The Ashlands

Popular early flag

Formal flag of Kumaq, de facto capital of the Ashlands for most of its history

The Ashlands, formally The Confederacy of The Ashlands, was a confederal polity composed of a confederation of the Ashlander tribes located in the north-central region of Natum. Ideologically aligned with Natum's Conspiracist, Anarchist, and Libertarian Communist movements, but largely unaligned militarily, it saw substantial prosperity and stability following its early tumult, including during the Great War of Natum.

### Geography

Stretched across a wide latitudinal range, the Ashlands took their name primarily from the region touched by the ash flow of the volcanic Mount Kumaq, which was considered a holy site by the folk religion of the Ashlands. Straddling the Great Northern Range, the north of the Ashlands was comprised primarily of moutainous tundra and glaciers, gradually shifting towards taiga as one moved further south, the southernmost regions contained much of the Makhnoq forest and had its southern limit primarily set by the Makhnoq river.

#### Black Road

Though not a natural geographical feature, the Black Road was a collection of interlinked tunnels, caves, and crevasses presided over and maintained by the Okh'Sida Commune (later the Oksida Syndicate) that served to connect the Communes of Kumaq and Makhno, though over time expanded and re-centered on Oksida. It eventually included the single largest tunnel on Natum as its core road and went as far as connecting the capitals of Norlund and the CRS.

### Culture

Varied intermingling tribal identities existed within the Ashlands across its history, with the majority of their pre-contact history being spent as semi-nomadic clans moving across tracts of land inherited by each clan mother and led by their spouse, the clan chief. During this period, Ashlander culture was primarily centered on hunter-gatherer practices with customs and religious rites involving the native folk religion.

As time progressed and contact with encroaching settlements from southern peoples began, semi-sedentary populations arose in areas of year-round food production and the nexuses of travel routes, with the most notable of these population centers being Kumaq and Makhno. Following the Long Night and the rapid importation of foreign goods and ideas, these centers began to solidify into permanent settlements, Kumaq becoming the cultural and political heart of the Ashlands while Makhno becoming its main economic and geopolitical focal point. From this point forward, a cosmopolitan culture began to emerge in which tribal distinctions began to fade away as a distinct Ashlander identity emerged that was thoroughly influenced by both the Marxist proletarian thinking of the CRS and the national socialism of Norlund interpreted through libertarian lenses.

Further developments in Ashlander culture wouldn't emerge until the Okh'Sida Commune emerged as a distinct entity from the tunnel and mine colonizers that originated primarily from Kumaq during the Winter War alongside the New Oksidan Syndicalism movement. Under Oksidan Syndicalism, Oksida Commune became the center for a new, ambitious mindset that embraced knowledge and power for their own sake, ultimately leading to a crude synthesis of technology and the arcane they referred to as cyberoccultism and filled many of the spaces left by the abandonment of traditional culture and religion.

### Early History

Following its pre-historic hunter-gatherer period, most Ashlanders considered the Long Night the beginning of their history as a contiguous people and culture, though some scholars among them considered the First Council of Kumaq as called by Kanuq Chief-Slayer to be the beginning of the Ashlander identity. Following the First Council of Kumaq, prosperity rapidly improved among the Ashlander population and a gradual expansion southward found them bordering the realm of the drunk queen.

### The Winter War and conflict with the CRS

Hostilities between the Ashlands and the CRS gradually increased as prosperity in the Ashlands grew and efforts to establish mutually beneficial relationships such as The International fell through due to rejections of Ashlander assimilation into the CRS becoming resolute. A conflict that would come to be known as The Winter War eventually broke out following the defection of a CRS military officer and a subsequent incursion by the officer and members of the Black Guard from Makhno to seize CRS assets as part of The Trinity Affair.

Though officially claiming neutrality in the war, the Ashlands spent nearly the entire war under CRS occupation and devoted substantial effort to aiding Norlund's war effort. Further, Black Guard units from Makhno continued occasional engagements with CRS occupational forces. Kenuqse Giver-of-Letters conducted substantial propaganda efforts to steer international support away from the CRS and towards the Ashlands and to a lesser degree, Norlund.

### Post-Winter War History

With the conclusion of the Winter War granting the Ashlands substantial, primarily formerly Norlundic, territory, the Ashlands saw a rise in world politics at the expense of the substantially reduced in stature CRS. Oeq'Sida commune, now Oksida Syndicate, increasingly became the core of Ashland politics and the Makhno area became part of the emerging North Metroplex under the proposed North Concord.

The East Seas War saw the re-normalization of diplomatic relations among the northern powers of Natum despite ongoing border tensions with Norlund which were primarily driven by control of the Great Northern Range's diamond fields. The assimillation of the Desert Elves of Commune Sankara marked the beginning of assimilating ethnic non-Ashlander populations into the Ashlands.

#### Great War of Natum

The Great War of Natum left the Ashlands themselves relatively untouched, though some Black Guard units under Royal of Makhno did see action in The Gorge and Noldor while Nanuq led an assassination plot against The Emperor as head of Oksida Syndicate with help from Kumaq and Makhno communes.

### Oksidan Exodus

By the time The End came to Natum, many figures within the Ashlands had already disappeared, having already fled to Lyta. Using their cosmic knowledge, the Oksidans had foreseen The End and gated away much of their syndicate and select others of Natum by invitation. Few wept for the passing of the tribelands.