central Saut Commonwealth is a part of the Appalachian range.
Quebec has many smaller rivers and streams.
A winter shot of the Erie Sea from a beach in Haudenosaunee.
Population wise, Norumbega's 55.3 million population is generally located by coastlines. Inland, smaller towns and settlements dot the landscape, with the average town having around 900-1,600 inhabitants. Towns in more populated regions likewise have higher populations on average. The highest population densities are around the center-south of the nation.
Climate
Norumbega has a temperate to tundra climate, with most of the country being either part of a humid continental or subarctic climate zone. It has four seasons; spring, summer, autumn, and winter.
Springs see snow melt and the temperature get warmer until may and June, when the southern parts of the nation get bombarded with storms and humidity until a dry heat takes over for most of the summer, lasting until September. Summers are generally sunny, with most rain coming through cold fronts that pass through every one to two weeks, or scattered showers and thunderstorms. Summers are warm and occasionally hot. Fall sees the temperature drop slowly, and winter sets in earlier in northern areas. The forests of Norumbega light up with bright colors, which Norumbega is known worldwide for. Norumbega's tight travel policy for foreigners is lifted for about a month and a half around this time, and groups of foreign tourists, usually from Europe or other Merican nations, called "leafas," visit the country for up to two weeks at a time. Winters are cold, with below freezing temperatures being common. In El Niño years, Norumbegan winters are warmer than average, and follow a repeating weather pattern: massive snow squalls affect regions of the nation every one to two months, and the time between the squalls has increasing warmth until most of the snow is melted. This repeats until the end of the winter season.
Precipitation is spread evenly throughout the year. Variations in precipitation and temperature occur less frequently near coasts due to the lack of convection over cooler ocean waters.
Severe weather outside of strong wind gusts and occasional hail is rare, though tornadoes do occasionally occur at around once a decade, usually in southern areas.
Environment
Attractive scenery dominates the Norumbegan landscape, especially in autumn, and "leafing" is a major tourist attraction to people from around the world, with a lengthy waiting list every other year. During the winter, it's also possible to view the Aurora Borealis in northern areas of the nation, mainly in the Nord and Newfinlan Commonwealths. Norumbega attempts to be an environmentally conscious nation, but it does have it's occasional shortcomings. Most of this is from aggressive fish farming and livestock raising because of Norumbega's meat and fish-heavy diet. Norumbega has also come under fire occasionally by environmentalists due to accusations of over-whaling in the northern commonwealths, and hunters are occasionally arrested for poaching in the JKAZ.
The government attempts to practice environmentally friendly logging practices, and many areas of New England and Quebec are intentional wood farms.
Politics
Government
According to the Norumbegan Constitution, the government is a "semi-constitutional Monarchy" that takes influence from numerous ideologies ranging from Syndicalism to Eurasianism.
The King is head of both state and government. Decisions are, to a large extent, made by the King, but there is a lengthy tradition of the King working extensively within Pahlament, which he oversees. The appointed head of Pahlament, who doubles as a speaker, is Colonel David Zekara. The King is mean to be the "final and only" official vote regarding all political issues, while Pahlament is essentially seen as a "public opinion" poll alongside a group of advisers. Every King has affirmed almost everything Pahlament has passed without objection, and most objections are generally considered minor.
Compared to most post-American states, there is little democracy in Norumbega. What voting there is is done typically on a local level, where the old New England tradition of meeting houses and town meetings as a form of direct or semi-direct democracy are still run. Commonwealth and national issues are left to the Lords, with few exceptions being left up to the popular ballot. Democratic votes, when had, are always direct and never representative. Members of Pahlament, however, are either appointed by the King or Lords, randomly selected via lottery, or democratically elected by Commonwealth Subdivisions, ensuing that Pahlament has a variety of Norumbegans within it.
Voting in general is restricted to landed men over the age of 25, soldiers over the age of 21 who pass a test if not landed, and national labor corps members 23 and over if they pass the same test as well. Women are not allowed to vote, and voting only generally affects the upper house. The lower house is appointed and selected by lottery to serve as public opinion representatives. Despite women not being allowed to vote, women may be allowed to serve within Pahlament, and can run in elections, though this isn't common.
Most parties are banned in Norumbega. This isn't due to an established political opposition, but rather the belief that political parties create division and partisanship and division within a populace, as shown by the leadup to the Second American Civil War. The leading party, APP/PAP, is generally considered to be the "only legal party." This is not the case. Minor parties are allowed, but for any of them to have a meaningful number of members is incredibly rare.
The King rules with "absolute power," and the first male heir takes over the crown on the death of the previous ruler. The current King, Planter Dogood, took after King Franklin II on 18 October 2319, and a coronation followed on October 20th. King Franklin II abdicated in favor of his son due to health reasons, the first King to do so.
The Government operates on a "fully transparent" basis, with all Pahlament sessions shown on TV and livestreamed online. Additionally, all government ministers are required to wear recording wires while doing work. The reason for doing so is due to a popular belief that the main reason why many pre-Collapse nations, such as America and the Soviet Union, became corrupt due to a lack of transparency.
To assist with a positive image, the King runs livestreams, charity events, and maintains a twitter account on the neonet, and King Planter is generally believed to be one of the more entertaining figures on neonet twitter.
Foreign Relations and Military
Norumbega is seen as a regional power, at least militarily. Socially and politically, Norumbega is seen as one of the bigger powers in the world, and the rise of "far-right" politics in what was previously liberal New England is generally seen as the "solidification" of current world affairs.
On the continent, Norumbega is regarded as the most powerful and largest nation on the eastern seaboard, with only the United States Emergency Government and the Neo-Confederate Republic coming second. Norumbega's close allies on the continent include Alaska, the NCR, California, Tejxas, and Nunavut. Off the continent, it's strongest allies are Sénégambie, the Europan Confederacy, the Iberian Union, Itop'ya, and Russia. The nation also maintains friendly relations with Ísland, Persia, the Maratha Confederacy, and Antartída. Norumbega was a founding member of the International Forum for Dialogue and the Merican Union. It has membership in a few other international and cultural affair organizations, such as the OIF, the Commonwealth of Nations, Sons of Éire, the Ilitannamek group, and the Solutrea Whaling Agreement.
Norumbega has five land borders. These are to Erie, the NCR, Rontroit, Appalachia, and the Jaméskie-Kativik agreement zone. Including maritime borders, it borders, Kalaallit Nunaat, and Nunavut.
Norumbega maintains a professional military force of approximately 850,000-900,000 active personnel and 120,000 reserve personnel. The Norumbegan Defense Force (NDF) comprise the Royal Norumbegan Marine Corps, the Royal Norumbegan Navy, and the Royal Norumbegan Air Force. The NDF is regarded as one of the better militaries in Merica, with well trained and equipped soldiers, and it's also one of few nations to maintain a regular "deployment" outside it's borders in the JKAZ.
The RNN is tasked with providing security to Norumbegan waters, and Norumbegan citizens and ships in international waters. It has a double duty, merging the tasks that the US Navy and the US Coast Guard had to do into one unified force. Most operations are coastal defense, rescue missions, and protecting trade ships abroad. Most ships are reproductions and improved versions of pre-Collapse American and Canadian war ships.
The RNAF is responsible for all aircraft operations on paper, though in a de facto sense it is functionally seen as an "addition" to other units. All RNAF aircraft are divided up between the NMC and the RNN, with aircraft switching off depending on which branch needs them more, and the RNAF has no unified command, being administered by aviation officers from both branches instead.
The RNMC is responsible for handling all infantry related combat concerns that Norumbega faces. It comprises the majority of the NDF, and recruits actively from people between the ages of 16 and 40, with reservists and cadets allowed to enlist between the ages of 15 and 60, respectively. Troops are trained in different styles of combat tactics, and generally use a combined arms approach to handling military situations. Norumbegan military doctrine is based around four components: air superiority, speed, ordinance supremacy, and technological innovation. The RNMC is overwhelmingly male, with few women allowed to serve, and those that do are generally as support staff. Conscription exists in Norumbega, though after the mandatory training, people are allowed to re-enlist as either a reservist or active duty soldier if they desire to do so.
The Norumbegan military is one of the biggest contributors to the MUCA, or Merican Union Combined Army. Generally used for peacekeeping efforts as a neutral force in hotzones like the ongoing Lingít-X̱aayda Conflict and it also maintains a small garrison around the Boise Line. In recent years, due to escalation with Korea, a small but increasing number of Norumbegan troops have been deployed to California and Alaska. The largest of these is the Verdí, Nevada base, shared by Norumbegans, Deseretis, New Afrikans, and Cascadians. The increasing deployment of soldiers to foreign territories has faced heavy criticism from isolationist elements within the nation.
Administrative Divisions
Norumbega is divided up into 37 divisions, 35 of which are called "Commonwealths" or "Districts." Each Commonwealth is divided up into smaller administrative regions called counties; and from there, cities, towns, and villages. These regional Commonwealths are ruled by a Lord, appointed by the King for Life or until "further notice." Each Commonwealth Lord has numerous underlings, each of whom is eligible to replace them in the event of death or replacement. The process to select a Lord is put forward by the King, and then legislated by the Speaker of Pahlament and approved by vote.
Norumbega's two Administered Territories (ATs) are the Jamésie-Kativik Non-National Land Preserve and the Baffin-Qikiqtaaluk Military Zone, both of which are administered directly by Norumbega's military. They share jurisdiction the État Michif and Nunavut in the case of the JKNNLP, and only Nunavut in the BQMZ.
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Demographics
According to the most recent 2320 Norumbegan census, Norumbega had a population of 55,342,359, of which 49.7% were male and 50.3% were female. 22.2% of the population is under 18, and about 8.2% of the population is over 70.
In terms of race and ethnicity, White people make up around 71.2% of Norumbega's population. Mixed race people composed roughly 4.1% of the population. Blacks are 3.2%, and the largest non-White group in Norumbega are people of Native or partial native descent, who form around 9.5% of the total population. Other non-White groups like Asians, and people of Indian, Latino, or Arab descent are around 5% total, but spread out among many groups.
Norumbegan Jews, or Norumbeganim (אנגיוינימ), primarily of Shephardim or Ashkenazim descent, are also around 9% of the population, but are considered to be largely "White-passing" and are counted as White on official documentation. This has caused numerous diplomatic incidents before.
Culturally speaking, demographics are much different. English speaking Yankees and Newfies are around 52% of the total population, followed by French speaking Qadians and Québécois who are another 20 or so percent. Jews and Natives both comprise around 9%. The remaining groups, mainly Deitsch and Scoshuns, comprise 5.3% and 2.1% of the population.
Racial demographics of Norumbega as of 2320.
Each cultural group has a unique heritage, with the most diverse being the English speaking White and Black Yankees, and the French speaking Québécois. Most Yankees can trace their ancestry back to settlers of English, Polish, Lithuanian, German, Irish, Italian, French, and Portuguese origins. Brazilians are also sometimes included. Black Yankees are the descendants of Black Americans and African immigrants from continental Africa starting after the 1960s, generally from Western Africa. Deitsch are descended from Mennonites and Amish; Qadians and Québécois are descended from French Colonists and their descendants, though due to Québéc's half-sovereign state, it has a sizeable population of people from previously Francophone nations, like Vietnamese and Lebanese people. Scoshuns are generally descended from Scottish and other Gaelic settlers of what was Nova Scotia. Newfies are similar, but have higher English admixture and also have a substantial amount of Basque genetics, and in years post-collapse, some Nordic genetics as well.
All Native groups are indigenous to the region, with almost all groups except the Innu-Inuttitut having a substantial amount of European or even Black admixture. Additionally, most European groups, mainly Québécois, have many genes from Native groups due to historical contact.
Languages
Norumbega has an astounding thirteen official languages, while maintaining Standard American English as one of it's two lingua Francas, the other being Québécois French. Legally, each of the twelve languages are held in equal regard, though the most commonly used language is Yankee English, or simply "Yankee," with around 86% of the populace having a fluent grasp of the language, and and about 98% of the populace understanding at least some of it. Most linguists divide the languages in Norumbega up by originating family, with two macrofamilies and eight sub families. These macrofamilies are the Indo-European Languages, and then the North American Languages. Of the subfamilies, the largest group is the Anglic, which comprises Newfie and Yankee English. This is followed by the Franco branch, with Québécois and Qadian. Afterwards is the Germanic language family, which comprises of Yiddish, Deitsch, and Norumbegaans. The following families afterwards, in order, are the Algic, Iroquoian, Celtic, Romano, and Eskimo-Aleut families.
Many of the languages spoken today in Norumbega, with the exception of most Anglic and French derived languages had a period of moribundness or near language death before being put through various linguistic revival programs during and after the establishment of Norumbega due to it's cultural preservation policies. Because of these policies, roughly one-third of Norumbega speaks a language other than Yankee or Québécois.
Yankee is, technically, a dialect of English. Based on the evolution of the famous pre-Collapse "Bostonian" accent with influences from other nearby regions such as New York City and parts of Canada, Yankee is notable for it's "r-dropping" and changing of -ing noises to -in noises. Whether this evolution was forced by nationalistic and regionalistic political policies, or if it came about naturally is difficult to say. In addition, another language, though widely considered a creole, is Newfie English, usually called just "Newfie." It's a complicated and slang based form of English with a heavy amount of loanwords and grammar structure from European Gaelic languages and now the Scoshun language as well, with occasional influence from Native, French, and Basque too.
Yankee is a dialect of English descended from the pre-Collapse "New England" or "Northeastern" accents of Boston and New York, and a small amount of Canadian influences. Yankee is notable for it's heavy "r-dropping" and changing of "-ing" to "-in" at the ends of words. Whether this evolution was forced by a nationalist and regionalist political policy or if it came about naturally post-Collapse is difficult to say, though the former is considered to be more likely in scholarly circles. Newfie English, or simply "Newfie" is an Anglic language with heavy influences from Celtic and French, as well as various Native Languages. This is most evident in the Newfie accent, descended from more Celtic areas of the British Isles, and occasional grammatical influences from Irish Gaelic.
The largest Romance languages in Norumbega are Québécois French and Qadian French, both of which, as their formal names would indicate, are descendants of French. Due to physical distance and historical isolation, Québécois and Qadian have many anachronisms not present in other forms of French, as well has having many English influences. Examples of each can be seen in the terminology for vehicles, as in char in Québécois and Qadian as opposed to voiture, or in other vocabulary and grammatical differences, like chu/chui instead of je suis. Languages derived from French are the second biggest group in Norumbega, with roughly half the total population having some command over usually Québécois, or sometimes Qadian.
Linguistic Composition of Norumbega as of 2320.
Germanic languages in Norumbega outside of Anglic tongues are Yiddish, Deitsh and Norumbegaans. Yiddish is spoken by around 9.1% of the population, the majority of whom are Jewish. Deitsch is spoken by around 10%, mostly in Saut and the other southern regions of the nation. While being spoken much less than other languages, Deitsch is commonly used as a regional lingua Franca, especially by farmers. Yiddish is primarily spoken in and around Enenwoy, parts of Southern Connecticut and parts of Montréal. As of 2320, Norumbega is the primariy bastion of the Yiddish language and Yiddishkeit in a linguistic sense after Zion's "re-Hebrewization" policy of the 2180s. 0.5% of the population, mainly in Nieuw-Friesland, speaks Norumbegaans, which is a Dutch and Frisian-based Creole language with significant Quebecois, Icelandic, and English admixture.
In addition to the languages above, which are descended from various Indo-European languages, four of Norumbega's thirteen official languages are native or native reconstructions. These are Iroquoian, more found in the west of the nation; and Algonquian, Mi'kmaq, and Innu-Inuttitut, found in the east and northeast. Due to the two languages' original component languages such as Mohawk and Seneca for Iroquoian, and Massachusett and Abenaki for Algonquian being mostly moribund by the time of the Collapse, what little speakers the languages had post-Collapse were put into mandatory linguistic schools by the Norumbegan government starting in 2154, after various native scholars spent a few years developing each language.
A few different families of Native Languages exist in Norumbega. These are Iroquoian, Algic, and Eskimo-Aleut. The one spoken by the highest amount of people in a singular language is Iroquoian. A combined language, Iroquoian is a consolidated linguistic revival of various Iroquoian languages from the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and nearby tribes, such as the Huron and Wyandot. This was due to most of the individual languages being moribund by the time of the Collapse, and almost extinct afterwards. The same applies to the Algonquian language, which is a similar consolidated linguistic revival based off many of the Algonquian languages of New England, specifically Massachusett and Abenaki. Another Algic language, Mi'kmaq, is spoken primarily in Mi'gma'gi. The final Native Language is Innu-Inuttitut. Innu-Inuttitut, commonly referred to as Innu or Nuna (short for Nunatsiavummiut), is an Eskimo-Aleut language spoken in the far north of Norumbega, and was almost extinct at the time of it's revival. It is unique to other Inuit languages in that it has a heavy amount of German loanwords, brought over by missionaries, and is written using the Latin script as opposed to the Syllabic script.
Native and Indo-European Languages frequently exchange vocabulary, especially slang in Norumbega.
Scoshun is an evolution of the Scots and Irish Gaelic dialects that were spoken in Nova Scotia, and is one of the few Celtic languages spoken in the New World, and the largest spoken after Wladdic in Y Wladfa. It is primarily spoken in Scosha. Like many other languages in Norumbega, Scoshun was moribund and almost extinct at the time of collapse, and underwent a massive linguistic revival during the establishment of Norumbega.
Nordestinú is a Romance language descended from Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish-speaking immigrants, primarily those who came to an area that stretched between Baltimore to Boston. Nordestinú is a younger language and considered a creole tongue by most, with the most influences in it coming from Sicilian, Portuguese, and Dominican Spanish. It's writing style comes primarily from Italian, Sicilian, and Spanish, while the pronunciation is primarily of Portuguese and Spanish influence.
| Standard American English | Yankee English | Qadian | Deitsch | Scoshun | Iroquoian | Algonquian | Québécois | Mi'kmaq | Innu-Inuttiut | Yiddish | Newfie | Nordestinú | Norumbegaans |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hello! | Hello! | Bonjure! | Hallo! | Haelo! | Segon! | Kway! | Bonjour! | Gwe'! | Kuei! | אַ גוטן טאָג (A gutn tog) | He! | Ée! | Hoi! |
| How are you? | Howah ya? | Commen allétu? | Vie bisht du? | Chiahmar a ta tu? | Sgennen gówa genh ontiatenro shón'a? | Dony gedowyozyn? | Comment allez-vous? | Me’ talein? | Tan eshpanin? | װי גײט עס? (Vi geyt es?) | What're ye at?/Wadda ya'at b'y? | Comu vosté? | Hoe 's het meþ je? |
| I'm good, thanks. | I'm wicked, ya? | Je vé bien, mersi. | Ich bin goot, danky. | Tami math, taing. | Ioianerátie! | Newowlowzy, ny dony gya? | Je suis good/bon. Merci/thanks/thank you. | Welei, katu kil? | Nimishta-minupan, ekianai. | עס גײט גוט, אַ דאַנק! (Es geyt gut, a dank!) | I'm right, me.../I'm on the go. Hows you gettin' on, cocky? | Esto bemu, thassa. | Ik bin goed, tank. |
| My name is... | Ma'nam is... | Je m'app... | Ich bin/Ich binn... | Is e m 'ainm... | ...ióntiats. | ...nya. | Je suis/Je m'appelle... | Taluisi... | ... nitishinikashun. | איך הײס ... (Ikh heys...) | Me name's.../I's named... | Mi nnomé is... | Ik hyt is... |
| Goodbye! | Seeya! | Aurevoi! | Gootbei! | Marsinleat! | Ó'nen! | Adyo! | Aurevoir! | Nmultis! | Niaut/Iame! | ביי/א גוטן ביי (Bey/A gutn bey!) | See ya! | Adiú! | Goedby! |
Religion
Norumbega is, due to heavy immigration from Ireland, Poland, Portugal and Brazil, Mexico, and other countries in the past plus the Qadian and Québécois populations, mainly Catholic as a nation. Noticeable influences from the Protestant-Puritan past are evident, however. Unlike many other nations, Norumbega has clauses that allow for freedom of religion. Religion is heavily regionalized, with most parts of Central and Northern Norumbega being primarily Catholic, and most Yankee, Francophone, and Native language speakers are Catholic as well. Religious minorities mostly exist in the form of Mennonite or Amish Deitsch speakers, primarily located in the the South, Orthodox Jews that are primarily located in and around Enenwoy and Montréal, and smaller minorities of various Protestant Sects and Wiccans exist spread throughout the nation.
Prior to the Collapse, today's Norumbegan territories went through phases of religiosity and atheistic tendencies. Prior to the arrival of European colonists, most of the native populace followed their individual tribal religions, though this changed with the introduction of Christianity. The first Bible published and printed within Norumbega's history was in the now extinct Massachusett language by John Eliot, and was called the Eliot Indian Bible, or the Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God.
Norumbega was originally Protestant, specifically Puritan, in the South. The Northern French-speaking parts were primarily Catholic, though immigration and the slave trade brought small groups of Jews and Muslims to other parts of the continent, specifically the Thirteen Colonies.
The hold of religion would wax and wane throughout history, with the First Great Awakening starting in Western Massachusetts and Northern Connecticut. Due to immigration, what was New England spent a long period of time being the most Catholic region in America, by percentage and by amount of practicing Catholics. Afterwards, starting during the middle of the 20th century, the influence of religion in what is now Norumbega slowly lost its grip on society, with most of central Norumbega being upwards of 25% atheist by the time of the Collapse.
The Deitsch community had always maintained a specific set of Mennonite and Amish styled beliefs. After being taken over by the Norumbegans, much to the surprise of the world, the Deitsch were allowed to maintain their religious autonomy. To this day, even compared to other Christian groups, the Catholic Church in Norumbega, noticeably more conservative than in other nations, manages to maintain a surprisingly productive and positive relationship with the Mennonite churches. Smaller groups of Protestants also existed up in the far northern communities, and the Innu-Inuttitut language has a high amount of German loanwords, brought over by Moravian Presbyters in the 1700s. Most modern non-Mennonite or non-Amish Protestant churches are of the Quaker or Neo-Puritan variety.
Most Norumbegan Jews are located in and around urban areas, though pushes to make rural Jewish life a "thing" in Norumbega has proved successful in recent decades, with around 40% of all Jews living in rural areas. Most of them are either Haredim or Hasidim, though other forms of Judaism exist too. Norumbega is home to the most Hasidic Dynasties in the world outside of Zion itself, with the three biggest native Norumbegan Hasidic Dynasties being the Tosh (located in Montréal), the Satmar (located in Enenwoy), and the Boston Dynasty (located in Lunenberg). Enenwoy has a half-Jewish population, and most surrounding towns and boroughs are majority or almost all Jewish.
Wicca is another large minority religion in Norumbega, and has received a large following due to Norumbega's traditional "superstitious" or "Witchy" culture. Many Wiccans also partially or fully practice other religions and integrate Wiccan teachings or beliefs on the side. Due to the existence of "easily visible magick" or "bending" due to genetic mutations caused by the Yellowstone eruption, Wicca and magick have entered into a nearly every day - but still somewhat shunned and awkward - position of Norumbegan life. This shouldn't be confused with old style magic/magick, which is actively practiced and believed as true.
Spiritualism is a small but generalized religious movement in Norumbega, experiencing a small number of growth in recent years. Most Spiritualists are syncretic and combine teachings from many different groups, like Wiccans, but don't commit specifically to one group.
Native religions also exist in Norumbega, but have largely been replaced or syncretized with other religions, mainly Catholicism. As of 2320, the most divided religious community comprised of Natives are that of the Mi'kmaq, who are divided up between the Knights of Columbus, a traditionalist Catholic faction, the Sons of Glooskap (an indigenous belief organization), and a small amount of syncretic groups.
During and after the Collapse, religion took hold of Norumbega again, with Catholicism -- promoted by Chicagoland and traditionalist Catholic factions ("tradcath") of the Gilead Compact -- becoming a common religion, and eventually the primary religion, taking over Atheism and Protestant Christianity by 2100. Norumbega, while not formed as a Catholic country per se, notes that it has a heavy Catholic tradition, and has "traditionally Catholic nations" within it's borders. Today, the general government opinion on the "religious question" seems to be a rather simple "it does not matter, provided you are religious to begin with."
Norumbega has three patron saints, Saint Karl von Habsburg of Austria, St. John the Baptist, and Saint Kateri "Catherine" Tekakwitha. Saint Karl was selected by the first Norumbegan King, Karl I, as a representation of a model traditionalist and Catholic Monarch, and Saint Kateri was selected due to her being born in the territories in modern Norumbega, alongside being one of the first Catholic Saints in Merica. St. John the Baptist is the national saint of Québéc.
Norumbega is divided up into 30 Roman Catholic Provinces, including 57 diocese, divided up from 10 archdiocese.
Magick Usage
Out of all the nations on the Eastern Seaboard of Merica, the one that uses the most magick is Norumbega. This is due to a few reasons, the primary one being caught in a "good zone" during the continental ash distribution during the Yellowstone eruption. The second and more commonly supported academically one is cultural. Due to New England, specifically the area around Salem, having an extensive history of Witchcraft and the Occult, and later on socially speaking due to the works of authors like H.P. Lovecraft, Norumbega has always had a very "Occult" or "Magickal" history, going back centuries. This also includes indigenous beliefs and shamanistic rituals. During the 20th century, New York City was a major hub of certain branches of the New Age movement.
Magickally speaking, magick as is known today has always existed and was and is always real. However, post-eruption, genetic mutations and an explosion of belief in religion and magick-based systems made it more accessible for the general public in many different ways.
Norumbega has numerous different systems and schools of Magick, and the government also conducts tests and trainings regularly to study it. The biggest schools in Norumbega are schools that take after a mix of native, Wiccan, Christian, Spiritualist, and Jewish/Kabbalistic branches of thought. Most magick is used to bring about positive results to people. In addition, it can also be used more physically as well, such as lifting heavy objects or shooting fire or ice from the hands of an individual. Additionally, magick is common in healing, either from ritual salves and healing energy. It's estimated that while everyone is capable of magickal usage, around 15% of the population is proficient in it's usage.
Witches, Wizards, and Shamans have a large pull on Norumbegan culture, and many local governments and Lords employ Court Wizards, Witches, and Astrologers. While anyone of any religion can use it, most magick users generally come from Spiritualist, Wiccan, Jewish, Native, or Syncretic belief systems. In recent years, a large number of Catholics and Protestants have begun to embrace their abilities as well, though this has caused controversy within their churches. Manifesting and other similar schools of thought are considered to fall within magick, and are also studied by the government and practiced by a substantial part of the population.
Additionally, the Amish culture has a history of "Hexmeisters," who deal with spiritual matters using magick.
The government and the populace ardently maintain the belief that Magick is real.
Immigration and Migration
Norumbega maintains a very small immigration office, located on the outskirts of Enenwoy. A customs office is maintained and this is mainly for state officials and tourists that occasionally come into the country and state officials and tourists leaving the country on diplomatic visitations. Additionally, merchants leaving Norumbega to trade internationally must carry a passport with them at all times.
As is the case with practically all other nations in Merica, immigration to and from Norumbega is practically unheard of. However, Norumbega does maintain immigration records, and it does allow a small amount of people (under 200 a year), to immigrate to the nation. Most of these people come from the Jamésie-Kativik autonomous agreement zone, and are considered "tribals," or people of indigenous or other descent who are stateless. The remainder of immigrants generally come from bordering nations, the British Isles, the Europan Confederacy, Sénégambie, Zion, or Antartída. There is a very intensive vetting process to get in as well, and all immigrants are required to "pick a culture" and assimilate into it as much as possible.
Norumbega does not espouse ethnonationalism like some other Merican states, but believes that immigration in most numbers dilutes the overall cultures of the nation. This is generally believed to stem from paleoconservative policies from the era of the Second American Civil War.
Emigration from Norumbega is likewise rare. This is due to a high quality of living, a high cultural assimilation rate, and because most neighboring Merican nations harbor similar policies regarding immigration. In the past 25 years, 491 people have emigrated, mainly to Cascadia, New Afrika, and Dinétah. Most of these people were "Pheenies," or "Phenotypes," a term referring to ethnonationalists or ethnic supremacists. The only nation to receive a sizeable amount of non-ethnically motivated immigrants was Antartída, followed by Rontroit, who took around 60-70 persons each.
Health and Healthcare
Norumbegan healthcare is delivered through a series of Commonwealth based systems of publicly funded healthcare. This is called Medicare. According to the Norumbegan Constitution, healthcare is a natural right for all Norumbegan citizens regardless of, according to section three, "anything." Due to the economy not using money domestically, medical supplies are pooled for use by the general populace in various hospitals throughout the nation regardless of cost in case of specific needs. These include prescription and non-prescription drugs, painkillers, physical trauma equipment like casts and splints, eye and dental care, and occasional experimental treatments. Norumbegan healthcare attempts to firstly be holistic and natural before delving into more artificial ways of medicine and healing, though it's not uncommon to see the two mix.
Pre-Collapse, New England had some of the best hospitals in the world, a trait that is still carried onto this day.
Due to increased international cooperation and trade in the field of medicine, more advanced systems of care have been built throughout Norumbegan hospitals. Because of friendly relations with scientifically advanced nations such as Rontroit and Antartída, the already advanced Norumbegan healthcare system has helped discover cures for many different diseases that came back after the Collapse, including successfully vaccinating the wildlife population against rabies. Through cooperation with European Confederacy and Antartídan scientists and researchers, a universal cure for most forms of cancer was discovered in 2256. A cure for rarer, prion based diseases like Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) and Familial Fatal Insomnia (FFI) was discovered via work with Rontroiti and Bod-pa scientists in 2268. Work with Russian scientists helped to cure and even reverse osteoporosis, and work with scientists from Sénégambie helped cure the Marburg virus.
Abortion and forced euthanasia are illegal, mainly due to religious influence. A "right to life" policy is maintained, which bans both unless extreme circumstances exempt people from doing so. It additionally maintains an extensive suicide prevention and mental health program. The government runs a suicide prevention hotline for the whole nation. Despite this, Norumbega is rather eugenicist with childbearing, and anyone considered to have a major genetic disease, low IQ, or those of "bad moral standing" are barred from having children, or raising them. The lowest 5% of the national IQ range is banned from having children too. Children likely to be born with disabilities such as birth defects, learning disabilities, or mental illnesses are not euthanized or aborted, but healthcare professionals attempt to dissuade parents from proceeding if a substantial risk is detected.
Birth control in pill, hormonal, or implant forms are banned. Condoms are not, though some people discourage them due to religious stigma.
Most health statistics place Norumbega above the GT10 baseline. Life expectancy is very high, at 82.7 years total, with 84.4 for women and 80.9 for men.
Drugs maintain a precarious position in Norumbega. All hard drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and meth are banned though enforcement proves difficult sometimes. The only long lasting "foreign intervention" run by the Norumbegan military are anti-drug operations in the J-K autonomous agreement zone. Being caught smuggling, making, or selling hard drugs carries a penalty of death, with the government holding the position that drug usage and addiction is "degenerate" alongside being damaging to individual and public health. Hallucinogenic drugs, such as mushrooms, ayahuasca, and DMT are, while not illegal, generally tightly controlled by the government and handled mainly by religious organizations of Wiccan or Native beliefs. Marijuana is legal, though this is mostly for CBD oil treatments, as being "high" carries a heavy social stigma.
Race
Race is not a big deal as it is in Norumbega as it is in other Merican nations. A culturally diverse nation, Norumbega seeks to generally view it's citizens as followers of different cultures rather than divide them by race. However, Norumbega still maintains a racial demographics chart for health reasons and statistics. Racial equality is assured by the constitution, and most Norumbegans are generally beholding of "non-racist" beliefs by the world standard. It is believed that Norumbega's strangely "colorblind" race politics are a byproduct of the pre-Collapse American race policies common in the 1980s to early 2010s.
The majority of Norumbega is White, followed by Norumbegans of Mixed, Black, Native, Jewish, Asian, Indian, Latino, Arab, and "Other" in that order. In official documents, Ashkenazi Jews are generally classified as a subgroup of White. This caused the Cascadian Territorial Imperative to bar trade with Norumbega for a fifteen year period in the late 2200s.
The overall government belief seems to be one of "different but equal," and many cultures seem to have subgroups depending on race. Black Scoshuns, Asian Qadians, and even White Algonquians exist, but they generally tend to be small minorities, and the largest groups tend to have the most racial diversity, these being the Yankees and the Québécois. However, many in Norumbega have mixed or negative views on miscegenation, and generally see it much like immigration, as something that "dilutes" culture. This debate doesn't seem to be going away either. Mixed race people, however, are protected from discrimination, and most Mixed-race people in Norumbega report little to no discrimination at work or school.
Racial extremism or supremacism is heavily discouraged by both the government or society as a whole due to past conflicts with the "Pheeny" nations of Merica.
Employment
Job security in one way or another is guaranteed as a right by the Norumbegan government, and unemployment is typically extremely low.
Education
Inside Norumbega are some of the oldest and most renowned institutions of higher learning in the world. Harvard College was founded in 1636 at Cambridge, Massachusetts, to train preachers, the first such institution in America. Yale was founded in Saybrook, Connecticut in 1701, and awarded the United States it's first doctoral degree in 1861. Yale moved to New Haven in 1718, where it remained until the Second American Civil War. The Battle of Yale destroyed most of the college due to Federal Artillery Command declaring that Yale University "had been lost." New Haven was taken by the ocean, and Yale was re-established in 2232, in Torrington, Connecticut. Seven out of eight pre-Collapse "Ivy League" schools were located within Norumbegan borders. This includes MIT, originally located in Cambridge, now located in Lunenburg, Massachusetts. McGill university, located in Montréal, was also widely considered to be one of the best universities in Canada before the collapse.
Various college "consortiums," or groups of colleges closely affiliated with one another, are also common in Norumbega. These include the Wormtown-Cape Consortium, the Five College Consortium, three different SUNC consortiums, and numerous others spread throughout the Commonwealth.
At the pre-collegiate level, Norumbega reformed the pre-Collapse education system into a mix of public and private styled education. Some boarding schools exist, but the average public school is based on a town or a regional basis. Attempts at keeping schools small are made, with an effort placed on community cooperation between students. Most schools have between 1,000 to 1,500 students max, with the average being much smaller. Most schools in the region promote a healthy mix of academics and practical schooling, with most students being able to learn a variety of baseline academics, practical skills, and languages as well. Most high schools in Norumbega have been or previously were operating at some point during or even before the founding of the American Empire, with the oldest surviving in the nation being Hopkins Academy, located in Sunderland, Massachusetts, after the original buildings were taken by the Quabbin Sea.
There are many academic journals and publishing companies in the region, new and old, including The "Norumbegan Jurnal a Medicine" (formerly The New England Journal of Medicine), and the University Presses of Hahvard and Yale.
All education in Norumbega is free.
Norumbegan education is widely regarded as some of the most advanced and highest quality within the modern world.
Economy
Unlike many other nations in the post-Collapse world, Norumbega doesn't use money in it's economy. Originating from a widespread disapproval of American and Western-styled Capitalism and Consumerism, Norumbega elected to not use money. When dealing with nations that do use money, Norumbega has a trading currency, the shilling, but the shilling isn't used within Norumbegan borders except for in rare circumstances. Payments and "wages" are given in the form of a "social contract" between people and the government. According to the Norumbegan constitution, "working and serving the nation is beneficial, and it is only just that the worker and servant receives what is worthy in return." Said social contract essentially dictates that as long as a member of society works to benefit society as a whole via public service, defense, or labor in one way or another, they should get something in return for their positive actions. Essentially, workers produce for all in the nation and are paid by being able to access these goods. Members of the National Labor Corps and the Military are given preference in ability to access. People who also work in jobs demanding physical labor, such as farmers or construction workers, or people who work longer than average hours are also given preferential treatment. The same also applies to the elderly, disabled, and students.
Families that produce raw goods such as food are allowed to keep a significant portion for themselves. The majority of the resources, however, are collectivized by the government and then re-distributed where they need to be given. Each family and organization is given a "cap" based on size and average amounts of production and consumption, and everything above that cap is collectivized. Norumbega maintains an extensive system of resource storage depots for whatever it can hold. Lumber, food, minerals and metals, medicine, technology, weaponry, and more are all considered to be valuable resources. As shown by the success of DPEK and many nations in Afrika and Sibir, autarky is seen as good by the government. Norumbega, according to government estimates, is roughly 98-99% self-sufficient, with most imports being minimal. Most imports have been historically one time agreements or short (under two years) long contracts that are meant for either acquiring certain kinds of agricultural goods, or to purchase technology to reverse-engineer.
The official organization of labor in Norumbega follows a mixture of a medievalist guild system and industrial syndicalism mixed with corporatist policies. Traces of distributionism are also present. Workers are organized according to trade and each trade is organized into a local, Commonwealth, and national syndicate, with other terms like "union," "guild," "company," or "corporation" being used interchangeably. The terms "corporation" or "company" are generally frowned upon, however, due to the connotations of pre-Collapse economics. Increasingly specialized trades become more common within each syndicate. Each trade union is lead by a Guildmaster required to be a part of NPP/PNP. Each Guildmaster and their underlings are regularly consulted by Pahlament and other officials for advice on how the state can address certain problems or increase productivity. Norumbega is sometimes classified as a "partial technocracy" because of this, and typically the higher up one goes within a guild, the more connections and overlap they tend to have with the government or the military.
For internal documentation, Norumbega uses a quinary model for economics. The primary sector is for raw materials, the secondary for manufacturing, the tertiary for services, quaternary for information and research based industries, and the quinary for charity related industries.
Agriculture
Norumbega is an agricultural nation. The Natives had been farming for millennia before the arrival of European colonists, who arrived also as small homestead farmers. Today, a massive agricultural sector exists, though this is limited by it's geographic location and growing seasons being shorter than many other nations. What cannot be grown outside is grown like how it is in many other nations, in greenhouses or by using hydroponics. Due to this technology, Norumbega is able to maintain a stable amount of food production year-round, though there is a definite boost in what is produced during the spring and summer months. Agriculture in Norumbega is primarily done in a way that is intentionally made to be environmentally friendly, with few pesticides and insecticides, and those that are used are organic.
In the modern era, most families in Norumbega are involved in agriculture in one way or another. The most common way families are involved is through gardening. While industrial farms do exist, most farms are family or even town owned. While not common, it isn't unheard of to run into a farm run by either a guild for members of a guild and locals around it, or farms run by the government or military. Greenhouses and hydroponic facilities are usually owned by industrial farms, guilds, or the government.
The most common crops grown in Norumbega are grains, primarily wheat, corn, barley, and oats. Vegetables commonly grown include squash, pumpkins, potatoes, asparagus, zucchini, and more. Cabbages and brussels sprouts are also grown. Many fruits are also harvested as well, and most of the coastal regions are famous for having cranberry bogs, while inland regions commonly produce strawberries, blueberries, and peaches. Fruits not native to, or unable to grow naturally in Norumbegan soil are grown in greenhouses or indoor growing operations. The most commonly grown indoor fruit are the orange and other citrus fruits.
Many households in Norumbega raise livestock as well, both on an individual and a community level. Most livestock in Norumbega is what one would commonly expect from an area like this, with the most common livestock overall being cows, sheep, pigs, goats, chickens, ducks, turkeys, donkeys, and horses. However, more "specialized" animals are also raised, though in lesser numbers, to help Norumbega achieve economic autarky. These include many types of deer native to North America, certain types of frogs, bugs, and birds, as well as crustaceans too. Many of these animals typically provide a unique resource that is beneficial for one reason or another, or they may be kept as pets. Animal husbandry is typically familiar to most Norumbegans, even those in urban areas, and most Norumbegans have experience on some level starting from a young age. Horse meat is not banned in Norumbega, and while rare, is eaten.
Starting with efforts made in the Soviet Union during the 1930s and expanded on in the 2200s, Norumbega is one of the many nations in the global north to make extensive use of domesticated moose and muskox.
Hunting is rare in Norumbega, typically due to the extent of domesticated animals, but is not unheard of. Hunting seasons are determined by location and local government, and may be subject to emergency "flash bans" at any moment. A "flash ban" is a ban on hunting, foraging, fishing, or poaching if it is determined to probably cause environmental damage on a level deemed either unacceptable or of importance. It is absolute, and typically lasts for a few months at a time before expiring, with most lasting around two months.
Waterculture is also common, be it in lakes, rivers, or the ocean. Norumbega has an extensive fishing industry, the largest in the Atlantic. As is the case with hunting and foraging, extensive efforts are made to ensure that there is always a constant reserve of aquaculture and aquatic life in the future, meaning that while certain groups may be given exemptions, temporary "flash bans" on wild fishing are common, but are typically determinant on area if inland. Farming fish, shrimp, clams, and mollusks are common however, with Norumbega having the highest density of fish and clam farms on the Merican continent.
Norumbega follows a strict autarky rule, but it does import and export food via trade deals with other nations. What is traded for Norumbegan food is typically done on a case by case basis, and if a food that is traded proves popular, it can sometimes be replicated in a greenhouse and expand from there.
All agriculture, regardless of what it is, is required to be as sustainable and healthy as possible for both people and the environment. Most pesticides and herbicides in Norumbega are organically derived, or if not, are required to deteriorate quickly if entering an aquifer. GMO crops are not banned, but aren't used frequently, and instead are typically used as a "holdover" series of crops until an aggressive selective breeding regimen to garner the same results, be it immunity to disease or to provide a desired quantity of yield.
Industry
Industry in Norumbega is important to the economy, and Norumbega is one of the few nations in Merica that actively exports goods outside, though this is a more recent trend. Norumbega's primary "hard industries" lie in defense manufacturing, textiles, aeronautics, steel, and marine sectors. These industries are spread out across the nation depending on geography. Aerospace development is typically at either end of the nation, with civilian and military craft being made in the center and north of the nation. The largest manufacturer of civilian and military aircraft in the nation is The Sikorsky Guild, located in Connecticut, having been restarted by the Government and Yale University in 2215. Most aerospace manufacturing takes place in the south, and typically launches from the Saut Commonwealth or en-lease bases in the NCR or Acadiana. Most marine development is around the coast or larger inland seas and rivers. Textile industries, while more inland, typically follow river patterns, as most use some form of water power to help with machines. Steel and construction materials are typically refined in Deitsland, Upstate, and the surrounding Commonwealths. Defense industry is spread out across the nation.
Norumbega focuses heavily on attempting to make sustainable industry, typically salvaging and recycling older American and Canadian technology for re-use, as well as purchasing other technologies or materials from other nations to add to their stockpiles. Industries are typically powered locally by renewable forms of energy, such as solar, wind, geothermal, or especially water power.
Services
The services industry in Norumbega is large, but typically underrepresented in records due to the majority of the service industries being small businesses. Typically, most serivce sector jobs are worked by younger people, mainly students or people under 30, largely in small stores, restaurants, or massive government run supply depots. Chain stores are not an established industry, with the role being practically taken over by the Norumbegan government and military, which run a series of supply depots and kitchens around the nation to ensure an easily accessible stream of healthy food for peoples' consumption. There is significant regional variation, however, with the goal of promoting internal tourism. Both privately owned guilds and government guilds overlap in business areas frequently. Most service locations in Norumbega are run with the purpose of attempting to increase community cohesion.
Science and Technology
Norumbega is generally regarded as one of the top 10 nations in the world that contributes to scientific progress. Given a general ranking of 6 out of 10, Norumbega's current biggest scientific developments come from mainly from the medical, military, software, environmental, and engineering fields. Norumbega still, however, is a part of the International Technological Distribution Organization (ITDO), opening it to provide and receive scientific developments around the world, thus keeping it at a relatively stable "average to above average" level of development overall.
The largest scientific sectors in Norumbega belong to the medical sciences, defense, and engineering fields. In 2303, Norumbegan Engineers and Wizards from Qadia and Québéc managed to successfully reverse neuron damage and can now make it possible for people to essentially rebound after massive head trauma as if nothing had happened, with only minimal damage to motor function. All military magazines used in the ADF are composed of a biodegradable polymer stronger than steel, and lighter than it too, making the Norumbegan Military an "environmentally friendly" force. Additionally, over the course of Norumbegan history, Norumbega has helped cure many diseases that were thought to have previously been incurable by using various types of medicine. Ways of healing physical trauma, combined with magick, makes life-threating injuries almost a thing of the past if people are fast enough.
Norumbega runs one of the most advanced operating systems in the world for it's nation, NGOS (Norumbegan Operating System), an operating system developed in 2198 and based on pre-Collapse Windows OS. To secure the nations cyberdefense however, other operating systems are used, including Pine (macOS based), Pigeon (Linux based), Paprika (Linux based), and Wigwazahagwon ('"Dreaming Pillow"' - proprietary). Certain religious organizations in Norumbega utilize SecComOS, a TempleOS based operating system designed for religious networking.
Holograms are also increasingly becoming more prevalent, and while a newcomer to the field, Norumbega is announcing it's first space station, located in Randallstown, Deitsland. The NSA, or Norumbegan Space Agency, nicknamed the "Gitchi Odjigs" after an Algonquian folk story, has begun to cooperate with other Merican Union and occasionally other nations in space exploration and missions.
Transport
Despite having a low population density, Norumbega's transport sector is well developed and considered to be one of the best on the continent. Though much of it was destroyed during the Second American Civil War and the Collapse, most of Norumbega's roads have been rebuilt along with bridges, railways, and airports. They are regarded as efficient. Airports aren't as common as they were pre-Collapse, however, and Norumbega maintains only one international airport, which is primarily used by government and military officials. It is located in Athol, Massachusetts. It does, however, take in a number of international tourists each autumn on account with allowed quotas and "leafer" seasons. All trains in Norumbega are bullet trains with the exception of subways and certain historical pieces, and rail lines connect all major cities to one another. Boat travel is also common due to long shorelines and a maritime culture.
Each Commonwealth in Norumbega has it's own Transportation Syndicate, responsible for planning, developing, and building transportation routes throughout the Commonwealth and providing transportation services with other DTS organizations. Every major city has it's own local TS, which oversees transport in the city and surrounding area. The New Hahtland Transportation Syndicate, or NHTS, it the largest of these, followed by the Enenwoy TS (ETS), and the Montréal TS (SdTdM). All major cities also have a below and above ground subway system, and a tram-trolley system. Subways are used primarily for city-wide travel, and tram-trolley systems are usually used for shorter distances. One of the first metros in the USA and the world was the MTBA metro, located in Boston.
NORTRAK provides all inter-Commonwealth rail travel throughout the nation. One train connects the entirety of the nation, the Vermonter, which was in service prior to the Second American Civil War. With it's route expanded from northern Vermont to one from Nieuw-Friesland to Saut, the train essentially does a round-trip of Norumbega every day.
Bus transport is available in most suburban and a few rural areas, and is governed by regional or local TS. Most northern regions, islands, and the Deitsland Commonwealth are more rural areas with bus services. Amish communities also occasionally have buggy services as well.
Almost all families in Norumbega own at least one personal vehicle. Most vehicles are solar powered or run on some variant of biofuel. Most vehicles are based on pre-Collapse models with extensive modifications, though in recent years, due to more world stability and government incentives, locally designed models are becoming more and more common. The same is reflected on boats, with most families in coastal areas having some sort of sea faring vehicle.
In other regions of Norumbega, such as Deitsland, horses and buggies are common. In more rural areas with extensive farms, horse travel is a common mode of transportation for short to medium distance travel. The Norumbegan government currently has a goal to provide most Norumbegans with at least three easy methods of transportation by 2340.
Energy
All energy within Norumbega is renewable and considered "green" and is required by law to be so. Overall, the most common forms of energy are solar, wind, hydroelectric, and biofuel. In certain areas, geothermal power is generally used as well, though primarily for heating buildings. Government programs in recent decades have attempted to make each home and businesses in Norumbega self-sufficient in energy production. As of 2320, roughly 83% of houses and 44% of businesses are self-sufficient, and 95% of government and military buildings are.
Solar power in most common in the west and south, due to wide open spaces. Wind power also appears a bit more, but most wind farms within the boundaries of Norumbega are off the coast. Hydroelectricity is used mostly in the central and northern regions of the nation, where dams and levees are common. Due to scientific advancements in bio-engineering, biofuel is much more efficient in the 2300s than it ever has been. Rarely used, biofuel is generally an automotive and long-distance transportation based fuel.
Hydropower is achieved through multiple easily accessed sources. Most commonly it is conventional hydropower, followed by tidal hydropower. Conventional hydropower is derived from the potential energy of still or dammed water, typically moved through a dam to achieve electricity by moving machines. The largest hydroelectric dam in Norumbega is the Southampton Dam, with the second largest is the Hampden Dam in the Quabbin Sea. Tidal power stations use tides to generate power, and are much more numerous in number but smaller in output. River hydropower is usually used in small towns or settlements by rivers. A constant suply of energy is generated by the natural flow of a river, which is then usually stored for later. This form of hydropower is promoted heavily by the government as it allows settlements to become autarkic with energy production.
Wind turbines are located in a large variety of places, and many cities and larger towns -- even those not in the west and south -- have small wind turbines (and occasionally solar panels as well) above more modern lampposts and some buildings. Additionally, most highway sign posts have at least one turbine built into them. In some cases, they can even use the wind produced by passing cars to power themselves.
Biofuel is generally comprised of various forms of natural biomass. Fossils fuels are not really used in Norumbega or most other nations. Contrary to pre-Collapse definitions, solid biomass that is burned as fuel such as kindling, pellets, or briquettes are classified as biofuel by the government. Liquid and gaseous fuels are also counted as biofuel. Since most biofuels tend to be able to regrow fast enough, it is considered renewable energy. The majority of biofuel in Norumbega comes from grass, algae, and chaff. Wood and peat are occasionally used, but this is mainly for heating homes.
In the past, both New England and the Maritimes were the most energy-efficient areas in the US and Canada as a whole. This was generally offset by high prices on electricity, which is no longer a problem.
Charity
Norumbega has a medium charity sector, dominated entirely by the Government, Military, and Religious Organizations. These typically deal with disaster relief on local or regional levels. The government typically deals with large scale disaster relief, such as natural disasters, and focuses on a more town or settlement based level, while Religious Organizations tend to help individual families or people out. They typically work in tandem, with the government cleaning up after disasters while religious organizations offer aid and relief to the families affected by them on an individual level.
Culture
Norumbegan culture has developed throughout the centuries and it typically takes after it's mixed Colonial and Native roots. Compared to many other states around the world, which tend to be large multi-ethnic Empires or Federations, or small, ethnocentric states, Norumbegan culture prides itself on being what it considers to be one of the last successful bastions of multiculturalism and "intranationalism." Intranationalism, coined in the 2200s, is a term that, within Norumbega, treats it as a large, multi-cultural conglomerations of Nations and peoples that are aligned with one another for one way or another. Due to it's mix of languages and cultures, Norumbegan culture typically unifies itself around a territorial and shared historical value, treating each Nation as a member of a group of friends or a household in a neighborhood or community.
Norumbega, as stated earlier, has many unique cultures that, overall, blend together. These come primarily from English and Anglic speaking groups, French speaking groups, Native groups, and various immigrant groups. The culture overall reflects a blend of this relatively proportional to the ethnic, religious, and linguistic composition of the nation.
The Cultcha Depahtment (Department of Culture) was created in 2149 to both solidify and promote a unified Norumbegan culture within areas of Norumbegan control. Sub-chambers were set up to control aspects of cultural life such as television, the neonet, film, radio, news, fine arts, music, theatre and literature. Members of these professions were required to join their respective organisation. Books and scripts have to be approved by the Department prior to publication. In spite of this, the CD tends to be quite lenient with what it allows.
To foreigners, Norumbega can be considered to be something of a land of contradictions. Typically regarded as confusing at first, mainstream Norumbegan culture is a culture where contrasting aspects are brought together. This includes formality with casuality, authoritarianism with libertarianism, freedom and liberty with duty, kindness with directness, and humility with "being high-strung." In the eyes of many foreigners, Norumbegans, typically regardless of origin, are seen as odd, typically as high-strung yet upstanding people who come off as too brash and brunt while not meaning it.
Cultural activities in Norumbega are typically sponsored by Syndicates working under the CD.
Art and Aesthetics
- Thomas Cole - Caspar David Friedrich - Albert Bierstadt - Paul Kane - Frederic Edwin Church - Clarence Gagnon - Norman Rockwell - Edward Hopper - Neoromanticisim - Nationalist Art - Maud Lewis movement - Government sanctioned aesthetics - Group of Seven school - Hudson River school - White Mountain Art - Young America Movement - Studio Ghibli if it was trying to promote some weirdly reactionary political agenda. If you see this sentence before I edit it out, this is basically what the entire country is like. Welcome to Norumbega btw
Government Approved Aesthetic Movements (includes some "similar to's"): Cottagecore, Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Solarpunk, Cyberparadism, Yankeecore, (Vintage) Americana, Colonialcore, New Age, New England Gothic, Nativecore, Coffinwood, Dark Nautical, Witchcore, Cabincore, Dark Academia, Witch Academia, Whimsigothic, Villagecore, Rusticore, Forestpunk, Gloomcore, Dark Naturalism, Natural Philosophy, Autumn Academia, Dark Paradise, Cryptid Academia, Cryptidcore, Lumberjack, Yiddishkeit, Shtetlcore, Ruralcore, various academias, witches, green shit, goffik etc etc yadda yadda
The regions that would become Norumbega have a lengthy history of art. Areas like New England and Québec were home to some of the first major American and Canadian painters, and cities like New York City, Ville de Québec and Philadelphia had massive artistic movements throughout history. Before this, the Native peoples of Norumebga had a long history of their own art forms.
Architecture
Many buildings in Norumbega were built before the fall of the United States, with some going as far back as the Colonial Era and early American Era. Many people live within buildings that mirror the different styles within the United States before the Collapse depending on time period. Post-Collapse though, with the Norumbegan national identity coming to, architectural styles nationwide began to mirror a more Colonial New England and Québécois style, aiming for a more simplistic style of housing. Most architecture is modelled after colonial styled and Georgian styled American and Canadian housing, with houses typically being made out of more modern materials but featuring an exterior of wood, stone, bricks, or a mix of them all. Many architectural styles take after the different cultural divides in Norumbega, and can be divided up into two larger sub-styles - Colonial and Native architecture.
Houses generally take on a Saltbox or Cape Cod style, and occasionally more complex buildings or simpler ones like cabins are used as well. Building a house in Norumbega is a community event, and it's not uncommon for people to welcome a new neighbor or new house into the neighborhood with physical assistance or some other form of help. Most houses incorporate sharp angles and edges, and are sided with wood. Houses typically have anywhere from one to three floors, along with a basement or root cellar. Many houses, especially those in rural areas, typically have an external shed or two for storage or work. Additionally, many houses typically conform to the "Connected Farm" style of building, and as the name indicates, it is a style in which a storage barn meant for farming is connected directly to part of a house, generally on the back or on the side. These are typically more common in rural areas, alongside another type of house, the barn house, or the barnhaus, a style originating from parts of Western Massachusetts and Amish Country post-Collapse. These houses are also more common in rural areas, and are repurposed agricultural barns or storage barns repurposed into large, spacious houses. Barnahaus style apartments are becoming increasingly common. Norumbegan houses are generally much larger than those in surrounding nations due to an abundance of space, especially further up north.
In urban areas, while architectural revitalizations have happened in the past, many buildings within the more dense urban areas typically follow a style more similar towards 1800s and 1900s style mills, and many old mill-buildings have been repurposed and refurbrished into either apartments or places of work. "Rent" is not a thing in Norumbega, and moving into an apartment is as good as owning it. Skyscrapers still exist, and are generally used as apartment complexes as well due to fewer offices being needed.
Native residences also take up their own unique style, blending together modern building materials and construction with traditional styles depending on the tribe(s) in question. Iroquoians typically build longhouses (Iroquoian: ganonhséshne) and Algonquian, Innu-Inuttiut, and Mi'kmaq peoples typically build more flexible and smaller houses, called wigwams. Most of these are primarily located within their own Commonwealths, but they have slowly gained popularity elsewhere throughout Norumbega, and many pre-Collapse camping cabins have been slowly replaced by wigwams, and most mobile homes in Norumbega follow a wigwam style.
A house in the Ganonhséshne style in coastal Haudenosaunee.
An Amish haus in Hudson-Leigh.
A simplistic Colonial style house in Pioneer.
A Georgian styled house in Labrador.
Coastal houses in Gazzaville, Providence.
A Mi'kmaq house in Pilei Maragaree, Mi'gma'gi.
Wigwams are typically smaller than other homes.
A connected farmhouse in Upstate.
The Château Frontenac, once a hotel in Quebec City, is now one of Norumbega's most notable landmarks.
A housebarn in Canada.
- Cathedrals
- Places of Worship
- Collegiate Gothics
In an effort to create a more "Old World" or "Colonial" style aesthetic of the overall area, various forts and castle-like structures were built beginning in the 2230s and in the 2250s after the conclusion of the Great Merican War. The majority of these, compared to many pre-Collapse "castles" in the United States and Canada, are actually somewhat functional forts, typically built in the then-present "Star Fort" style. While many of the original forts were lost during the Great Collapse or before due to climate related causes, many of the forts that were not were either refurbished or had new forts built around them. As of 2320, there are around 62 forts and castles scattered around Norumbega, with the most recent one, Fort Felton, being completed in Pioneer, on the town borders of Goshen and Ashfield.
- Native Styles - Covered Bridges
Literature
Philosophy
Norumbegan philosophy has much to do with the national character and makeup of the nations, and most philosophy tends to resolve around a semi-stoic belief system. It frequently deals with fighting negative situations and the debate if they can be controlled or not.
Throughout history, most philosophical thought within the present borders of Norumbega had to do with different kinds of Protestant sects, and eventually, it morphed into philosophical and artistic movements like romanticism and transcendentalism, all of which left their mark on thinking even centuries later.
Due to the Second American Civil War destroying what many considered to be "liberal American ideology," many living within the then-liberal New England felt angry at...
i'll get to this later
Music
Norumbega has become renowned worldwide, especially in English and Francophone countries for it's contributions to the musical arts. Traditional Norumbegan music tends to mix many different things depending on the artist, but an overall sense of "traditional Colonial" music and "traditional Native" music is there. This is shown in many traditional songs having simple but prevalent drums and fiddles as well, and many songs include stomping or clapping. Many songs also incorporate heavy amounts of wind or brass instruments. For many government and official songs though, more traditional "American" or "European" styles are used, primarily for anthems. As is the case in many Merican nations, guitars and string instruments are also heavily used, along with computer and synth technology. Due to the minority populations of Natives, Amish, and Jews, Norumbegan music is heavily influenced by the music coming from these cultures, with Native War and Healing songs being commonly sung during public events. Norumbega is the world's second largest producer of Klezmer music, after Zion.
Norumbega is also unique in that certain AI programs dedicated to music have also reached the top of the charts, the most famous of them being pIne. Most Norumbegan music is consumed in nations with similar languages, and can generally be occasionally found within the EC, the Ozarkes, Sénégambie, or California. The most famous Norumbegan singer is generally considered to be Eleanor Chen.
Stylistically, many traditional Norumbegan songs tend to mirror what many can call "sea shanties" or choral elements. Pre-Collapse indie and alternative bands like tUnE-yArDs, Fleet Foxes, and Lord Huron have affected Norumbegan music the most, and many songs reference many of the same "motifs" mentioned in their songs.
The Norumbegan anthem is a variant of the old Canadian patriotic song "The Maple Leaf Forever," specifically a cover from the Canadian music duo "The Connors Brothers." The lyrics were edited into a more friendly version for Norumbegan politics. The lyrics were composed by Abner Mendez, an Norumbegan Marine from Vermont, in 2168.
| Norumbega Forever | |
| Yankee | English |
|---|---|
| In days a'yore, ta oure wild shor
Foreign colonizahs came And planted firm their conquerahs flags Where Native peoples reigned From struggles into hope they formed A nation 'ere togetha That there might be eternally Norumbega forevah! Through bittah wahs in ah great cause Brave Norumbegans fought an died Now we, theya children, gauhd the peace Upon ah green hillsides We'll not break faith with glories past The torch we'll lowah nevah A shining light to all the world Norumbega forevah! From Scoshun land and south Deitsch strands 'an Buffalo to Bostyn's sound May patriot love unite us 'an True Commonwealth be found; And may Norumbegans young and old Uphold ah great endeavah And proudly say eternally Norumbega forevah! Norumbega ah nation deah, Norumbega forevah! And proudly say, eternally, Norumbega forevah! |
In days of yore, to our wild shore Foreign colonizers came And planted firm their conquerors' flags Where Native peoples reigned From struggles into hope they formed A nation here together That there might be eternally Norumbega forever!
Through bitter wars in our great cause Brave Norumbegans fought and died Now we, their children, guard the peace Upon our green hillsides We'll not break faith with glories past The torch we'll lower never A shining light to all the world Norumbega forever! From Scoshun land and south Deitsch strands Buffalo to Bostyn's sound May patriot love unite us and True commonwealth be found; And may Norumbegans young and old Uphold our great endeavour And proudly say eternally Norumbega forever! Norumbega, our nation dear, Norumbega forever! And proudly say eternally, Norumbega forever! |
Cinema
Dress and Fashion
Norumbegan fashion tends to divide itself among ethnic and occasionally religious lines, and one of the most telling ways to determine what ethnicity an Norumbegan may be other than physical appearance is traditional dress. Day to day dress is generally more non-discriminatory by ethnicity. Compared to other nations, dress in Norumbega tends to be much more socially conservative, and tends to be minimalistic and rather simple on usage of color and extravagant designs. Unlike many other places in post-Recovery period Merica, Norumbegan fashion has largely remained static. Whether this is due to geographic or cultural reasons is still up for debate by sociologists.
Traditionally speaking, the majority of traditional Norumbegan clothing for non-Native, non-Amish, and non-Jewish groups is inspired by the traditional clothing of Colonial America and Canada, lasting from the 1600s up until the 1930s in many places, though a general timeframe of 1600 to 1890 is more commonly used. Occasionally, suits for men and some dresses for women that follow a style that goes up until the 1960s is not unheard of. The majority of mainstream traditional and common fashion generally focuses on differing fabric combinations and color contrasts, either with different articles of clothing or skin. Multiple layers of clothing are common and softly socially encouraged regardless of weather. Most clothing and especially traditional outfits seek to emphasize the body shape of the individual wearing it.
"Sadd" colors, a term originating in Colonial New England, are commonly used. These originally entailed darker colors limited to black, grays, and earthen colours, though within Norumbega, dark colors or shades in general are considered "sadd." Accented colors are commonly used, generally by contrast as well.
The national costume of Norumbega is largely based off of styles that were popular between the 1600s and 1880s, and is commonly referred to as "Pilgrim Wear" in informal settings. Men traditionally wear something reminiscent of a long coat, and women a long dress.
Casual dress, of course, is different, and carries it's own history that changed from decade to decade and generation from generation. For Women, fashion tends to comprise itself primarily of dresses and long slender skirts. Pants are also worn, though not as common, and are typically high waisted. Regardless of what is worn, layering is common, even in warm weather. Low cut clothing is only worn over other layers of clothing, and sleeveless articles of clothing are treated similarly. This is typically done with either a blouse, jacket, or blazer. The Hooddress, a hoodie mixed with a lighter fabric dress, was invented in Hugson-Leigh around 2195. Pointed angles and asymettrical collars and zippers are a common development in recent decades. Day to day footwear is typically up to discretion of the wearer, but the most commonly chosen ones are flats or boots, while heels are worn in more formal occasions. Hairstyle varies widely, and headware does as well, though hats and bonnets are common.
Hair dye, while not illegal, is uncommon. Generally used within the Switch subculture, women tend to dye their hair in a variety of colors. Pinks, blues, purples, and reds are common. Additionally, some women choose to bleach their hair to blonde or white.
Fashion for men is somewhat similar, typically involving layering and stylization. Men's fashion tends to be much more militaristic and simplified when compared to that of women, with the day to day wear for some men even being their Military of National Labor Corps uniform. Jackets are common, but most outfits are based around a somewhat visible undershirt that's usually a solid color, plaid, or tartan. Sashes are common too, and in colder months, buffcoats or greatcoats are commonly worn. Boots are the most common shoe for Norumbegan men, followed by sneakers. Hair is generally anywhere from "short" to shoulder length, and most longer styles are worn by Aboriginal Men. Facial hair also varies, with mustaches and beards being common among men. Beards tend to be shorter the closer to the shore the wearer is, while longer beards are more common inland. Mutton chops and sideburns are also common.
Native Fashion tends to have lots of styles and influences from "general Native American fashion," in that it heavily relies on furs, leather, and beads. However, in more recent decades, a general blend between Native and European styled fashion has happened, with a formal fashion sense typical of the 18th and 19th centuries, specifically modelled after many paintings and depictions of Thayendanegea, alternatively known as Joseph Brant. Other than that, most Native fashion is characterized by traditional designs or patterns being used.
Jewish fashion in Norumbega varies widely from group to group, but is generally stereotyped as being primarily Hasidic or Ashkenazim in style due to the majority of Jews in Norumbega being of Ashkenazim descent. Large fur hats and wide brimmed hats are common, along with beards, cloaks, and long jackets for men. For women, as modesty is a concern as it is in mainstream Norumbegan society, long dresses are worn, as well as veils and bonnets. Wigs are also occasionally worn as well. Most Jewish fashion tends to be quite traditional, due to it not undergoing any necessary changes, as the majority of it already fit in with mainstream Norumbegan fashion quite well.
For other cultural minorities such as Qadians and Scoshuns, the primary difference, culturally speaking, is a higher amount of jeans, plaid, and tartans and a large amount of toque caps regardless of Gender.
Deitsch dress, like Jewish dress, tends to be similar to Norumbegan mainstream fashion. However, due to religious reasons, Deitsch people typically avoid buttons in favor of hooks or zippers. Mutza jackets are common, which are straight cut clothes without collars, pockets, or lapels. These are usually exchanged for vests during the summer. Other than that, the overall amount of variation is typically minimal from mainstream Norumbegan wear, and usually only deviates in clothing terminology, such as stroh hoots for "straw hats" and tsiple kops for toques. Deitsch men are usually clean shaven until marriage.
In recent years, due to the MU opening up communications between nations more, other style from nations within the MU have influenced some sections of Norumbegan fashion. This is primarily shown with hair dye, something more typical to other nations such as Federalia or the NCR. Certain subcultures have developed within Norumbega in recent years, with the most prominent subcultural style being "Switches," or "Soft Witches." Switch Fashion is typically summarized as "trad clothing but with wider color variation." Baggier clothing is sometimes worn to keep the form of what a dress or skirt would give, and color contrasts are typically dualized, with lighter colors contrasting together against darker colors. Pointy hats are common as well. Switch culture is also known for it's many references to Norumbegan media, and most Switches generally self-categorize into different subgroups based on what media they enjoy the most. The overwhelming majority of Switches are women, though in recent years some aspects of the subculture have influenced male fashion.
Norumbegan military dress and function uniforms are based on that of Civil War-era America. Wearing military or national labor corps uniform in public by members of said groups is seen as fashionable.
A drawing of a girl from an Norumbegan fashion blog.
An example of longer, slender dresses traditionally worn in Norumbega.
Within newer fashion trends, more hair dye is common.
Fashion trends tend to remain changing even with generational gaps, staying largely the same regardless of age.
Native fashion trends tend to take influences from other Native groups and combine them with Norumbegan characteristics, such as the wide brimmed black hat.
Jewish fashion tends to mirror mainstream Norumbegan fashion.
Widely considered to be almost "regional costume" in Qadia and the former Maritimes, a "lumberjack" style is very common.
A Deitsch couple - note the brighter colors on the male.
A woman in Mi'gma'gi.
Media
Norumbegan TV, e-magazines, and newspapers are primarily operated by the government or various guilds. The Norumbegan constitution does not guarantee freedom of speech or freedom of press, but it tends to be pretty libertine in what it allows people to say.
TV was introduced in Norumbega pre-Collapse. Norumbega typically produces a small to medium sized amount of media content, but it typically is considered by most to be of "higher quality" than others. One lead TV station, ATV, is privately owned. Most other Norumbegan TV stations are owned by the Norumbegan government, or a government owned guild/syndicate. Examples of this include ANT (Norumbegan News Television), ACT (Norumbegan Childrens' Television), AET (Norumbegan Entertainment Television), and APB (Norumbegan Public Broadcasting). All except AET are government owned, while AET is owned by AETS, the Norumbegan Entertainment Syndicate. It is typically given more leeway in what it's allowed to broadcast compared to other channels. A few talk shows also exist as well.
Radio was also introduced pre-Collapse, and Norumbegan radio is typically put under the same jurisdiction as TV stations. No license is required to own or operate a HAM Radio. County, state, regional, and occasionally town radio stations are common, though the government maintains an emergency national radio station. AM radio still applies to talk radio and podcasts, and FM still applies to music. Norumbega has a small podcasting industry, generally subservient to the radio industry.
Newspapers are printed digitally. While in the past it was common for most towns in the United States and Canada to have their own individual town newspapers, with the advent of environmentally-influenced Norumbegan economic policies in the wake of the Collapse, Norumbega banned newspapers from being printed on actual paper in favor of using digital methods. Due to the small size Norumbegan towns, most town newspapers, while not banned from printing, generally didn't exist, and most newspapers were regionalized. Larger towns still maintained individualized newspapers. Norumbegan weather services are also generally preformed at a county level. Most pre-Collapse newspapers such as the Boston Globe, Hartford Courant, and Le Soleil were destroyed or their actual printing locations were swallowed up by rising sea levels. Most of them were, as well, re-established by Norumbega after it's founding. As of 2320, one of the largest newspaper and news website is The Norumbegan, providing localized news for New England, and The Norumbegan, the only national newspaper, which is owned by ANT.
One of the most popular TV shows for children is The Adventures of Peedee the Dinosaur, created by husband and wife team David and Carolina Rybacki. Originally made as a brief CGI experiment in 1989, Peedee was repurposed from a roughly minute long short in which Peedee is melted by a dragon to be one of Norumbega's most popular characters. First aired in 2289, exactly 300 years after being created, the Adventures of Peedee the Dinosaur was to be the "ultimate" children's show, covering a wide variety of topics for children ages 2-14, shown through four different shows. These are The Adventures of Peedee: Preschool, aimed at children 2-6, The Adventures of Peedee: Elementary, aimed at children 7-10, and The Adventures of Peedee: Junior, which is aimed at children and younger teenagers from the ages of 11-14. A fourth show, The Adventure of Peedee: Specials, is aimed at making special episodes for religious and national holidays, geared at all audiences. Peedee grows up alongside children in each generation, being able to provide a fictional character to relate to, educate them, and provide good moral lessons alongside the viewing child's parents, and Peedee is aimed to partially provide "Norumbegan family values" as well. The state does play a role in the production of the show, with Peedee living in a semi-fictional version of Norumbega. Peedee's parents are members of the APP/PAP party, and despite being a family of large pink dinosaurs, Peedee's family is modeled on the "ideal" Norumbegan family. Peedee interacts with a wide recurring cast of characters from all walks of life, and Peedee is additionally fluent in every language within Norumbega. Additionally, many of the episodes of Peedee have direct involvement with the Norumbegan Military and Government. Peedee's voice is designed to intentionally be androgynous and prepubescent, and likewise Peedee's gender is never directly referenced in the show. This is so that Norumbegan children, boys and girls, can more easily relate to the character. As described by the creators, "Peedee is a dinosaur. It's supposed to be metaphorical - please don't fight over a CGI dinosaur's gender. Go outside."
The animation style of Peedee is meant to be in an ancient, pre-Collapse CGI style that has, as animators described it, "beauty in it's simplicity." At the end of many episodes, Peedee tells the audience that, if it's nice out, they should spend sometime outside because "it looks so much better." The simplistic style is also meant to grab the attention of younger viewers, who may be put off by having too much detail or too many objects on screen at a single given moment.
Since the premiere of the show in 2289, Peedee has become one of the most recognizable characters in Norumbega, and is somewhat well known in other Merican nations. Norumbegan pop culture frequently generates ironic and post-ironic memes about Peedee going on various other adventures, with military deployment being a popular one. Additionally, Peedee has made appearances on many other television shows both as cameos and as references. These include talk shows, other children's cartoons, and even some TV shows meant for adult audiences. In season 3 of Norumbega, the character of Farrow attempts to prove to his (adult) friends that Peedee "exists in real life" after experiencing brain trauma, only for Peedee to make a cameo as a "real character" at the end of the episode. Peedee has also starred in movies, and has a musical.
Teenage through Adult animation in Norumbega can usually be broken up into two art styles, named "eastun" and "westun." Eastun refers to styles drawn in a pre-Collapse "Eastern" or East Asian/Anime style. Norumbega's "anime" sector is most similar to Oregunju and California, usually mirroring 1970-1990s, 2140s-2170s, and 2220-2230s style anime. Eastun shows typically touch on more realistic or action based topics, though "slice of life" shows "Haudenosaunee Summer" and Le Journal d'Emily Viger (The Journal of Emily Viger) have been pretty popular in the past.
Westun styles are descended from American style animation, specifically the mid to late 1900s "Hanna-Barbera" cartoons, though some in a later "Cal-Arts" or "Flash Animation" style aren't unheard of. Again, this is similar to Californian animation, though in recent years, more influence has been taken from animations from the USEG and the Neo-Confederate Republic. They generally touch on more juvenile subjects or are meant more for abject entertainment, and are generally geared towards a younger audience, with most Westun shows and cartoons proving to be popular with the ages of 13-18. Examples of this include Amos and Colrain. An example of a recently popular movie in this is the 2318 Dittrich and Dougal, which follows a Roman Catholic Priest (Malachai Dittrich, voiced by Zachariah Hochstetler) from Deitsland working together with a scientist from Scosha (Breas Dougal, voiced by Martin O'Fionnghaile) to stop a crime racket shipping stolen weapons to wildmen in Deitsland. Widely acclaimed for its handling of the conflict between science and religion, it was given awards and greenlit by CET for a TV show in 2319, and began to premiere in January of 2320.
Society
Norumbegan society is heavily regimented. Officially promoting an Organic Society, Norumbega has invented it's own national identity based on it's history. Started during the formation of Norumbega around 2100, the goal was to originally build an "organic and traditionalist" society based on cultural unions and alliances, alongside the perceived need to prepare for war. Compared to the pre-Collapse American and Canadian identities, Norumbegan culture tends to scorn individualism and materialism. Most of these new cultural values have much to do with the leadership and influence of the APP/PAP.
Regarding minority races and cultures, the "national identity" of Norumbega allows for and actively promotes minority cultures that it considers to be apart of it. All cultures regardless of size are given equal promotion, and Norumbegan schools require students to take a language course from a culture not of their own. Minority cultures are required to learn French or Yankee. Between all cultures, the most commonly learned languages are Deitsch and Yiddish, and the most commonly learned Native language is Algonquian.
There is a heavy emphasis on the "traditional masculinity" of the Norumbegan Man, stressing aggression, virility, youth, speed and sport alongside providing for a family, defense of community, neighborly outreach, and overall brotherhood. Women are generally expected to attend to motherhood, the home, and to stay out of public affairs. Despite this, many women do find themselves in public affairs, although typically in a more traditional way, and out of the work force.
While occasionally shunned, Norumbegan society is one of the most welcoming societies in the world when it comes to magick and magick usage, due to Witches being a large part of public culture in past and present, alongside a heavy religious and spiritual nature in the nation.
Norumbegan humor tends to be pretty absurdist, and has a tendency to revolve around crude and absurd situations themselves as the jokes rather than any morality itself. As opposed to stand up comedy in other nations, comedy in Norumbega is grouped around social groups, hypothetical questions, or one on one conversations, and typically maintains an "aimless conversation," usually giving way to absurdity. Puns and rhymes are common, typically involving sexual scenarios, racial stereotypes, and making fun of the deformed or "degenerate." As Californian stand up comedian Emilio Pulungan explained on Twitter, "Norumbegan humor isn't humor, it's just asking you what would happen if a retard was gay."
The Norumbegan sense of humor has caused multiple social blunders in the past with foreign relations, such as one time when King Planter accidentally referred to Choson as "Choson-deez-balls" in a Pahlament session, followed by Speaka Zekara calling all non-Korean DPEK supporters "cuckords." This was, in turn, followed by numerous MPs, ethnic Asians included, making jokes, generally directed at Kim Dae-Won, and asking if they'd have sex with a dog before eating it. This "riff" lasted for around 14 minutes, and was met by a full embargo of MU goods and trade by the DPEK for two and a half weeks. No apology was made.
Cuisine
Norumbegan cuisine is primarily influenced by the old cuisines of America, Canada, Native Americans, and various immigrant groups. Major influences in Norumbegan cuisine come from Éire, Polska, Britain, Québec, Mexico, Natives, Jews, and many other countries. Norumbegans typically have anywhere from one to four meals throughout the day, but most typically have breakfast, lunch, and dinner. A fourth meal, either "brunch" or a "midnight snack," occasionally called "supper," is implimented sometimes.
All Norumbegan towns are required to hold a monthly community meal, generally called a "Monthie." Monthies are hosted at different times each month and are left up to the discretion of the individual town. They are typically hosted in schools or places of worship if weather doesn't allow an outside meal, or held outside on a main street or bridge. Considered a community building event, they are encouraged so that towns and neighborhoods have strong individual ties to one another. Somewhat like a potluck, both families and restaurants prepare food for the occasion. In larger settlements or around military bases, the military also prepares food for the locals as well. Marriages at monthies are common events.
Due to long coastlines and a heavy reliance on the sea throughout history, Norumbegan cuisine is very seafood heavy. The national dish is clam chowdah (SAE: Chowder), and many regional dishes incorporate seafood in one way or another. These include clam bakes, crab cakes, lobsta rolls, and variations of chowda that focus on fish instead of clams. Fish, crab, lobster, and clam are the most commonly used sea animals in Norumbegan cooking.
Pickling is common, and pickles are typically prepared for winter or as an addition to main courses. Eggs, fiddlehead ferns, garlic, and even meats and seafood are commonly pickled. The Deitsch commonly pickle eggs alongside onions, spices, and beets together. The eggs take on a pink-purple color from the beets, and have a sweet-sour taste. Beet eggs are considered integral to both Deitsch and Norumbegan cuisine.
Common vegetables include legumes and the potato, with a wide variety of potatoes being cultivated. Other starches and carbohydrates such as corn, Indian Maize, wheat, and barley are grown. Sweet potatoes are a common ingredient in many sweeter dishes. Pumpkins and squash are also common. Root vegetables such as ramps, onions, shallots, garlic, tend to be used often in Norumbegan meals to enhance flavor. Main ingredients that are root vegetables include beets, turnips, rutabagas, cattails, and Jerusalem artichokes. Common greens include kale, fiddlehead ferns, lettuce, cabbage, spinach, and collard greens. Other vegetables such as carrots, celery, parsnips, broccoli, cauliflower, and brussels sprouts, and Norumbega is one of the world's largest consumers of parsnips. Using wild greens and plants as vegetables is common, with the two largest of these generally being fiddlehead ferns, certain kinds of flowers, and stinging nettles. Mushrooms are also commonly harvested.
Common fruits include apples, pears, peaches, grapes, plums, figs, and berries such as raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, and strawberries. Cranberries also play a large role in Norumbegan cuisine, and Norumbegan foods are stereotyped to have cranberries "in everything."
As is the case in many countries, Norumbega relies heavily on agriculture produced hydroponically or in greenhouses. Because of this, Norumbega is mostly self-sufficient in food and cuisine, growing the majority of it's own spices and fruits that would otherwise be generally unable to grow in Norumbegan climates, like citrus fruits.
The national dish of Norumbega, clam chowdah, is generally prepared in one of three styles: Massachusetts, Hudson, or Providence. Massachusetts style chowdah is generally analogous to pre-Collapse Boston or New England clam chowder, in that the base is used with milk or cream, and it is thickened using crackers or hardtack instead of flour. Hudson styled chowdah is made with a tomato base, either pureed or chunky, and thickened with flour. Providence style chowdah is a mix of the two, where a milk or cream base has tomatoes added to it, creating a thick creamy tomato base. Regardless, all forms of chowdah have the same components: clam, potatoes, onions, and occasionally bacon. Fish and corn chowdah variations are also common. Additional national dishes include poutine, a French-Canadian food in which potato fries are coated in cheese curds and gravy; succotash, a Native soup with corn; Smoked salmon and lox, a Jewish bagel sandwich; and maple sugar treats.
Apart from that, other popular dishes include grinders (submarine sandwiches), chicken and dumplings, corned beef, mashed potatoes, and varieties of pizza. Most pizza in Norumbega is either the old New York style, or the newer New Haven style. Pizzas in Norumbega are generally cooked Greek style. Additionally, other variants exist depending on the region one is in. In the north, "garlic finger" style pizza is popular, and in the south, tomato pies are common and enjoyed by the populace. Additionally, in places with large Jewish communities, Jewish styled pizza that follows the Kosher dietary law is common.
As for traditional dinners, Norumbegans generally have either a seafood clam bake, or a boiled dinner. Boiled dinners are more popular in Scosha and in other regions with high Celtic influences. Clam bakes are traditionally more coastal.
With the destruction of Canada and it's reduction of size, Norumbega is now the world's largest maple syrup producer. First made by the Algonquian and Iroquoian peoples in the pre-Colonial era, the practice of making maple syrup was adopted by European settlers soon after they arrived. Norumbega is responsible for roughly 90% of the world's output of maple syrup and other maple products.
Deitsch food is known for its reliance on pies and other sweets. Pies such as Melassich Riwwelboi (shoo-fly pie) rely on molasses for flavoring, and additionally the Deitsch invented whoopie pie is widely enjoyed not only in Norumbega, but across Merica, even post-Collapse. Certain types of breads, such as bulkie rolls, are generally regarded as Deitsch foods.
In places such as Qadia and Scosha, regional spins on popular dishes are also common, with most styles of beef being substituted for corned beef, and Qadians and Quebecois generally make toutieres. In modern Norumbega, overall differences in cuisine between cultural groups have mellowed out and are not as common, with the most common difference between groups actually being within the Yankee speaking majority, depending on family recipes that have to do more with immigration. For example, a family with roots in Poland would eat pierogi, whereas a family of Brazilian ancestry is more likely to eat dishes that feature rice and beans as a side, or mixed families would combine the two. The traditional Algonquian maple powder, or sinsibuckwud, is the second-most popular sweetener in Norumbega, being topped only by honey.
Drinks such as root beer and birch beer, which have both been made by indigenous peoples since pre-Colonial times, are commonly consumed as soft drinks. Root beer is the most popular soft drink except in Hudson-Leigh, where fruit flavored soft drinks are more common. Scosha and Newfinlan also manufacture Dotair Simmons, a soft drink based off of the pre-Collapse Doctor Pepper. During the New Dark Ages, fermenting milk based drinks became increasingly common, and Fermil, or fermented milk, became common. Fermil is most similar to the Turkish ayran, or the Persian doogh. It contains yogurt, sour cream, water, and salt. The most popular drinks nationwide are water, milk, and types of juices.
Alcohol is generally allowed in Norumbegan society. The drinking age is 16 years of age, though thanks to media campaigns regarding safe alcohol use, most alcohol is bought by people 19 and over. Grain alcohols are most common. Wines are typically made in Central and Southern Norumbega due to the prevalence of the Concord Grape, which results in red wines, though the populace prefers the term "purple" when referring to wines made with the Concord.
Caffeinated beverages are generally coffee, tea, or beverages that have been spiced with sinsibuckwud. Coffee is prepared in a variety of styles, though a popular variation, the frappe, is native to what was Massachusetts. Brought over by Greek immigrants pre-Collapse, it is instant coffee brewed and then mixed with crushed ice, cream, and sugar.
Cyda, alternatively known as cider, is a drink, either alcoholic or non-alcoholic, that is made from apples. Production is simple, and most households own a small cyda press. Opaque because of particles and tangier than most juices, it's usually drank fresh and unpasteurized. It's seasonal, and mostly made in the autumn and winter. Normal cyda is left alone and drank as is, though some types are made into wassail or hard cyda. Wassail is mulled cyda, and hard cyda is cyda that's been left to ferment. A similar drink, perry, is made using pear juices instead of apples.
Spiced beverages such as flip, switchel, and eggnog can be either alcoholic or non-alcoholic, and are consumed by both children and adults.
Sports
Some of the most popular Norumbegan sports include football, American soccer, hockey, lacrosse, rugby, baseball, basketball, boatball, and cornobbling. With the commencement of the Merican Cup in 2275, Norumbega has hosted tournaments for each of the previously mentioned sports except American soccer at least once. The Dudley Stadium in New Hahtland is the largest stadium in the country, and was the venue for both the 2299 and 2305 Superbowls. Norumbega hosts a large part of the Appalachian trail and hiking trails not a part of specific ranges. The most popular martial arts in Norumbega are Fencing and Krav Maga. Volleyball and Basketball were invented in Massachusetts, and Baseball was invented in Upstate. All of these were invented within a 100 year period during the early 19th and twentieth centuries.
Norumbega has a designated national team for playing in the Merican Union's International Sports League (MUISL), and each district has it's own regional team. Norumbega, like New England and Québéc of old, tends to dominate in football and hockey, and does above average in baseball and lacrosse. Roughly 55% of all Merican Superbowl victories belong to the Norumbegan Patriotes. The best hockey team is regarded to be the Montréal Norumbegans, and the best baseball team is the Pittsfield Green Sox.
A popular maritime sport is boatball, in which individuals in kayaks are divided up into teams and attempt to hit a ball into the other team's goal.
Additionally, the military and occasionally the NLC or various guilds participate in "gladitorials," in which soldiers from various marine and navy units have mock gladitorial fights with foam weaponry. The Marine Corps and the Navy are divided up into teams respective of their military branch, with the team colors for each being green with red highlights for the marines, and blue with yellow or orange highlights for the navy. Additionally, each regiment gets a tertiary color for more individual customization.
Holidays
| List of Norumbegan Holidays | |||
| Date | Name | Holiday | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 January | New Year's Day and Commonewalth Day |  |
Beginning of the new year and foundation of Norumbega's Commonwealth status. |
| 6 January | Epiphany | |
Feast day celebrating the visit of the Magi to Jesus Christ. |
| 1 February | Imbolc |  |
Wiccan holiday celebrating the halfway point between Winter and Spring. |
| 1 February | Candlemas | |
Christian holiday coinciding with Imbolc. |
| 1 February | Midwinter Festival | |
Traditional Iroquois midwinter festival. |
| 2 February | Grundsaudaag | |
Alternatively known as "Groundhog's Day" in Yankee, or "Daks Day" in Scosha. |
| movable Monday in February | Family Day | |
Day celebrating the family as a whole. |
| Tuesday before Ash Wednesday | Fat Tuesday/Fastnacht | |
Day before Ash Wednesday. |
| movable Wednesday in February or March | Ash Wednesday | |
Beginning of Lent. |
| Late February - Mid March (14-15 of Adar) | Purim | |
Jewish holiday celebrating the saving of the Jewish people. Typically celebrated with Adloyada, or parades. |
| 14 March | Maple Festival | |
Traditional Iroquoian festival celebrating the start of the maple sap harvesting season. |
| 17 March | St. Patrick's Day | |
Originally a celebration of Celtic Heritage, St. Patrick's day is now a religious holiday in Norumbega. |
| Spring solstice (March 19-21st) | Ostara | |
Wiccan holiday celebrating the Spring Solstice. |
| day before Good Friday | Maundy Thursday | |
The day before Good Friday. |
| movable Friday in March or April | Good Friday | |
The Friday before Easter Sunday. |
| movable Sunday in March or April | Easter Sunday | |
Easter Sunday. |
| 39 days after Easter | Ascension Day | |
A primarily Mennonite holiday celebrating the ascension of Christ. |
| 49-50 days after Easter | Pentecost | |
A primarily Mennonite and Protestant holiday celebrating the 49-50th days after Easter. |
| movable Monday in March or April | Easter Monday | |
The Monday after Easter Sunday. |
| Late March - Early April (15-22 Nisan) | Passover | |
Jewish holiday celebrating deliverance from Egypt. First two days are allowed to be taken off by Jews. |
| 17 April | Feast of St. Kateri Tekakwitha | |
Feast day of St. Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Catholic Saint to come from Norumbegan soil. |
| 19 April | Patriots' Day | |
Celebrating those who fought and died at the Battles of Lexington, Concord, and Menotomy. |
| 22 April | Earth Day | |
Day in celebration of Earth and Nature. |
| April 28th | Foundation Day | |
Celebrating the foundation of the Norumbegan nation. |
| 28 April - 1 May | Corn Planting Festival | |
An Iroquoian festival celebrating the planting of corn and other crops, coincides with Foundation Day and Labor Day. |
| 1 May | Labor Day | |
Celebration of all working Norumbegans. |
| 1 May | Beltane | |
Wiccan holiday celebrating the halfway point between Spring and Summer. Coincides with Labor Day. |
| Fourth Monday in May | Fête des Patriotes | |
Day celebrating the 1837 Patriote Rebellion. |
| Late May - Early June (6-7 Sivan) | Shavuot | |
Jewish holiday celebrating the giving of the Torah to the Jewish people. |
| 25 May | College Day | |
Day celebrating college students graduating. |
| 6-10 June | Strawberry Festival | |
An Iroquoian festival celebrating the late spring and early summer harvest, specifically strawberries. Picking strawberries is a common "to-do. |
| 18 June | Graduation Day | |
Day celebrating high school students graduating. |
| Summer Solstice | Summer's Solstice | |
Wiccan holiday celebrating the Summer Solstice. |
| 24 June | Feast of St. John the Baptist (Fete National) | |
Francophone holiday, celebrating St. John the Baptist. |
| 2 July | Day Off | |
A day off. Implemented in 2310 by King Franklin II, because "We (Norumbegans) don't get a lot of summer holidays." Eating donuts is common. |
| 3rd Monday in July | Farmer's Day | |
A day celebrating farmers and agricultural workers. |
| 25 July | Green Corn Festival | |
Traditional Iroquoian festival celebrating the start of the corn harvest. |
| 1 August | Lammas | |
A Wiccan holiday celebrating the halfway point between Summer and Autumn. |
| 1 August | Lammastide | |
A Christian holiday coinciding with Lammas. |
| 2 August | Ceasefire Day | |
Celebrating the "Until Further Notice Ceasefire" treaty between Merican nations in the wake of the Collapse. |
| Early September (1-2 of Tishrei) | Rosh Hashanah | |
Jewish New Year. Cultural holiday, celebrated in a similar fashion to Chinese New Year in certain parts of America and Canada pre-Collapse. |
| Mid September - Early October (10th of Tishrei) | Yom Kippur | |
Holiest day in the Jewish Year, generally used by non-Jews as a similar religious-study day. |
| September Equinox (September 21-24) | Alban Elfed/Mabon | |
Wiccan Holiday celebrating the autumn equinox. |
| Late September - Early October (15-22nd of Tishrei) | Sukkot/Sukkos | |
Jewish feast week. |
| Late September - Early October (22nd or 23rd day of Tishrei) | Shmini-Atseres | |
Jewish day of Assembly. |
| Late September - Early October (23rd day of Tishrei) | Simchas Torah | |
Jewish day of prayer and Torah study. |
| 1-6 October | Sgennen Preparation | |
Sgennen, or "Peace" in Iroquoian, is a holiday celebrating peace between people. |
| 7 October | Sgennen | |
Sgennen day celebrates peace between individuals and groups of people. Alternatively known as "Apology Day" or "Sorry Day." |
| 10-14 October | Harvest Festival | |
An Iroquoian festival celebrating the Harvest. While not a "day off" holiday, the government and businesses typically celebrate by lowering prices on foodstuffs.. |
| 21 October | Feast Day of St. Karl of Europe | |
The Feast day of St. Karl von Habsburg of Europe. |
| 31 October - 3 November | Halloween (Samhain) | |
Halloween is the largest holiday in Norumbega outside of Christmas. Lasting only one day pre-Collapse, Norumbega Halloween or "Samhain" in Scosha lasts 4 days and is a nationwide festival with parties, parades, and religious events, regardless of faith. |
| 1 November | All Saints' Day | |
Religious event during Halloween celebrating all Catholic Saints, known and unknown. |
| 2 November | All Souls' Day | |
Religious event during Halloween in remembrance of those who have died. |
| 11 November | Veterans' Day | |
Celebrates all veterans who fought or died for what is now Norumbega, from the pre-Colonial era to modern day. |
| Fourth Sunday in November | Thanksgiving | |
Celebrating peace between Natives and Colonial peoples. |
| Early to Late December (25 Kislev - 3 Tevet) | Hanukkah | |
Jewish holiday celebrating the recovery of Jerusalem. Widely celebrated like Christmas. |
| 21 December | Yuul (Yule) | |
Celebration of the Winter Solstice |
| 24 December | Christmas Eve | |
Holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. |
| 25 December | Christmas Day | |
Alternatively known by some as Noel. |
| 26 December | Boxing Day | |
Originally a secular holiday, Boxing Day is now generally celebrated as an extension of Christmas. |
| 31 December | New Year's Eve and Commmonwealth Day | |
End of the old year and celebration of Norumbega's Commonwealth status. |