North Western Coalition

The North Western Coalition (or: NWC, West Canada, Cascadia) was a short lived nation set in the former Canadian Provinces of British Colombia and Alberta. The foundations of the short-lived nation-state were laid during the First North American War in 1970. Founded by President Daniel Hube, the successionist government consisted of the disgruntled oil and timber barons in protest of the growing conflict.

Though short lived, the NWC would seek avant-garde ways to define itself in the world setting and to earn prestige on the world stage. The government thus ordered a number of large-scale programs aimed at building itself up. Including the development of the nerve agent known as VX as well as the infamously cheap and small Grizzly Class Carriers.

Though initially at odds with the First North American War, they entered the conflict on the side of Canada after recognition, and later involved themselves in the Second North American War, culminating in the VX Bombing of Seattle and the nation's subsequent occupation and annexation by the Americans.

History
The North Western Coalition was orginally founded as a coalition of the Oil and Lumber barons of Canada to focus their commercial power in Western Canada. By the late sixties, the Coalition was beginning to define itself in the politics of Western Canada with a number of its members being governors or mayors on the Western Edge of Canada. This helped to bolster their influence and financial strength in the region given Canada's quasi-fascist laws.

This growth however slowly read to a rise of friction with the Canadian government and the NWC organized their own para-military groups to police and adiminstrate the region. Friction came to a boil and broke in the First North American war. Then acting president, Daniel Hube ordered a cancelation of oil and timber exports to Canada, and general resistance to Canadian authority.

Already entrenched in their own conflict, Jaret Arnold ceded to declaring a peaceful meeting with the newly declared Canadian nation on November 25, 1970. Agreeing to partake in talks, the two parties met on December 1, 1970 to discuss terms and territorial boundaries. By this, Jaret Arnold was capable of avoiding a second conflict, and allowed the means to keep a full Canadian offensive in the United States through a Canadian Coalition.

Post War
After the First North American war the government in Vancouver reorganized their issues to keep themselves at the head in the regional politics. Defining their economy and reorganizing their corporate world the NWC went through an evolution giving power to the corporate entities and entering a state of quasi-facism all its own, but instituting a electoral system which Canada had lacked.

As well the Canadians embarked of development of its naval identity, working on carrier designs that would evolve into the Grizzly Class carrier to add to its small navy of mostly formerly Canadian craft.

Though a carrier, the Grizzly was hardly a defining ship and was built considerably small. All throughout the Grizzly program the designs were altered to attempt to find a balance between cost effeciency and deployment effeciency. This often lead to a small craft barely capable of deploying small aircraft, if not just helecopters. As well, the nation often utilized resources that were close at hand, namely a large amount of timber built into the ship's super-structure of decks.

Alongside carrier development, the nation pursued the development of the potent chemical weapon VX through an accidental discover in dealing with a beetle infestation of its national forests and lumber farms. The deadly potential was realized and was put into production as a chemical weapon.

Additionally, acting president Daniel Hube was replaced by Tom Rans who would act as the last sitting president of the coalition.

Second North American War
The NWC sat much of the preliminary weeks of the Second North American War out, choosing to be neutral as it sought to ammend the financial and economic concerns still lingering from the first war, as well as those left behind by its large-scale programs. However, despite this, it was dragged into the conflict as it joined a naval contingent with Canada in the attempt to break the blockaide of Boston by American Forces. Seen as an act of agression, the then Socialist government of the US stationed forces on the NWC-American border.

These forces would not move until the Seattle Bombing by rogue elements in the NWC government. The attack and wide-spread civilian deaths in Seattle spurned the US into an assault on Cascadian territories.

Coup, Occupation, and Annexation
The bombing of Seattle was triggered by a corporate coup against Tom Rans and his attempted assasination. Tom Rans mustered pro-NWC soldiers in an attempt to fight the corporate rebels. However, his numbers were comparativly smalled and merged with the US Army's efforts as they pacified the region.

The rebels had attempted to sieze power have Tom Rans' reluctance to attack US positions and to deploy the weapon VX. Though unsuccesful in this regard, the rebels managed to sieze the nation's VX stockpiles and sell much of it to the Spanish, while hiding the rest. VX wouldn't be deployed again in the US as the US government assumed occupational control over the territory, then later the government in its annexation through the Dixon Resolution.

Economy
The economy of the NWC is largely dominated by the resource sector with its oil drilling operations in the Alberta oil fields and tar sands. Forestry and logging is also wide-spread throughout much of the region, combined with mining initiatives. Since the occupation by the US, the Cascadian territories is undergoing through a transition and merger of its formally private/government assets to those within the US.

Otherwise, development was seen within the nation's military field through its program and demand for construction workers and dock-hands to build it's many inane features and programs.