It seems to be the case that if I use:

make new document

the resulting new document will not have the default style. OTOH, if I use System Events and have it click the New menu item, of course it does.

Is there really no way to create a new doc via applescript and have it use the default template? Why doesn't it anyway?

Relatedly, is there a way via applescript to make a doc load a particular set of styles from a template or another open file?