PORTLAND HISTORY

Toward the Millenium
Around the turn of the century, all looked promising for Portland.  There was a major influx of money and businesses during the latter part of the 1990s and the first few years of the millenium, and the local sentiment was a positive one looking forward to the growth which was sure to come soon.  Maine was even a testing ground for cutting edge technology.  With National Semiconductor based locally and Time-Warner testing its "Roadrunner" cable modem service in Portland, the region held a state of the art telecomm-unications infrastructure, encouraging even more businesses to come.  Also, in 1998, the United States government assured even more monetary stability in the region by contracting the Bath Iron Works to take part in the construction of its next generation warships.

>>>>>[Roadrunner was only a mere start.  By 2005, Time-Warner had completely integrated the first true telecom system.  Forget webTV and the computer vs. TV battle -- Time-Warner had done it all by 2005.]<<<<<
---Lexicon <14:22:38/03-06-59>

>>>>>[Fat lot of good that did.  Time-Warner totally bailed on Portland after the Crash.  If it wasn't for National Semiconductor and some of the investments made by Matrix Systems (before their untimely demise) the Portland area might have been left in the information dark ages until Federal relief saved it (which might not have been before 2040).]<<<<<
---I/O U <20:19:07/03-07-59>

>>>>>[Time and a place, boys...]<<<<<
---Commander Zippo, SysOp <20:20:40/03-07-59>

The First Movement
The paradise of Maine was unfortunately short lived.  Following The United States v. Seretech Corporation (1999) and then the Shiawase Decision of 2001, many corporations began to beat their drums along the Maine border.  Having established long ago that it held a strong, environmentally compatible policy, the Maine state government found itself caught between the Federal government, the growing and influential corporate agenda, and its own environmental policies.  In The State of Maine v. St. John Lumber Company (2004), one of the few Supreme Court cases which went against the Seretech precendent, a ruling was handed down protecting hundreds of thousands of acres of forests in northern Maine.  The state was able to defend similar "resource rushes" to protect forests, inland waterways, coastal regions, etc., in other cases such as The Sierra Club v. Rutheford Trade Ventures (2005) and The Maine State Environmental Management Commission v. Ares Industries (2006).

>>>>>[Talk about only giving half the story!  What they fail to mention is that more often than not the corporations coming into the state had gotten Federal approval to do their thing on state lands.  Maine wasn't about to just happily hand this land over to some pen pushing jerks, hence the hostility and the court cases which flew left and right.]<<<<<
---Sebago Sally <08:50:44/03-07-59>

Unfortunately, as the years progressed the state found it more difficult to protect anything but national and state park lands, although the first wave of Supreme Court decisions had discouraged all but the most persistent corporations from trying to acquire Maine lands after 2010.  However, Maine's economy was able to hold strong against potential losses because of the firm foundation they had established just before the turn of the century.  With a solid telecommunications infrastructure, a booming international harbor, and a strong local market for heating oil, businesses long established in the state stayed there while a few others worked their way in.

During the resource rush, while the Sovereign American Indian Movement (SAIM) gained membership in the west, a similar organization, the Native Brotherhood of the Land (NBL) opened up in Portland.  Carrying on letter writing campaigns and holding rallies and marches around the state to foster environmental awareness as well as awareness of the Native American population, the NBL's efforts received high praise from the SAIM leaders and by 2006, the two organizations had become intrinsically linked.  Then, in 2009, during the United Oil incident that ultimately resulted in the Lone Eagle crisis, NBL led a march down Commercial Street in Portland, holding a vigil on the Casco Bay Bridge while the Shiloh raiders holed themselves up in the USAF missile launch facilitiy.  While NBL members were unaware that the Lone Eagle had been fired, they blocked the drawbridge in support of the SAIM outcry, preventing oil tankers (including one owned by United Oil) from unloading their cargo.  This resulted in arrests of seventeen NBL members and years of tension between the organization and the state government.

>>>>>[The NBL stand on the Casco Bay Bridge is one of the unsung heroic moments in the contemporary history of my people. Every registered member and many sympathizers joined in the march and sat on the bridge for the vigil.  My grandfather was there when the United Oil tanker sat in the water blowing its horn for three hours straight before finally falling silent while NBL marchers stared it down.  I have seen footage of the event and it makes my heart swell with pride.]<<<<<
---Sews-With-Bullets <11:24:29/03-09-59>

The Second Movement
During and after the Year of Chaos, Maine was turned upside down by several events all around the state.  Unexplained Genetic Expression fell upon the Portland area like a plague.  Almost 33% of the children born during 2011 were either a nobilis or a pumilionis expression.  As if that were not enough, Maine Medical Center was swamped with hundreds of parents that year travelling from all across New England to have their infants examined after they were born with the "unusual" features which would become known as characteristic of metahumans.  Based on that year's birth rate alone, the research institution in association with MMC established a whole new department to study UGE and metahumanity -- MMCRI's Center for Alternative Human Genetics.

>>>>>[To this day, the Center for Alternative Human Genetics in Portland is the world's leading research center on Awakened genetics.  Perhaps the best part about it is that it is a government funded non-profit organization rather than a corporate research lab.  It's a world class facility.  In fact, it was because of the findings of research conducted there that the United Nations granted universal rights status to as many as fourteen or more sub-species of metahumans as recently as 2057.]<<<<<
---Geneman <15:35:09/03-09-59>

>>>>>[Now you are either neglecting to complete your research or are simply not giving credit where credit is due.  The genetic finds which gave rise to the distinctive classifications of four ingentis sub-species are as a result of CAHG's collaboration with Universal Omnitech's Metahuman Genetics department.]<<<<<
---KAM <13:40:06/03-11-59>

>>>>>[Now why is Universal Omnitech so interested in troll genetics, Ms. Martin?  A simple matter of R&D or something else?]<<<<<
---Orenda <NULL:TIME:STAMP / NULL-DATE-STAMP>

On April 29, 2012, Maine met its first resident dragon.  Kohlfwyl, a somewhat small, but extremely shrewd western dragon, reared his head just east of North Windham, and instantly took to patrolling the skies over Sebago Lake.  After orienting himself to the world around him, Kohlfwyl decided to lair on the large island at the center of the lake and began to become acquainted with his new human neighbors.

>>>>>[Now that dragon is a bonafide son of a bitch.  Most dragons at least have the courtesy of moving you off of your land if they move in to lair near you, but this bastard actually encouraged people to stay near him.  What's worse, he's restless and tends to get colds, so he's constantly making a ruckus.  But because he's so damn diplomatic, he can always convince you to stick around.]<<<<<
---Sebago Sally <04:56:12/03-08-59>

>>>>>[Sounds like you're pretty upset, why don't you just move?]<<<<<
---Nustuf <11:20:52/03-10-59>

>>>>>[I would if I could find someone to buy the house.  Most people just don't want to live with a dragon nearby.]<<<<<
---Sebago Sally <06:16:59/03-11-59>

During the winter of 2012, Maine became acquainted with its new natural element -- mana storms.  Maine winters, though never the world's most pleasant or easy, were suddenly faced with the rapid changes these sporadic mana storms caused.  Different than the mana storms Australia later became known for, Maine was subject to extremely erratic temperature shifts, bizarre cloud formations, and sudden changes in lighting (total darkness at noon, intense brightness at midnight, etc.).  Fortunately for Maine, the mana storms became less frequent and easier to predict after 2014, although they have never completely left the area, and still flare up about twice a week in the winter time.

While the Great Ghost Dance began in the west, members of the NBL (which had gone underground in late 2009, after the Re-education and Relocation Act was signed into law) began their own guerilla wars on the east coast.  NBL members terrorized corporations they deemed guilty of exploiting the environment, as well as making their own attempts at restoring forest lands and other wilderness areas.  The NBL fortunately had within its ranks, several men who were rapidly learning the craft of the shaman and were helping in every way their power allowed them to.  The NBL came out of the underground, however on October 13, 2020.  At four A.M. that Tuesday morning, a NuPetrol Corporation oil tanker overturned in the mouth of the Fore River.  Although emergency crews and the NBL volunteers were able to contain the spillage, it was four days before the ship could be righted and the spill stopped.  Although the oil spill was far from the worst in history, it was the worst oil spill the Maine coast had ever seen and it took the better part of a year to completely clean up.

"Goblinization," the second wave of UGE, went over fairly smoothly in Maine at first.  After MMC made a public release in 2016, after five years of research by the Center for Alternative Human Genetics, stating that the UGE phenomena was harmless, individual's did not panic when children began to be born with characteristic ork or troll features.  However, MMC and the CAHG were later bombarded with hundreds upon hundreds of cases when children, adolescents, and adults were brought in during the midst of their "goblinization."  Researchers at CAHG, still deeply involved in their research upon elves and dwarves, were suddenly flooded with new research topics.

Then between 2018 and 2023, the Portland area, along with the rest of Maine, experienced unexpected growth as thousands of Canadians, fearing that their country would dissolve in the wake of the formation of NAN and the secession of Quebec sought refuge in what they perceived to be the more stable United States.

The Crash
To the state of Maine (especially the Portland area), the Crash of 2029 was a double edged sword.  Whereas Maine suffered heavily under a total telecommunications system crash in the summer of ‘29, they were fortunate to have some of North America's best and brightest communications minds already present in the area, many of them working with National Semiconductor.  By the spring of 2030, the telecom infrastructure of the Portland area was completely restored, though extreme caution was exercised with all data transactions until the Echo Mirage team had completed its purge of the virus.
 This turned out to be a major boon to the local economy.  While other New England cities such as Hartford and Concord were still struggling to get fully back on-line, Portland was offering complete connectivity.  Many businesses moved offices to Portland permanently, while others transplanted there temporarily until their home cities could sufficiently restore Grid access.  Among the corporations which temporarily transferred its offices to Portland was Matrix Systems of Boston.  While the company was only there for six months in 2031 while their headquarters' district in Boston was being re-connected, Matrix Systems opened a factory in South Portland for the production of their cyberterminals.

>>>>>[What happened to the factory after Matrix Systems went defunct?]<<<<<
---Curry Greg <19:44:12/03-12-59>

>>>>>[Same thing that happened to every Matrix Systems factory ... they were acquired by Fuchi.]<<<<<
---Grid Gator <10:22:14/03-14-59>

>>>>>[Not the Portland factory.  National Semiconductor managed to acquire the facility to accomodate their growth until they could finish the construction of their new facility.  Then when that happened, they held onto the building until they sold it to MatrixLogic, Inc. in 2042.]<<<<<
---Iceman <23:51:20/03-18-59>

Halcyon Revisited
(If Only Briefly)
In 2030, Maine ceased to be the northernmost point in the United States when the United States merged with Canada to form the United Canadian and American States.  This marked a period of transition for the Portland region as they were forced to make the many adjustments to the new national status.  A period of mild confusion ensued as businesses were uncertain as to which currency to accept and at what value.  Despite government controls rampant inflation took place, some businesses refused to accept Canadian dollars while others would only accept the new UCAS dollars, and a shadow community began to grow in Portland beneath the expanding business.

Portland underwent many urban experiments over the course of the next decade.  In an attempt to quiet some of the unrest that had begun to build between Yankees (long-time US citizens) and Nucs ("New From Canada") and between humans and metahumans, the government tried to distract the public by sponsoring cultural events and massive community service projects.  However, all attempts at "quieting" the public failed.  Some analysts argued that in order to "quiet" a public it first had to be rowdy and that the people of Portland simply were not the rowdy type.  Although there was certainly a great deal of tension beneath the surface, there were no violent eruptions.  Not between Yankees and Nucs -- not between humans and metahumans.

Then the Night of Rage came.  In 2039, a strike on a metahuman owned and patronized restaurant in Ogunquit was popularly attributed to the terrorist group Alamos 20,000, although the group itself never claimed responsbility for it.  As news of the bombing spread, riots erupted in the streets in Portland.  Humans stormed the streets looking for metahumans.  Metahumans and their sympathizers came out to counter the unruly mobs.  Meanwhile Nucs claiming that the Ogunquit restaurant owners were not only metahumans but Canadian immigrants came out to bleed their own angers.  That night, as hatreds mixed in the streets of Portland, 96 persons were killed either by other people or by the scattered fires which blazed throughout the city.

>>>>>[This article appears to fail to make light of the massive Elven exodus from the Portland area later that year.  With Tir Tairngire offering asylum to thousands of displaced elves and a great deal of unrest in the elven community in the northeast, thousands of elves transplanted across the continent to live in the Tir.  And the Tir welcomed them because with them came a great deal of money.  (In this case, primarily because the Portland area is fairly properous and the elves that did move were the ones that could afford it -- NOT because all elves are rich.)  Of course, the regional government did nothing to try and get the elves to stay, which was further ammunition for those who were planning on leaving or leading the campaigns to encourage government action in the on-going aftermath of the Night of Rage.  It's actually still quite a sore issue in the region.]<<<<<
---Left Behind <20:19:58/03-12-59>

Recent Memory
Portland recovered from the Night of Rage.  Buildings that burned in the fires were rebuilt.  Families recovered from their losses and public forums were sponsored over the next five years in an attempt to smooth out the differences between humans and metahumans, Yankees and Nucs.  No major trust was lost between the city of Portland and its businesses and although no major growth happened during the 40s and early 50s, no significant economic losses were suffered either.  And while Boston is still considered the cut-off point for the "BAMA" macrometroplex, Portland wouldn't have it any other way -- they rather prefer being "The Best Small City in the UCAS World."