(Gnome Wars) Cascadia and the Dual Columbias

It's been a good long while since I've added any Gnomish History to the page.  As a reminder, please consider all this positive fluff to add to your game, but it's certainly unofficial.

And all this is inspired by a lone Union Gnome figure left in a box that needed to be painted... differently.

Cascadia and the Dual Histories: 1836-1910

The 1830's brought expansion to the Pacific Northwest.  At the beginning  of the American Uncivil War, there was a well-timed onset of the Gnomish Wanderlust that brought thousands from American soil across the continent to peace, independence, and prosperity in a land called Columbia.  Around the same time, the British mercantile expansion finally hit the Canadian side of the Pacific, establishing some largely self-supporting trading posts and an independent navy.    As the German-American War drained assets across everyone's empires, the British Columbia politely snubbed their colonial ties from of any remaining tax revenue, and formally gained their own independence from Britain in 1900

• Columbia:  Its settlers emphasized industry, trade, and exploration, establishing a network of interior river towns and forest outposts. Columbia’s culture reflected a rugged but kind practicality, with towns clustered along rivers and fertile valleys, and its society influenced by a mixture of the Northern and Southern practicalities.  Columbia units prior to 1907 should be Northern American Gnomes with a mixture of Midnight Blue and even Black uniforms.
• British Columbia: Very quickly, this colony shed it's direct allegiance to, if not the name.  Their interior was largely untouched, focusing only on lumber to fuel the shipbuilding industry, to support the powerful fishing concerns, and continue to grow a sizable navy.  British Columbian units should use British Marines with a darker red for land forces, and a powder blue for naval marines. 

The Columbia Civil War (1905)

Despite peacefully coexisting for decades with the lack of any formal treaties, or even basic acknowledgement of each other, things came to a head in 1905.  Tensions around trade routes, both water and land, resource control (particularly a "Gem Rush" around the border), and long competing visions of the region led to the brief but intense Columbia Civil War.

Lasting only 18 months, it largely consisting of skirmishes along contested areas.  Neither side wanted to levy an army from an unwilling populace, and general malaise and exhaustion quickly led to the both sides meeting and accomplishing far more than a cease fire or a peace treaty.    

The Cascadian Public Safety Force 1907-1910 (present)

Neither side could see any reasons not to benefit from both sides of Greater Columbia.  They formed the Cascadian Confederation to secure their borders with crazy Californians and Mormons to the south, Russian aggression from Alaska, and to maintain a steady influence to avoid native incursions from the east. 

The Cascadian Confederation adopted the more efficient bureaucratic systems of British Columbia to the confederate towns and regions of Columbia.  It's not perfect solution, but neither was fighting nearly identical gnomes in the same area.

Former military units for both sides were reorganized into the Cascadia Public Safety Force (CPSF).  Their domestic visibility was highlighted in bright orange uniforms to promote them as Keepers of the Public Trust & Health.  While not properly documented, it would not be surprising if the CPSF forces in fortresses along the California border also have an all-black Columbia uniform in their lockers, just in case their forces are required to cross the border.