New Washington changed everything for the Great Families of the New England Federation. They organized the initial colonization effort, they invested more than any other American State into the colony, and it became the single largest concentration of Great Family assets outside the Solar System. They built and maintained the planetary defense grid, and two entire Federation battle squadrons defended the world the day the Shang attacked. There were no survivors in orbit, and the Shang dropped enough laser and missile fire on the colony to create the first Winter Protocol of The War. Dozens of worlds joined New Washington in their own global Ice Ages over the following decade, but it was New Washington that changed everything. The Shang bombardment breached the Great Family underground bunkers and killed hundreds of their best and brightest. The Great Families did not react well.