Northern Plateau

The Northern Plateau, also called the Great North, is a geopolitical region located in northern Asteria. This region is regarded as not just a geographic region, but also a cultural one filled with mythology, folklore, and history related to the Northern Expansion. Although the Northern Plateau is a very active cultural and political region in the present-day, its recorded history goes back to 1775, when the Midlands Company folded and its colonies annexed by Faneria. During its heyday from 1775 to 1867, the Northern Plateau was the center of colonial expansion, a region characterized by lawlessness, advanced ideas and beliefs, and a sense of rugged individualism. It was also the hotbed of Asteria's independence movement. Most inhabitants were Atemeraw, but as time went on, the Ænglish and Gaelic peoples eventually moved up Asteria's turnpikes into the wild unknown. During the 1820s, the Frontier Republics were created as an early step towards independence. It was during this time that the Northern Plateau and Asteria became interlinked. Settlement of the area depended on West Asteria, as the region was called prior to 1836, while the culture of the frontier infected much of the country in return. The legends, historical figures, and events during this time and place are integral to the culture of Asteria as a whole.

History

Pre-Asterian Frontier

There were no permanent settlements on the Northern Plateau prior to 1503, when Nahena was created as the summer capital of the Atemeraw Confederacy. Here, the Atemeraw gradually expanded along the border of these two biomes, using the Northern Plateau as a place to escape invaders, raise livestock, and escape the summer heat. Nicknamed the Nadowa Way, the term meaning "outsiders" in Atemeraw, the region was often used as the southern portion of a large flat used by Varshan in ancient times to conquer, pillage, and turn tribal nations into tribute states. According to legend, the Atemeraw themselves escaped through the Nadowa Way around the 600s, pushed out by an unnamed violent tribal society. Following the establishment of Nahena, the Atemeraw constructed a series of fortresses along what is now the northern border of Asteria called Fortress Ridge to warn those in the south of potential attacks by northern tribes. This area is still used by Asteria as fortifications, although there is no threat from that region today. Following the establishment of Milsboro in 1627, some missionaries from the south began appearing in Nahena. Around 1653, David Kearns, a missionary, set up a small church in Nahena, and was granted land by the Atemeraw to build the Kearns Mission near present-day Fort Mercer. This marked the end of the Atemeraw being the sole claimant of the Northern Plateau.