NationStates Jolt Archive

"Suaviter in modo, fortiter in re"
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This thread is an attempt to save Walmington on Sea from the historical oblivion to which it really ought long since to have been confined. I suppose that Walmington's glory days, such as they were, came many many months ago as WoS, Iansisle, Der Kriegsmarine, and others fought our own version of the second world war (the Anti-Fascist War to WoS). Since the premature end of that series of threads (with DK's departure from NS), I'm sorry to say that WoS has become hopelessly lost and quite probably all but forgotten.
What little has been done with/by WoS in the last year or more has happened in a piecemeal fashion, fractured over time and with limited outside interaction, and so I'd be very much surprised if anyone else knew what was going on in Walmington to-day. So, I'm going to summarise some of the major happenings in a number of posts so that anyone inclined can skip to whatever they may want to know. I'm flattering myself, I know :)

Also I'm horribly out-of-touch with everybody and everything else, and don't know which way to point Walmington, as I'm sure will become obvious!

Ancient History

Walmington on Sea is a small island group in the middle of the North Atlantic west of the British Isles. Consisting of three significant islands, one of which is tiny Newry peopled by just a few thousand mostly Catholic subjects, Walmington has remained suspended in time. The other two main islands are the slightly more substanitial Southend and the overwhelmingly larger mainland, which generally goes by the name Walmington. The islands were discovered by British fishermen, reputedly in the 1490s (a handful of older Viking artifacts were later found in the north), and settled quite soon as a whaling station and soon the mainland was exploited for hunting and trapping, the first permanent settlers declaring a monarchy in 1497. These pioneers were initially considered a little eccentric, and their monarchy was perhaps regarded in similar light to the modern Principality of Sealand off Britain's opposite coast. But by 1505 the Anglo-Saxon mainland settlements had launched a military campaign against Southend and Newry, which had been settled by radicals from the Celtic fringe. With just eight-hundred men of pike and bow, as contemporary texts put it, Good King Godfrey was able to subdue the Celtic rebels, and establish a half-way respectable position for the outsider kingdom.

King Godfrey died in in 1507, his nation still officially unrecognised by most of the world and at any time just an instant away from annexation by culturally dominant England. The long reign of Queen Mavis is one of the most important periods of Walmingtonian history, as it confirmed the Kingdom's place in the world. In 1534 the English Act of Supremacy made Henry VIII head of the church in England, and Queen Mavis of Walmington followed on, breaking from Rome and confirming Walmington as England's closest ally in spite of continental European opposition. Even before this decision -which made sure that it was not worth England's trouble to forcibly annex Walmington- the young Queen had repeatedly put her tiny nation's neck on the chopping block by conducting espionage against Spanish and French interests and harbouring English piratical adventurers on their oceanic forays against the continental powers. Walmigtonians had walked in the Americas starting in 1520, and small missions had even attempted to sabotage Pizarro's campaign against the Inca.

1553 and Mary's return to Catholicism briefly isolated Walmington, but turmoil and impermanence failed to fully permeate the remote islands. Walmington remained England's closest ally until the C20th, and her own empire was built-up along side Britain's and often under the protection of the [British] Royal Navy.

The Modern Foundations

The Great War saw Walmington somewhat surprisingly neutral as her oldest and closest ally and the recently friendly French fought a common foe. Walmington's strategy, however, soon came to make good sense as its factories supplied the Western Allies, building massive industrial muscle in Walmington and in Waynesia (Zimbabwe) and the Walmingtonian Cape Colonies (on the Cape of Good Hope). Some Walmingtonians also volunteered for foreign armies (including a handful of Newrians reputed to have fought for the Central Powers), and late in the war the then-tiny RWN joined anti-submarine operations to defend vessels inbound from the Walmingtonian and British empires.

Later, while Germany was falling under the influence of National Socialism, Walmington elected a Conservative government headed by a banker named George Mainwaring. Life continued more or less as normal until the late 1930s when Walmington finally began to re-arm even later than most European powers. The Kingdom was by now making new ties, notably to Pacific rivals Iansisle and Calarca, which would have been a delicate affair at the best of times, but the outbreak of the Anti-Fascist War made such balances all the more important. Britain and the Commonwealth along with Calarca and the Iansislian and Walmingtonian Empires resisted Germany, Italy, and mid-Atlantic Ercolana and a number of fleeting Asian powers, with duels on the highseas representing most of the fighting after France's over-running.

The war fizzled out (when DK/Germany left NS) with German domination of continental Europe and some bright spots in such actions as Operation Minos, the Walmingtonian liberation of Sicily and the fall of Hitler and his extreme politics as WoS's Special Operations Wing co-operated with German naval officers to halt Hitler's ambitions at the shores of France on the one hand and free Europe from his most extreme ideas on the other. Victory in North Africa and the decline of Ercolanan Fascism also satisfied many, and Vichy France was soon portrayed as reasonably good thing short of real defeat, leaving only the fate of the Low Countries and some Scandinavian issues to really worry the Walmingtonian people.

America

Immediately after the unsatisfying conclusion of the Anti-Fascist War, Walmington's Tory government looked elsewhere to sate lingering thirsts. WoS had never recognised the independence of those certain British colonies on the east coast of North America, and certainly didn't recognise US authority over the rest of the continent that it soon came to dominate. PM Mainwaring famously refered to the USA as, "...that over-grown pirate-nest" before launching a devestating military campaign against the somewhat isolationist and backwards nation.

Frustrated by massive militia mobilisations and a manpower shortage relative to the ill-appreciated scale of the engaged theatre, Walmington made use of the atomic fruits of the multi-national Antananarivo Project: a scheme to produce an A-bomb under-taken by WoS, Iansisle, the UK, and Calarca and situated on Walmingtonian Madagascar during the Anti-Fascist War. Several hundred thousand Americans were killed and the nation's regular military all but obliterated, with its bottled-up fleets bombed at anchor and its centres of industry, governance, and population burned to the ground.

Almost half a million Walmingtonian soldiers plus Imperial troops and local units were deployed for months on end to police most of the eastern seaboard and territory bordering Canada as far west as Minnesota, draining the Kingdom's recently great wealth as the cream of its youth became impressed with the horrors of partisan warfare conducted by the Americans -the colonial rebels, in Walmington speak- before news broke of the terrible truth behind Walmington's super-weapons. The atomic bomb was supposed to be clean and decisive, precise on a level beyond the understanding of ordinary men, but when radiation sickness hit the headlines, Mainwaring was forced to resign, though he himself had been quietly shaken by the horror resulting from his ambition.

Mainwaring was shockingly replaced as head of government by none other than HRH King Godfrey III, the chief of state. For some months this arrangement lurched along, dragging a sickly American campaign behind it as the King completely failed to extract Walmington from North America. He faced no real opposition, however, as the Tory party bowed reverently to him and the faux-socialist opposition convinced just about everybody that its position was that America should be handed over to Moscow's administration. It was not until the early 1950s that an alternative was presented to the public. George Mainwaring returned with a rabble of political defectors and public figures styling themselves as a sensible alternative just to the left of the king's interim government, without any suspicion of sympathy for the ailing Uncle Joe. The Whig Party was formed and swept to power in a general election that saw the public prepared to not so much forgive as to continue to forget what Walmington had done in America, with Mainwaring swearing an immediate pull-out, dropping the king's pretention to rebel this and anarchic that.

To-day

The Whigs have seen-out much of the early '50s in what has been called Walmington's Second Liberal Age, shadowing the early C19th period. A national health service has been established; income tax has been revised to pay more attention to, well, to income; national service requirements have been marginally reduced; capital punishment has greatly declined, though not been fully erradicated; (alcohol) licencing laws have been relaxed to pre-Great War standards, and any number of other progressive changes have taken place as a Mainwaring greatly changed by his experiences coasts on.

The Walmingtonian Empire remains, but native rights have been addressed to a more serious degree than was previously common and economic relations bear less bias. The only foothold remaining in the Americas is the Commonwealth of New York, which includes Long Island, Manhattan, and Staten Island, but excludes the Bronx.

Walmingtonian technology is again lagging behind much of the world, which generally is of little concern as she continues jealously to protect her Empire and internal trade with it. On a military basis, however, the RWN is essentially the same one that fought the Anti-Fascist War in the early 1940s, except that it has given-up its small, primitive, and little-used submarine force. The truly ancient Iansislian-built battleship Royal Oak remains flagship of the Gallagan Ocean Fleet based at Ceyloba (Sri Lanka).

Where this leaves Walmington on Sea is an unresolved issue. Relations with a recovering United States are hardly likely to be positive, especially while the Empire clings to a regenerated New York (which was decimated during the war). Relations with continental Europe too can never be good while it remains under German domination. Britain is not the ally it once was, but remains friendly for now, though one wonders what may happen in coming years as the Commonwealth drifts away and the US rebuilds while Walmington struggles in isolation. The USSR can certainly not be considered a friend to Walmington. Calarca has faded into obscurity, and Iansisle has suffered or enjoyed revolution that leaves the equally new Walmingtonian government very much... unsure. Certainly the Whigs need allies such as the Shield may provide, but whether George Mainwaring can ever be a friend to the Republicans remains to be seen.


Uhm, I don't know, questions, comments? I don't know if this will lead to WoS getting back into things... I almost had Sir Henry Chaspot Wayne come back fron the brink of death to lead a colonial expedition on one of these new earths that keep springing up, but then I... completely lost interest, I suppose, so I'm not inclined to promise much!

ooc: Hey guys, figured this would be the easiest place to get your attention. How are you two doing?? I've been gone for a real long time, and figured I would drop in.

Calarca and of course Calarcian Gallaga had been temporarily reborn as a State in the Federated Klatchian Coast. Unfortunatly the attempts of the Government of the United Duchies to prop up the ailing state proved far too late to prevent the state sliding into chaos once again.

Now of course The Klatchian professed to 'own' southern Gallaga, now known as Klatchian Gallaga but was really nothing more than one of several far flung Federal Territories effectively allowed to rule itself with supervision from the Privy Council of the Federation.

Of course the Federation were far more focused on their constant internal problems to bother much with playing the 'Great Game of Gallaga' but then when the 3 ton Walrus decides he doesn't want to play anymore, most people thought it a good idea not to poke said creature. After all he might decide to just maul you with his tusks, which was discovered by the nation of Neo Tyr that had dared to invade the Federation recently and been turned into a puppet state within three days. The ensuing massacre of Kyrall demonstrated more Klatchian ingenuity in being blatently idiotic with the use of force, and the natural tendency for them to not really have an intrest in occupied territories after they are occupied.

OOC: Glad to see you WoS...

((Well, I wish that I had something In Character to contribute to this thread as seeing WoS not sink into oblivion is something that's very important to me. :D Alas, I can only say that it was a great read. Oh, and apologize for never really responding to your post in Rough Waters. I just wasn't quite sure the words to say.

Anyway, Roania's made some noise about a conference or some such thing to arbitrate the royalist/republican debate on the Shield. If Great Walmington would be willing to send one of its (immensely qualified, I'm sure) representatives, I'm sure s/he'd be welcome :D.))

(For the record, especially as it relates to spelling, grammar, punctuation, and general direction, I was (and am again) fairly nicely intoxicated on typing-up what has come so far from me in this thread. I felt the need to say that after skimming over the initial posts :) )

Agrigento's still alive, eh? Who knew? That's reassuring, anyway... hello, sir! As to how we're doing, well, Walmington and Sea are both fine.

Hrm. Southern Gallaga increasingly left to its own devices, eh? That, to me, whiffs of security risk! ;) Where's my sabre?

I appreciate the positive sentiments, Mr.Ian, and add that you shouldn't worry about Walmington's rather lame attempt to stick its big nose into the Rough Waters affair (I would stick a smilie here, but I fear I may already have used enough for one post, so have some enthusiastic punctuation!)!
We would be remiss if no Walmingtonian participated in such a gathering, anyway. I'm not sure exactly what side would be taken, nor whom would be sent, but... oh, stuff it, I'll just dust-off Sir Henry. He's now sufficiently spaced-out to go with whatever agenda we set him.
Frankly, the Iansislian continent, one way or another, possibly represents the only source of friendship outside the empire, these days. I just have no idea who or what to back.

If its action that you're looking for, WoS, I have been considering cooking up a 'situation' in Robotstan. Perhaps that would be of some interest. Dunno.

Perhaps you'd be interested in joining A Modern World? There are plenty of places still open, and its a good deal different from mainstream NS.

(Holy relics of a romanticised recent Anglo-Saxon past, I wasn't kidding about being drunk when I typed-up this thread. I have absolutely no recollection of it, but it looks like it'll speed my half-baked plans at recovery, hey? And I just got a telegram from DK, I do believe. Things are looking up!)

A Walmingtonian Timeline
Dug-up and displayed for your curiosity.

AD 1490s- British (primarily English) explorers, possibly seeking the new world (some say Welshmen or Bristol fish merchants discovered the Americas) make land-fall on the north Atlantic island now called Walmington on Sea.

1490s- The mainland, and the island now called Southend attract primarily Protestant settlers from Britain, as well as numbers of Jews recently expelled from Spain, and others fleeing the revived Inquisition. Tiny Newry island receives a Celtic majority with more ordinary Catholic leanings.

1497- The Protestant Church of Walmington formally established, King Godfrey I crowned and made head of the church. His domain includes the whole of the mainland, while Southend (then New Eire) is disputed by its Catholic population. During the first few years of Walmingtonian history the term Protestant was unheard of, but the unique and remote nature of Walmingtonian life and worship -especially in relation to continental Europe- certainly distinguished English Walmingtonian Christians from their peers and the term was soon applied thanks to the stubborn nature of these Anglo-Saxons in their break from continental politics and theology.

1503- The Walmingtonian War begins; King Godfrey's forces secure Southend with just 800 men of pike and bow.

1503/4- Famine on mainland, an estimated 4,500 people die.

1505- The Walmingtonian War ends with the capture of Newry Island by Protestant forces helped by the first vessels of the Royal Walmingtonain Navy. Evidence of Spanish assistance to the Newrians is reportedly uncovered.

1507- King Godfrey I passes, the infant Queen Mavis begins the longest reign in Walmingtonian history (76 years!)

1520- Early Walmingtonian explorers continue west, making land-fall in the Americas.

1521- Harold Wendsleybury attempts to circumnavigate the globe, but is shipwrecked twice, losing much on Cape Horn before perishing, so folklaw says, in sight of Calarca.

1531/2- Walmingtonian expeditions harass Pizarro during his victorious march on the Inca.

1530s onwards- Walmington cheats death in continued badgering of Spanish imperial enterprises. Several times harbours English vessels on commerce raids against Spain.

1553- Relations with England hurt as Queen Mary restores Catholicism. Queen Mavis of Walmington is said to plot against Mary. Queen Elizabeth's restoration of Protestantism in 1558 averts ambitious and likely suicidal Walmingtonian invasion plans!

1574- First serious Walmingtonian settlements in the Americas. All fail before modern era.

1583- Queen Mavis dies.

1617- Walmingtonian explorers land on Madagascar after a punishing voyage around Africa claims many lives.

1618- Walmingtonians volunteer for Protestant forces in Thirty Years War.

1619- Walmington begins war on Madagascarn natives, holding on in coastal forts supplied by trade across the sea with southern African mainland villages.

1625- Settlements on Madagascar begin to expand, and major trading-posts and forts are established in west Africa and the Cape.

1640s- Relations with England again strained. WoS divided over English civil war. Disturbances briefly threaten the monarchy's position.

1667-8 Plague reaches Walmington, 14,000 killed in the first year, 28,000 in the second.

1671- First stage of the mighty coastal fortifications of Southend completed. Great south-coast and south-to-north roads begun.

1677- South-to-North road abandoned in Burnhampshire- paving proves absurdly expensive.

1699- Adrian Glamorgan publishes first extensive Walmingtonian-English dictionary, founding Black Gull, Walmington's premier publishing house.

1702- Major rising on Madagascar put-down, Viceroy installed.

1717- Ancient apparently Nordic ruins discovered in Norbray, northern WoS.

1740s- Walmingtonian traders land on Ceyloba (Ceylon). Characteristic bowler hats begin to appear in ahead-of-the-times Walmington!

1741- Slavery outlawed in Walmington.

1747- The Standard launches small pilot issue. Headline speaks bafflingly of Mrs. Pike’s, “Trouble with the gulls”

1750- Ceyloban prince leads regiment against Walmingtonian Trade Mission at Vollombo. Heavily outnumbered defenders hold out over-night thanks in part to revolutionary Durnford Defence Gun, invented by the Captain in charge of the mission. Sgt.Brent's iconic defence of the central wall inspires artists, writers, and the creation of a new medal. First contact with now long-term ally Calarca is made as the Admiral Coney assists fellow whites in trouble at the Mission.

1770s- Walmingtonian press begins to protest in favour of British rule in America but African colonies remain government priority, reporters detail rebel atrocities against loyalist civilians, press lampoons slave-holding rebels. Walmington baffled by anti-war backlash in Britain.

1790s- Walmington very gradually begins to catch-on to the industrial revolution, moving at her own stubborn pace. Fountain pens and type-writers arrive long before steam powered transport or serious industrial engines.

1802- The Year of the Golden Harvest; record yields accredited to new tools and machines. Previously a relative pauper state, Walmington begins to find the wealth with which to exploit its imperial holdings. The economy begins a rise set to continue (with brief interruptions) until the modern age. An era of weird and wonderful invention, related abstract art, and extreme political thought takes hold, characterised and helped by the growth of the press and the spread of public literacy.

1804- After two years in which a wave of radical left wing political movements shook isolated parts of Walmington, major reforms give parliament greater powers, and slightly reduce the monarchy.

1806-1839- Newry Risings. The tiny island populated by but a few thousand becomes a centre for trouble. For a generation Aiden Brien spearheads Catholic anti-monarchist movements. Demonstrations, riots, lynchings and iconic speeches test the character of the nation. The movement fades as Brien's reputation begins to fray in later life.

1865- Author Alexander Vale begins to find success with influential works such as "Modernity". His novels and papers seem to restore order to an unusually racy and wild Walmington. The liberal age, begun at the start of the century, is over.

1894- The rail bridge over the Kenilworth Rift collapses under the Wychwood North Eastern, killing 172.

1890s-1900- The First Cape War. Continental settlers armed by powers hostile to Walmington forcibly resist large-scale prospecting. WoS forces loose thousands in the face of unconventional tactics. Bayonet charges save the day several times, leading to the dangerous belief that the old cold steel is still a viable weapon in the C20th. Massive numbers of natives are willingly drafted to fight the settlers.

1903- Woman's suffrage in Walmington (for women over 22). For several years women are still discouraged from taking an active role in politics.

1914-18- Walmingtonians volunteer for foreign armies against the Germans. The nation remains out of the war, but openly criticises the central powers. Young parliamentarian Henry Wayne agrees with Kitchener's assertion before the war that conflict between Britain and Germany will damn the world to American domination. Wayne protests American intervention.

1919-27- Walmingtonian influence in southern Africa spreads with wars against powerful native kingdoms. Armies are raised by natives formerly lieutenants for WoS in the First Cape War, and combine Anglo-Saxon military doctrine with the partisan tactics used by settlers in the first war.
Walmington makes her first use of powered flight during the war, and deploys other terrible new weapons, including tanks, machineguns, and mustard gas. The Second Cape War is a huge clash of arms.

1921- As part of the Second Cape War, Henry Wayne leads an expedition north as far as Lake Kariba and even the Zambezi. Mavis Falls discovered. Wayne employs great brutality to win the territory for Walmington, earning himself a knighthood, and a fortune, as Wayneisia is named for him. Tens of thousands of natives are slaughtered, relatively few reports reaching the outside world, as Walmingtonian media focuses on actions to the south.

1934- Walmington's famous tramlines begin to be upgraded from horse-drawn (and in rare cases steam-power) to electric power.

1939/40- Destroyer HWMS Ajax torpedoed and sunk in South China Sea- supicion falls on Hainan. Iansislian convoy bound for WoS with sensitive jet aircraft and data intercepted by Der Kriegsmarine special forces; Me262 results. DK raider engages Iansislian battlecruiser near Walmingtonian Ceyloba; WoS declares war on Der Kriegsmarine. Chiang Mai bombs Iansislian colonies; WoS declares war on Chiang Mai. Ercolana joins war on Axis side; WoS, Iansisle, Calarca head British, Canadian, The Trucial States allies against Der Kriegsmarine, Ercolana, Italy, Chiang Mai. Hainan backs Chiang Mai. War continues.

1940s/50s- Walmington is attacked by Dr.Who, W/who seriously screws with the forward-moving linear nature of time. Somewhere in the middle of these times, Walmington on Sea accepts an invitation to join the Alliance of the New Highlands, then rather forgets about it. History from here forth described in earlier posts and seen unfolding at painfully slow rate across forums.