Brentwood

Brentwood
Founder: @lady skald
Basics
Alignment(s):	Unknown
Motto:	Because here is where you need to be right now
Leader(s):	Fransaskois
Logo:	NA
Group Colours:	Sky blue, Hunter green
Playerbase
Levels:	All levels
Play style:	Casual
Roleplay:	Light to heavy rp
Timezone(s):	Central Standard Time
Recruiting:	Not at this time
Contact:	@lady skald
No additional information available.

History

Brentwood is a city in Northern Saskatchewan, located approximately 250 kilometres north of the province's largest city, Saskatoon. During the early 19th Century, the location of what now is Brentwood was a trading station owned by the Hudson's Bay Company. By the mid 1850s, the station went out of use and was eventually taken over by Metis settlers to the area. Over the last 250 years, several settlers and immigrants have come to call Brentwood home. Even with it's northern and remote location, Brentwood shares the same city status in Saskatchewan along side cities such as Swift Current, North Battleford and Yorkton. With the last Canadian Census (2018) 25,000 people live in Brentwood with an additional 10,000 living in the immediate area, including 4,000 in the Starchild First Nation and 3,500 in the Lonetree First Nation, both of which border the city limits.

Brentwood also includes three major residential district. The Jackson district, named for Abraham Jackson, the leader of a group of African American settlers who moved from Oklahoma in the early 20th Century, the Krakow district, named for the Polish city of Krakow where many Jewish refugees originally came from during the Second World War and the Silver Spring district, which is primarily made up of Palestinian-Canadian residents. More recently a fourth district has begun construction to accommodate the influx of Ukrainian refugees.

Brentwood was incorporated as a village in 1912, a town in 1945 and a city in 1971.

Economy

Brentwood's economy is sustained through forestry, tourism and agriculture. Tourism is the main economy, as the area is home to several hunting guides, outfitters and tanneries. During hunting season, many American hunters come to Brentwood.

Sports

Three sports franchises do help contribute to the Brentwood economy, including the Brentwood Black Bears of the Saskatchewan Junion Hockey League, the Brentwood Blazers of the Western Canadian Basketball League and the Brentwood Monarchs of the Western Canadian Baseball League. Brentwood is also home to the Brentwood Spirits of the Western Women's Canadian Football League.

Geography

Brentwood lies on the northern shore of Pinehouse Lake, with several First Nation reserves within the area, the two largest being Lonetree Dakota First Nation and Starchild Cree First Nation. There is one highway that leads into Brentwood from the south and one that leads into the city from the north. The southern highway reaches Pinehouse Lake and La Ronge while the northern highway leads to Southend Reindeer and Sandy Bay.

Environment

Brentwood is heavily surrounded by boreal forest and rests on the Canadian Shield as much of the surrounding terrain is built on a rock. Agriculture is difficult, but not impossible. The forests in the surrounding region include such dangers as bears, wolves and many herd animals as moose, mule deer and white tail deer and water fowl such as Canadian Geese and several different breeds of duck.

Climate

Brentwood experiences a borderline subarctic climate (Köppen Dfc), slightly below the threshold of a humid continental climate. Winters are long, dry and very cold while summer is short, warm and wetter. Precipitation is low, with an annual average of 486.2 mm. The highest temperature ever recorded in Brentwood was 35.4 °C (95.72 °F) on 14 July 1929. The coldest temperature ever recorded was −58.1 °C (-72.58 °F) on 17 January 1936.

Mystic Energies

Mystics, mages, sorcerers and warlocks have studied the area around Brentwood over the years as there has been many strange events that have occurred. The region seems to be a safe harbour for those who are lost, in despair, lonely, suicidal and have even found themselves ostracized. Over the course of the past 250 years, it has been recorded that many individuals have found themselves in Brentwood (or what would become Brentwood). These many lost and forgotten individuals have found new life and a new home in this region of Northern Saskatchewan.

While many who have studied mystical arts and even the mystic energies throughout the world, no one has been able to ascertain why Brentwood seems to be a safe haven. In present day, many of the decedents of those who found themselves in Brentwood still call this city home.

Appearances

While there are often many recordings of individuals coming to Brentwood, there are also five separate instances of a large group of people who have found their way to the region.

Meeting of Chief Starchild and Chief Lonetree

In the 1860s, many Dakota nations in the United States were feeling pressure from the advancing settlers into what was their traditional lands. Knowing that often they could be met with violence, many of the elders and leads of several Nations decided it would be best to leave and seek peaceful settlement in the north. While many of the Dakota people stayed and fought in what would become the Dakota War of 1862, many others like Chief Whitecap and Chief Lonetree only wanted peace. Whitecap would lead his people to the South Saskatchewan River Valley, settling there and eventually becoming integral in the settlement of what would later become the city of Saskatoon.

Lonetree and his people, however, had a far different experience.

Leaving from an area north of Thief River Falls, Minnesota, Lonetree and his people set out with all their provisions hoping to settle in an area of what would become Brandon, Manitoba. After two days of travel, Lonetree's scouts realized something was very wrong. The weather had grown much colder than they were expecting, and the tree lines had grown quite thick, even changing from the usual birch and maples to pines and spruce. It wasn't long before the group discovered just what had happened.

A small hunting group from Chief Starchild's band found them, and after a long discussion, Lonetree's people realized they had somehow travelled over 1,000 miles in two days.

When Chief Lonetree met with Chief Starchild, Lonetree was relieved to find the older chief was more welcoming than he had expected. Traditionally, Cree and Dakota did not always get along. But as Starchild explained, the area had been extremely welcoming to those who were looking for a better life. There was even a settlement once run by the Hudson's Bay Company nearby which had become a settlement for French Canadian and Metis settlers.

After a great number of discussions with the British Government and the Canadian representatives, Lonetree's people were granted a portion of land along the north shore of Pinehouse Lake.

The African American Diaspora

In 1907, the Oklahoma Territory was granted statehood within the Union. This changed things greatly for several citizens, all of whom were African American. Many had come to the Oklahoma Territory where they were free to vote, study and own land. This changed when Oklahoma joined the Union.

For many black families, the oppressive Jim Crow laws that came with Statehood saw them lose their land, their right to vote and their right to study. Nearly 100 families came to a decision. Maybe life would be better north of the border.

It had been only two years previous that the newly created provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta had been formed, and with it, the Canadian government was offering land to new settlers for as little as a dollar a quarter section. The goal was simple; several families had chosen to settle in the Eldon district of Saskatchewan, near Maidstone, while others travelled on into Alberta to settle near Taber.

Things were very different for a group lead by Abraham Jackson. Jackson's group set out in August of 1910. They believed it would take at least three weeks to arrive near St. Loouis, just south west of Prince Albert. But as they travelled, Jackson himself began to notice something was off. The air was cooler, the sun was setting earlier than what they were used to, and even the trees seemed to change. It wasn't long before Jackson's group broke through a treeline to discover a small village. They were met by both chiefs of the Starchild First Nation and the Lonetree First Nation, as well as the Mayor of Brentwood.

While Jackson was shown just where they were in Saskatchewan, he noticed how this predicament did not seem to phase the three men at all. As Jackson himself would explain to a news reporter from the Saskatoon Star Phoenix "I explained to them that we had only left five days before. We figured it would take us three weeks to get to Prince Albert. But here we are, well north of Prince Albert. Maybe God got us through. Maybe God knew we had to be here."

Faced with this situation, they stayed. Mostly due to the warm welcome they had received from the two First Nations and the residents within Brentwood. It was not long after this that a baptist church was built in Brentwood. At the time, it was the most northerly located baptist church, and the second to be built in Saskatchewan.

The Jewish Diaspora

In July of 1942, the world was at war. German forces had conquered and was occupying much of Europe, as Hitler and his inner circle began enacting their final solution. The Allies were finding themselves backed against a wall as they realized how dire earlier concessions granted to Germany were actually a mistake. The United States had only just entered the war seven months earlier, but were also occupied in the Pacific Theatre of Operations.

Great Britain and her allies were desperate for intel. Several aerial recon missions were conducted, seeing if there could be any additional intelligence gleaned to aid the war effort. One such mission was lead by Major Reginald Walcott, who was in command of a small group of Canadians skilled with aerial observation. The pilot was a Sergeant Phillip Turgeon of Quebec City, with co-pilot Sergeant Samuel Clems of Winnipeg. Walcott was assisted by Corporal Ryan Magnus and Private Eric Littlecrow, both from Brentwood.

During this night in August, Walcott and his crew few from Scotland, following a route over Norway and Sweden, then south east toward Poland. While several miles outside of Poland, the plane they were flying took on heavy fire and they were forced to crash land. Turgeon was the most seriously injured, as he broke his left arm and left leg in the crash. The five managed to exit the crashed plane before Luftwaffe bombers finished it off. The five managed to escape into the cover of a nearby treeline.

They soon discovered they weren't alone.

Walcott would later detail in his reports that he thought they had found themselves surrounded by German troops. But after a tense meeting, it was soon discovered that they weren't. 250 people who had described conditions in what was called the Warsaw Ghetto. "It was at this point Corporal Magnus brought forth what I originally believed to be the most preposterous suggestion," Walcott would report. "But Private Littlecrow backed his suggestion. I reluctantly agreed, knowing that Sergeant Turgeon was in desperate need of medical attention. And so, we set off into the forest with 250 Jews following closely behind."

Magnus' suggestion was to lead these people through the forest with the hope that a break in the trees would lead them to Brentwood. Walcott at first thought the idea was insane. But the looks in the faces of the people who had heard Magnus soon changed his mind. This incredible suggest had brought about some glimmer of hope. "I do not know who it was that was looking over us that night. But while the night sky was filled with the rumble of Luftwaffe engines and the distant sounds of shelling, we pressed on. Soon, one of the Jewish prisoners from the Ghetto called out, pointing out that things had gone eerily quiet. But it was Corporal Magnus who calmed their fears. 'We're here,' he said. And no word of a lie, when we walked through the treeline we were greeted with a Canada Post office."

Turgeon was taken to the local hospital to have his wounds taken care of, while Walcott talked to the staff Sergeant of the RCMP detachment. "For myself, Turgeon and Clems, this all seemed like a dream. But as I described things to Sergeant Steele, he took it all in stride, as though this was the most normal thing to happen."