The Chippewa Cession is large, roughly specified territory, spreading from the southern to the northern border of United States of America, alongside Mississippi River. It borders with Wisconsin, Illinois, Virginia, Mississippi, and Florida to the east and Dakota, Kansas, Louisiana, and Texas to the west. Seven different Native American groups control their own territory within the Cession, which Scylla describes it as "nations within a nation".
The land was ceded back to Indigenous Tribal Federations in the 1830s in return for help. That help includes work that keeps the original Salem Accord signer, Sarah Alder, alive over 300 years later. [1]
Culture[]
English and Ojibwe are widely spoken, however the Cession consists of seven language groups - Salish, Shoshone, Lakota, Ojibwe, Mvskoke, Iroquois and Cherokee - each with their own distinct cultural practices.
Witch and civilian populations seem to mingle more freely in the cession compared to other states in the United States. Due to this, some witches practice a Christo-pagan faith in the Cession that is separate from the monotheistic goddess-worship practiced by most witches in the rest of the country. According to Raelle, it is unlikely for those considered to be High Atlantic to be seen engaging with someone with a “Cession drawl,” suggesting the existence of a deep class divide between the two groups.
Comparisons to the Real World[]
According to the map from the opening of the show, its takes up what would have been the states of Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Additionally, the creation of the Chippewa Cession means a number of other states do not exist within the United States of Motherland: Fort Salem, including Indiana, West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina (replaced instead by "Carolina"), North Dakota and South Dakota (similarly replaced by “Dakota”), Tennessee, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Alabama. Furthermore, the shapes of several other states are distorted in order to accommodate the Cession.
Notably, despite this, the American flag seen within the series, in episodes such as "Mother of All, Mother of None" still has 50 stars. The show's opening sequence depicts a flag with 30 pentagrams in place of stars.
Leadership[]
The Chippewa Cession is ruled by a group of people known as the Council of the Great River. The Council consists of seven representatives representing the seven different territories within the Cession. The members of the Council are generally known to be fair, but do not always agree with each other. They are made up of members of several different Indigenous American peoples. Their decisions are considered final within the Cession and are enforceable as law by the Cession Marshals.