Lore of Sequoia

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Subpage of Sequoia, containing the fictional lore of its administrative divisions.

Dogwood

Founding and Settlement

Right after a new spirit tree was formed in Niwen, many traders and statesmen came to the moon and start building settlements there. Soon after, Venceslo which was settled by a group of British and San Dzobiak settled by the Spanish was beginning to flourish. Another group of British people were inspired by these towns and started settling their own along Lake 3. The trading post of Dogwood was built quickly and soon attracted many ships sailing in the Northern Ocean. This marked the beginning of a long era of Dogwood's history.

The Decline and Resurgence of Dogwood

News about Dogwood spread around the northern part of the MRT and many towns were settled along the lake, which included neighbouring Broxbourne, Sand, and Oparia (which was formed by the Spanish too). Unfortunately, the settlements and towns grew more popular as Dogwood struggled to grow due to its hilly area. Dogwood faced a decline and residents started to move to other areas. Dogwood slowly deteriorated and was relatively unheard of for the next centuries.

In 1876, a crew of Sequoian fishermen were sailing towards Oparia when large tidal waves caused them to go overboard, ending them up in a tribe. They were welcomed by the villagers and explored around the area. After some investigation, they realised it was the ancient town of Dogwood and sent a telegraph to the then-president Herbert Primrose. Primrose visited Dogwood a few months later, signed a contract with the tribe so that they could take control and give them food and shelter in return and decided to modernise the city into a port. They built the port at the western part of the land, which was relatively empty and three years later, Port Blackhawk opened for all kinds of trade. Dogwood was resurging into a port city and the villagers benefitted from it as they would get currency. Slowly, the villagers and people living along the lake and Northern Ocean reunited and helped to rebuild Dogwood together.

Incoming Advancements

As the years went by, Dogwood emerged out of silence and technological advancements were made. Roads for horse carriages were built, taller buildings peaked in the busy city areas and modern houses made of wood and brick were set up in the suburbs. Some Paklong Kingdom people migrated to Dogwood in order to search for better jobs as well as some Spanish from San Dzobiak who wanted to visit the city.

In 1893, the Dogwood city government was formed, with the first Mayor of Dogwood elected that year. With the formation of the new city government, a proper city hall was built and taxes were run more properly.

Several years later in 1904, to relieve congestion at Port Blackhawk, a second port was opened in the Village (present-day Madison Beach), but it mainly catered to passenger ships only. Soon enough, cruise ships start sailing to Dogwood, causing the docks to be extended.

Nothing much changed in Dogwood for the next three decades, until Jasper Emmanuel tried to run for Dogwood’s 1935 Mayoral Election but eventually lost. Jasper later moved to the Republic of Miu Wan to start Hytown. Meanwhile, the Nansei Civil War began, which affected the cruise ship industry and led to most of Dogwood’s cruise ship docks to be left vacant. Dogwood was largely unaffected by the wars in the surrounding cities in the 1940s and 1950s and expansion still continued.

Schools in Dogwood

Dogwood lacked schools since its founding and many children attended schools in Bristol. However, the Bristol War affected this and students were either forced to be homeschooled or left with no education at all. Seeing this, Dogwood’s city government began building the Crown Pointe Elementary School and the Herr Liszt University, which opened in 1961 and 1959 respectively.

Due to the addition of new schools, Dogwood’s population quickly tripled and was even trusted for having education. However, there were not enough housing in Crown Pointe, hence houses had to be built around the elementary school.

The Modern Transition and the Present Day

Dogwood’s transition to the more contemporary era began in the late 60s when new skyscrapers were built, including the LBC Complex which moved the television station’s headquarters from Broxbourne to Dogwood. In September 1971, the Village was renamed to its present name of Madison Beach and the port was closed to make way for a new ferry terminal. The $3.7 million Madison Beach Ferry Terminal opened in July 1976, which consists of 6 docks. The facility would later be renamed to Madison Beach Harbour Center almost two decades later in 1993.

The first high-rise apartment in the city opened at the most southern part of Madison Beach in May 1984, and was named Bayside Heights. The apartment was built by a Miu Wanian consortium with experience from Formosa and Fort Yaxier building designs. The first tenants in the ground floor of the development were Eat and Bowl and MilkShack. The tenants have since closed down or moved and are currently anchored by S' Mart since 2003 and Xiao Long Bao since 1997. The apartment received a major renovation in late 2008 and was converted into public housing.

In October 1990, the first section of the Dogwood Metro Rail Blue Line opened and the system has expanded to 2 light rail lines and 2 BRT lines. Later in March 1991, an underground train station was opened by RaiLinQ servicing trains to neighbouring Broxbourne as well as Oparia and Larkspur. This was followed by two new transit hubs opening in Blackhawk later in 1991, namely the Blackhawk Seaplane Terminal in September and the Blackhawk Coast Bus Terminal in October. The Blackhawk Coast Bus Terminal was quickly nicknamed as "the Prison" due to its andesite-based design.

Once again, nothing much happened in Dogwood except for more development until the Dogwood city government was further simplified in the 2000s.

In June 2003, Madison Beach Ferry Terminal was closed for interior renovations, forcing most ships and cruises to be relocated to Miu Wan. The $3.6 million renovation was completed in early 2006, and most routes relocated back to the terminal.

Meanwhile, Dogwood Metro Rail proposed a circular line that would circle around the diameters of the city. However, the project was downsized in 2005 due to a lack of funding. That same year, Dogwood Metro Rail proposed a shorter route which would use bus lanes and medium-capacity buses known as the Orange Line. It was approved by the Dogwood City Council and construction began in mid 2006. In October 2008, the Orange Line opened to the public using newly built Arctic Mobility BRT vehicles.

In late 2009, the Sequoia Department of Transportation planned the A188 expressway, which was to be the first phase in a major road project to link the A980 to the A1. The road was planned to open in early 2012, but was delayed to 2013 then indefinitely shelved. In response, the City of Seoland approached the Sequoia Department of Transportation to extend the then-incomplete A892 and the project was approved, expected to be completed in 2017.

In May 2022, the Sequoia Department of Transportation approved an expansion project that would rebuild Madison Beach Harbour Center from the ground up. As part of the project, the existing terminal is slated to be demolished.

Since then, Dogwood has prospered and grown into the city it is today.

Parkland

Founding and Settlement

In 1841, a large party of settlers from Prismarine City led by Thomas Calgary marched towards the Parkland area in search for richer land and made a location next to a swamp and formally claimed it on July 25, 1841. Two weeks later on August 8th, a different party of settlers also from Prismarine City claimed land south of Thomas Calgary’s landing and named it Matilda.

Thomas Calgary eventually followed suit by naming his claim “Maisonneuve”, which meant new house in French. For the next few years, the two settlements competed against each other for dominance, but the settlers in Matilda moved northwards to join the rest of the settlers. The city of Parkland was incorporated soon after, in July 1862.

War of Parkland

Meanwhile after the founding of Parkland, the Walczakan Kingdom was isolated from the rest of the New World with its nearest neighbour, Cypress, being some hundred blocks away. When they found out that new cities and countries were popping up in the east, they sent their troops with state-of-the-art technology like guns, rifles and bayonets.

In 1864, the first Walczakan troops reached Parkland and began opening fire. The Parkland people did not have the latest weaponry available, so they used whatever materials they had to fight back. Unfortunately, this resulted in hundreds of casualties due to poor planning.

The settlers were eventually forced out of Parkland within two months and the Walczakan Kingdom had essentially claimed victory.

Walczakan Occupation, Great Parkland Fire and Sequoian Revolution

In the mid-1860s, most empires such as Bahia and the Bratiesh Empire had began to decline as their colonies gained independence. Soon enough, the Parkland locals were influenced by this and demanded independence from the Walczakan Kingdom, who had treated them harshly and only worsened their living conditions. When King Augustus IV announced harsher laws and an increase in tax to fund military resources, a series of protests began as many Parkland locals travelled west in an attempt to overthrow the imperial regime.

The uprising only worsened on June 5, 1869 when a group of outlaws claiming to be Walczakan soldiers committed an act of arson in a bank, causing the Great Parkland Fire that had engulfed most of the city in flames in half a day. The next day, Augustus IV ordered The Walczakan Times to clarify the situation, however a miscommunication resulted in the newspapers reading that the empire purposely orchestrated the fire, which only angered the Parkland locals.

At the start of 1870, most Parkland people that had travelled to Walczaka arrived, launching a series of attempted assassinations on the imperial family known as the Sequoian Revolution. Some Walczakan locals were influenced by this and tried to support the attacks but many were arrested and executed.

However, a turn of events unfolded in 1871 when continued overinflation of the Walczakan Grosz resulted in a depletion of local resources. Protesters eventually took advantage by stealing some of the weapons the Walczakan military used or from the black market.

On August 5, 1872, Augustus IV and the imperial family attempted to flee the country to Cypress, when they were stopped and killed on the spot by a mob led by Herbert Primrose. Primrose was declared a hero and returned to Parkland later that day.

Post-War Boom and Advancements

Herbert Primrose was immediately inaugurated as the first President of Sequoia and later wrote the Constitution, which proclaimed Parkland as the new country’s capital. The capital status enabled Parkland to restore to its pre-war condition within a few months and eventually gain a large economic presence in the eastern part of the New World, while Walczaka had lost most of its imperial power.

By the turn of the 20th century, Parkland had grown into not only a major transportation and economic hub, but also attracted other countries willing to set up embassies. The nearby gold rush in the Kanatian town of Nuuk during the 1870s also secured the prosperity of Parkland.

In May 1906, Parkland’s first major station, King Street station, opened in the central area of the city. The station served as the union station for the Great Eastern Railway and also served as a intermediate stop on the Plains Line of the Minecart Rapid Transit system. King Street station would later undergo a major controversial renovation in the late 1960s into Parkland Union Station, resulting in the downtown area being renamed to Union.

Parkland’s first air facility, Maisonneuve Field, opened in 1924, serving only a handful of flights. Even during the jet age, its growth was limited due to Kanto and Prismarine International (now Greater East Plains International Airport) already being major destinations.

Urban Growth, Greater East Plains, Franchises and the Present Day

The 1950s was a turning point for the economic sector of Parkland, as Valcon Corporation, present-day Variety Brands, was founded in 1953 and chose the city as its main headquarters. Valcon later became the largest Sequoia-based corporation when it invested in the transportation and retail industry as Magnolia. The company went on to acquire Stop n' Slep and Wuster's Burgers in the 1980s, as well as telecommunications conglomerate Gfinity in 2004. Valcon renamed to its present name of Variety Brands in 2002.

In 1956, Parkland became one of the three founding members of the Greater East Plains metropolitan planning organization, along with suburban town Watford and Nuuk. The surrounding region was later renamed after the MPO three years later in 1959 after surrounding towns began joining the organization. The B333, completed in 1963, and the renaming and expansion of Prismarine International Airport to Greater East Plains International Airport were initiated as a result of the agreement.

Parkland’s Union district also experienced a large transformation beginning in the late 1960s, with older dilapidated buildings being replaced by contemporary skyscrapers. This trend was largely influenced by the opening of Parkland’s main landmark, the Galaxy Needy, in 1962, which was intended to be a showcase of futuristic technology. The first proper skyscraper, Plainfirst Building (now Jiffy Plaza), was completed in 1969. A small part of Union became Little Miu Wan, which housed many Miu Wanian immigrants who were moving or seeking refuge in Sequoia.

Around the same time, nightclubs began to open up east of Union in the 1960s. When some of the clubs began to decline and eventually close down, the mayor of Parkland decided to sell the land to Valcon Corporation, who built Sequoia’s then-largest shopping mall, the Mall of Plains, which opened to the public in 1973. This in turn attracted even more franchises, including C&W, Eat and Bowl, Wuster's Burgers and ZXCOFFEE, as well as inspiring other real estate companies to open shopping centers of their own, such as Southgate Center.

In the early 1980s, a considerable amount of suburban developments were being built around the Magville development that Valcon built in 1962. In 1986, the Sequoian government built a new airfield and heliport next to the Frampton district, Parkland Frampton Airfield (PFR), which replaced the declining Maisonneuve Field. PFR later became the hub for low-cost airline Luz (now JiffyAir) in 1996, increasing tourism in Parkland. The airline later moved to GEP International in 2017 amidst expensive gate fees.

In late 1990, the Parkland Downtown Transit Tunnel opened, served by Capitol Transit buses and later Parkland Area Express trains. Capitol Transit soon brought improvements to the transport system of Parkland, making the city one of the least congested cities on the MRT.

Variety Brands moved in to its current headquarters at 1 Variety Avenue in 2014, featuring the latest green technology that was partially funded by the Sequoian government. This initiated yet another but bigger construction boom that resulted in an increased number of corporations and residential buildings in the city in the 2010s and 2020s.