Scheldland Vrystaat

Scheldland Free State
Theme BGM
Location -860 X, 5670 Z
Map
Local Languages Afrikaans
German
Demonyn Scheldlander
Government Republic
Leader Stadtholder P_P_A
Establishment 3rd March 2015
Population 1
ASC/S SCL
Settlements Joodfontein
Weitenbosch
Wrekenpoort
Maadbach (Independent)
Drellingen
Niehaven

The Scheldland Free State is a collection of rural settlements situated on the island of Werthoog and the mainland.

Journey of the Madoieans

After the disastrous Battle of Madoie, most of Madoie's inhabitants abandoned their island to escape Rhodesian oppression. Their brethren on the isles of North Wortland, likewise suffering from the fallout of the War of Walschor Independence, could only offer scant support, but assembled for the Madoieans a fleet so that they may search for a new home overseas.
From their retreat on Myropa—too small and cold to host but a few families—the Madoiean refugee fleet set out onto the seas. Along their perilous journey, many of them died; some found a new home on the isolated islands they discovered along the way, such as New Madoie in distant waters; but it was not until the bulk of the fleet landed at what would later become known as Joodfontein that they truly found a new homeland.

Founding

See: Joodfontein
On the 4th of March 2015, June and P_P_A landed at the southern tip of Werthoog, and there encountered a Yevish hamlet. They named it Joodfontein, and remodeled under the aegis of P_P_A to more closely resemble the lost homeland of Madoie.
Though initially intended to be but an outpost to restock en route farther west, they grew fond of the. P_P_A set about renovating and expanding the villages, while June delved underground and engaged in necromancy nearby. Soon, another village was founded to host the Yevs June had brought back from the dead—Weitenbosch.

Settlement of the Western Plains

At Weitenbosch, P_P_A established the server's first slave plantation. It was a success, and slavery would later become the backbone of the Scheldlander economy. While June established Maadbach on the mainland, the Madoieans under P_P_A reclaimed the western plains of Werthoog, covering them from north to south in fields and pastures dotted with farmsteads. Opposite of Maadbach, the port town of Wrekenpoort was founded by refugees from Exile Island, who there rebuilt some of the buildings that had been demolished on Exile Island after the Battle of Madoie, and constructed a church and memorial graveyard in honour of the fallen of the Battle of Madoie.

Eastward Expansion

June eventually moved away, focusing instead on Prismriver, in whose founding businessmen and workers from Scheldland had a hand, and on other islands in the area. The former Madoieans under P_P_A remained, finally having found a new home. Beyond the hills and forests dividing the island of Werthoog lay the Eastern Plains. They had been settled at some point by a people forgotten by time, but subsequently abandoned; only forgotten underground crypts and a withered granite road still tell of their presence. There, P_P_A founded the village of Drellingen, then marked by its baroque church and pumpkin fields, and a smaller village by the coast. Windmills cropped up, and Yev slaves farmed potatoes and carrots under their wings.

Scheldland flourished; the slave plantations brought in a lot of revenue as natural produce was traded for emeralds with local Yev merchants. During the Second-Commonwealth Ender War, Scheldland covertly funded its war efforts of the Eastern Commonwealth. With all this new wealth, Drellingen was expanded into a small town. Its church was removed and replaced with a larger Gothic church, while the original was rebuilt in the coastal hamlet of Niehaven.

Revival

After a long period of inactivity, P_P_A returned in the summer of 2017. Niehaven grew into a small port town with a crane and a wharf; the plantations on the eastern plains were expanded according to old plans, and on the 22nd of August 2017, Drellingen became the new administrative centre of Scheldland.

The Scheldland Free State occupies the whole of the island of Werthoog, as well as a couple of smaller islands and sandbanks not far from its shore. Its western and eastern plains are divided by the wooded hills running north to south through the middle of the island. East lie the towns of Drellingen and Niehaven; while the lush Transmaad region in the West, with the villages of Joodfontein, Weitenbosch, and Wrekenpoort, are separated from the town of Maadbach on the mainland by the Maad Strait. The region is marked by its pleasant climate and fertile soil.

The Enderian settlement in the south is abandoned, while the erstwhile territory of the defunct Cærulean Federation in the north is still inhabited by June.

Scheldland pioneered the use of slavery, and used to be Alpha Realm's foremost producer of cereals, mainly grown in the Transmaad region. Drellingen and its environs produced potatoes, carrots, and pumpkins for domestic consumption, and also constructed an automatic slime farm.

Scheldland is populated by the descendants of refugees from Madoie (i.e. P_P_A), who live side by side with native Yevs and Yevish slaves. June, instrumental in the settlement of Scheldland, eventually left his home in Joodfontein; Mystia Lorelei briefly resided in Weitenbosch at a time.

The culture of Scheldland derives from that of Madoie. Madoie's equestrian tradition has declined, although attempts are being made to revive it; but Scheldland's rural landscape, grand fields of wheat and crop, green pastures, and windmills all reflect the ancient homeland. The wooden architecture of the western villages of Transmaad, marked by its bright gables, is an obvious derivation of Madoie's building style. The newer settlements on the eastern plains boast of the island's wealth with sturdy stone and clay constructions, ornate baroque façades, and tree-lined roads.

  • settlements/scheldland.txt
  • Last modified: 2020/11/08 04:02
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