Things were indeed grim for Neptunia by the 1360's. The Western provinces were terribly bitter at the government (or lack thereof) in the west.

What was once a vast tract of indiginous space was now almost all divided into provinces. Natives despised the fact that their once vast, fertile lands were fast becomming colonized. Becoming territories meant that they were loosing their so-called 'Nativeness.'

Prime Minister Marcel Quartz was a staunch supporter of Native rights and wanted to create permanent 'Native' provinces. The first Rhino PM in 60 years, he wated to make his term in office count. Marcel tried everything to get his legislation passed, but he never could. He was blocked at every turn. Quartz ran out of time, and was not re-elected. The task of passing the legislation fell to newly elected Reform Prime Minister Conrad Orbison.

Orbison didn't care for Natives, but he didn't hate them either. The Native province legislation wasn't a top priority on his to-do list. Many in the Reform party felt that it was the non-Natives (IE, settlers/colonists) duty to move west - a so-called "manifest destiny." On the other hand, the Reform party went to great lengths to keep the peace with the Natives, and they were applauded for their efforts time and time again. But in the end, the Native province legislation folded faster than a bad deck of cards. "Besides," one Reform MP stated, "We need the space."

Saying that was big mistake. The Natives got really pissed off at the government, and started to get violent. Small riots broke out in cities in the western territories. In cities like Avalon, Marshall and Aspen, crime went up as much as 60%.

Queen Hermionie Magnolia cried for peace and tolerance, but few, if anyone, heared her cries.

Orbison knew he had to act, but did so in the wrong way. He wanted to admit several territories in as provinces, and would have as "non-Native" provinces. Big mistake. The violence of the Natives made peace almost impossible. By 1366, Orbison was out-cast by even his staunchest supporters. His blunders and failure to curb the ever-growing problem of Native violence led to his own Reform party shunning him. They wouldn't even nominate him for re-election. Orbison went on to fight in the Civil War, where he died in battle.

Darren Van Allen, Orbison's Vice PM, was liked much more than his predecessor. He was ready, willing, and able to do anything to save the country. Everyone knew this.Van Allen had been trying to maintain the peace on all fronts. The Natives respected him to a degree, but still saw him as a deciple of Orbison's. The people saw him as charasmatic and someone who wouldn't back down from a fight. Van Allen was elected easily by the Reform party; east and northerners elected him to office. Westerners tried to vote for the Rhino candidate, but the eastern provinces weilded more votes, and more power. This threw into chaos any chance of solving the Native problem. The Natives still didn't trust the Reform Party, even though they did trusted Van Allen more than Orbison.

In 1369, Van Allen admitted five provinces into the country: Xenon, Solero, Krypton, Luna and Xanadu. Natives were elected quickly in four of the five provinces, and the Native leaders took right over. Darren Van Allen tried to broker a peace deal with the new western provinces to end the violence (not as strong as it had been during Conrad Orbison's term, but bad enough). The Provinces were willing to talk.