New Island Republic Providence

The New Island Republic Providence (commonly abbreviated NIRP) was a major faction during the Prosperity and Cobalt eras. After numerous relocations during the Prosperity Era, the nation finally settled a piece of land in the Cobalt Era.

Considered one of the most prominent nations on Cobalt, the NIRP was responsible for a select few world territories. With his power as an admin, GeneralCuster14 assisted other players during their own relocation in the new survival world. After the end of the Cobalt Era, the NIRP was officially declared defunct.

Foundation
When the Prosperity server was originally set up in 2010, GeneralCuster14 established the New Island Republic (NIR) as his primary faction. Though it technically wasn't an island (or even a nation), the fledgling republic already saw a fair number of inhabitants, including fallofshadows (GeneralCuster14's brother). Despite this, problems would immediately start to arise with rivalry between other server factions, notably the Hoods and Chewydyne. The problems would launch into what the NIR referred to as "the World War," a massive conflict between multiple belligerents. At the end of the war, the NIR would emerge the loser, moving its base of operations from the coast of the server's primary continent to the small, fledgling town of Prosperity, where it would assist Pliers in building the city to its glory.

Settling a City
Prosperity City quickly started to attract most of the players on the server, causing it to grow into an enormous metropolis. As people flocked to the desert and surrounding areas that held the city, the NIR was directly responsible for expanding the town to hold the newly-welcomed residents. After numerous new construction projects, the town's growth was halted by numerous chunk errors associated with Minecraft's transfer to Beta.

At first, GeneralCuster14 and Pliers attempted to rid the city of chunks by conventional means (with TNT being banned after the war). Unfortunately, their success was limited; while the first chunk in the center of the city was removed, more were spawning and creating havoc. After weeks of "combat," the TNT ban was lifted and the chunks were dealt with accordingly.

Unfortunately, disputes continued between the ruling factions of the city (these being Pliers, GeneralCuster14, Chewy1993 and TJ764). After a final argument, GeneralCuster14 left the city, taking his faction with him. With his brother, the two settled a new area north of the city, which was quickly vandalized. The group then moved east and settled a new area, known as Ocean Island, while fallofshadows founded his own faction, the Oxymoronic Anarchists' Republic (OAR). As the two new settlements started to grow, the chunk problems would only continue.

New Domains and Return
After a considerable time on his own, GeneralCuster14 eventually returned to Prosperity to survey the carnage. The chunks had driven most of the residents from the city, with many unwilling to keep the town in one piece as the glitches spread. Seeing the opportunity, the NIR once again moved away from Ocean Island to Prosperity, repairing the damage caused by both chunks and player neglect. However, as the city became a cleaner area, Pliers once again asserted his authority over the region, stating it wasn't up for grabs. Rather than risk an armed confrontation, the NIR was once again forced to move, this time even further north of the city to a previously un-loaded area. Because the terrain was freshly generated, the chunk errors wouldn't occur, keeping the new settlement safe.

Despite these efforts and a new city rising from the ashes of old, the players of ChewyBuild agreed that it was time for a reset, as the chunks were getting worse and more numerous by the day. With the glitches still being abundant, Prosperity was completely abandoned as a new map was started.

Start of the Cobalt Era
When the new server was started, it immediately earned the name Cobalt, as suggested by Pliers due to the vast number of oceans covering the surface. On this new world, the players would spread out rapidly, building up their own independent factions and societies around the server. Settling a city not far from the spawn, the New Island Republic Providence (NIRP) was officially established with its new capital city, Oracle City.

The NIRP went through several major expansions in the following weeks, capturing a large desert biome to its north, naming it Carson Valley. After more exploration, an enormous mountain set across a sea from Oracle City was colonized, earning the name Arcadia Mountain. The county system was soon implemented as well, with each major province earning the name of its city (Oracle, Carson and Arcadia Counties, respectively). After some debate with the newly-estabilshed Cacti-Dunes Republic (CDR), a rival nation run by Pliers, GeneralCuster14 worked out the ownership of "New Prosperity," a small town that almost nobody knew of on the opposing side of Arcadia Mountain. "New Prosperity" was eventually renamed "Arcadia City" in honor of the county where it was built. Development of Cobalt was rapid as numerous major factions were established. Soon, local "governments" run by major server admins would contribute to the scene immensely, resulting in alliances and treaties amongst the major powers of the world. Despite the collapse of unity from Prosperity to Cobalt, each faction was cooperating and managing itself quite well.

Chunk War II
As Minecraft continued to shift through Beta updates, chunk errors became more and more common, even on the newly-generated world of Cobalt. However, it was during these tough times (dubbed "Chunk War II" by the NIRP) that the world would be united to battle the glitches destroying the environment. Numerous chunks were obliterated by the combined forces of the major factions, with practically everything dismantled in time for the updates to finally curb the terrain generating glitches that caused the chunks to appear.

The Cold War
As each nation expanded across Cobalt, none expanded so fast or as largely as the CDR, Pliers' major faction. With numerous players to assist its expansion across the world, the other nations soon found themselves boxed in by the CDR's growth. Notably, Chewydyne, the New Island Republic Providence and the Legion Citadel were all surrounded by territory owned by the CDR. It was only after some negotiations that this territory could be navigated without fear of retaliation.

As these problems became apparent, the NIRP demanded land be given up to other factions and nations, notably the newly-seceded United Empire of Lovesia (a minor faction split off from the CDR) and the now re-established Oxymoronic Anarchists' Republic (OAR). With both of these factions attempting to build themselves up around CDR territory, territory claims and losses soon started to plague CDR-NIRP relations. Within a few weeks time, both factions would be pushed to their limits over the issues.

The NIRP considered the Cold War to be engaged after a bunker was discovered in Lovesian territory. Conveniently close to the NIRP, the small, fledgling empire was shocked to learn of potential war threats and preparations on its door step. With this discovery, the Republic's armed forces (New Island Republic Armed Forces, or NIRAF) attacked and destroyed the outpost, informing the rest of the major server factions about the CDR's antics. The conflict would only escalate from there.

The CDR soon built a "mansion," located literally across the border from Arcadia City, the NIRP's second largest city by size. To add insult to injury, the CDR attempted to claim the city back, stating that it had never truly handed over the land the city sat on. The arguments between both sides came close to war when Chewydyne was forced to intervene, ruling in favor of the NIRP and its ownership. After the Republic was given access to the mansion, they discovered a second military bunker, which was subsequently destroyed.

The final "nail in the coffin" came during what was known as the "Chewydyne Crisis." During the construction of a top-secret underground facility under the Chewydyne capital of New Horizon City, Pliers discovered the bunker. Accusing Chewydyne of trying to start a war, the two sides clashed, with Chewydyne opening secret communications to the NIRP, requesting a strategic invasion of CDR territories. The NIRP was asked to attack Dolomite Springs, the major northern city of the CDR (located just a few kilometers from the NIRP's northern border). Chewydyne, on the other hand, would attack Cacti Dunes, the primary capital of the CDR and its namesake. As both sides started to move, two declarations of war were sent out, but the CDR peacefully backed down and relinquished both major territories to the respective belligerents. During the next few days, the NIRAF was on high-alert, constantly patrolling its borders in the event of an attack. During one such patrol, CDR forces were intercepted and chased back to friendlier ground. After several days of quarantine, the CDR was finally given Cacti Dunes back, but Dolomite Springs remained in posession of the OAR, with the CDR promising to stop the spying and to never invade any country allied with Chewydyne or the NIRP again. Despite the peace found between the rival factions, friendly relations were ruined by distrust and extreme expansion. Within the next few weeks, the server players would find themselves at odds with one another.

Decline and Fall
When it was announced that Chewy was starting a new survival server, Cobalt started to see a major decline in players. With most people now joining the survival server (as the creative world of Cobalt was seen as too simple), trouble would once again brew. This time, it came in the form of trolling raids by an unknown party. Known simply as "?", the party attacked numerous, crucial areas that each major faction prized. Due to the raids, Cobalt was shut down for a few days while an investigation was conducted on the first survival server. After much debate, the culprit was found and the two servers shut down.

After several months of stagnation, both servers were restarted, but now with major protections in place to attempt to stop the trolling. However, things would never quite be the same: Cobalt was in serious decline, with almost all major factions leaving it, with exception to the OAR, the NIRP and Chewydyne. After several months of construction and some final projects, the creative server set on Cobalt was shut down entirely. After this, the NIRP was declared defunct.

Trivia

 * The New Island Republic is a name commonly used by GeneralCuster14 to represent some sort of player factions in video games. He first used it in 2009 on a Garry's Mod server, and has continued to use it since. Today, the national identity is mostly recognized with the novel 2095: Part I, where the New Island Republic is set in the story. Many of the names GeneralCuster14 uses come from the novel itself.
 * Despite its name, the New Island Republic has only once been set on an actual island, when it was established on Ocean Island during the Prosperity Era.
 * The flag design is supposed to be a simple white flag with a black star in its center. Due to Minecraft's limits, wool "flags" are often set with a single black block in their center to represent the star. A popular prank has been to replace the black wool with red wool, making the flag look like a Minecraft-ized Japanese flag.
 * The NIRAF is another reference taken from 2095: Part I. While the novel includes the New Island Republic Army, New Island Republic Navy and New Island Republic Air Command, the NIRAF in Minecraft only consists of the army, navy and "construction corps," or demolition units.