Jason Kellerton
Born in 1208 to a married couple working as businesspeople in Jestopole, Jason Kellerton and his family moved to Kilgram in 1213 to live closer to relatives. In 1238, East Wannonia overtook the region, forcing the family into hiding, while Kellerton staged an underground resistance movement. As part of a hidden strategy, Kellerton and his followers joined the ranks of East Wannonian forces, only to attack them from within. This proved a major setback to East Wannonia, as Kellerton then joined the Federal Estates in the Battle of Hetia in 1242.
After the war, however, Kellerton turned critical, though not openly hostile, against the Federal Estates, opposing their handling of the insurgent Peter Korren at Fort Braddock. Kellerton and his followers began calling for the agenda of re-establishing Combria as a single entity.
Proposition for North Central Combria
Between 1242 and 1243, Combria was initially split into its five original districts from the Jeson era: Masonia, West Terredon, South Combria, Kilgram, and West Combria. Each district was governed by its own House of Council. In June 1243, District Councillor Robert Mintser of West Combria called for his district to merge with Kilgram and form the province of North Central Combria. The measure passed both districts and arrived to the Federal Estates Council in the Basin District, only to stall and remain unnoticed until its constitutional death in October, due to the debate of the Council over the Postage Stamp Tax Act.
The Postage Stamp Tax Act
Despite the recent war, trade had been increasing with entities outside of the Remikran Union. Such entities, especially Canticulan nations, began charging expensive international postage fees. Proposed by Arnold Stone, the Postage Stamp Tax Act called for a unified postage stamp system to be established in the Federal Estates, where such stamps would incur an additional fee to offset the international postage fees, shifting them off of the senders. Opponents to this, however, decried the bill as an overextension of government power. This bill was supported by the Houses of West Terredon, South Combria, and Masonia, while it was adamantly opposed by the Houses of Kilgram and West Combria.
To Jason Kellerton, the issue brought to light the concern over population distribution and district boundaries. West Terredon had an overwhelming amount of popular support for Stone and the Stamp Tax Act, while Masonia and South Combria supported this but only by a slight majority. Meanwhile, Kilgram and West Combria had overwhelming opposition to the agenda. The majority of the combined population in all five Combrian districts actually opposed Stone's agenda, even though three of the five Houses supported him. This, in Kellerton's view, constituted an unfair representation of the Combrian people, leading Kellerton, that September, to establish the Coalition for a Unified Combria. This Coalition called for a measure to united all five districts into a single province of Combria, and quickly gained support in Kilgram and West Combria. This, however, was initially opposed by the other three districts, as well as the rest of the Federal Estates, all of whom cited concern over an insurgent nationalist movement.
Proposal for Three Combrian Provinces
Alarmed by growing popularity for the Coalition, the Houses of West Terredon, Masonia, and South Combria, in October 1243, formed a conjoined proposal to establish themselves as provinces. The legislation quickly passed all three Houses and soon came to the floor in Retun, where it was supported by the territories of Ereautea and Layda. The measure, though, was a subject of controversy in the territories of Nintel and New Combria, where opponents feared the resulting three Councillors per province would constitute an unfairly large representation of the Combrian population in Council. Kellerton and his Coalition strongly opposed such a measure in Kilgram and West Combria owing to the overwhelming number of Combrian representatives loyal to Stone and his agenda.
Manifest of Kellerton's Agenda
In fact, the opposition was adamant to the point that, upon introduction of the measure in Retun, Coalition-backed protests broke out in the two districts, prompting police forces to contain them. Kellerton, however, engineered his movement so that Coalition propaganda took root in the other three districts, gaining many followers. As protests began to grow in these places, the Houses of Masonia and South Combria, having previously voted to propose the formation of the three provinces, conducted a popular referendum on Kellerton's idea, which now showed overwhelming favorability. Meanwhile, West Terredon, the only remaining region not in support of the Coalition, conducted a poll study, which revealed overwhelming opposition against Kellerton. However, House leaders here feared a coup from Kellerton's followers, and decided against a popular referendum, voting in-House to support the measure. As a result, all five Houses had passed Kellerton's measure for a single Combrian province. As this arrived on the Council Chamber in Retun, the House of West Terredon saw backlash from its population, who saw this as an act of betrayal.
By November 1243, the Federal Estates Council was evenly divided over the Stamp Tax and Combrian province issues. James Black, having become increasingly popular for his heroic role in the Battle of Hetia, came forward with support for Combrian unification, surprising many Councillors. Kellerton, visiting the Basin District, gave a long-winded but convincing testimony against the Postage Stamp Tax Act. These two important statements were of great influence to the Council, who, in this month, voted against the Tax, voted against the measure to establish the three Combrian provinces, and voted down a last-minute call made by a Council Mitigator to reconsider Mintser's proposition to form the province of North Central Combria. It was Kellerton's measure that, by the difference of one vote, passed.
And on 1 February 1244, Combria was officially established as the first province of the Federal Estates.