New Liberty

New Liberty
Colony World Cygnus Amator
Compatibility Level Alpha (Grade 3): Telluric World
Security Rating Yellow: Commonwealth Status (no direct representation in Union Congress); brought under Union control (Union terminology is "secured/invited into membership") after the Pacification War in 2227

Administrative Capitol: Patrick Henry
Population Centers (in order of population): We Made It (high population city), Patrick Henry (high population city), 1776 Basin (high population region; farming center)

In many respects wondrously similar to Earth, Cygnus Amator (New Liberty) is a slightly hotter world than Earth, with a day only 2 hours longer than Earth-standard. Its young geology has led to a preponderance of very rugged, high volcanic ranges and a great number of shallow, warm seas and seaways. Most agriculture takes place in agricologies located on the coasts of these seas and in the marshy regions accompanying them.

History of New Liberty
New Liberty was one of the first colony worlds, founded in the first major wave of beyond-Sol space colonization during the Great American Space Exodus (the Exodus began with the defeat of the United States by the United Earth Co-Prosperity Union, beginning during the 3-month Battle of New York in 2093 and effectively ended by 2115 with 88% of the U.S. population in space), a mass space migration which also created (or laid the foundations of) such famous colonies as New Texas, Triumph, Voidstep, Poe's World, and Rand.rnAs a historical side-note, because the settlers of New Liberty were interested only in traditional "true blue American" values and customs, members of NAW (New American Way) religions were explicitly banned from settling in New Liberty; this led to the founding of Voidstep colony.

The first ships on New Liberty were the scout-ships of the American fleet, led by Captain Faeno Rodriguez-Salas, later to be become the second President of New Liberty and the United States In Exile. During the landing of the scouts, Rodriguez-Salas' ship malfunctioned and began to plummet; however, with miraculous timing, the famous captain was able to salvage the landing, plowing a huge furrow through the dust of the planet's plain. As Rodriguez-Salas and his crew stepped out of the shuttle, the other descending scouts heard their incredulous words over the com-channel: "We made it!"

This became the name of New Liberty's first (and now its largest and most famous) city. Built around the dusty field of the crash-landing (which is now Rodriguez-Salas Park in the Old Town sector of We Made It), the city exploded outward as tens of thousands of spaceborne Americans dropped out of orbit. We Made It (and all other New Liberty cities after it) was built in typical American fashion- big- and like many of New Liberty's cities, is a showcase for quaint, traditional Americanesque architecture, modeled on the ancient "white picket fence" neighborhood ideal and the blocky "skyscraper" towers of the early modern United States. Typical of early colonization efforts, these settlements followed inefficient, anti-ecological planning methods and caused damage to the planet's (albeit, rudimentary) ecology.

The government of New Liberty was known as the Government of the United States Of America In Exile (though in actuality 4 simultaneous Governments of the United States Of America In Exile existed at this time, on New Liberty, New Texas, Virgen De Guadalupe, and Pearly Gates). The leaders of this particular branch of the American Space Exodus were typically individuals involved with the American rebellion against the Union- the first President of New Liberty was one Shinichi Lanark, originally a minor colonel of libertarian sympathies from old Washington state who drew up plans with the famous "New Liberty Think Tank" to establish a new "free American world" outside of Union control, his Vice-President Juanita Clark, a former leader of the Minutemen guerillas who fought with Union troops throughout the American South. The governmental institutions and traditions of New Liberty were modeled directly on those of the late-period United States.

During the brief existence of an independent planet of New Liberty, things that were seen as "traditionally American" were very much in vogue. Many of the cultural elements of the early and middle-period United States were recycled wholesale. It is often said among historians that the most patriotic population of the United States never lived there- it lived on New Liberty. Voter turnout was quite high, usually about 85%. Many of the jingoistic and xenophobic/isolationist, and messianic tendencies of the United States culture were exacerbated by New Liberty's perceived status as the "lone world of freedom" in a sea of "Union slaves". Some of America's very positive cultural traits and tendencies- extremely high levels of toleration and cultural acceptance- were downplayed in favor of a support of "traditional" Americana. There were often incidents of persecution of cultures and individuals perceived as "un-American", in particular, pro-Union individuals (the New Liberty Congress ordered the dissolution of the New Liberty Unionist Party) and proponents of New American Way religions, which were seen as not being truly American.

However, the New Liberty Government Of The U.S.A. In Exile lasted only a century before the Pacification War of 2227. New Liberty became a victim of United Earth Co-Prosperity Union's expansionary war effort, predicated mainly upon claims of being the "true representatives of mankind"; New Liberty's persecution of NAW religions was also used for justification (anti-Union individuals typically call the Union's invasion naked expansionism). During the presidency of Alexandra Chieng-Bishop, United Earth scouts entered New Liberty space; by 2226, skirmishes were beginning in the New Liberty government's interdiction zones. New Liberty's forces, while more prepared to fight than those of the handful of minor colonies previously "invited" into the Union, were no match for the United Earth's devastating attacks. The colony's fleets were torn to shreds, and the New California Islands were devastated by the blazing nuclear wreckage of New Liberty starships which rained down out of the orbital battles taking place above. As a final blow, Union cruisers flattened large swathes of the planet's southern continent (at that time inhabited mostly by farmers) into dead plains of irradiated glass (this is the famous "New Liberty Overkill", known among Union patriots more often as "The New Liberty Retaliations" because it was explained as a counterattack for attacks on New Liberty Union sympathizers).

After a short occupation, a new Union-style administration was installed. The Instrument of Surrender was signed on July 4th, 2227. Though small insurrections occurred during the first months, the fist of the Union security forces put an end to all notable resistance. Within a few years, New Liberty was fairly quiet foothold of the Union in the colony worlds; patriots planetwide wondered why they had thought the Union would be so bad. Standards of living rose, the economy grew, levels of cultural openness increased. Only a very small