The Nucliad - A 1983 Nuclear Apocalypse timeline

[Rah!?]

The Central West Coast

Map of the Central West Coast in 1994.


In defense of Larry Anderson he really did try his best.

He was an African-American man who was working as a staffer to an Oregon State Senator when the war broke out. With the Oregon Legislature in recess, said State Senator survived and found himself becoming Acting President of the State Senate and then Acting Governor of the Oregon government in Eugene. The Acting Governor appointed one of his staffers as Secretary of State and sent him to Medford as a contingency plan for secondary strikes but seemed to not have given the decision much thought, more concerned about rationing and managing the refugee crisis. But then Eugene ended up the capital of a short-lived Federal Government, before being hit by a secondary strike.



So Larry Anderson ended up Acting Governor of Oregon, and he was completely out of his depth.

One of his biggest mistakes was trying to keep full control of the entire state. Usually during the twilight an emergency government would focus on feeding and controlling a small part of the state, retaking the rest when things stabilized. As Anderson would learn, keeping control of the entire state was costly and also faced resistance from Neo-McCarthyist elements.

Like many of the new ideologies of the 1st Great Crisis, Neo-McCarthyism is a broad movement with differing beliefs but its core component is opposition towards rationing and other things seen as Communist. Emerging from hatred of the Soviet Union for killing millions of Americans, it was quite popular in communities that didn't want to share their food with outsiders.

While it wasn't difficult to pressure a Neo-McCarthyist government close to Medford to cooperate with rationing efforts, it was much harder to do that for local governments on the other side of the state. Anderson's attempts to make a state-wide rationing system hurt its actual effectiveness. Resources were spent fighting rebellious counties and local militias in Northeast Oregon that could've been used elsewhere, and it ended up alienating local governments that would've been friendly to Medford at a distance. Anderson also attempted to influence Northern California. With the Bakersfield government focusing on the South, he organized a meeting of local governments in Redding that created a unified "Association of Northern California" that would work with Medford to handle the refugee crisis and the Twilight.

Anderson's government also faced an issue of legitimacy. This was a common issue during the 1st Great Crisis where due to secondary strikes many of the emergency leaders were just someone who some minor state official had appointed. In Anderson's case he was an unelected official. If his leadership had been more effective or popular this wouldn't have been an issue, but after his mistakes many didn't respect his authority. Considering the rise of the Northwest American Republic it should be noted that racism was a factor in this.

A surviving state legislator in Corvallis and Congressman Denny Smith both opposed Anderson's decisions and wanted him to step down. Denny Smith was one of the few surviving members of Congress, having been in Portland during the start of the war and ending up a refugee [1]. Weary of secondary strikes, he left Eugene when it hosted a brief Federal Government. He recognized the Federal Government in Grand Rapids until its collapse when he laid low for a bit.

Anderson's attempts at controlling the whole state ended when National Guard troops in the Northeast backing him were defeated and pushed back to Bend. Due to the failed rationing efforts, riots broke out in Corvallis and the state legislator there, Darlene Hooley, decided to join the rebellion rather than risk them attacking her. She declared herself Acting Governor of Oregon, at which point Congressman Smith declared himself Acting President and launched a coup against Anderson. Anderson was killed trying to escape Medford, and while Hooley retained control of Corvallis she failed to take Medford.

The Oregon Civil War caused the collapse of the rationing system and widespread starvation in the state. The Medford government - now the Medford States of America - lost control of everything except then a small portion around the capital. Their one advantage was that the new government was recognized by the Association of Northern California in Redding, who then declared themselves the real California state government.

The government had originally been intended to host rationing efforts where Bakersfield couldn't have but had become very corrupt. Its attempts to manage rationing heavily favored the families of soldiers and government officials. This was common all throughout America - people weren't malevolent but wanted to keep their families safe throughout the crisis - but it was a much larger problem in Northern California. The outbreak of the Oregon Civil War and inspired several rebellions against their corruption, so the Medford States of America was reduced to a vertical stretch of land on both sides of the California-Oregon border.


Medford States of America in 1989. Governments that recognized Medford but were de-facto independent are not shown.

In 1989, Acting President Smith died of cancer, having failed to create a new universally recognized Federal Government. Despite having couped his way into power Denny Smith wanted to eventually work with allied governments to restore Democracy, but his successor had different intentions. Through several assassinations, covert deals and some military force he centralized control over allied factions in Northern California, although the three coastal counties broke off. Despite controlling much less territory than other Federal government claimants like the Rocky Mountain States, the land Medford does control is quite centralized and high in population. Medford is currently recognized by the State of Nevada (Yerington), the State of Baja, the Christmas Valley Authority, the Washington Emergency Government, the Utah Emergency Government, the City of Page, and the Nueces County Association.


Factions recognizing the Medford States of America in 1994

After centralizing power Medford has recently launched an ongoing invasion of the Free American Army. The Free American Army was formed from a rebellion of hungry refugees in Chico who declared a government that would liberate all of America. Of course the FAA isn't anything free at all, it turned into a very authoritarian state under the pressures of famine, the Twilight and competing interests. The FAA has been unable to hold serious resistance to the Medford invasion due to their internal division. Plumas County declared independence a while ago and then when the invasion began Butte County also broke off and recognized Bakersfield as a ploy to stop Medford from invading them. Bakersfield is yet to decide whether they'll recognize Butte County back or not.

To the East of those counties is Lassen County, in which the unpopular county government was overthrown by the Police Department with the support of some (but not all) of its people.

As for the other factions, there is a large and strange cult state in Santa Rosa named the Children of the Atom. Atomism is a diverse and varying set of beliefs that probably shouldn't be grouped together, and most can be classified at most as sects of Christianity focused on the survivors of the bombs. However "Atomism" is often stereotyped as maniac cultists worshiping the bombs and ancient satanic gods of death. The Children of the Atom is where a lot of those negative stereotypes come from. To their North is Lake County, where a militia leader "convinced" the county government to elect him Chair of the County Board of Supervisors. Along the Pitt River is the California Anti-Communist Militia, a few Neo-McCarthyist towns that Medford mostly ignores.

The final Californian faction is the Federation of Three Counties. Del Norte, Humboldt, and Mendocino County were the last to break off from the government in Medford, during its attempts to centralize. While having held elections, they still have a serious corruption issue. The Three Counties didn't recognize the State government in Bakersfield as they wanted to keep their autonomy, but when Medford began to expand they needed allies.

The Federation of the Three Counties, alongside Tillamook County and the City of Long Beach, is the one of the only factions in the lower 48 to recognize the Pacific States of America. Pacific trade has boosted the local economy and while still poor, the Three Counties are more prosperous than most factions in the region. There is a growing movement to create a separate "State of Jefferson" centered in the Three Counties. Such a plan would require approval from the Federal Government in Hilo, who would be hesitant on something that would alienate Bakersfield. So it remains theoretical for now.

To the north of Medford is the "True" State of Oregon. In the power vacuum left behind by the decline of Medford various county governments, militias, and refugee groups fought each other. There was at one point a large raiding state centered in Bend which was the most dominant faction in the region until its large Portée Army ran out of fuel. When it collapsed Bend fell to the Northwest American Republic. In Roseburg a militia leader declared himself Acting Governor of Oregon and managed to pressure the various minor factions of Southwest Oregon to recognize him by using the threat of Medford and the Rationalists as a unifying force. However he has been frustrated by being unable to centralize his state despite several attempts, as he can't risk a rebellion lest the Rationalists or Medford take advantage of it to invade.



The factions that recognize the True State of Oregon are varied and often have disputes with one another.

Curry County is a surviving county government that's thinking of joining the Federation of Three Counties. The Coos Authority is a warlord who overthrew the county government, while the Sheriff of Reedsport is what the name says, a group of Police Officers who seized control of the town. The Conway Self-Defense Militia is very Neo-McCarthyist but recognizes the True State for convenience, while the Rogue River Rovers and New Eugene (north of Sutherlin, too small to name on the map) are your typical gangs. The Sanity Army is a survivalist militia led by a 73 year old WW2 veteran who believes it's his life's goal to destroy the NAR.

There's a few minor factions in Southeast Oregon. The Christmas Valley Authority is an alliance of isolated small agricultural towns that recognizes Medford, while Harney County is under the control of a strongman. Lakeview is one of the stranger factions, as it claims to be the true Federal government under the justification that its leader is actually Ronald Reagan [2]. Fake-Reagan claims that he didn't die in New York, and instead traveled to Oregon through a secret tunnel system. Most people consider him to be insane but to be fair Fake-Reagan does look a lot like Real-Reagan. Fake-Reagan has also divided Lakeview and its nearby towns into 50 "states", named after the former American States, with his house being the District of Columbia. His government holds (rigged) elections using the pre-war electoral college system with his 50 "states".

In Northwest Oregon there is the "Rationalist" State of Oregon, originating from when State Legislator Darlene Hooley decided to support a rebellion in Corvallis and declared herself Acting Governor. However after she failed to take Medford and as starvation worsened she was overthrown by the Rationalist Army.

Rationalism is a complicated and sometimes self-conflicting ideology that's probably best covered separately. It has similarities to left-wing ideologies like liberation theology and libertarian socialism but it's also very explicitly anti-socialist and anti-communist. The base concept is that food should be commonly held by the people, an ideal democratic version of the rationing systems of the 1st Great Crisis. It has some other beliefs, that government other than rationing should be very limited and pacifist, with religious organizations given some of the power the government no longer has.

The Rationalist Army emerged as people in the highly populated Benton and Linn Counties became frustrated that after the collapse of the Oregon rationing system many local governments refused to share their food while they starved. The Rationalist Army didn't invent the ideology, like many 1st Great Crisis ideologies it emerged independently in several regions, but they did come up with the name. As people grew dissatisfied with the Hooley's government, the Rationalist Army grew in followers. After Hooley tried to crack down on them they launched a coup and overthrew her.

The "Rationalist" State of Oregon that the Rationalist Army formed is much more radical than other Rationalists due to seizing control violently, but is still somewhat democratic. Elections have been held since 1987 but the Rationalist Party has won all of them in a landslide. There are legal opposition parties, the main one being the Republican-Democrats, but they've never gotten more than 30% of the vote. And these elections are only for the position of Governor, the state legislature hasn't been restored so the governor has no checks and balances, making Rationalist Oregon de-facto a one party state. It's also strayed from its pacifist ideology by quite a bit due to necessity. Originally the Rationalist Army wanted to disband itself after taking power, but then decided that having a defensive army was okay. They then decided that since Rationalist Oregon was the government for all of Oregon, invading other Oregon factions was still defensive.


Benton Hall of the Oregon State University, now the Capitol Building of the "Rationalist" State of Oregon. (the City Hall was damaged by a fire during the riots)

Despite this, Tillamook County in the North has remained staunchly independent. They have used clever diplomacy to prevent Rationalist Oregon from conquering them, first allying with the Washington Emergency Government. Tillamook then recognized the True State of Oregon, and most recently switched their allegiance to the Pacific States of America. They have not held elections claiming that with the threat of the Rationalists it's not safe to do so.

The rest of Oregon is controlled by the Northwest American Republic, which will be covered separately.

[1] Entirely made up by the way, this isn't a case where I've found where someone was on the exact date of the war, unfortunately. Congress had a meeting on September 23rd, and they also and also had a meeting on September 26th, presumably because between those days was the weekend. I can't find mentions of Smith in congressional records of either date, so maybe he was out of D.C then or he just didn't speak those days.

[2] You should remember these guys from the first chapter.

 

[Rah!?]

Heirs - Pacific States of America



The Pacific States of America in 1994

At first glance, the United States of America (Hilo), often called the Pacific States of America, seems like one of the less powerful contenders for rightful American government. Their core territory in Hawaii only has 200k people and their claim to legitimacy is weak. However their true power lies in outside diplomacy.

The nuclear war heavily targeted the island of Oahu where most of the state's population lived, due to it being the headquarters for the US Pacific Fleet. But those outside of Oahu were able to survive the nuclear winter pretty easily through fishing and ranching. While sheer distance limited things, Hawaii was able to take in some refugees from the West Coast [1]. As the Hawaii Legislature was in recess a few surviving State Senators elected a new President of the Senate who became Acting Governor.

The islands also became a place where many surviving American naval forces in the Pacific regrouped, which is why by 1994 the PSA has the most powerful navy of any American faction. In the early days however, some naval officials began to suggest that a state government didn't have the authority to command U.S Navy Ships. This was part of why in December 1984 the Acting Governor appointed two people to fill in Hawaii's empty House of Representative seats, who then selected one of themselves as Speaker of the House, who then became Acting President. This was a somewhat weak claim, as any state government could do this (other than the few states with only one House seat), but it was meant to be a powerless position, only done to solve a few grumblings from becoming a larger issue. Hawaii had no intention of becoming a new federal government.

Politics would change that. Herbert Matayoshi - formerly the mayor of Hawaii County - was the man appointed to be Acting President and he wanted to gain power. While the position was meant to be powerless and Matayoshi had no control of what happened in Hawaii itself, he could conduct diplomacy with foreign countries. He would use this to his advantage, traveling across the Pacific, securing recognition from various nations. He recognized Western Samoa's reunification with American Samoa, recognized most of the newly independent countries in Micronesia, and gifted many of the ships Hawaii couldn't maintain to various countries. All in exchange for trade deals and alliances. The Acting Governor's attempts to limit Matayoshi's power failed due to his popularity and de-jure legal authority, and he ended up resigning. In 1988, Matayoshi held both Federal and State elections for the Pacific States of America, in which he solidified his power, reducing the role of the State government significantly.


Herbert Matayoshi, First President of the Pacific States of America

Due to Matayoshi's diplomacy, the Pacific States of America is a close ally of Australia and the Commonwealth. While the PSA isn't a member of the Commonwealth, they have revived the ANZUS treaty that had been suspended since Australia and New Zealand declared neutrality in the war [2]. The PSA has also conducted diplomacy with former U.S possessions in the Pacific. American Samoa reunified with Western Samoa to form the Independent State of Samoa, and the PSA was fine with letting them go. Guam meanwhile had several U.S military bases so the island was targeted heavily and is now uninhabited.

The Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands was moving towards independence before the war, with its 7 districts unsure on whether to become one united Micronesian state, become independent separately, or stay with the U.S. However the war would prevent that, as Trust Territory's capital of Saipan was nuked, and with America and the central government gone the various districts just ran themselves.


Successor States of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands

The new countries ranged from small democracies to dictatorships but were generally peaceful, with the one exception of the Northern Mariana District. The population outside the island of Saipan was only in the thousands, and couldn't handle the influx of refugees from Saipan and Guam. The region fell into infighting and briefly piracy, before the PSA sent a fleet and took control of the inhabited parts of the islands. Currently they're run as a territory without local democracy. The PSA is yet to decide what to do with the islands long term, and it's part of a larger question of whether to incorporate the Micronesian states or not. The idea of joining the PSA is supported by some in the region, and while various proposals have been made on the topic, nothing concrete has happened yet. Part of the reason is that it conflicts with the proposals for creating a united Micronesian nation that have been revived. Should Micronesia join together as one US state, or should they join as separate autonomous regions, or become one independent allied country?

As for the United States Minor Outlying Islands, they all lacked a civilian population. Johnston Atoll was nuked due to its military base, while some of the others were sold to Kiribati for fishing rights reasons. While Matayoshi's diplomacy was largely focused in Oceania he also secured recognition from East and West Alaska. The PSA's attempts to formalize the split between the two Alaskas resulted in pushback from both and so the situation remains in limbo.

Despite all this, the PSA had no influence in the lower 48. So, in 1991 they launched "the Restoration" and conquered parts of the California coastline from several small warlords. The PSA's land in California is run as a territory similar to the Northern Mariana Islands. However the Restoration was quite controversial in the PSA, as it was costly and many didn't see the point in trying to restore control of the mainland. There were some who wanted the PSA to give up trying to be the American government and just become an independent Hawaii.

So recently, the PSA has shifted back to a more diplomatic approach, enticing the factions on the West Coast with lucrative connections to outside trade if they recognize them. Currently, the Federation of the Three Counties, Tillamook County, and the City of Long Beach have recognized the PSA. But all of these factions did so because they feared being invaded by another faction, which risks the PSA getting involved in an unpopular mainland war.

The State of California (Bakersfield) isn't under threat from another faction and has had a better position to negotiate from. The annexation of parts of California's coastline caused tension with Bakersfield, even if the PSA offered to give it to Bakersfield in exchange for recognition. Both sides are in a situation where they would benefit from recognition; the PSA would gain one of the most powerful factions on the West Coast as its ally while California would gain important trade connections. But the question of who would be in control of a union has prevented this so far. Regionalists in both Hawaii and California fear being ruled by an outside power.

Currently, the PSA's government functions as a Federal government with one state (the places that recognize them run themselves but don't vote in Federal elections), and the Bakersfield government has made it clear that they would want to participate in PSA elections if they recognize them. However, Bakersfield has 5 times the population of Hawaii (and growing), meaning that election results would be completely determined by Bakersfield using the electoral college and almost entirely determined by Bakersfield using popular vote.

With the idea of the Restoration already controversial in Hawaii and California growing its own nationalist movement, neither side is willing enough for a compromise at the moment. Some in the PSA suggest using their connections in Canada - due to the Commonwealth most major factions in Canada other than the Acadian Confederation and the Republic of Canada recognize the PSA as the real American government - to secure connections with factions near the Canadian border.

While Matayoshi won his second term in another landslide, it was less of a landslide than the first election. The Restoration, while still ongoing, is dependent on support from Hawaii, and it wouldn't take much to end the island's accidental Federal Government.

[1] These are a bit different from refugees we've talked about earlier, those refugees being survivors of nuclear attacks who fled cities. These are more people that weren't in a targeted city, and instead fled outside of the Continental United States to escape famine. Because your average city survivor isn't going to have a boat or a plane handy.

[2] There was a lot of anti-nuclear sentiment at the time that caused tensions between Australia in New Zealand. OTL, New Zealand would be suspended from the ANZUS a few years later because of this.

 

[Rah!?]

Alaska and West Washington


The Twilight might have been a lot more devastating in Alaska if there'd actually been anyone living there.

While partially an exaggeration, it is true that with Anchorage, Juneau, and Fairbanks destroyed alongside several scattered military bases, the entire state's population was reduced under 200k people in the initial attacks. So while agriculture was impossible for several years after the war, people were able to avoid starvation through fishing and hunting. It was in some ways a return to the lifestyle indigenous hunter-gatherers had been living (or still were living in the more isolated communities), occurring in both indigenous and non-indigenous communities. The climate shift affected the ecosystem, and it should be clear that many did starve. And in the cold also killed more directly through hyperthermia.

The governor and much of the state government died in the initial strikes, so it was former governor Jay Hammond who returned from his homestead on Lake Clark to Wasilla to declare himself the new governor. While the retired governor was still popular, he didn't have any legal claim to the position of governor. So it was no surprise that a group of state legislatures to the East in Sitka declared their own rival state government. And so formed the East-West Alaska division

Both state governments decided to take this up with the then Acting President, Robert Taylor. Taylor likely didn't understand the situation that well, but he did send a vague statement back saying that both state governments should cooperate and that both had a legitimate claim as long as they helped their people. The result of that message, even after the destruction of Grand Rapids, was that while both claimed to be the real state government both East and West Alaska continued to be rather friendly to each other and focused on their individual region. This worked well as a system as it avoided a power vacuum being left in one of the regions.

The government in Sitka, "East Alaska" has been much more prosperous than the West. They faced much less unrest, able to maintain rationing efforts amongst the small population of the Alaskan Panhandle without too much difficulty. The only issue was when Annette Island Indian Reservation refused to recognize the authority of East Alaska. They then invaded Annette Island and forcibly disbanded the native government. East Alaska has not yet held elections, and they are run by a group of pre-war state legislatures. While the Pacific States of America and as a result most of the Commonwealth hasn't picked a side on the East-West Alaska dispute, the Skeena-Queen Charlotte Regional District has recognized the East as the true Alaskan government.

West Alaska however, faced major difficulties. The Matanuska-Susitna Borough had a high population density by current Alaskan standards, especially after the influx of refugees from Anchorage. Acting Governor Hammond made the decision to abandon the region temporarily, moving the State capital to Kalifornsky on the Kenai Peninsula. He also made the controversial decision to seize stockpiles of food and take them south which left Matanuska-Susitna worse off than it had been before. The locals felt (rightly) that they had been abandoned by their state government and declared a third Alaskan government in Palmer.


Map for reference

The Palmer government launched an invasion of West Alaska, which after brutal winter fighting was repelled. The conflict continued for the next few years, with Palmer raiding and destroying a West Alaska-allied government in Glennallen. Eventually the Palmer government collapsed into infighting, allowing West Alaska to retake part of Matanuska-Susitna. Their advance has been hampered by the locals still disliking them. Part of the Palmer government lives on, and after West Alaska recognized the PSA they declared themselves to be an independent Republic not part of the U.S.

West Alaska also controls Kodiak Island. Unlike the East, they did hold elections, when Hammond retired. Many of their actions have left them with a negative reputation, but they are the largest democratic faction in Alaska.

There had already been contact between Hawaii and Alaska in the previous years through trade, so when Acting President Matayoshi of the Pacific States of America sought out recognition both Alaskas were open to the offer. It was the fear that their rival would secure recognition before them that resulted in both Alaskas being so friendly with the PSA. In a continuation of the strange cooperative rivalry, both Alaskas recognize the Pacific States of America. The PSA also recognizes both as being rightful controllers of their side of the state. Their attempts to turn the two separate governments into the two states of East and West Alaska have received severe pushback, however. While they might cooperate, both Alaskas consider themselves to be the true Alaska and aren't going to give that up.

Other than the two state governments, there are many minor factions in Alaska. A large chunk of the state's interior was part of the Unorganized Borough, which lacked local government, and those areas that did have boroughs were small in population. So there's a bunch of small factions led by whoever was charismatic enough to take power during the collapse.

The town of Cordova runs itself semi-democratically but is rather hostile to outsiders. They do not recognize either Alaska. Valdez had an unpopular city government overthrown by a militia leader. The Copper River Census Area was originally run by an expanded government of the town of Glennallen before being devastated by raiding from Palmer. The current government is more of a loose alliance of towns.

The town of Tok is run by a strange figure known as the "Man of Miracles of the North". He claimed to be able to heal people's illness with just his touch and gathered a large following to take over the town. Delta Junction meanwhile was the site of an attempted agricultural project by the Alaska State government before the war. While agriculture was impossible for several years, stockpiles from the previous years' harvest went a long way in the small town, and it's one of the more prosperous inland places.

A survivalist militia led by a man named Jacob Emmons controls a few towns in Denali Borough. Lake and Peninsula Borough is run by a small isolationist government that recognized West Alaska until they held elections. Lake and Peninsula's leaders feared losing power so they refused to hold elections and declared West Alaska illegitimate. The Dillingham Emergency Government meanwhile is a small dictatorship and their allies.

The westernmost parts of Alaska and the United States as a whole were the site of warfare with the Soviet Union. Soviet troops launched an attack on the Aleutian Islands during the first weeks of the war, which America responded to with a counterattack that took back the islands. This was during the period where some semblance of a united American government remained, and the troops in the Aleutian Islands continued to administer the region following the orders of Acting President Watt and Taylor. They even annexed the Commander Islands from the Soviet Union.

And even when America fully shattered, the soldiers in the Aleutian Islands continued to administer the region in the name of a non-existent commander-in-chief. The Aleutian Islands Military Administration, as it's known, faced an issue of conflict between outside soldiers and the native population. The difference wasn't there from the start, many of the troops that make up the Military Administration are soldiers that were stationed on the islands before the war and retreated during the Soviet attack. But a disparity emerged, as the military administration forced conscription on the native Aleut population out of fear of another Soviet invasion.

This unpopularity has limited the military administration's power, and why the Alutiiq Nation resisted attempts from the Military Administration to take over their region and still remains quite hostile. They recognize the West Alaskan government, as a result the Aleutian Islands Military Administration rejects both West and East Alaska's claims to legitimacy.

To the north there are more native governments, as the region here was isolated and with a small white population the weak boroughs were replaced by traditional authorities. The Yup'ik Nation is the largest one of these. They recognize both West and East Alaska in a similar way to the PSA but largely run themselves, through a semi-democratic system that's a mix of American reservation governments and traditional Yup'ik kinship structures. The Koyukun Nation functions similarly albeit at a much smaller scale.

The Village of Venetie is somewhat similar, although they recognize the authority of both the East Alaskan government and the Gwich'in Nation in Canada. Speaking of Canada, the village of Eagle on the border is run by the town of Dawson City, which has expanded to be essentially a Hän Confederation.

There are two native factions to officially declare independence from the United States. The First, the Yupik Republic, is a small dictatorship that controls St. Lawrence Island and the Diomede Islands. An ambitious local leader took control of the region with the help of the Chukotkha and some (like the Yup'ik Nation) consider them to be a Chukotkhan puppet.

The Inupiaq Confederation is rather different, starting off as an alliance of pre-war local governments. Their reason for independence is simply that they think the United States no longer exists, and that both Alaska's abandoned them to focus on helping the white parts of the state. This view of America not existing anymore while accurate is less common in areas that had a stronger American identity who viewed America and the old world as a precious thing to be preserved. [1]


When the nukes first fell and Seattle and Portland were reduced to ashes, several county governments in West Washington met up to figure out how to organize a response to the crisis. They created the Association of Western Washington, an organization meant to respond to the refugee crisis and follow orders from the new state government in Walla Walla. They set up tents and shelters in Centralia for people fleeing from former cities and tried to organize rationing.

Immediately though, the Association of Western Washington faced infighting amongst the countries that backed it, with some wanting to abandon the project and focus their resources on feeding their own region. This went on and off for a while, until a coup in Aberdeen resulted in the whole project collapsing. But the refugee population in Centralia wasn't content to starve, and as the situation deteriorated there many fled to the coastal regions.

So began a conflict, where armed groups attempted to march to the coast and fought against local police organizations and other militias. At first these various refugee groups were unorganized, but they were unified under the leadership of a man named Vincent Howard. Vincent took control of Centralia, managed to set up agriculture there when the weather cooled down, and then pressured the coastal factions to recognize his rule. Howard declared himself Acting Governor of Washington and set up the Washington Emergency Government. The Quinault Reservation recognized his government simply to avoid having to deal with them, but they largely ran themselves. The Washington Emergency Government is very hostile to Rationalist Oregon, as they used to be allied to Tillamook County and see the Rational ideology as a threat. Because of this common enemy the Washington Emergency Government recognizes and is allied to Medford. They are openly hostile to the PSA after Long Island broke off.

West Washington has three other factions. The State of Olympia was formed by the police government of Clallam County that opposed the Washington Emergency Government and declared the Olympic Peninsula to be its own separate state. Long Beach was originally one of the factions that recognized the Washington Emergency Government before they allied with the Pacific States of America to break off.

The Egg Army is a militia controlling the town of Winlock. A bunch of locals gathered at the World's Largest Egg located in town and made the decision to create the militia to, in their eyes, defend the town from outsiders, hence the name.


The Statue of Liberty and the Golden Gate Bridge may be gone, but at least we have this.

[1] While North Slope Borough has a large non-native population today, this was different before operations began at Prudhoe Bay.