WFP - History
The early history of the Western Frontier Protectorate is a convoluted mass of alliances, feuds and warfare, providing the impetus and mechanism by which loose associations of people came together as a modern league. The early colonization effort identified the Great Western Plain as having considerable potenti-l for agriculture, and set about exploiting the land. Rather than turning the land over to large agricultural conglomerates, as had been done elsewhere, the decision was made to allow private groups to settle the region, with land parceled out to individual claimants on a first-come firstserved basis. Many of the early colonists were able to claim large areas of land in the Western Development Zone, amassing considerable wealth and power and becoming the progenitors of the First Clans. The Western clans themselves grew out of these farmsteads, each owned and operated by an extended family that usually included members of four or even five generations.
Withdrawal and Founding (TN 1454-1527)
The loose structure of the settlements on the Western Plains was both a boon and a curse in the cycles immediately after Earth's withdrawal in TN 1454. Few settlers were evacuated from the Western Development Zone; the costs were simply out of the reach of most. This combined with the largely self-sufficient nature of the population to allow life to continue much as before the outbreak of the Colonial Wars. There was simply no infrastructure to break down.
Though largely self sufficient in terms of food and the like, the lack of unity among the farmsteads did expose them to the predation of raiders in those chaotic cycles. As the attacks grew in size and frequency, several of the farming communities began to band together in local defense organizations. These maintained regular communication and shared intelligence on the activities of raiders and other city-states, providing a deterrent against all save the most determined opponents. This network of allegiances slowly grew, encompassing several city-states and creating a network of mini-leagues on the Great Western Plains and the surrounding territories. By TN 1485 the clans of the Great Western Plains were working together as a loose confederation, brokering trade agreements with Exeter and Franklin Harbor.
Things were going well for the settlements, but events in the early TN 1500s prompted Westerners to re-think their strategy. The plains had escaped the worst of the chaos of reconstruction, but expansionist city-states like Livingstone sought to dominate their neighbors, prompting the Westerners to strengthen their internal ties. A formal alliance would likely have happened eventually, but the formation of the NLC in TN 1525 provided the impetus for the clans of the Great Western Plains to gather and discus their future. Many were involved in the organization of the meeting, but the most prominent was Gutierez Raoul, administrator of the city-state of William, who agreed to host the gathering.
The conclave began on 13 Winter TN 1527 and though petty rivalries caused considerable problems, it quickly became apparent that the consensus was in favor of a formal alliance between the clans. It took barely ten days to hammer out the details of their pact and their system of government and, after approval by the gathered clan heads, the Western Frontier Protectorate came into being on 31 Winter TN 1527, ruled by a senate of over 1000 clan heads. The first action of the new government was to bolster the defense of its settlements and a rolling program of fortifications for both citystates and farmsteads began before the end of the cyde. Furthermore, major industries would be concentrated in the league's four principal city-states, affording them considerable protection against outside agencies.
Rise of the Military (TN 1527-1560)
Though the WFP was now a united political entity, its governance was far from smooth. Many clans argued over the right to representation in the Protectorate's senate and this delayed action on a wide range of issues, key among which was the formation of a unified military. Though fortification was proceeding apace, the Western army was little more than a collection of militias, police forces and armed clansmen. Warnings from Hawkins Jess, the Fort William police commissioner, were largely ignored as she came from a small and powerless clan. It took heavy raids on Fort Henry in TN 1536 to spur the senate into agreeing to the formation of a unified command structure and another two decades to forge the disparate groups into a viable force.
Unfortunately, this weakness corresponded with the rise (and demise) of the Lyonnesse League, based around the former corporate holdings of the Marathon. Relationships with the League had never been warm, but there was extensive trade between the two powers, particularly between Fort Charles and Baton Rouge. When the Lyonnesse League collapsed in TN 1550 the WFP senate was concerned, but more for their trade revenues than their physical security.
The lightning assault on Fort Charles by the league's replacement, the United Mercantile Federation, took the Protectorate by surprise and few military units were in a position to contest the action. The assault threw the senate into chaos, with some factions proposing a massed assault to regain the lost city-state while others advocated peace. As had happened so often over the cycles since the league's founding, the senate's size and the diverse views of its members rendered it impotent. This squabbling deeply disturbed Cristobal Rob, Field Marshall of the WFPA, who knew that any sign of weakness would encourage the UMF, something that would likely lead to the annexation of the Protectorate. Weighing up his oath of loyalty and his duty to the league, he acted.
On 4 Winter TN 1552 Cristobal ordered the senate disbanded, using troops of the First Border Regiment to enforce his decree. In its place he ordered the formation of military councils in each city-state, the senior officer of which - known as the Proconsul - would also sit on the Protectorate's governing body, the High Council. Distinct from the normal WFPA chain of command, the High Council's power would be absolute, overruling even that of the WFPA Field Marshal.
His reforms did not stop at that. Support for the military was lackluster and he sought to encourage enlistment by providing tangible benefits for those who chose to serve their country. His solution was the Citizen Act, which decreed that only those who had served at least five cycles in the WFPA could claim full citizenship of the WFP and be eligible to vote in elections. The remaining population would be residents, entitled to the protection of the league, but not allowed influence in its governance.
Fighting the Federation (TN 1560-1670)
In the cycles that followed the coup, the Protectorate military grew, but also suffered a number of losses in skirmishes against the forces of the NLC in the west and the UMF in the east. Though disheartening, these losses spurred on the formation of the WFPA and hid its true objective, training for the liberation of Fort Charles, now renamed Mainz. The Protectorate bided its time, building up its strength and waiting for an opportunity to strike. That opportunity came in TN 1570 when the main body of the UMFA was busy consolidating its hold on the former Tershaw Cooperative Alliance.
The Protectorate launched a massive invasion of the UMF, driving through toward Mainz. Brushing aside early resistance, the WFPA reckoned without the tenacious defense of the Cajun Pass by a small group of volunteers. This small force held out for three days and when it became apparent that they would be overrun, their commander called in a strategic weapons strike on his own position. The virulent Kesran bioweapon killed most of the Protectorate troops, and the few survivors limped back across the Westridge Range.
The WFP and UMF ended hostilities with the Cajun Pass Treaty, acknowledging UMF possession of Mainz and the current borders, but tensions in the region remained high. There were numerous clashes along the border as each league sought to undermine the position of the other, though much of this war was fought by proxy. The most notable clash came in TN 1650 when the oil-rich Badlands settlements of Vladivostok, Bannerton and New Yukon - collectively known as the Tricity - imposed sanctions on the WFP in an attempt to drive up the prices of their products. The UMF backed the action and, after suffering severe shortages and the near-collapse of their manufacturing and transport industries, the WFP capitulated.
Encouraged by their success, the UMF continued their plans for dominion over the arctic. In TN 1667, the Federation launched a simultaneous invasion of the WFP and NLC that led to the siege of Fort William. Though the Mercantile troops were expelled, both the Protectorate and the Confederacy realized something had to be done to curb Mercantile ambitions. The two powers signed a secret pact, the Northern Alliance Defense Organization, creating a joint invasion force that they hoped would shatter their aggressive neighbor. Luring the UMFA to the region around Lyonnesse, the coalition struck at the high-arctic city-state of Pioneer, which they expected to be a weak point in the Mercantile defenses. Instead of falling quickly as expected, the expeditionary force was repelled by an ad-hoc unit of armored walkers. Nonetheless, the assault convinced the UMF that its interests would be better served in the Badlands rather than fighting its neighbors.
Blood of the Innocents (TN 1670-1729)
I n the cycles that followed the Battle of Pioneer the WFP exercised considerable restraint, but in TN 1679 the UMFs field tests of its new Hunter Gear in the Badlands near Red Sands proved too much. An elite WFPA force disguised as rovers was tasked with acquiring the P5 prototype, something they duly accomplished, transporting their prize to the WFP Military Testing Compound near Fort William. Unfortunately, the WFPA did not maintain possession of the P5 for long; it was in turn seized by the Southern Republic's Legion Noire and used to kick-start the Republican program. Nonetheless, the WFP had gained detailed Gear schematics and broke the Mercantile monopoly on the technology.
Partly in response to this affront, the UMF stepped up its trade war with the Protectorate, seeking dominance in the Westridge Trade Zone, control of which would give them an economic stranglehold on much of the WFP's trade. The Mekong Dominion also sought control of the region and the Mercantile action brought down the wrath of the newly formed AST, resulting in the First Merchant War (TN 1686-1688). Though a non-participant in the conflict, rumors circulated of covert Protectorate assistance to the AST forces, notably intelligence on Mercantile troop movements that allowed the Southern confederation to defeat the Mercantilists and thus helped the WFP to retain its independence. No conclusive evidence of Western involvement in the war was ever uncovered, though the subject remains a favorite topic of conspiracy theorists across Terra Nova.
The AST victory provided the final impetus for the Arctic leagues, resulting in the formation of the CNCS in TN 1692 though relationships between the member states remained cool. Indeed, only the intervention of Western mediators prevented disputes between the NLC and UMF from tearing the CNCS apart in the TN 1720s. As with so many fragile alliances it was an external crisis that bound the CNCS member-states together.
Battles between the CNCS and AST over control of the wreck of the HCS St. Vincent released a deadly plague that killed large numbers of children across Terra Nova. While the plague was horrific to all Terranovans, to the family-dominated Protectorate it was an attack on their entire way of life. Blaming the AST for the death of five percent of its children, the WFP sought to avenge the Loss of its youth and as a nation entered a collective frenzy, playing a major role in plunging the two confederations in a bloody world war that lasted until TN 1729. Though Westerners were horrified by their own actions in the war, there was no sense of closure after the conflict and disdain of the AST became enshrined in the Western psyche. Though this trait has ameliorated over the cycles and centuries that followed, most Westerners remain suspicious of people from the Southern Hemisphere, particularly the Republican government, despite the cooperation between the two powers in the War of the Alliance.
The Children's Crusade
Occasionally referred to as the Children's Crusade, the Protectorate's involvement in the St. Vincent's War was typified by fury and brutality. The public outcry caused by the war led to a huge show of support for the Protectorate's military forces, which allowed the small league to field concentrations of troops at least as important as the ones of their much-larger neighbors
Many citizens volunteered for military service, swelling the WFPA f i r beyond its normal size and posing major problems for training and logistics. Local boot-camps were established to weed out those lacking the resolve or aptitude for military service, but a surprisingly large number were pronounced fit and sent to the front. Those who were not sent to combat units were made to feel useful with employment in the logistical, administrative and medical corps.
During the conflict Protectorate troops undertook dangerous and often suicidal missions to assuage their demands for retribution against the Republicans who had "perpetrated this vile crime." They struck deep into the southern territories, attacking targets as far south as Yung An and Port Arthur, often with little thought of escape. Their prime concern was causing large-scale damage, paying the Republic back for the suffering inflicted on the north. Attacks against civilian targets were deemed acceptdble, resulting in a number of atrocities that would tarnish the image of the Protectorate for cycles to come - all in the name of revenge.
The brutality of the war had a detrimental effect on Western morale and the army's command structure. The nihilistic attitude of many soldiers hampered their operational effectiveness, and lives were thrown away needlessly on several occasions (the assault on Hill 654 remains especially infamous today). Disobedience and insubordination became commonplace as military procedures, tactics and the desire for vengeance clashed head on. Military Police took on an increasingly important role over the cycles, attempting to maintain order in what remained of the WFPA.
By TN 1727, the full horror of their actions had effectively crippled the WFPA. The Protectorate attempted to extract itself from both the war effort and the Confederated Northern City-States, only to be threatened and cajoled into continued cooperation by the other CNCS leagues. When the cease-fire was finally announced in TN 1729, the Protectorate breathed a sigh of relief, though a lingering hatred of the south remained and many Westerners continue to hold a grudge against the government of the AST.
Rebuilding and Retaliation (TN 1729-1913)
The economic collapse that ended the St. Vincent's War crippled the Protectorate's military and industrial system, but as with the Earth withdrawal almost two centuries earlier, the effect on the rural economies was minimal. Occasional outbreaks of the plague continued to trouble the most isolated regions for more than a decade, but by the 1740s the league was well on the way to recovery. The war had taught the tank-dominated WFPA many lessons, not least of which was the importance of the Gear on the modern battlefield. Several homegrown designs like the Mad Dog entered service, though the Protectorate's lack of experience prevented them from exploiting the market. R&D efforts were soon scaled back in favor of imported equipment from the NLC and UMF. Already well developed, the Protectorate's weapon manufacturers were able to edge their way into the industry as weapon and component suppliers.
Much of this new hardware was used to defend against Badlands raiders, who had become increasingly active since the war, but the WFPA also used its newfound strength to undertake a series of missions deep into the AST, striking at military targets in the Mekong Dominion and the Southern Republic. For many cycles the CNCS turned a blind eye to these pinprick raids, but when a mission against the MILICIA facility at Aquitaine went disastrously wrong in TN 1771, resulting in the deaths of more than a dozen civilians, pressure was applied on the Protectorate to limit its activities.
Even before the league's founding in TN 1527, the inter-clan politics had been an ever-shifting morass of alliances and feuds, the sheer volume of clans working against efforts to create a consensus. These groupings became more pronounced as the Protectorate matured, particularly in the wake of the disbanding of the senate that robbed them of a direct say in government. By the 1850s there were seven principal groupings, representing a wide range of geographical, political and philosophical views. By TN 1873, these groups had fallen under the influence of two of the most powerful First Clans, the Zucco] and the Maderas, forming political blocks that have changed little over the cycles.
The rise of these groups paralleled the deterioration in relationships between the members of the CNCS. The Protectorate's militarism contributed greatly to the tensions, and the so-called Judas Syndrome took the Confederation to the brink of civil war.
War of the Alliance
The surprise arrival of troops from Earth ended the threat of civil war. The CNCS leagues put aside their differences and even agreed to work with the AST against the invaders for the good of Terra Nova. Though not a principal target of the CEF, the Protectorate saw its fair share of the action. Its cities came under attack, the invaders occupied many Badlands fringe communities, and collaboration, though not common, occurred in much of the occupied territories. The WFPA was very active, in its own territory as well as that of the UMF and the Badlands. Indeed, it was a Western officer, Brigadier Lang Regina , who commanded the CNCS contingent at the decisive Battle of Baja.
The War of the Alliance did much to ease relationships between the Protectorate and the AST, particularly among the WFPA troops who fought alongside the Republicans at Baja. These soldiers realized that for all the propaganda, Southerners were little different from themselves, with dreams, aspirations and ideals. Despite this, many Westerners continued to keep a wary eye on the south, looking for any sign of treachery. This lack of trust would play a major role in the descent to another world war.
War and Peace
The WFP sustained major losses at the hands of the CEF, with large tracts of the Protectorate occupied by the Earth forces. With the major axis of advance targeted against the UMF and the Mekong Dominion, the CEF lacked the resources to "crack" the forts, though this did not stop them from trying. Both Fort Henry and Fort James were besieged for protracted periods, subject to artillery and orbital bombardment as well as infiltration by GRELtroops. Sabotage was rife, often in preparation for covert assaults. Compared to the attacks on Ashington or Mainz these were small-scale affairs, but they served to keep the WFPA pinned in place for the early cycles of the conflict.
The balance of power shifted when Colonel Felix Stoessel took command of the forces encircling Fort James and ordered a new attack (the ninth). Using a feigned assault on the northern industrial sector as cover, commandos infiltrated the southern enclosure and succeeded in seizing control of the Barrington Gate, site of many previous battles. With this in their possession the CEF troops succeeded in entering the city, but found themselves bogged down in a bitter street-to-street engagement between Gears and GRELs - the CEF hovertanks were totally unsuited to urban warfare. At their greatest extent the CEF held two-thirds of the enclave, but were slowly forced back and on 3 Summer 1915 the last CEF troops were expelled from the city. The battle cost almost a third of Earth's troops in the region and continuing the siege became impractical. Stoessel ordered his troops to withdraw south towards West Base. This freed up WFPA forces to relieve Fort Henry and begin the liberation of the Protectorate. By the end of the cycle the WFP was on the offensive against the CEF and Western troops were a logical choice as the northern contingent in containing the new CEF landings at Port Baja, ensuring victory against the Earth forces.
Calm Before the Storm
Once again, the WFP was forced to rebuild, politically as well as economically and militarily. The Protectorate troops had proven decisive in the war effort and the league could no longer be regarded as the junior partner in the CNCS. The Proconsuls sought a larger role in CNCS affairs and the new Norlight President, Anders Von Breslau, who had served as Grand Marshal during the war, was willing to see all the CNCS members play a role in determining alliance policy. This played well to the fiercely independent Westerners, who asserted themselves more and more often.
Though historically closer to the NLC, the Valeria government's actions during the Judas Syndrome had alienated many in the Protectorate, Norlight paternalism in conflict with Western independence. It soon became apparent that though their votes were too small to have a direct impact on council decisions, the Protectorate often held the balance of power between the NLC and the UMF. They were thus able to wield power far beyond their size, constantly courted by their neighbors and able to extract wide-ranging concessions. The ascension of the militant Zucco Adamo to the Protectorate High Council in TN 1926 exacerbated this situation. His extreme policies concerning the Badlands often placed the Protectorate in a difficult position with the CNCS
Zucco supported the concept of a "thin tan line," a zone of Badlands settlements intended to buffer the Protectorate's weak southern border in the event of hostilities. Neither the CNCS nor the settlements in question regarded the plan favorably, but that did not stop Zucco from exercising the WFP's political and military muscle to make the zone a reality. Aggressive patrolling of the zone prompted a rise in tensions in the Barrington Basin as clashes against rover gangs, smugglers from Wounded Knee and even the Arthurian Korps became commonplace. Though this action brought condemnation from the CNCS, the Protectorate knew it was too important to the alliance's war plans to suffer any sanctions and the acquiescence of their northern neighbors only seemed to bolster nationalist fervor in the Protectorate and increase stresses within the CNCS.
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