Forum:Territory application/AR120-56: Nishowigan

Forums → Territory application → Territory application/AR120-56: Nishowigan

Please fill in the information below to make a territory request.

	Territory ID and proposed name
	The Territory ID (from OpenGeofiction:Territories, e.g. AR123a) and proposed name of the country

AR120-56^∈⊾ƨ: Nishowigan - from the Ojibwe word for "between the lakes" (Nisaaw, meaning between, and igan, meaning lake). Coincidentally, a former name for this territory.

	Physical geography
	An overview of climate, topography and landscape of the country. With the exception of Beginner territories, you should always create a sketch map to illustrate & explain your plans. You can add a link to this (hosted on imgBB, Postimages or similar, but not imgur.com)

The climate of Nishowigan, laying at 42 degrees south, is similar to that of Michigan or Wisconsin. Unlike neighboring states like Venary, Seneppi, or Minnonigan, it has significantly less impact from lake-effect snow, given the northwesterly direction of the winds. It may see some reaches of lake-effect snow from Lake Amanecer in the northwestern part of the state.

Topographically, much of the state is near or at the level of the lakes -- according to this page, Lake Betaouais sits at 193m and Lake Sauganash at 188m. Given the existence of a natural link between the lakes from Betaouais NP to Conway, some light elevation/rolling hills should exist between the two lakes in Nishowigan, to provide an explanation for that hydrological connection. This is also consistent with some of the pre-existing landscapes mapped in Venary and in the eastern part of the state. Short streams will originate from within these hills, flowing into the lake on either side. Already-existing lakes and river features will be maintained.

Landscape-wise, the southern part of the state predominantly features forests and woods, with some evidence of deforestation and logging activities in that portion of the state. The hills should roll lightly enough throughout the remainder of the state to still support farming and ranching activities upon them.

Map of Nishowigan, showing rough forest cover in the southeast, the main metro area in the center, and more or less the ridgeline of the hills down the center of the state. The north side of the state is mostly used as farm- and ranch-lands.

	Human geography
	A brief description of the territory demographics, economic development, land occupation, infrastructure and mapping style

Nishowigan will be one of the least-populated states in the Federal States, sitting between 1 and 1.25 million (and likely on the lower end of that range). Most of the population is found within the metropolitan area of the state's two biggest cities. These share a metro, and are found on the isthmus of the two lakes, located centrally within the state. The largest of these, Shidagam (from Ojibwe Ashidagaam, meaning right up against the water), is also the capital, and sits on the shores of Lake Betaouais, which has a population of 150-250k. The smaller of these two cities, Hackney, is on the other lake, Lake Sauganash, and has a slightly smaller population, 100-150k. The metropolitan area has a total of 500-750k residents. These cities had their starts as manufacturing towns, with factories on the lakeshore. As such, areas downwind of these locations (so the southeastern side of these cities) is much poorer than the opposite, as the land was less valuable due to pollution from these industrial processes. As water-transportation became more commonplace and profitable, Shidigam became an important port for entry of goods into the Federal States, as the natural outlet of Lake Betaouais (seems) unnavigable, going through the marshy lands of Betaouais National Park. As such, a canal would be constructed through this isthmus, providing a much clearer path for water traffic from Forberg-Kingstown into the rest of the Grand Lakes.

Other smaller cities of note include Apostle (after the Apostle river), a college town in the Northwest of the state, and West Varnel, on Lake Minnehunkou. Each of these towns has a city proper of about 50k, and a metro area amounting to around 85-100k. Between Apostle and Shidagam also exist some smaller, richer towns along the lakeshore. Apart from these, the majority of the rest of the state lives in farming towns north of the isthmus, as south of the isthmus is home to primarily smaller towns supporting logging activities and natural preservations. Population density in the farmland-area averages 30-40, with the southern half rural-area being around 10-20 people per square mile.

As aforementioned, much of the state's historical throughput was in manufacturing and transportation of goods, primarily along the isthmus and canal. This corridor would continue to grow in importance through the railroad era, and the highway era. Railroads generally parallel the canal, as for a while it was cheaper per-mile to ship over the lake than around on a railcar. Eventually, once longer-distance rail became more profitable, longer-distance links were made to cities further inland, like Wallawaukee or Lake City.

Two FS-motorways exist in Nishowigan. FS-6 is of little note, entering the state and leaving the state in the span of about 25 miles. Of much more significant note is FS-91. FS-91 has its southern terminus near West Varnel, on FS-6. From there, it keeps to the half of the state, closer to Lake Sauganash, notably not passing through Shidagam, but rather Hackney on Lake Sauganash.

Here's the map of Nishowigan with cities, metro area, railroads, rivers, canals, and motorways.

	History & culture
	A brief description of the intended culture and language

Pre-contact Nishowigan was predominantly inhabited by Ojibwe peoples, known in-universe as the Gishiime. These Gishiime are largely responsible for a lot of the naming seen in the area (Nishowigan itself, Shidagam, some counties and rivers, etc.) They were first contacted by Valonian explorers from the south, but they did not permanently settle the region for some years. I'm currently still catching up on my FSA history lessons, and there is some conflicting information between what I believed was consensus and the territory application of Venary to the south, but colonization would eventually happen by either the Valonians or the Ingreans (I think the Valonians but I'll do some more discussing), and was then acquired by the Federal States sometime late 18th-early 19th c.

Given the lower population of Nishowigan, it likely would be several years after Minnonigan's statehood to the north that Nishowigan would gain its own statehood. 1820s-1840s looking likely, but I'm of course amenable.

As aforementioned, Nishowigan's economy was largely initially based on manufacturing on the lakes. It then became transportation focused, with canals and railroads connecting the lakes via the isthmus. When long-distance rail travel became cheaper and more effective than boat-train-boat-train systems, Nishowigan's transportation infrastructure was largely bypassed, as it was then quicker to go Forberg-Lake City and then inland rather than through Nishowigan. This caused some population decline in Nishowigan in this era, with many moving from the cities into other states or into farmlands (a la Venary per that territory application).

Logging industries in the south of the state would soon lead to a revitalization of sorts, as well as more specialized industrial works in the state. With the loom of deforestation in the south, the state government would scramble to protect certain areas of the forests, introducing more revitalization through tourism into these regions.

	Past mapping
	To support your request provide links to areas of OGF mapping which showcase your mapping skill. Mapping relevant to the requested theme & geography is especially useful.
	The {{coord}}, {{node}}, {{relation}} or {{scalehelper}} templates can optionally be used to link to the OGF map - they result in nicely formatted links. Or you can paste in a URL.

I have taken quite a hiatus from OGF, but past mapping of mine still exists on the map in this West Lakes style. Namely, much of the mapping in the former Wahauja, now split between Deodeca, Clamash, and Iluvia, is still visible.

(Former) San Alonzo, (Former) WJ

More recently, Hammond, EU shows some micro-mapping, but is in a slightly different style, being modeled after a small town in the Southeastern US.

Hammond, EU

Cliveyland Co, EU^∈⊾ƨ

Lastly, I briefly served as coordinator of Michisaukee, with particular focus in Massodeya City. Much of the work I did in MC still remains on-map, serving as the backbone for what the city has become.

Massodeya City, MC

	Username & date
	Sign and date the application by typing four tildes (~~~~) without spaces or "nowiki" tags.

Rhiney boi (talk) 19:12, 1 June 2026 (UTC)

	Territory application approved
	Approved. /wangi (talk) 15:30, 2 June 2026 (UTC)
	As you develop your territory, be sure to keep it realistic. Here are some resources you may find useful for starting out: Help:Portal, Help:Making realistic countries, Help:Making realistic cities and OpenGeofiction:Site policies