ScottishMongol Presents
A SufficientVelocity Original Series
A MONUMENT TO MAN'S ARROGANCE...
A SufficientVelocity Original Series
A MONUMENT TO MAN'S ARROGANCE...
A Monument to Man's Arrogance: Arizona to Virgin Earth
- Thread starter ScottishMongol
- Start date
- Original Timeline Supernatural
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Prologue
- Location
- Great Khanate of Scotland
- Pronouns
- She/Her
ScottishMongol Presents
A SufficientVelocity Original Series
A MONUMENT TO MAN'S ARROGANCE
or
ARIZONA ISOT TO VIRGIN EARTH
A SufficientVelocity Original Series
A MONUMENT TO MAN'S ARROGANCE
or
ARIZONA ISOT TO VIRGIN EARTH
"There was nothing we could do. Cut off, isolated, there was no food coming in, from anywhere. No food, just a week of rations in the Greater Metro...crops and herds could maybe add another week, but then there were the riots, and the damn militias...we needed armed escorts just to get maintenance workers to make sure the water was still flowing. And when the mutinies began, we didn't even have that. It took a month, a month for this damn city to turn into a charnel house.
There was nothing we could do! I made the decision to evacuate the Emergency Government from the capital, but Flagstaff, those fuckers, the "Northern Government", they shut the door on us.
Now it's all...it's all ruined, nothing between the Mogollon Rim and the old Mexican border except ash and dust, ash and dust...
There was nothing we could do..."
- last words of Doug Ducey, First President of the Emergency Government of the State of Arizona
"Ha. No, I don't remember the Old World. Well, maybe a little...lots of electronics and...everyone had cars, all the adults at least. But no, I was a kid then. That's what the Old World seems like, a story someone tells kids, a magical land where there's always water coming out of the ground, and everyone had more food than they could eat.
I was on the last plane out of Sky Harbor. Now that I remember, crowds of refugees trying to push their way to the barricade as the last 747 vanished into the sunset, by that point it was only the smaller ones. They say it was the most beautiful sunset they'd ever seen, the survivors I mean, that there was more orange and red and purple than any other, and of course it was from all the ash and smoke and dust thrown up by the burning city.
My mom, I remember her a little, she picked me up and held me head and shoulders above the crowd, she was screaming something but I...I couldn't hear her, and before I knew what was happening a soldier had grabbed me and vaulted over the barricade, and then we were running. I could hear the screaming of the jet engines, drowning out the screaming crowd, and then I was passed from one set of hands to another, and pulled into the plane, and then...
I managed to look out the window, once. Yeah, it was quite the sunset."
- Casey Smith, day laborer in Pacific Redoubt, Emergency Capital of the State Government of Arizona.
"It was a cascade effect. Along the Gila River, there was this initial spray of refugees, the survivalists and the smarter folks who knew they had to get out of dodge. Most of them were let in. Then when things started breaking down, you'd get a steady steam of them. I know that the Northern Government cut off the roads, same with the eastern, uh, regional governments. It was easy since those areas led through mountains, you could seal the passes. But you couldn't do that in the Gila River Valley.
Some of these people, they were moving in gangs, they would hit farms and towns for supplies, sometimes they'd wipe out a settlement and move in, hoping to bring in the crops themselves. This was before the mutinies, but when that happened you had soldiers moving in and splitting up herds of cattle, requisitioning supplies - some of them were still claiming to be working for the Emergency Government, since all the tv and radio stations went down word was slow in getting out about that.
So you'd get this cascade effect, like I said, people hitting one place and moving on to the next, grinding down what could have been a good stretch of farmland and civilization. Around this time things were getting really bad in the city...well, just about everyone was screwed. The freeways were getting clogged, all it takes is one snarl and the whole line backs up, and people started taking off into the desert. Some set off on foot, and died, others in their cars. Some of those lived.
In places where the towns or refugee camps reached, like, critical mass, they'd break apart, spilling new raiders all over the place. Well, those that didn't die of starvation, or disease, or just up and shoot themselves.
Eventually everything between Yuma and Phoenix was pillaging hordes, killing each other and anyone in their way, and the real nasty diseases were coming out of the city...you can see why the survivors had to be mad crazy bastards."
- Peter Danvers, scavenger.
"THE OLD WORLD DIED IN FIRE. WE ARE THE HEIRS OF THE PHOENIX, RISEN FROM ASHES TO INHERIT THE NEW WORLD."
- unknown raider
There was nothing we could do! I made the decision to evacuate the Emergency Government from the capital, but Flagstaff, those fuckers, the "Northern Government", they shut the door on us.
Now it's all...it's all ruined, nothing between the Mogollon Rim and the old Mexican border except ash and dust, ash and dust...
There was nothing we could do..."
- last words of Doug Ducey, First President of the Emergency Government of the State of Arizona
"Ha. No, I don't remember the Old World. Well, maybe a little...lots of electronics and...everyone had cars, all the adults at least. But no, I was a kid then. That's what the Old World seems like, a story someone tells kids, a magical land where there's always water coming out of the ground, and everyone had more food than they could eat.
I was on the last plane out of Sky Harbor. Now that I remember, crowds of refugees trying to push their way to the barricade as the last 747 vanished into the sunset, by that point it was only the smaller ones. They say it was the most beautiful sunset they'd ever seen, the survivors I mean, that there was more orange and red and purple than any other, and of course it was from all the ash and smoke and dust thrown up by the burning city.
My mom, I remember her a little, she picked me up and held me head and shoulders above the crowd, she was screaming something but I...I couldn't hear her, and before I knew what was happening a soldier had grabbed me and vaulted over the barricade, and then we were running. I could hear the screaming of the jet engines, drowning out the screaming crowd, and then I was passed from one set of hands to another, and pulled into the plane, and then...
I managed to look out the window, once. Yeah, it was quite the sunset."
- Casey Smith, day laborer in Pacific Redoubt, Emergency Capital of the State Government of Arizona.
"It was a cascade effect. Along the Gila River, there was this initial spray of refugees, the survivalists and the smarter folks who knew they had to get out of dodge. Most of them were let in. Then when things started breaking down, you'd get a steady steam of them. I know that the Northern Government cut off the roads, same with the eastern, uh, regional governments. It was easy since those areas led through mountains, you could seal the passes. But you couldn't do that in the Gila River Valley.
Some of these people, they were moving in gangs, they would hit farms and towns for supplies, sometimes they'd wipe out a settlement and move in, hoping to bring in the crops themselves. This was before the mutinies, but when that happened you had soldiers moving in and splitting up herds of cattle, requisitioning supplies - some of them were still claiming to be working for the Emergency Government, since all the tv and radio stations went down word was slow in getting out about that.
So you'd get this cascade effect, like I said, people hitting one place and moving on to the next, grinding down what could have been a good stretch of farmland and civilization. Around this time things were getting really bad in the city...well, just about everyone was screwed. The freeways were getting clogged, all it takes is one snarl and the whole line backs up, and people started taking off into the desert. Some set off on foot, and died, others in their cars. Some of those lived.
In places where the towns or refugee camps reached, like, critical mass, they'd break apart, spilling new raiders all over the place. Well, those that didn't die of starvation, or disease, or just up and shoot themselves.
Eventually everything between Yuma and Phoenix was pillaging hordes, killing each other and anyone in their way, and the real nasty diseases were coming out of the city...you can see why the survivors had to be mad crazy bastards."
- Peter Danvers, scavenger.
"THE OLD WORLD DIED IN FIRE. WE ARE THE HEIRS OF THE PHOENIX, RISEN FROM ASHES TO INHERIT THE NEW WORLD."
- unknown raider
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Burning Baron
This position needs more entrenching.
- Location
- In here, not out there.
Can confirm. Flagstaff is the California of Arizona. Pretentious hipsters everywhere.
Well, that sucks. I spent a lot of my summer and winter breaks there. I know the hills and the Rim around Payson better than I do Alamogordo. And I live there.
- Location
- That light in the sky with a decaying orbit.
USDA ERS - State Fact Sheets
Arizona is 26% farmland.
1,261,894 acres of crops
23,240,467 acres of pasture
https://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=AZ#tabs-4
Energy wise Arizona will be able to support itself, though some rationing may be needed.
Arizona is a producer of coal and nuclear materials, and has plenty of coal power plants as well as a nuclear power plant. Arizona also gets a significant amount of power from solar power stations.
Arizona is 26% farmland.
1,261,894 acres of crops
23,240,467 acres of pasture
https://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=AZ#tabs-4
Energy wise Arizona will be able to support itself, though some rationing may be needed.
Arizona is a producer of coal and nuclear materials, and has plenty of coal power plants as well as a nuclear power plant. Arizona also gets a significant amount of power from solar power stations.
- Location
- Great Khanate of Scotland
- Pronouns
- She/Her
The problem is that 1 million acres is not enough to feed 6 million people, especially when you consider that most of that is poor soil quality and thus low-yield, requires massive irrigation to function (once the water management system breaks down it's Dustbowl 2: Return of the Dustbowl), and a lot of it is actually growing things like cotton instead of food crops. Also consider how many citrus fruits we grow, which aren't great as a staple crop and take up a lot of land and water compared to, say, corn. Basically, expanding the existing agricultural land is a really labor intensive task, one that the Emergency Government couldn't get around to trying before it collapsed messily.
Speaking of, that's not even getting into the fact that the main thing that killed the Emergency Government wasn't outright starvation but the collapse of the social order in the Sun Corridor. Once they lose control of the situation there, there's no energy, no food, no water coming in. Those people are all dead the minute the Emergency Government can't patrol the streets.
Arizona has two (2) coal plants, both are in the area now controlled by the "Northern Government", and as we saw they cut ties with the Emergency Government early in the crisis. Why that is, we will soon see.
I haven't mentioned the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station yet, but it was smack in the middle of the Dead Zone, where refugees from the Sun Corridor were spilling out into the farmland around the Gila River. The maintenance crew held out as long as they could but the food couldn't last forever, and the plant was abandoned before having a rather unfortunate meltdown about a year into the crisis. A good stretch of land downwind is now quite irradiated, with cancer rates there noticeably higher, if there were any doctors around to notice.
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- Location
- East Coast
I know this will sound awful, but thank God for a ISOT which notices that rather than having a carte blanche to start building an empire, most such places would have a shitload of problems that would need to be solved before the dying started, many of which would not be in the time needed.
Burning Baron
This position needs more entrenching.
- Location
- In here, not out there.
He's correct. The amount of actual yieldable farmland is little. Mostly due to the environment of Arizona. It's either too dry, too rocky, too mountainous, or combinations thereof. For example, the Salt River that runs through Phoenix wouldn't output enough water to feed the population of Tuscon for long, mainly due to the poor amount of water. It's only a few feet deep, and not that wide. The flow is dismal. Not to mention it was routed around the city a long time ago, because reasons, I guess. The same goes for other areas, such as Roosevelt Lake, for example. The water is used for irrigation, but only in the valleys it feeds from and to. Taking it too far elsewhere would harm the water table.
And these are areas that have now been reduced to ash, which means even less safe water, and less farmland than there currently is. The Mogollon Rim is approximately 342.5 kilometers from the Mexican border. It's also about the median of the state itself.
- Location
- Great Khanate of Scotland
- Pronouns
- She/Her
There are dozens of factors that make the water unsafe, from sewage backing up into the water supply to industrial facilities breaking down to the radiation, to bodies left to rot in the canals or lakes.
Second-biggest riparian system in the state and half of it was poisoned for over a year.
I will admit, that's basically what I wanted to do. There are plenty of ISOT scenarios where the main characters get lucky with brilliant leadership, all the supplies they need to not just survive but become global powers (!), and avoid any unfortunate spoiled harvests, outbreaks of fatal diseases, or infighting, aside from a few bad guys just large enough in number to make for some good conflict. In the more realistic ISOT stories, they survived by the skin of their teeth.
So what if they...didn't?
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Chapter 1.1
- Location
- Great Khanate of Scotland
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Chapter 1: The Arizona State Government-in-Exile
This report was commissioned by the Arizona State Government-in-Exile, currently claiming to be the only legitimate successor to the Emergency Government of the State of Arizona, which itself arose from the State Government back in the Old World. This claim is recognized by nobody outside the area controlled by the Government, but as the leadership does intend to eventually return to the ruins of the state of Arizona and re-establish their proper authority, they are expending significant resources in sending an expedition to assess the state of things now that five years have passed since the evacuation. This is a fact-finding mission, and no small amount of resources are being put into it. I find it an honor to be chosen for this task, a recognition of my considerable abilities, though of course credit is also due to my security detail, diplomatic attaches, and the local guides who guided me across the ruins of this state.
Perhaps it will be of use to describe who I am, as the author of this report. A journalist by trade in the Old World, I was possessed with no small amount of luck, and found myself on a flight out of Sky Harbor during the airlift that evacuated the Emergency Government. While I have my own story of chaos, survival, and forming a new life, so does everyone else that is alive today, and in any case I am not being paid to write my memoirs.
It will suffice to say that I am Rebecca Valdez, an investigative journalist for the Government-in-Exile of the State of Arizona, 26 years old, and at one point in my life a political activist.
Perhaps it will be of use to describe who I am, as the author of this report. A journalist by trade in the Old World, I was possessed with no small amount of luck, and found myself on a flight out of Sky Harbor during the airlift that evacuated the Emergency Government. While I have my own story of chaos, survival, and forming a new life, so does everyone else that is alive today, and in any case I am not being paid to write my memoirs.
It will suffice to say that I am Rebecca Valdez, an investigative journalist for the Government-in-Exile of the State of Arizona, 26 years old, and at one point in my life a political activist.
***
This is, perhaps, the riskiest step in my journey, for the simple fact that it may end my expedition before it even begins. There are some in the Government who would prefer not to take too close a look at themselves, but I feel that no exploration of the current nations that descended from the state of Arizona would be complete if any one were omitted. Again, my own views are not necessary to record here, and I hope that the words of my interview subjects will speak for themselves.
***
I meet Sharon Williams in her apartment in the re-purposed bulk of a 747. She guides me into the sitting room, complete with a bookshelf and a table with chairs. We sit by the tiny window that looks out over the fields as she pours me a cup of tea, made from ground sunflower shells.
I like to think we've done rather well. Survivalists were able to point out certain local plants and herbs that were useful to cultivate. And as you can see we have...housing, of a sort. Creature comforts go a long way.
My father was a commercial pilot. That's probably the only reason I'm alive right now, but there you have it. We made it to Downtown before all the roads were shut down, and well, my father knew...people in the government.
I don't remember much of what happened afterwards. There was so much chaos in those first few days, after we made the water landing out in the bay, and the rafts ferried us all to shore, people panicking and holding on to whatever luggage they had. I was clutching my grandfather's old shotgun, he fought in World War 2...
[What were the main concerns at first?]
Food. Everyone, everywhere, was worried about food. We only had what we could take on the planes, and then after we had the foraging and hunting parties...the L.A. Basin had plenty of mule deer in those days, and the waters were stocked with fish, untouched.
We didn't have to worry about shelter. They were able to beach most of the planes, it damaged nearly all of them, but we didn't have any jet fuel so it didn't matter. We used what was left in the tanks for cooking and heat.
[What about you?]
I had been working on an engineering degree. I was helping with the electricity, the steam. Designing, not...
My father was one of the pilots. They were all promised certain...comforts, after the airlift. Housing, rations.
[So you weren't doing mechanical work?]
No. No, that was for the others. The mechanical crews, the refugees.
She rubs her hands together. Unlike many, her hands are free of callouses.
[So what about after survival was assured?]
Clothing, transportation, and the establishment of more permanent infrastructure. And the survival of the political order.
The Emergency Government wasn't as big as it had been at first. For one thing, it hadn't originally involved the whole state government. Certain factions, certain segments, weren't let in on the process. It was decided that some of them were more liabilities than assets. For another, various leaders of the military, police, and national guard were placed on the Emergency Council.
[Do you know how those decisions were made?]
No.
Then there was attrition. It was especially bad among police and military, during the riots and then the mutinies later on. A lot of people were lost en route to Sky Harbor.
I know people said there was...intentional...
She trails off.
So the Emergency Council was formed after the airlift. After that, we took stock of our personnel. Most of the leadership were elected officials or a few upper-level bureaucrats, and the bulk of our "civilian" base were police, soldiers, national guardsmen...and staffers, people like that. And the plane crews.
And all their families, of course. Those that could make it to the airport, a few military units tried to keep the freeways open as long as possible...
And the refugees, on those last few planes. I...don't know who made that decision. There were rumors that it was soldiers acting on their own initiative, and not acting on orders of the government. I wouldn't know.
But...look, after the crisis, we needed to focus on building an agricultural base, and a manufacturing base, and maintaining continuity of government. And most of those refugees were...unskilled labor, desk workers or whatever. And usually not very fit. That's when labor classes were implemented.
[Can you elaborate?]
So like, you had Class A, leadership and management, then Class B, skilled labor, and that included enlisted officers, then Class C, unskilled labor. I was Class A, the mechanics who built my designs were Class B. That was the smallest of the three.
Class C, that included most of the military, we set them to work digging and planting and carrying things. Everything was manual labor in those days, nobody was fitting a backhoe onto a plane, not with the holds stuffed with emergency rations and stuff.
Sorry, I'm getting a little sidetracked. What do you want to know?
[How was it decided who would join the Emergency Council?]
Well, like I said, most of the unskilled labor, they didn't have the necessary education either, so we didn't trust them. There were military men on the Emergency Council, but there was a lot of re-organization among them, and that was all internal. Officers being promoted or most of the rank-and-file being discharged to work in the fields. The military has three permanent seats, you know, one is the General of the Armed Forces, one is the Chief of Police, and one is a civilian seat chosen only by the two of them.
Sorry, getting ahead of myself there.
So the problem the Emergency Council had was finding the right people and putting them on the Council. And so it was decided that they would select their own members.
[No elections?]
No time. The Class C workers were all busy trying to bring in the harvest. And...think about the problems. The only people that would be able to "run" would be Class A anyways, and...well, who would the military vote for other than their own officers? No, it was better to have the leadership decide who would join their own ranks. Then, the council would elect their own President. Nice and neat.
So when some of the older members of the council died off, that was when the first new blood was brought in. So many of them were old men, and rations had been tight for everyone, the stress...I'm surprised some of them made it that long.
She laughs nervously and clears her throat.
[You mentioned your father had influence.]
We were...wealthy in the Old World. He knew people in government, he'd...contributed to their campaigns.
It was just luck that most of the surviving government was made up of one party...they dominated the state, there were more of them anyway, and...
[Did they feel your father was qualified?]
Of course! They chose him because they knew him well, they knew his temperament. Wouldn't you prefer someone you worked with all your life?
She looks out the window. Workers are tending to the fields of sunflowers and cotton. She sips her tea.
[When he passed away...?]
She glares at me.
My father was the President of the Council. I'd been near government as long as he was on the Council, they knew me too. And I'd been management before that. I don't see why anyone should question it.
I congratulate Sharon Williams on her recent election to the Executive Council, shake her hand, and make my departure.
I like to think we've done rather well. Survivalists were able to point out certain local plants and herbs that were useful to cultivate. And as you can see we have...housing, of a sort. Creature comforts go a long way.
My father was a commercial pilot. That's probably the only reason I'm alive right now, but there you have it. We made it to Downtown before all the roads were shut down, and well, my father knew...people in the government.
I don't remember much of what happened afterwards. There was so much chaos in those first few days, after we made the water landing out in the bay, and the rafts ferried us all to shore, people panicking and holding on to whatever luggage they had. I was clutching my grandfather's old shotgun, he fought in World War 2...
[What were the main concerns at first?]
Food. Everyone, everywhere, was worried about food. We only had what we could take on the planes, and then after we had the foraging and hunting parties...the L.A. Basin had plenty of mule deer in those days, and the waters were stocked with fish, untouched.
We didn't have to worry about shelter. They were able to beach most of the planes, it damaged nearly all of them, but we didn't have any jet fuel so it didn't matter. We used what was left in the tanks for cooking and heat.
[What about you?]
I had been working on an engineering degree. I was helping with the electricity, the steam. Designing, not...
My father was one of the pilots. They were all promised certain...comforts, after the airlift. Housing, rations.
[So you weren't doing mechanical work?]
No. No, that was for the others. The mechanical crews, the refugees.
She rubs her hands together. Unlike many, her hands are free of callouses.
[So what about after survival was assured?]
Clothing, transportation, and the establishment of more permanent infrastructure. And the survival of the political order.
The Emergency Government wasn't as big as it had been at first. For one thing, it hadn't originally involved the whole state government. Certain factions, certain segments, weren't let in on the process. It was decided that some of them were more liabilities than assets. For another, various leaders of the military, police, and national guard were placed on the Emergency Council.
[Do you know how those decisions were made?]
No.
Then there was attrition. It was especially bad among police and military, during the riots and then the mutinies later on. A lot of people were lost en route to Sky Harbor.
I know people said there was...intentional...
She trails off.
So the Emergency Council was formed after the airlift. After that, we took stock of our personnel. Most of the leadership were elected officials or a few upper-level bureaucrats, and the bulk of our "civilian" base were police, soldiers, national guardsmen...and staffers, people like that. And the plane crews.
And all their families, of course. Those that could make it to the airport, a few military units tried to keep the freeways open as long as possible...
And the refugees, on those last few planes. I...don't know who made that decision. There were rumors that it was soldiers acting on their own initiative, and not acting on orders of the government. I wouldn't know.
But...look, after the crisis, we needed to focus on building an agricultural base, and a manufacturing base, and maintaining continuity of government. And most of those refugees were...unskilled labor, desk workers or whatever. And usually not very fit. That's when labor classes were implemented.
[Can you elaborate?]
So like, you had Class A, leadership and management, then Class B, skilled labor, and that included enlisted officers, then Class C, unskilled labor. I was Class A, the mechanics who built my designs were Class B. That was the smallest of the three.
Class C, that included most of the military, we set them to work digging and planting and carrying things. Everything was manual labor in those days, nobody was fitting a backhoe onto a plane, not with the holds stuffed with emergency rations and stuff.
Sorry, I'm getting a little sidetracked. What do you want to know?
[How was it decided who would join the Emergency Council?]
Well, like I said, most of the unskilled labor, they didn't have the necessary education either, so we didn't trust them. There were military men on the Emergency Council, but there was a lot of re-organization among them, and that was all internal. Officers being promoted or most of the rank-and-file being discharged to work in the fields. The military has three permanent seats, you know, one is the General of the Armed Forces, one is the Chief of Police, and one is a civilian seat chosen only by the two of them.
Sorry, getting ahead of myself there.
So the problem the Emergency Council had was finding the right people and putting them on the Council. And so it was decided that they would select their own members.
[No elections?]
No time. The Class C workers were all busy trying to bring in the harvest. And...think about the problems. The only people that would be able to "run" would be Class A anyways, and...well, who would the military vote for other than their own officers? No, it was better to have the leadership decide who would join their own ranks. Then, the council would elect their own President. Nice and neat.
So when some of the older members of the council died off, that was when the first new blood was brought in. So many of them were old men, and rations had been tight for everyone, the stress...I'm surprised some of them made it that long.
She laughs nervously and clears her throat.
[You mentioned your father had influence.]
We were...wealthy in the Old World. He knew people in government, he'd...contributed to their campaigns.
It was just luck that most of the surviving government was made up of one party...they dominated the state, there were more of them anyway, and...
[Did they feel your father was qualified?]
Of course! They chose him because they knew him well, they knew his temperament. Wouldn't you prefer someone you worked with all your life?
She looks out the window. Workers are tending to the fields of sunflowers and cotton. She sips her tea.
[When he passed away...?]
She glares at me.
My father was the President of the Council. I'd been near government as long as he was on the Council, they knew me too. And I'd been management before that. I don't see why anyone should question it.
I congratulate Sharon Williams on her recent election to the Executive Council, shake her hand, and make my departure.
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- Location
- East Coast
...
The amount of awful shit implied in that, on top of the stuff that is outright stated is...
Well, impressive. I'll do a more thorough analysis eventually. Once I'm done yeeshing.
The amount of awful shit implied in that, on top of the stuff that is outright stated is...
Well, impressive. I'll do a more thorough analysis eventually. Once I'm done yeeshing.
Burning Baron
This position needs more entrenching.
- Location
- In here, not out there.
Unfortunately, the choice is this, or anarchy. Besides, not like there isn't a precedent in non-dictatorships. Of course, they can be found in more archaic forms of government. I.E. Middle Ages.
- Location
- East Coast
Technically, it's an oligarchy.
With some very nasty stuff happening quite possibly to some members of the ruling class as the... new blood works it way up.
Chapter 1.2
- Location
- Great Khanate of Scotland
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I meet Casey Smith outside her place of work, a government-owned textile factory. Previously it made clothes and blankets for Pacific Redoubt's citizens, now it is preparing to manufacture textiles for export. Throughout the interview, she drinks from a bottle of grain alcohol cut with orange juice.
I guess you could say I was raised by the government, more or less. No parents, and...well, everyone had to look out for themselves. That's what they told me, anyway.
She takes a drink.
At first they had me watching the other kids. The younger ones, I mean the babies. All the adults were needed, every pair of hands. Building and digging and...stuff. So they put the older kids in charge of the younger ones. You grow up fast like that, and that's what I did. By the time I was fourteen, people my age were being put to work in the fields, the roads. They had me working the loom. Some braniac had worked up a few models, so it wasn't by hand and, well, everyone needed clothes and blankets and stuff. They had the cotton fields bringing in crops by then.
She takes another drink.
And the orange trees.
[Do you enjoy your work?]
I guess? Fuck man, it's work. All day every day. The ration cards keep me alive, pay the rent. You don't work, you don't eat, them's the rules. Rule #1, or whatever. That's what they said when everyone was coming ashore after the airlift and far as I know they haven't stopped saying it.
[Do you think the Executive Council is fair?]
She takes another drink.
What, like the idea? Fuck man, I dunno. I don't remember what the government was like in the Old World, I was ten, for all I know it was the same as it is now.
But...sometimes I hear people talk. The older workers.
Look, man I don't know about voting or nothing. In the early days, when the Emergency Council happened, everyone was too busy working. We didn't even know the Council had been formed until after the fact, it was just shuffling the leadership. Then months went on, the months turned to a year, no changes. They never told us when the first vacancy happened either. By the time everyone realized it was happening behind our backs...
She shrugs.
Everyone had shelter, food, and clothing. After what happened in Phoenix, after the hard work of the first year, that was enough to keep most of them satisfied.
For someone like me, who didn't even know what she was "missing"? Shit.
Besides, even if I wanted all that, I'm just some fucking factory worker. Last time I had any school was the Old World. Not like I know anything about what goes on inside the council room.
[What else do you do besides work?]
Do? Not much else to do. Uh, drink, I guess. Sometimes with the other guys and gals, after work. Sometimes alone...
Music? Yeah, a few people know how to play. Not much in the way of instruments, but it passes the time. I can read, not well, but it's not like anyone brought their own library on the airlift, that's all in the...
She waves off, vaguely in the direction of the government buildings by the beach.
Lots of people tell stories. Some of 'em I half-remember from when I was a kid. Some of 'em are supposed to be about things that happened in the Old World, and fuck if I know what's true. I've been in a plane, I'd believe folks've been to the Moon.
But nah, ain't much time to do any of that, unless it's after work. You put in the hours to pay for food, then a little more to chip in with the rent, then you need new shoes so you work a little more...then you've got to go home and some shit's broken, lucky the guy next door showed you how to fix a broken oven, it still takes a few hours...
Most of the time you just curl up after work without eating. No time or energy left, man.
She takes another drink.
I sometimes ask myself. Why did they leave?
Like, Phoenix was falling apart, I get it, nobody who was staying there was going to live, but...why this setup?
[Can you be more specific?]
Ok, so, like I said, the older workers talk...
All the people in charge...they came over here an set it up so they were still in charge, so there was still a safety net for them. And they brought the rest of us so there was someone to do all the work. And the official line is, you know this is just a Government-in-Exile, they're going back one day to put everything back together.
[Do you think that's possible?]
Probably not. I dunno how big the army is, but our closest neighbor is Yuma, and from what I hear...yeesh. Probably why we're sending them cloth instead of soldiers.
And look, I don't know about any of that. But if they were going to evacuate the Emergency Government from Phoenix, what was the goal? What were they trying to save?
If it was about survival...look, I know Flagstaff shut the door on the government, but you're telling me none of them could've asked for asylum? Sure they would've been put to work like we were, but they'd be alive.
Hell, maybe that's it. Maybe they wanted to save themselves and stay in charge, preserve their status.
...that's what I hear people say, at least.
I guess you could say I was raised by the government, more or less. No parents, and...well, everyone had to look out for themselves. That's what they told me, anyway.
She takes a drink.
At first they had me watching the other kids. The younger ones, I mean the babies. All the adults were needed, every pair of hands. Building and digging and...stuff. So they put the older kids in charge of the younger ones. You grow up fast like that, and that's what I did. By the time I was fourteen, people my age were being put to work in the fields, the roads. They had me working the loom. Some braniac had worked up a few models, so it wasn't by hand and, well, everyone needed clothes and blankets and stuff. They had the cotton fields bringing in crops by then.
She takes another drink.
And the orange trees.
[Do you enjoy your work?]
I guess? Fuck man, it's work. All day every day. The ration cards keep me alive, pay the rent. You don't work, you don't eat, them's the rules. Rule #1, or whatever. That's what they said when everyone was coming ashore after the airlift and far as I know they haven't stopped saying it.
[Do you think the Executive Council is fair?]
She takes another drink.
What, like the idea? Fuck man, I dunno. I don't remember what the government was like in the Old World, I was ten, for all I know it was the same as it is now.
But...sometimes I hear people talk. The older workers.
Look, man I don't know about voting or nothing. In the early days, when the Emergency Council happened, everyone was too busy working. We didn't even know the Council had been formed until after the fact, it was just shuffling the leadership. Then months went on, the months turned to a year, no changes. They never told us when the first vacancy happened either. By the time everyone realized it was happening behind our backs...
She shrugs.
Everyone had shelter, food, and clothing. After what happened in Phoenix, after the hard work of the first year, that was enough to keep most of them satisfied.
For someone like me, who didn't even know what she was "missing"? Shit.
Besides, even if I wanted all that, I'm just some fucking factory worker. Last time I had any school was the Old World. Not like I know anything about what goes on inside the council room.
[What else do you do besides work?]
Do? Not much else to do. Uh, drink, I guess. Sometimes with the other guys and gals, after work. Sometimes alone...
Music? Yeah, a few people know how to play. Not much in the way of instruments, but it passes the time. I can read, not well, but it's not like anyone brought their own library on the airlift, that's all in the...
She waves off, vaguely in the direction of the government buildings by the beach.
Lots of people tell stories. Some of 'em I half-remember from when I was a kid. Some of 'em are supposed to be about things that happened in the Old World, and fuck if I know what's true. I've been in a plane, I'd believe folks've been to the Moon.
But nah, ain't much time to do any of that, unless it's after work. You put in the hours to pay for food, then a little more to chip in with the rent, then you need new shoes so you work a little more...then you've got to go home and some shit's broken, lucky the guy next door showed you how to fix a broken oven, it still takes a few hours...
Most of the time you just curl up after work without eating. No time or energy left, man.
She takes another drink.
I sometimes ask myself. Why did they leave?
Like, Phoenix was falling apart, I get it, nobody who was staying there was going to live, but...why this setup?
[Can you be more specific?]
Ok, so, like I said, the older workers talk...
All the people in charge...they came over here an set it up so they were still in charge, so there was still a safety net for them. And they brought the rest of us so there was someone to do all the work. And the official line is, you know this is just a Government-in-Exile, they're going back one day to put everything back together.
[Do you think that's possible?]
Probably not. I dunno how big the army is, but our closest neighbor is Yuma, and from what I hear...yeesh. Probably why we're sending them cloth instead of soldiers.
And look, I don't know about any of that. But if they were going to evacuate the Emergency Government from Phoenix, what was the goal? What were they trying to save?
If it was about survival...look, I know Flagstaff shut the door on the government, but you're telling me none of them could've asked for asylum? Sure they would've been put to work like we were, but they'd be alive.
Hell, maybe that's it. Maybe they wanted to save themselves and stay in charge, preserve their status.
...that's what I hear people say, at least.
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Zachanassian
Putting the "trans" in Transleithania
- Location
- Crabtown USA
So how many people made it out of Sky Harbor on that last flight? They seem to have made a fairly sustainable society (even if it is fraught with lack of education, lack of opportunity, and listless alcoholism, though that sounds like any number of developing nations OTL) with whatever they could carry on the planes, so I would guess it was a fairly significant number.
Actually yeah, the whole Government-in-Exile/Pacific Redoubt feels like a post-Soviet developing economy. You have economic and productivity growth, but the new wealth is concentrated in the hands of the elites, who mostly consist of the elites from the old system before everything collapsed. As such, most citizens have no opportunities at all and so they fall to alcoholism and despair.
Actually yeah, the whole Government-in-Exile/Pacific Redoubt feels like a post-Soviet developing economy. You have economic and productivity growth, but the new wealth is concentrated in the hands of the elites, who mostly consist of the elites from the old system before everything collapsed. As such, most citizens have no opportunities at all and so they fall to alcoholism and despair.
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- Location
- Great Khanate of Scotland
- Pronouns
- She/Her
People who were solely random refugees were only on the last few flights out of Sky Harbor. There's a few hundred at most.
The majority of Class C citizens were actually soldiers, police, and their families and low-level government workers and their families. They all got lumped in together as "unskilled labor".
Night_stalker
Slava Ukraini!
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Well, this sounds horrifying. A real oligarchy.
- Location
- East Coast
I find the insistence throughout the apparatchik's interview that of course it was simply age that killed off the older members of the Executive Council and oh, yes, there was nothing untoward in her father's death... disturbing in its implications.
Night_stalker
Slava Ukraini!
- Pronouns
- He/Him
To be fair, they are old, have been through a lot of stress, and not really having lots of good medical gear, so it's plausible.
- Location
- East Coast
Oh, yes, and I've no doubt that the first few deaths were undeniably natural. Hell, I've no doubt most of the deaths are technically natural--this is a society that doesn't need to extend effort to purge elderly members, just knock their care down on the priority list, and let things take their course.
Chapter 1.3
- Location
- Great Khanate of Scotland
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Admiral Oliver Grace is the commanding officer at the Pacific Redoubt dockyards. Here, wood, salvaged metal, and experimental steam engines are combined to form the fledgling ships of the Government-in-Exile's Navy. Oliver and I lean against the railing and talk while my transport is brought to steam.
I'm not going to give you any bullshit about "just following orders". Everyone who fired a bullet for the Emergency Government did it because they knew it was the only way they were going to survive Phoenix. From day one, we knew if the Government went down it'd be our heads.
[Was there a sense of us versus them, then?]
Well, yeah. On one hand you had the people in charge, the people trying to hold everything together, and then you had the...the masses, who, yeah they were just trying to survive, but some parts of the city...the cops could've told you that it was already like being in hostile territory.
And people are fucking...dumb, panicky animals, that's from an Old World movie. Even the ones who weren't looting and shit, the normal everyday folks, they wanted to get on with their lives, but how do you do that when your life's been turned upside down?
So yeah, the curfews, the patrols, nobody had any regrets. Even when the first bread riots...sorry "food protests" broke out, and they ordered us to clear the streets, nobody raised any stink.
[What about the mutinies?]
The mutinies came later. That was when shit was getting really bad, people'd picked through the garbage and their pantries, you had rumors about cannibalism, when some neighborhoods had just cordoned themselves off, done a triage...real fucked up shit.
But we still had the military rations, which sucked, and the first pick of the stockpiles, which didn't suck so much.
[First pick?]
Yeah, whaddya want? You keep your soldiers fed or nothing's gonna work. We were on thin as fuck ice in those days. You had mobs attacking food depots, a riot every day, and the patrols were getting sketchy, they'd get hit by civilians with firearms or fucking IEDs - IEDs! In the US of fucking A!
And that's not to mention the bastards, the gangs who'd carved out their own turfs, oh, and the militias. Least the militias did the courtesy of fighting each other, lefties with guns versus skinheads in the streets.
[Is it true that the Emergency Government was planning to abandon certain parts of the city in order to consolidate their resources?]
Without a doubt. Hell, it was already in action before the Emergency Government decided to pull out entirely. Maybe that's why shit fell apart first in those places, maybe it was the other way around.
[Is it true that the parts of the city which were to be abandoned were lower-income?]
Man, what do you think?
[Do you think the Emergency Government acted in the interests of preserving order?]
I think they acted in the interests of preserving the government. Look, Phoenix wasn't gonna work. You had too many people, and not enough food, and the fighting and fires were just making things come apart at the edges. The only thing you could do was go door to door, round up everyone who couldn't work, shoot em, and make the rest work to turn every inch of lawn and golf course into farmland. I don't need to tell you how that would've gone.
[Tell me about the mutinies.]
That was when they ordered us to fire on civilians. When you had protesters - actual protests, not mobs going door to door - demanding more food, more medicine, more what the fuck ever. Before we'd just send the riot police to clear them out, but then they called out the military, ordered us to shoot to kill and, well...
Yeah, there was the mood that we were occupying enemy territory, but they were still people. Scared, hungry people.
Some units did it, of course. Even the deserters shot first. We lost four out of the five platoons that were in that first "firefight". Just vanished the same night, and after that they cracked down on security, officers were given extended powers, field executions and shit for disobeying orders.
The mutinies were worse though, soldiers shooting their enlisted officers, or the officers leading them, they'd shoot down any Emergency Government officials on base and then march out, they'd seize food depots or whatever. A lot of the raiders out between Phoenix and Yuma, they're probably former military or even cops.
God, you even had deserters from the Air Force Base, a couple bastards managed to take off in their fighter jets, and wasn't that embarrassing for the men at the top. Dunno where they ended up, maybe Yuma, might be fucking sky pirates for all I know.
So then we went to civil war levels, and I think a lot of that contributed to the Emergency Government pulling out entirely. We were also starting to get reports of the nasty plagues breaking out, man that spooked a lot of us.
[What were things like after the airlift?]
Totally different mood. After the airlift we weren't in "hostile territory" anymore, and we had families, and yeah food was tight but...shit, we were alive.
The work wasn't worse than anything else we'd done. There was some crime, but hard work and short rations did enough to mute most of that until we started getting results.
He nods towards my transport.
We didn't have any of those actual ships, it was all improvised canoes bringing in fish, but now we can actually start making it a stable part of the food base, which frees up more space for cash crops. Handy, that.
He pauses.
This used to be the LA Basin, you know. 18 million people in the Old World, and when we came down out of that airplane it was miles and miles of scrubland and open oak woods. And now it's, I dunno, shanty towns and salvaged airplanes and farmland. Really surreal, some days.
[What is the military like now?]
Now? Glorified police compared to the Old World. Yeah, we've got the police already, but right now we're more like the National Guard in the Old World, but with a mandatory draft. You don't get paid for it, you just keep your gun in your house, show up to the drills every week, maybe run a border patrol once a month.
He shakes his head.
I don't fucking know what they're expecting, Yuma's got all the hardware, we're all infantry right now. Probably why the trade's so important, they'd rather we be nice and friendly with our neighbors, makes us less of a threat or whatever.
[As an officer, what can you tell me about the Government-in-Exile's High Command?]
Well, first off, understand that I was one of the only enlisted Naval officers who was in Phoenix and was in a position to take advantage of it. It's funny, thought I'd never be of any use except as another gun, and here I am, an Admiral! Admiral of a tiny ramshackle fleet, but there it is.
So I guess as Admiral I'd like to say I'm right up there with the General of the Armed Forces, but no, I answer to him, and isn't that a bitch?
That, uh, that was a joke. I know the General is a hardass, but I mean, so was everyone who made it through.
He clears his throat.
So, anyway, the thing about the General and the Police Chief is that they'd basically done whatever the Emergency Government ordered, after proper advice of course, but things changed after the airlift. Now the soldiers were being lumped in with the other Class Cs, they were...well, they were worried about losing their support base in the general mix. So they basically told the Emergency Council in no uncertain terms that it was the military that made sure they were all alive to be here in the first place.
I was at that meeting. "You need to understand that we still command the greater part of the population outright," the General told them, "And you did permit every one of them to take their service arm with them on those planes."
Well, the old men didn't like it, but the General and the Police Chief were given seats on the Council, instead of answering to it like they did with the Emergency Government. That's when they were able to implement the draft, the mandatory service, all that stuff. Even though we don't share a land border with any other human nation.
The new Executive Council is a lot more supportive of our armed forces.
[What do you think a strong military is necessary for?]
Like I said, man. Keep the soldiers happy or you don't have a state. "Monopoly of violence" they call it. I know things look quiet...not happy, but everyone look busy with their work...but there's a lot simmering under the surface. People still remember the Old World, and you can't stop people from talking to each other. Some of these ungrateful bastards would string us all up if they wanted, hell if it weren't for the guns at their backs a lot of them wouldn't have built the fucking farms that kept them alive in those early days.
You'll find out in those other places, the wastelands and the tinpot dictatorships. Look there and you'll find out what happens when you don't have soldiers.
The ship's steam whistle sounds, and Admiral Grace nods his head.
Speaking of. Your ship's about to leave, miss.
***
AN: I'd like feedback on this one. I'm not very familiar with military matters, being more focused on the political side of things, and recent...IRL events may have colored my thinking as I wrote this. I'm sure there's plenty of things I haven't covered as well, so feel free to ask questions about the Government-in-Exile at this time.
Next: the State of Arizona, "Yuma Government"
I'm not going to give you any bullshit about "just following orders". Everyone who fired a bullet for the Emergency Government did it because they knew it was the only way they were going to survive Phoenix. From day one, we knew if the Government went down it'd be our heads.
[Was there a sense of us versus them, then?]
Well, yeah. On one hand you had the people in charge, the people trying to hold everything together, and then you had the...the masses, who, yeah they were just trying to survive, but some parts of the city...the cops could've told you that it was already like being in hostile territory.
And people are fucking...dumb, panicky animals, that's from an Old World movie. Even the ones who weren't looting and shit, the normal everyday folks, they wanted to get on with their lives, but how do you do that when your life's been turned upside down?
So yeah, the curfews, the patrols, nobody had any regrets. Even when the first bread riots...sorry "food protests" broke out, and they ordered us to clear the streets, nobody raised any stink.
[What about the mutinies?]
The mutinies came later. That was when shit was getting really bad, people'd picked through the garbage and their pantries, you had rumors about cannibalism, when some neighborhoods had just cordoned themselves off, done a triage...real fucked up shit.
But we still had the military rations, which sucked, and the first pick of the stockpiles, which didn't suck so much.
[First pick?]
Yeah, whaddya want? You keep your soldiers fed or nothing's gonna work. We were on thin as fuck ice in those days. You had mobs attacking food depots, a riot every day, and the patrols were getting sketchy, they'd get hit by civilians with firearms or fucking IEDs - IEDs! In the US of fucking A!
And that's not to mention the bastards, the gangs who'd carved out their own turfs, oh, and the militias. Least the militias did the courtesy of fighting each other, lefties with guns versus skinheads in the streets.
[Is it true that the Emergency Government was planning to abandon certain parts of the city in order to consolidate their resources?]
Without a doubt. Hell, it was already in action before the Emergency Government decided to pull out entirely. Maybe that's why shit fell apart first in those places, maybe it was the other way around.
[Is it true that the parts of the city which were to be abandoned were lower-income?]
Man, what do you think?
[Do you think the Emergency Government acted in the interests of preserving order?]
I think they acted in the interests of preserving the government. Look, Phoenix wasn't gonna work. You had too many people, and not enough food, and the fighting and fires were just making things come apart at the edges. The only thing you could do was go door to door, round up everyone who couldn't work, shoot em, and make the rest work to turn every inch of lawn and golf course into farmland. I don't need to tell you how that would've gone.
[Tell me about the mutinies.]
That was when they ordered us to fire on civilians. When you had protesters - actual protests, not mobs going door to door - demanding more food, more medicine, more what the fuck ever. Before we'd just send the riot police to clear them out, but then they called out the military, ordered us to shoot to kill and, well...
Yeah, there was the mood that we were occupying enemy territory, but they were still people. Scared, hungry people.
Some units did it, of course. Even the deserters shot first. We lost four out of the five platoons that were in that first "firefight". Just vanished the same night, and after that they cracked down on security, officers were given extended powers, field executions and shit for disobeying orders.
The mutinies were worse though, soldiers shooting their enlisted officers, or the officers leading them, they'd shoot down any Emergency Government officials on base and then march out, they'd seize food depots or whatever. A lot of the raiders out between Phoenix and Yuma, they're probably former military or even cops.
God, you even had deserters from the Air Force Base, a couple bastards managed to take off in their fighter jets, and wasn't that embarrassing for the men at the top. Dunno where they ended up, maybe Yuma, might be fucking sky pirates for all I know.
So then we went to civil war levels, and I think a lot of that contributed to the Emergency Government pulling out entirely. We were also starting to get reports of the nasty plagues breaking out, man that spooked a lot of us.
[What were things like after the airlift?]
Totally different mood. After the airlift we weren't in "hostile territory" anymore, and we had families, and yeah food was tight but...shit, we were alive.
The work wasn't worse than anything else we'd done. There was some crime, but hard work and short rations did enough to mute most of that until we started getting results.
He nods towards my transport.
We didn't have any of those actual ships, it was all improvised canoes bringing in fish, but now we can actually start making it a stable part of the food base, which frees up more space for cash crops. Handy, that.
He pauses.
This used to be the LA Basin, you know. 18 million people in the Old World, and when we came down out of that airplane it was miles and miles of scrubland and open oak woods. And now it's, I dunno, shanty towns and salvaged airplanes and farmland. Really surreal, some days.
[What is the military like now?]
Now? Glorified police compared to the Old World. Yeah, we've got the police already, but right now we're more like the National Guard in the Old World, but with a mandatory draft. You don't get paid for it, you just keep your gun in your house, show up to the drills every week, maybe run a border patrol once a month.
He shakes his head.
I don't fucking know what they're expecting, Yuma's got all the hardware, we're all infantry right now. Probably why the trade's so important, they'd rather we be nice and friendly with our neighbors, makes us less of a threat or whatever.
[As an officer, what can you tell me about the Government-in-Exile's High Command?]
Well, first off, understand that I was one of the only enlisted Naval officers who was in Phoenix and was in a position to take advantage of it. It's funny, thought I'd never be of any use except as another gun, and here I am, an Admiral! Admiral of a tiny ramshackle fleet, but there it is.
So I guess as Admiral I'd like to say I'm right up there with the General of the Armed Forces, but no, I answer to him, and isn't that a bitch?
That, uh, that was a joke. I know the General is a hardass, but I mean, so was everyone who made it through.
He clears his throat.
So, anyway, the thing about the General and the Police Chief is that they'd basically done whatever the Emergency Government ordered, after proper advice of course, but things changed after the airlift. Now the soldiers were being lumped in with the other Class Cs, they were...well, they were worried about losing their support base in the general mix. So they basically told the Emergency Council in no uncertain terms that it was the military that made sure they were all alive to be here in the first place.
I was at that meeting. "You need to understand that we still command the greater part of the population outright," the General told them, "And you did permit every one of them to take their service arm with them on those planes."
Well, the old men didn't like it, but the General and the Police Chief were given seats on the Council, instead of answering to it like they did with the Emergency Government. That's when they were able to implement the draft, the mandatory service, all that stuff. Even though we don't share a land border with any other human nation.
The new Executive Council is a lot more supportive of our armed forces.
[What do you think a strong military is necessary for?]
Like I said, man. Keep the soldiers happy or you don't have a state. "Monopoly of violence" they call it. I know things look quiet...not happy, but everyone look busy with their work...but there's a lot simmering under the surface. People still remember the Old World, and you can't stop people from talking to each other. Some of these ungrateful bastards would string us all up if they wanted, hell if it weren't for the guns at their backs a lot of them wouldn't have built the fucking farms that kept them alive in those early days.
You'll find out in those other places, the wastelands and the tinpot dictatorships. Look there and you'll find out what happens when you don't have soldiers.
The ship's steam whistle sounds, and Admiral Grace nods his head.
Speaking of. Your ship's about to leave, miss.
***
AN: I'd like feedback on this one. I'm not very familiar with military matters, being more focused on the political side of things, and recent...IRL events may have colored my thinking as I wrote this. I'm sure there's plenty of things I haven't covered as well, so feel free to ask questions about the Government-in-Exile at this time.
Next: the State of Arizona, "Yuma Government"
- Location
- Great Khanate of Scotland
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Pretty much, but there's also a bit of "large numbers of soldiers who needed to be given concessions before they agreed to back the new Junta". They're the Junta's Praetorian Guard, in a very real sense.
We'll get to them very shortly, but Yuma is an outright army-with-a-country. At first they were local military units holding down the area for the Emergency Government, but when the Emergency Government fled the state they decided they would rather be in charge of themselves.
Think "We didn't leave the government, the government left us".
Actually, that's a theme that will be repeated a lot as we visit the other successors to the Arizona State Government.
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