Free Cities League
Establishing Nation
Chapter I : The Lions Rise
Oostkamp, Oerwoudland District, Outerseas Province of Providence, Free Cities League
In the middle of the dense jungle of the Oerwoudland District, far from the coast, lied the Oostkamp Well, owned by Providenz Benzin, the biggest oil extraction and distribution company in the League. After clearing the trees for most of the prospection area, a big complex was built in order to extract big amounts of oil from the ground. Together with the Nieuw Aalst well, those were the biggest extraction sites in Oerwoudland. Despite the existence of other wells in the Sandfeld district, these were by far the most profitable for Providenz Benzin.
In the middle of the day, a few security guards watched over the jungle. Often would natives or Negro marxist revolutionaries try to conduct raids on the well. They looked at the dense jungle knowing something could come out of nowhere. The sun was burning and humidity was high, and the guards struggled with their bullet proof vests under thick sweat.
"Hey, Vilvoorde, do you see that there? It's a truck" said one of the guards while they loaded their weapons.
"Put the gun down, they're white"
A truck with three white men wearing hats and seeming lost and confused arrived at the entry.
"Sorry, we are completely lost, where are we?"
"Thankfully, this is an oil well owned by Providenz Benzin, we'll get medical help. Are you thirsty, do you need water sir?"
"Oh, thank God! Please..."
As the guards called some of the other guards to assist the helpless travelers, they did not notice a group of 40 armed white men coming from inside the jungle. One of the guards shouted:
"Godverdomme!!" (Dutch for God damn!)
Caught unguarded, the security guards were surrounded by those men, including the ones in the truck, all armed with rifles.
"Surrender your weapons, go inside the plant, and nothing will happen to you. Go, go, go!!"
The raiders quickly took control of the facility, tore up Providenz Benzin's flag and rose a flag featuring a black lion on a yellow background in one half and a sun on the other. Taking control of communications, they issued a message to the Nieuw Aalst facility: "Here Rampant Lion, Here Rampant Lion. The Republic is on.", receiving a radio message answer "Here Rising Sun, Here Rising Sun. Roger that.".
Sint-Kruis, Oerwoudland District, Outerseas Province of Providence, Free Cities League
50 km to the south, the small town of Sint-Kruis was caught by surprise. 100 armed men walked to the City Hall and stormed it, but no fighting ensued. They were there to join the Mayor, Frank Wymeersch, who cut all communications of Sint-Kruis with the outer world. Some people were surprise, but the general mood was one of joy and hope. Wymeersch, a vocal opponent of the Negro Enfranchisement Law, had already started the buzz that the Trekkers, as the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of the hinterland of Oerwoudland were called, opposed any imposition on racial laws. Using arguments which many people identified with, Wymeersch said the Trekkers could not look away 200 years of conflict with the natives and live side by side with them. Wymeersch and many Trekkers were of the opinion that peaceful coexistence was impossible and that Handelsburg should not dictate the terms of their relationship with the Negroes. He also appealed to the fact that Providence was not totally self-governing, but a mere territory administred by the League. They wanted autonomy in self-government and how to deal with the natives.
Lowering the FCL flag and hoisting the black lion and rising sun flag, Wymeersch made a small speech in which he addressed all those problems, encouraged Trekkers to arm themselves to defend from central government. In the end of his speech, he proclaimed the Oerwoudlandse Republiek, and declared independence from the Free Cities' League and its racial policy. Rifle distribution started shortly after, aimed at arming the population waiting for an armed intervention from the Confederal Army.