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North Kempton: A Brief History

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The area encompassing what would become North Kempton consisted of relatively flat terrain through which ran a small river known as the Paddyne River, which was 30 feet deep and 300 feet wide. In fact, the said region was a very wide and shallow river basin with a two-foot-tall, round plateau standing facing East over the down slope to the Paddyne. To the West and North stood flat plains while gentle hills dominated to the East and South. Trees were relatively sparse, existing in small clumps, like mini-forests, here and there.

Most importantly, this area was known for its extremely fertile grassland

The Early Days

This area was never settled during Wannonian times, as the Wannonians considered the place to be sacred and, out of pious respect, left it alone. However, Wannonia fell in 1176; and before long, Combrians began moving West to settle in the former territories.

To present-day Northrange County in the summer of 1187 arrived a group of settlers led by a certain man named George Kempton, aged 66, who established a settlement and, with the consent of the majority of the community that came with him, named the new town Kempton, after himself. In 1191, George Kempton and his family ventured Northeast of town, where they came across the Paddyne River Basin and established a camp along its Western Bank for fishing. The Kemptons would do the same in the summer of 1192. And in 1193, they built a cabin, the first permanent structure along the Paddyne. This was followed by the construction of another cabin, this one belonging to the Halder family, in 1194, and the construction of three more cabins, belonging to the Sterling, Thompson, and Milton families respectively, in 1195. In 1196, these five families signed an agreement designating property boundary lines dividing the Paddyne River Basin into five equal parts.

In 1203, George Kempton discovered how fertile the grassland in this area was, and established a permanent year-round farming property. The five families voted to have a community cabin built and large pieces of this land to be owned by the said community, with the numerous pieces of land eventually being sold to families desiring to settle here. The leading five families referred to this unnamed community by the name of North Kempton during this time. Though it was initially intended as a joke, the community would be charted officially as the town of North Kempton in the years to come.

Nothing eventful happened in the quiet farming settlement of North Kempton, as the leading families established the Treasury of North Kempton on November 1203 to organize the revenue gained by the properties being sold. Meanwhile, more farms would spring up throughout the Paddyne River Basin. In 1206, the Galleston family settled here, setting down their roots on the biggest and flattest crop field.

Over the next few years, the North Kempton Treasury funded the construction of a Post Office, giving the town of North Kempton its official charter, as well as a Town Hall, Schoolhouse, and buildings of infrastruture: a Police Hall, Fire Hall, and Ward of Medicine. In 1209 was established the First Church of North Kempton, located on what would become Prospect Avenue in later years. In 1211, John and George Piedmont, having just received a university education, set down roots in the Southeast region of North Kempton and established North Kempton College. Two years later, funds were raised and construction would begin on the North Kempton Cathedral of Learning, a four-wing structure completed in 1217, with the Second Church of North Kempton occupying the North Wing, North Kempton College establishing its new home in the East Wing, the North Kempton Academy of Further Learning opening its doors in the South Wing, and the Library of North Kempton establishing itself in the West Wing.

And so grew the town of North Kempton in its early days, small and modest despite its progress thus far, while its inhabitants grew and lived modest and humble lives. All of that changed, however, with the crashing of the Airship Pirafone upon the Galleston Farm on December 15, 1251.

1252 to 1276: The First Economic Boom

In the years leading up to the crash of the Pirafone, the Gallestons had been struggling to sell all of the crops they intended to sell, and had opted to sell some of their land to other property owners. However, the latter proved a struggle as well. But as the Pirafone incident gained national attention, so did the Galleston property. And in 1252, the Department of Mass Transit proposed to construct an airfield over the crash site to honor Airship Captain William Solomon. The Gallestons agreed to this and sold a large portion of their land to the federal government to be developed into the North Kempton William Solomon Airfield. Though it began operation as a small airdock in March 1253, the William Solomon Airfield after its final construction phase would dwarf the Northrange County Airfield, itself.

Another main issue in 1252 was the North Kempton Cathedral of Learning, which caught fire and burned down in June 1251, a few months before the Pirafone incident. There had been a struggle to fund its reconstruction, owing to the costs. But with William Solomon's endorsement alongside his public reverance toward the hospitality of the town, numerous donors across the Republic gave funds to have the Cathedral reconstructed as a stone-structure resemblance of its wood structure predecessor. Reconstruction would be successfully completed in 1257.

The opening of William Solomon Airfield and reconstruction of the North Kempton Cathedral of Learning gave rise to an influx of tourists and clients from around the region into North Kempton, which began to see farming families selling their produce in farmer markets, which over the years developed into grocery stores. Meanwhile, with a great influx of people moving into North Kempton between 1252 and 1258, a great deal many changes were in order. The town had, early on, been run by a de facto town council under the de facto leadership of the Reverend Jon Mark of the First Church of North Kempton. This form of government, though, was very informal and loosely organized, not sufficient to deal with the oncoming changes. So in June 1255, the Council voted in a Constitution of the Municipality of North Kempton, which called for more formalities in its structure and schedule, primarily for Mayoral elections to occur every six years starting in the year 1258. In that year, the people of North Kempton elected Lynda Marts, representing the local chapter of the Foundationist Party, to serve as North Kempton's first Mayor. Under her leadership, the elected Council of North Kempton, in 1259, passed a constitutional provision to limit a North Kempton Mayor's tenure to two six-year terms.

Retail store chains emerged in North Kempton by the late 1250s. And starting in the late 1260s, various manufacturing plants sprung up, with the West part of the so-called "Manufacturing Belt" dominated by clothing, textiles, and shoes; and the East part of the Belt dominated by cars, bicycles, and other transit-related goods. Meanwhile, the First Bank of North Kempton was established in 1261, followed by the establishment of Westmar Bank in 1263. In 1264, the lightfire firm, West Horizon, opened its financial office suite in the office space across the inside corridor from Westmar Bank. In 1267, Westmar Bank acquired the First Bank of North Kempton.

By 1270, North Kempton had a well-established Town Center which included a Market square, new City Hall, a Clock Tower, the Westmar Bank Complex, and the Trade Stone Market Exchange. Just South of the Town Center lay the Business Strip, officially Piedmont Avenue, which had restaurants, tourist attractions, and hotels. Around this part of town stood the Manufacturing Belt, around which stood the ever-expanding Suburbs, around which stood the ever-expanding Retail and Agriculture Sector.

Lynda Marts fulfilled her two terms as Mayor of North Kempton that year. And on September 16, 1270, North Kempton elected its second Mayor, Thomas Curring, who was also a Foundationist.

In 1272, the Federal Estates of Retun signed a deep-trade deal with the Acrean Kingdom. Westmar Bank saw this as an opportunity to make high-risk but high-reward investments, in the form of the purchase of mass quantities of Acrean deep-trade stones. They did so by borrowing against the credit of their accountholders.

This, of course, would prove to be one of the worst business decisions ever made by a Remikran financial institution. And there were naysayers, including Kelvin Brass, who knew this in advance and attempted to warn the leaders of Westmar Bank of the dangers of this type of investment. However, not only were the leaders of Westmar Bank unwilling to heed such advise, they also decided to terminate Brass' employment. In response, Brass and of his colleagues staged a walk-in protest in the Westmar Bank Atrium, which took place in October 1272. Westmar Bank called law enforcement on them, leading Brass and his allies to being arrested and banned from the premise. Westmar Bank actively ignored and silenced other naysayers, paying media outlets to broadcast content to distract North Kempton residents with other matters. Meanwhile, Westmar Bank CEO, Edwin Mercy, cast himself as a dreaming investor set on funding a group of scientists aiming to launch a space balloon.

Brass' prediction came to pass, however, on 8 October 1273, when the Acrean Republic, having overthrown the Acrean Kingdom, announced the complete termination of the deep-trade agreement with the Retunian Republic. This would have an impact on the Retunian economy on a national scale; however, the economic decline was not so drastic on that scale as it was in North Kempton, which had more than fifty percent of its economy invested in Acrean trade stones. On Monday October 10, as the Trade Stone Exchange opened, investors found Acrean deep-trade stone prices essentially nullified. As the day became known in North Kempton history as Black Monday, North Kempton stone investors scrambled to sell other domestic trade stones with hope to recover the losses stemming from the Acrean fallout. This led to a complete crash in the North Kempton Trade Stone Market Exchange.

By the end of October, the value of the Acrean trade stones, now seen as "duds," fell to an average of 100'000 tradestones per 1 cent of Retunian currency. Most businesses in the Manufacturer Belt had direct ties to the Tradestone Exchange, and therefore suffered major losses. Closures and mass layoffs were announced as a consequence.

November 1273 saw further deterioration of the North Kempton economy as the layoffs took effect, leading other businesses, primarily in the Retail Sector, to lose customers. By the end of that month, these retail businesses announced closures and layoffs. This spurred bank runs as well as the collapse of the North Kempton real estate market in the Suburb Belt. Westmar Bank declared bankruptcy in December 1273, prompting Retunian Council to pass, and the Jackson Administration to enact, an emergency measure to help pay the North Kempton unemployment payroll, as well as loose ends with Westmar Bank and shuttered businesses. This measure took effect in January 1274.

Deep economic depression continued in North Kempton throughout the year 1274, as many parts of the Suburb Belt went abandoned and up to 25 percent of the population moved away in search for better opportunities. Meanwhile, Piedmont Avenue almost completely shuttered as some North Kempton residents, having lost their homes, set up shantytowns there and in parts of the Manufacturer Belt.

Jon Pura, a self-proclaimed Independent member of the North Kempton Council, and a lone, long-time proponent for henshale drilling, announced his run for Mayor of North Kempton for the 1276 election. Up to this point, the North Kempton population consisted of 75 percent supporting the conservative National Foundationist Party and 25 percent supporting the liberal National Labor Party. Despite this, both sides supported the economic model having existed up until the 1273-74 crisis, and hated the idea of henshale drilling, making Jon Pura an "outsider" and a "radical." Nonetheless, Jon Pura persisted in his stance, having been continuously elected by his precint constituents. And his persistence paid off in the wake of the economic crisis, when large numbers of North Kempton citizens began to consider Jon Pura's endorsement as a viable solution. Jon Pura received a further boost from Prime Minister Edward Jackson, who, in the wake of the Acrean trade fallout, held a conference in April 1276 between himself, prominent Retunian Council figures, representatives of the Big Five Banks of Hasphitat, and representatives from businesses like West Horizon, and formed an agreement to lift a great deal of government economic regulations and add a few favorable economic stimuli to promote economic recovery. For Northh Kempton, the biggest stipulation from this agreement, which passed Retunian Council and was signed into law by Jackson, was a law banning the province of Nintel from passing laws to ban henshale drilling, a big win for Pura.

On 24 September 1276, Jon Pura won the election for the Mayor of North Kempton.

1277 to 1311: The Second Economic Boom

As the next Mayor, Jon Pura started by borrowing money from the Five Big Banks of Hasphitat and used the funds to refurbish some abandoned homes, eradicate homelessness, and buy other abandoned properties to lease out to the henshale industry. In 1278, henshale drilling began in North Kempton, which began to see a quick economic recovery as Jon Pura was able to pay back the loans to Hasphitat in a timely fashion. With the establishment and growth of the henshale industry came the return of the retail and finance sectors as well as the recovery of the real estate market. The only sector that did not come back was the Manufacturing Belt, which stood no chance against competition elsewhere. This was, however, more than compensated for by the henshale industry.

Also during his first term, Jon Pura signed an agreement with the Northrange County Commissioners to have the Northrange County High School moved from Kempton to North Kempton. Pura also enacted a requirement for all students to pass "An Examination of Moral Code" in order to graduate and be able to attend college. This "Examination" was notorious for being oppressive, because it dictated rigorous standards for dress code, behavior and social manners, how to vote and how to make your decision in that regard, and even personal matters such as religious beliefs, career choices, and family choices.

In 1279, Pura signed a contract with the town of Console, Combria, to have the henshale industry rent property there to construct a large processing plant to help convert large quantities of henshale extract into usable fuel. Sabrina Morphett, an environmental activist protesting against the henshale industry, led a demonstration down Piedmont Avenue in 1280. However, not only did Pura dispatch law enforcement on the protest; he also mounted a false accusation against Morphett, claiming that she was taking payments from the Kontacet family in Jestopole to effectively undermine the henshale industry in order to favor the competing hubstone industry. This ultimately was proven false; though popular sentiment coerced Morphett into leaving North Kempton anyway. Furthermore, credibility for the economic policies having restored North Kempton to its former level of prosperity led Jon Pura to winning a second term in 1282.

In February 1287, the Lykian Republic attacked the Retunian Republic, triggering panic on a nationwide scale. During that time, an employee at the processing plant in Console lit a self-lighting cigar during a work break. The said employee lit this cigar near a gas leak, causing a major explosion. Initially, the public thought this was another Lykian attack. And though news emerged later that this was a separate incident, Jon Pura was concerned that the incident would lead to a negative impact on the henshale economy, and so passed a measure to send funding and aid to the plant in order to make swift repairs and to upgrade maintenance standards, which had been found to be lacking. This led not only to the prevention of a decline in the henshale industry, but in fact to further growth in its business.

The year 1288 came to be the final year of Jon Pura as Mayor of North Kempton, as he drew to the end of his two-term limit. The henshale industry, despite its ethical concerns and environmental impact, grew to a prominent enough economic force to serve as competition against the hubstone industry. The two industries would volley for political favors, primarily in the form of getting numerous counties between Nintel and Combria to enact ordinances banning either henshale or hubstone cars respectively. Despite this, the North Kempton economy was strong. And in September 1288, North Kempton residents elected George Salfen, an Independent/Diplomatic Party candidate endorsed by Jon Pura, as the next Mayor of North Kempton.

George Salfen vowed to "continue the legacy" of Jon Pura by expanding on his economic policies, primarily those concerning the henshale industry. In the election year of 1288, opposition candidate, Robert Torben, had proposed to tax the capital gains of the industry, a very controversial move as while many believed that this would stabilize the economy, many believed that the said taxes would kill business. Salfen had won the 1288 election with his stance against the taxes alone. However, when Middle Remikra experienced an economic recession in 1290, which affected North Kempton, Salfen would not assign taxes on the henshale industry in order to fund very much-needed subsidies to the middle and working classes. It was on that platform that Dennis Torben, brother of Robert Torben, ran on behalf of the Progressive Party and defeated George Salfen in the 1294 North Kempton Mayoral election.

As he had promised on his election platform, Dennis Torben imposed the subsidy taxes upon the henshale industry. However, Torben went back on another promise: to repeal the Moral Code Examination requirements, as was called for by a growing demographic consisting mainly of school students. Instead, Toben worked out a compromise with the North Kempton conservatives to allow for students not having passed the Moral Code Examination to obtain a "probationary diploma" and used this for college enrollment until the Moral Code Examination was passed. Torben caused further disappointment by also allowing for a break from the subsidy tax for henshale businesses who were determined to be paying living wages to its employees. Torben also stepped up police task forces against the Darkfire Community, enforcing the prohibition, and furthermore shut down "darkfire sanctuaries."

By the year 1300, Dennis Torben was very unpopular in North Kempton. Opposing him that election year was Martin Wallard, who appealed to North Kempton conservatives, a less-divided bloc in bold support of the Diplomatic Party. After vowing to repeal the subsidy tax on henshale businesses, restore the Moral Code to its original clauses, and bring back manufacturing, Martin Wallard handily defeated Dennis Torben in the 1300 North Kempton Mayoral election.

North Kempton Mayor Martin Wallard acted true on all three of his promises, including an effort to provide capital to manufacturer businesses intending to set roots in North Kempton once again. However, this third agenda was stopped in its tracks by the 1301 economic crisis in Middle Remikra. Mayor Wallard, intending to combat the adverse economic impacts, adjusted zoning regulations to help the henshale industry, and also began donating funds to the North Kempton chapter of the Rotary Legion, who was stepping up police task forces to further oppress the Darkfire Community. This Legion had fallen under the leadership of a far-right figure named Walter Scott Mason, who had all of the Rotary Legion Chapters merge and form the Knights of the Common Good, or the KCG. Wallard endorsed him, and, owing to growing popularity from his conservative bloc, won re-election in 1306.

In 1309, a Revolution took place which put a new government in place for the Retunian Republic. Though they still considered the Retunian Republic to be in existence, Finzi's transitional government voted in constitutional amendments which fundamentally altered the principle policies of the government so that the government was more democratic in nature. This occurred as the Republic became formally recognized as the Independent Commonwealth State of Retun. Conservatives in the provinces of Gymia, Nintel, Combria, and Pimdan put forward proposals for referendums to leave the Republic. Such measures passed in Gymia and Pimdan as they both gained political autonomy, but the same type of measures failed to pass in Combria and Nintel, meaning that Nintel still remained under Commonwealth jurisdiction.

An overwhelming majority of the town of North Kempton was very much opposed to this outcome, as they had favored the referendum. This would have implications in the years to come.

The now-autonomous province of Gymia very shortly thereafter voted to recognize itself to be the nation of the Reformed Federal Estates of Retun, and, on 09 March 1311, declared war on the Commonwealth. North Kempton Mayor Martin Wallard pledged loyalty to Gymia and vowed to restrict the henshale business solely to them. Wallard also helped to recruit KCG infantry to defend the henshale pipeline running to Console, and recruited KCG pilots to fly planes out of William Solomon Airfield, running on henshale fuel.

This initially led to a boom in the henshale business, as the warring conservative bloc had a formidable force. However, in October 1311, henshale reserves in the region ran dry. News of this in November 1311 reached the intelligence of Finzi's government, following a foiled invasion carried out by the Reformed Federal Estates. Finzi, in response, sent a large concentration of Commonwealth forces to subdue William Solomon Airfield as well as the entire town of North Kempton. On December 11, 1311, Martin Wallard signed a ceasefire agreement with Finzi, which allowed Wallard to remain in office as Mayor of North Kempton and avoid prosecution.

On 21 March 1312, the Reformed Federal Estates surrendered to the Commonwealth as its territories became re-integrated. Shortly after, the Liberal Party of North Kempton formed, dedicated to the respect and protection of basic rights of the Darkfire Community. The leading figure of this new Party, Pherris Thompson, won the 1312 North Kempton Mayoral election.

1313 to 1324: Darkfire vs Lightfire

Mayor Pherris Thompson codified North Kempton law to respect Commonwealth law to completely legalize darkfire as well as ban "traditional therapy," which was known to do more harm than good. Furthermore, Mayor Thompson converted the former venue of the North Kempton Chapter of the Rotary Legion, on 1312 Prospect Avenue, into the North Kempton House of Darkfire, using funds given to the North Kempton municipality by the Finzi Administration. Meanwhile, a very sound darkfire floan market emerged here, which helped Pherris Thompson to win re-election in 1318.

Up to this point, the North Kempton William Solomon Airfield had served as a stopover for long-distance flights. However, beginning around the early 1320s, the gyroplane industry began to take over Middle Remikra. With gyroplanes flying faster and for longer distances, the William Solomon Airfield as a stopover began to lose business. In response to this, Pherris Thompson's brother, Eric Thompson, serving as the Majority Leader in North Kempton Council and also standing as the Mayor candidate endorsed by Pherris Thompson, proposed a budget to build more gyroplane landing pads at William Solomon Airfield so that business incentives could stay. This measure did eventually pass North Kempton Council but was greatly compromised thanks to pressure from the traditional airship lobby, leading to only two landing pads to be built.

As the economy began to stagnate, the popular bloc behind Pherris Thompson became more divided. As a result, in 1324, candidate Eric Thompson lost to Mary Kornell of the North Kempton Traditional Party in the North Kempton Mayoral election.

1325 to 1330: War and Disease

Serving as the Mayor between 1325 and 1330, Mary Kornell defunded the North Kempton House of Darkfire. Although they still existed, this caused the organization to lose their venue on 1312 Prospect Avenue. At this very residence was established that year the North Kempton Lightfire Residency, a lightfire business working very closely with West Horizon. Kornell also started a grant program to other lightfire business startups.

Civil conflict erupted in Middle Remikra throughout the 1320s, as Pimdan was reintegrated into the Commonwealth while Combria and Gymia gained autonomy and joined forces to form the Combrian Confederation. North Kempton fared well despite the circumstances. However, the year 1329 saw the arrival of the Neurovirus Pandemic, the deadliest outbreak of disease in Middle Remikran history. During this time, slightly more than half of the North Kempton population supported the rigorous pandemic prevention measures enacted by Holz Finzi. However, Mayor Kornell decided to allow the North Kempton implementation of these measures to be debated in public forums. With an outbreak of a brutal conflict between the Commonwealth and the Confederation, Kornell banned lightfire businesses in North Kempton, except for West Horizon, from producing weapons of war in support of the Commonwealth, showing her true stance on the war.

This led to division within the Traditional Party of North Kempton, who held primary elections in 1329 where Sidney Hughes defeated Mary Kornell. Despite the division, the Traditional Party of North Kempton held its majority in North Kempton government seats, as Sidney Hughes defeated Mary Kornell.

Mayor Sidney Highes signed a contract with the Finzi Administration in 1331 to help implement the pandemic safety measures in North Kempton, which included the adaptation of the new healthcare system in the Commonwealth designed to administer the therapy to treat the Neurovirus illness and make it survivable.

1331 to 1348: The Continuation of Darkfire vs Lightfire

After the end of the pandemic and the successful effort of the new Commonwealth Prime Minister, Alex Schraber, to end the war and reintegrate Combria and Gymia into the Commonwealth, Mayor Hughes focused her efforts upon rebuilding the local domestic lightfire market, expanding it into the civil lightfire market and even into the Ancondrian market.

In the year 1340, the First Church of North Kempton, on 1313 Prospect Avenue, caught fire and burned down. The Church organization was forced to move elsewhere and accepted that they would be relocating elsewhere permanently, leaving 1313 Prospect Avenue to be a vacant lot. The Church sold this property to the North Kempton municipality as North Kempton conservatives started a donation fund for a new Church to be built and named the Third Church of North Kempton. However, there was also a growing demographic within the North Kempton population backing a fund to purchase the property to build an official venue for the North Kempton House of Darkfire. This movement was led by Rachele Martins of the North Kempton Liberal Party; and Rachele won the 1342 Mayoral election.

Between 1343 and 1348, Mayor Martins succeeded in having the North Kempton House of Darkfire re-established on 1313 Prospect Avenue, a move which helped to spur growth in a re-emerging darkfire market. However, as the gyroplane industry continued to advance and provide more convenient travel, the William Solomon Airfield began to struggle more and more. Furthermore, funding diverted to the darkfire market drew funding away from the lightfire market, which began to struggle again. Robert Korvin, a North Kempton Traditionalist, campaigned on these issues, and defeated Martin in the 1348 election.

Korvin attempted to have funding shifted back to the lightfire industry again, beginning in 1349. However, he ran into opposition from North Kempton Liberals in City Council as well as a large portion of the North Kempton population. Finally, after a great deal of debate, Korvin signed a compromise to give "shared subsidies" to darkfire and lightfire firms who signed contracts with each other.

1359 to 1368: The Esurchian War

Korvin's policies proved a happy medium, allowing the economic and political landscape of North Kempton to hold sway until the Esurchian Occupation from 1359 thru 1362, during which the Esurchians attempted to infiltrate North Kempton society as they did the Commonwealth. They donated large sums of money to convince select residents of North Kempton to form the North Kempton Free Party. Half of the North Kempton Traditionalists joined this party while the remaining Traditionalists, including Robert Korvin himself, resisted the Esurchians by joining a group of North Kempton Liberals to form the Citizens' Party of North Kempton. Korvin, at the end of his second term, endorsed John Daniel, who won the Mayoral election of 1360.

Representing the newly-formed Citizens' Party, John Daniel enacted strong policies against the Esurchians, while converting the North Kempton lightfire market to support the war economy needed for the Esurchian War. Half of the Citizens' Party opposed the latter measure and broke off to form the Progressive Party of North Kempton, led by Lori Kane. Kane defeated Daniel in the 1366 election.

1369 to 1380: The Final Chapter

Lori Kane was very much against anything to do with any type of war, and so shifted economic incentive for the civil lightfire market again. After the end of the Esurchian War, she convened with the leaders of the local lightfire businesses and West Horizon to help coordinate a plan to rebuild lorry transit infrastructure in Ancondria. However, popular backlash in Ancondria as well as in Remikra forced West Horizon to lose business and close its doors, a fate followed by many other lightfire businesses in the late 1360s and early 1370s. However, Kane realized that there still existed a local domestic lightfire market, and so directed public funding for that, as well as directed funds toward the venue of Library of Circlaria and the new venue of the Third Level Society, both of which had set roots in North Kempton during the same time the Esurchian War was being fought in Ancondria.

As mentioned before, traditional airships had been driven out of fashion by the gyroplane industry. However, traditional airships regained public interest through the advent of "airship tourism," a trend having emerged in the 1340s, driven by airship enthusiasts willing to pay traveling fares to board these airships to fly and dock at various locations. This was solely for the tourism aspect. And during that decade, many airship tourism businesses emerged. In 1350, they collaborated and formed the Airship Travels Federation.

The issue with that economic model was that more enthusiasts were willing to travel around Ancondria and the Magnumarian Ocean than toward Canticula and the Circlarian Ocean. Thus, the Federation served its purpose in order to keep the market stable by directing extra revenue from the Magnumarian side to help with the Circlarian side.

Unfortunately, the Esurchian War led to an obvious bust in this business model; and the Federation closed its doors in 1367. Nevertheless, "airship tourism" businesses still remained. And North Kempton Mayor Lori Kane coordinated with the William Solomon Airfield to provide landing spots for one-vessel airship businesses. This, in turn, help to support the William Solomon Airfield, which was struggling in terms of business because of how gyroplanes having evolved to being able to land anywhere in any town began rendering airports and airfields obsolete.

The year 1378 saw the Office of the Mayor of North Kempton won in an election by Michael Fortin, a North Kempton Progressive candidate endorsed by Kane. Fortin vowed to continue the economic policies of Kane. However, a minor economic recession in the Commonwealth between 1380 and 1381 was enough to destroy the clientele of the remaining "airship tourism" industry.

On 01 October 1381, Horizon Discovery, the last remaining one-vessel airship tourism business, as well as the last remaining commercially-flying traditional airship, made its final landing at the William Solomon Airfield. Both the airship and the Airfield would cease operations that day.

The economic shakeup of 1380-81 led to the closure of numerous other businesses generating crucial tax revenue to North Kempton, leading North Kempton to end up in dire financial straits. This forced Mayor Fortin to forego his promise to preserve the property and structures of the former William Solomon Airfield and instead sell pieces of the land to Library of Circlaria and the newly-established National Institute of Research and Development. The one caveat to this, though, was that the Galleston Family Farmhouse remained preserved to this day as a historical heritage site.

Regardless, even these efforts proved futile for the ailing Municipality. And on November 23, 1381, North Kempton officially declared bankruptcy.

On December 2, newly-elected Retunian Prime Minister, Meghan Wen, directed her Administration to authorize the payment of all debts and payrolls of the former North Kempton government, which failed to form a consensus on an independent financial recovery plan by a December 9 deadline. As a result, the Wen Administration officially listed the North Kempton Municipality as "defunct," and directed that the former jurisdiction be split evenly between the other four Municipalities of Northrange County unless a "democratic community council" purchased the jurisdiction within one year. Maxima Tangreen and her colleagues anticipated this would happen and had formed the Established Democratic Council of Maxima in 1380. On December 18, they officially purchased the defunct municipality, and renamed it Maxima.

Michael Fortin would remain the Mayor until at least the expiration of his term in 1384, with Council Members and other government officials remaining until the end of their terms. In 1384, Skylara Mains was elected the first official Mayor of Maxima.

Maxima, Nintel: 1385 to Present

The city of Maxima, Nintel has had a stable economy and stable political dynamic since the 1380s. Today, it is home to Library of Circlaria, the Third Level Society, and the National Institute of Research and Development. Its main industries are dymensional-plane-crafting and darkfire-crafting. However, in recent years, innovators have been crafting lightfire again.

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