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As the 21st Century wore on, things got worse and worse for the United States. The nation suffered waves of political instability, was ravaged by powerful new medicine-resistant plagues, and endured runaway hyperinflation on a heretofore unknown scale. This chaos spread across the globe, causing disruptions in countries all over the world. Extremist movements that had for over a century been thought extinct or unthinkable seized real power in nation after nation, a tide of radicalism that terrified those untouched by it. The United States's influence waned, its power withered, and its credit on the world stage slowly began to dwindle. Yet despite all of that, the United States endured and seemed set to bounce back.
Enter the separatist movements. As faith in the government declined, more and more groups began to distance themselves from D.C. at the time the nation could least afford it. This political fracturing, following the government's weakness from the prior crises, was what doomed the country. Chief among these separatists, the single group most responsible for the nation's collapse was the Northern Confederation, based in the old State of Maine.
Backed by a domestic terrorist organization and supported by aid from a newly-prominent Russia, the NC exploded out of the faltering United States, ripping it apart from the inside and dooming the country. Swiftly falling under radical control, they instituted a brutal, oppressive regime to keep their population in line. With foreign support, they embarked on a series of interventions targeting other hopeful successor states to the United States which saw the rest of the country fall under chaos and foreign influence. Riding high on their successes and secure in the backing of their foreign masters, the Northern Confederation celebrated their new dominance over the North American continent. In honor of their unthinkable victory, they chose a new name, styling themselves as the nation of Victoria.
Today, Victoria reigns supreme over the ruins of American civilization by virtue of being the last man standing. Backward, totalitarian, and inefficient, they remain viable only due to the backing of their Russian masters, serving as a jump-off point for Russian interventionism. Still, it has for years been enough. After the first round of successor states was destroyed, Victoria and their masters have been able to keep any new challengers from rising to the point of being able to challenge the new order.
Until now.
Russia's conquests have stalled as the general chaos declines, their opponents reorganize, and their new conquests begin to stir uneasily. Victoria, for the first time since before its creation, stands alone as Russia's eyes turn elsewhere, and Victoria is not up to the task of ruling alone. As Russia's grip slackens, the various fragmented states scattered across America begin to lift themselves up and take stock. Victoria's time as uncontested master of America has passed. All across what once was the planet's superpower, people rise to their feet and prepare to take back their home. The traitors who laid America low in its time of need will be called to account, and the madness that has gripped the world will cease. Victoria has ruled with chaos and terror as its tools for decades, but now their victims are ready to strike back. It will be a long and hard struggle, but the people are ready. The darkest times have passed, and now, Victoria will fall.
In the chaos of the United States' collapse, all of North America went to hell. As Russia egged on its long-time rival's disintegration, Canada and Mexico were both caught up in the chaos. Fractured states of varying levels of organization span the continent. That said, there are a few places that have made it through the chaos and now stand ready to take back their homelands...including your own.
You are:
[ ] The New California Republic: The Pacific Republic formed in and around California in the days following the USA's collapse, and it swiftly drew Russian attention. They promptly funded a Northern Confederation intervention which saw your country forced to accept humiliating peace terms, making you an effective Russian client. Your government has changed more than once, and now you are the New California Republic. Nowadays, you control the old State of California and bits of Nevada and Arizona you've been able to reach along the old interstate highways. With the master's grip slackening of late, your people sense an opportunity. You are the largest and most organized state on the continent, aside from the hated Victorians. With Russia's eyes increasingly on their own borders, the time has come for you to rise up and take back this land for your people.
Nuclear Power: Many old caches of nuclear weapons survived the collapse of the United States, and you had more than your fair share. Russia has taken most of them, but your various governments have managed to keep a few warheads and delivery systems hidden and maintained. Some are even still functional.
Old World Hardware: The old Pacific Republic was the last bastion of civilization to fall, and as such it gathered to it a breathtaking assortment of old American military hardware. You've lost much of it over the intervening years, but you still have a powerful core of the most advanced weapons in the world of their time, for times of dire need.
Big: Aside from Victoria, no successor state lays claim to as much territory as you do. You have land, resources, and population aplenty, and with those things comes power.
Separated: Victoria is on the other side of the continent, and of the Rocky and Appalachian Mountains, from you, and between you and Russia lies the Pacific. These natural barriers give you time and room to prepare before you draw any concerted responses from them.
Client: You are still technically a client of Russia. Much of what you have actually flows west across the Pacific and out of your hands. Precious little returns. Breaking free of them will be its own struggle, and if anything will draw their gaze before you're ready, it'll be you breaking away incautiously.
Uneasy Neighbors: Your northern neighbor is Oregon, granted to Japan by Russia to secure an alliance in the chaos of the American Collapse. Japan is still a Russian ally in containing China these days, and they likely won't be too happy about one of their colony's neighbors suddenly coming over all expansionist. To your south lies Mexico, which is currently in chaos. Catching, and very deliberately Russian cultivated, chaos.
Poor: The war was devastating to your economy and infrastructure, and Russia has had precious little interest in giving you enough leash to properly rebuild. For all your size and gadgets, without significant internal investment, you will prove utterly incapable of waging an extended war.
Separated: The natural barriers which shield you also lock you in with the unhappy neighbors. Nobody's been taking care of infrastructure for the past few decades. If you want to cross the Rockies, you'll need to re-break the trails yourself, either after subduing your neighborhood or while fending off hostile attention.
[ ] Free City of New York: The State of New York may have fallen, but the Northern Confederation never was confident in its ability to survive the consequences of eating so internationally significant a city as NYC. The Confederation's name may have changed, but that reality has not. Consisting of the Old City and the rest of Long Island, the Free City has survived on the edges of Victorian power ever since the fall of the Country, living on foreign aid from Free Europe. That said, it is a life on the edge, one permanently at risk of complete destruction should the Victorians ever choose to squeeze. The situation cannot endure forever. Russia's eyes are elsewhere; New York City must act to break Victoria's stranglehold before the opportunity passes!
Foreign Support: Just because the United States fell did not mean foreign powers lost the interests they held in New York City. Foreign investors remain interested in your success, and your story has inspired large and regular donations from the people of Europe who fight against the Russians' expanding influence. There are many who will act to prevent the Free City from falling.
Wealthy: New York is now all city, a city of finance and trade. As the only free port left in the old US, it is a favorite port of call for outsiders. Even the Victorians must trade with you, like it or not. Wealth flows to the city, and every dollar of it is one less for the Victorians. It is a shadow of what America once knew, but in the world of today, it is splendor.
Fortified: When everything you have rests in one place, you make it safe. The City's islands are protected by water and comprehensive coastal defenses, and the bridges are all rigged to blow at a word. The mainland is protected by defenses more comprehensive than the Maginot Line.
American Legacy: New York City was always an immensely powerful symbol of America. The Statue of Liberty still stands over the harbor, and the 9/11 memorial remains in silent testimony of how strong Americans' memories can be. As the last remnant of Old America, one which never fell, your word represents legitimacy to many.
Foreign Dependent: Some would say that the Free City is as much a foreign puppet as Victoria. That is untrue, but it is true that you are not self-sufficient. You import all of your food; without those imports, the city starves. In general, your entire economy lives on only due to your trade partners abroad, and you must not anger them.
Disarmed: Victoria may have let you live, but they have not let you arm yourself. Whenever you have tried, they have mobilized. It is clear that they will not permit you to become a military power without a fight. You have covertly made some arrangements, but you don't kid yourself; in a war, you would lose.
Legacy of Fear: The Free City had a front-row seat to Victoria's rise to power. From a high view, it's easy to see how Victoria's successes are due entirely to Russia's patronage, but the average person on the street knows them as the superhuman, fate-defying monsters who destroyed the Union and shattered every one of its remnants in turn. Most New Yorkers are possessed of a superstitious fear of the Victorians, and they will not easily countenance a war.
Victoria: You share a land border with Victoria. There is no safety in obscurity; there are no easy targets for you to expand into. Everything you do is directly under their eyes.
At Capacity: The Free City absorbed a huge number of refugees in the American Collapse. Even having taken the rest of Long Island into the City proper, every centimeter of space is fully exploited, and the buildings have grown higher and higher with each passing day. At this point there is no more expansion; if you intend to change something, you need to give up something else.
[ ] Revivalist Movements: Huge swathes of the map these days are left blank for simplicity's sake, but they are not empty. In the Midwest and on the very southernmost tip of Florida, order slowly returns in the absence of the usual Russian boot. You have worked for years to restore that order to your region. Just because no map acknowledges you does not mean you are content to sit back and let history pass you by! In this era of reclamation, you will play your part in casting down the hated traitors who ripped this land apart.
Customizable: Design your own national revivalist movement with a selection of locations, pre-Collapse military stockpiles, contacts at home and abroad, and possibly even a legitimate claim to real authority through old lines of succession.
Obscure: You are not a great power, and few will treat you like one. A canny actor can exploit this and make decisive gains before others can react.
Necessary Drawbacks: Although the potential benefits to you are many and varied, to truly maximize your advantages you will need to accept some serious weaknesses. A movement that chooses to sacrifice nothing will find itself unimpressive indeed when held up to the task ahead of it.
Obscure: You are not a great power, and few will treat you like one. It will be difficult to get people to take you seriously unless you have something impressive under your belt.
Fragile: At game start, you are not necessarily even formally acknowledged as a government by the very people you claim to rule. Where the two main factions are at least established, you will need to start from nothing or even less than nothing.
[ ] The Resistance: Victoria has never had the earnest support of its people. It was born out of a mishmash of bribery, blackmail, and terror. Even now it maintains order through extrajudicial violence and the far-reaching hand of its secret police, the so-called, "Christian Marines." You have lived your whole life under this regime, and you have fought against it for much of that time. You have grown to fear the sound of a Russian voice and distrust the smiles of your neighbors. Still, you fight, and as the Russians' yoke vanishes, you smell a chance. You will be free. You will rise up. Victoria will fall.
Living Nightmare: Test your wits and resourcefulness in a near-hopeless struggle against the full might of Victoria's formidable secret police organization backed by the hand of Russian intelligence. Revel in the joy of playing on Hard Mode.
Desperate Times: Customize your resistance movement's assets and methods with unique and strange upgrades reflecting your movement's desperation.
The Snake's Head: All others face a long and hard military campaign to see Victoria destroyed. You alone have the chance to see the monster slain without resorting to main force, in a decapitation strike.
Knives in the Dark: Poptart shows you what it looks like when they're trying to kill you.
Limited Options: Customization is limited compared to Revivalists, and drawbacks are harsher.
Police State: Victoria's eyes are everywhere, in every citizen. Trust nobody and always be ready for the knock at your door.
No Safety Net: You have your followers, you, and that's it. You fail, you die.
Hated Victorian: The rest of what was the Country does not care for your struggles. They have suffered too much. Even should you succeed, you will have virtually no legitimacy among them.
Mother Bear: Russia's eyes wander, but Victoria is always closest to their hand. You are the first place they will crush if they get the time.
Hey! So, I imagine you're wondering where this came from. This quest is based on the setting of the novel Victoria: A Novel of Fourth-Generation War, by William Lind. In particular, the Victorians are a real faction from that book, and the last one standing by the end of it. The book gets my firm anti-recommendation on every possible axis, but I saw some potential to do something interesting with the setting, so here we are!
The events in Victoria, as described, are roughly to absolutely impossible, so I've had to do some reinterpretation for the sake of realism. I'm working with the lens that the events of the book are the official party line of Victoria's ruling class, as written in memoirs by the protagonist of the novel. They cover up an insidious reality of Russian plotting and absolute Orwellian horror. All you really need to know to engage with the quest is that the United States collapsed after years of trouble left it unable to resist the efforts of a truly vile separatist movement, Canada and Mexico followed in the chaos, Russia and Japan came over all monarchist/imperialist again at some point, Russia was behind it all and currently holds formal or informal dominion over virtually all of North America, and Japan was given the American and Canadian Pacific Northwest as an alliance gift.
If you are interested in my more colorful description of where this quest came from...
The book is a two-part revenge fantasy by the author, getting back at the United States and its society and military for his various career failures. It presents the tale of his darling dream nation, Victoria, destroying the United States and forging his vision of Utopia from the ashes. That said, there are some...issues...with how he goes about this.
Among other things, they are Nazis-in-all-but-aesthetic (those are literally the grounds on which they object to the comparison, and they apparently find it a serious objection), practice open ethnic cleansing, force all African Americans in their territory into sharecropping, unleash super-plagues that kill millions, slaughter tens of thousands of prisoners of war over roughly a week, nuke Atlanta to put down a riot, force the majority of their population into subsistence farming a la the Khmer Rouge, sell themselves to both China and Russia (primarily Russia) through various means, force the Pacific Northwest into vassalage to a resurgent Japanese Empire, burn dissidents, massacre on prime time television with swords all college professors in their territory to musical accompaniment, force women into third-class citizenry, deport all Hispanics, deliberately regress their technology to the 1930s, run a brutally repressive social regime to make their population self-enforce their own oppression, and sell an unknown number of politically undesirable women into sexual slavery overseas. They single-handedly finish off the United States and make it their business to aggressively infiltrate, subvert, and dismantle any other successor states that threaten to stabilize. And they're the protagonists. We're supposed to find them objectively and absolutely good.
The book is implausible, hideously offensive to virtually every group under the sun, and poorly-written to boot. It presents a group of, "heroes," who are monsters by any conceivable definition save the book's own. It is also profoundly strange. I have no idea why an alt-right writer's no-holds-barred nationalist wet dream includes a Russian guy named Dimitri there as a representative of the Tsar being constantly on-hand to advise the upper echelons of government, wielding immense diplomatic influence in aid of shared interests...but there he is. This quest is an effort at holding this excuse for a book up to the light. Lind disgraces my chosen profession with every heartbeat that this book goes on existing, and this quest is my way of setting things right by dragging something worthwhile out of that disgusting aberration he saw fit to set to paper.
For those who have read the book or are otherwise familiar, we're taking advantage of how unbelievably credulous and gullible the protagonist of the book comes over as well as the book's memoir framing device. For our purposes, Victoria is a party-line propaganda piece that John Rumford, the protagonist, writes in the waning years of his life. I take the events as described in the book to be the paper-thin propaganda stretched over the insidious reality of the Tsarist aid making every step of Rumford's journey possible. Crucially, Rumford is not himself aware of the full reality of things.
For those who have not read the book and do want a fuller background than I've provided, I recommend @Coiler's excellent read-through thread of the book, over on SB, both for Coiler's own commentary and the lively discussion between each read-through post dedicated to eviscerating the book.
Victoria Falls will be devoted to the tale of the American Remnant's attempts to reorganize and cast off the Victorian boot. Your journey will be defined by your efforts to gather resources, evade destruction, and slowly establish yourselves, all leading up to a climactic clash with the Victorian regime to determine the fate of North America. Should you succeed, the quest shall turn to the matter of how or even if the continent should return to its pre-war state, even as you turn to the larger issue of Victoria's distant Russian masters.
Thanks to SB user Forum Viking for letting me borrow some setting details he originally used! I hope you all enjoy what I'll be doing with the setting of Victoria, folks. I'll be adding in rules and other information over the course of the day. Keep your eyes open, and have fun!
This quest has the players controlling the President of the Commonwealth of Free Cities, in the capacity of said President's official duties. We use a homebrewed system, unlike the Paths of Civilization-style civ quest template or the popular CKII quest template.
Turns are six months long -- either Spring-Summer, or Autumn-Winter. I'm using a very abstracted system here. It runs on Action Points (AP), which are an abstraction of money, worker hours, physical resources, motivation, and anything else you might conceivably throw at a project.
You spend AP on actions. You roll a d100 for every AP invested to an action, against the DC set for that action. Any roll which scores higher than the DC (not equal to) counts as a successful AP. Each action requires a certain number of successful AP to complete. Some will require just one, but larger projects will require more. Some actions will limit how many AP you can have invested at any given time; this represents bottlenecks in the action which you can't circumvent by throwing more resources at the problem, such as time or lack of qualified personnel entirely. Any successes you score for an action, even if they are not enough to complete it, are stored, and your progress towards that option remains. If the players score more successes than is needed to complete an action, the action completes with extra effects determined by me. There are no critical dice rolls in this system; a nat-100 is simply a very high roll, and vice versa. I may sometimes decide to celebrate a high roll with some additional effects, but it'll usually be in the form of part of the expected result happening before the action fully completes, or just a nice bit of flavor text.
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For example: Option A has a DC of 35, requires two successful AP to complete, and has a limit of 3 AP that can be invested in it. The players choose to invest as many AP as possible, up to the limit of three. They roll three times, once for each invested AP. They score a 12, a 24, and 72, only one of which is higher than 35 -- rotten luck. They have only one success, and Option A does not complete. The following turn, Option A is present again, still with the same DC and AP limit, but now requiring only one successful AP to complete, as the players have already scored one success towards it.
You have various action categories, representing various kinds of things your government is responsible for handling. I started with reskinned CKII categories, since I was used to working in them, but have added to them over time. Presently the categories represent various administrative departments of your government, including Defense (military affairs), State (foreign diplomacy), Domestic Affairs (internal politics), Development (economic development and management), Security (intelligence), and Technological Recovery (reversing the decline in national technical capability). These action categories have their own AP allotments, and these AP must be spent within their own categories. Separately, however, you have a pool of free AP which you can invest wherever you like. Each turn, you form plan votes to determine how you assign AP. You cannot bank AP for future turns; you must use your entire allotment each turn.
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For example: The players have three free AP and two AP per action category, granting them a total of 13 AP. Therefore, to be valid, any plans they submit must have at minimum two AP per action category and must total up to 13 AP in total. If the players are focusing on federating many nearby powers, they may choose to invest as much as possible towards diplomatic actions, putting the minimum two in all other categories while putting all of their free AP in Diplomacy for a total of 5 AP.
Characters do not have stats in this system, as we are not using the CKII system. Instead, characters are one of many factors that contribute to the DCs I set for your actions. Resources under your control -- characters among them -- lower action DCs and render them easier to pass. For instance, if I would ordinarily be tempted to assign the action, "Begin full-scale production of F-35s," a DC of 100, but if the players recently came into possession of the entire military-industrial complex of the pre-Collapse United States, I would feel moved to cut the DC to something more achievable to reflect the fact that the players actually have a snowball's chance in hell of achieving this manner of madness. Similarly, if they had any characters on staff who would have reason to be an expert in the matter of producing fifth-generation aircraft, I would lower the DC to reflect their expert assistance. Do not try to game this by flooding me with NPC proposals for experts in really obscure but useful fields; I just won't use them.
Emergency Powers
Mechanically speaking, the first four turns of the quest were played with the office of the President enjoying vast emergency powers, during a period where the Commonwealth of Free Cities was acknowledged as being under imminent and existential threat from Victoria. This entailed vast constitutional authority to direct the powers and institutions of the state to the war effort. However, narratively, the Presidency is subordinate to the Commonwealth's Congress, and serves at their pleasure.
Starting Turn Five, with the Erie War ending in a massive victory and the short-term threat from Victoria thoroughly ended, emergency powers will be expiring.
What this will mean is that the President's role will shift somewhat, away from being the chief director of the government to being the executor of the Congress's will. The PC will still, ultimately, be the one directing the resources of government to achieve various aims, and they will be an active agent in the attainment of their goals, but to a much greater extent, they will be carrying out directives from the Congress. Your actions will be bound by what the law dictates. By the same token, the law can offer powerful tools to help you achieve your ends. Fundamentally, though, the President is not the one who makes laws. Congress is. To have influence over that process, you must engage with Congress.
The way this will mechanically shake out is that the Congress will, throughout play, be debating and passing laws. The players will be the ones responsible for executing those laws. The PC must execute laws passed by Congress. Failure to do so can lead to replacement by a new PC, who will lock in actions to execute that course of action. Laws can also restrict available courses of action, or expedite certain ones, either raising or lowering DCs. It can also simply lock out certain courses of action, unless you do them clandestinely, and feel quite secure in your ability to evade Congressional oversight committees -- itself a roll against a DC that varies based on the strength of Congress's control over your office. This is fairly high, at the start of things.
The players can interact with this process. The President is not a passive actor in government. In fact, by their very nature, they will be one of the foremost political voices in government. You can dedicate actions -- usually via the Department of Domestic Affairs -- to having allies in Congress introduce legislation you prefer or attempting to sway votes on legislation in progress. Nothing is guaranteed, of course; these are rolls like anything else, and they generally will have time limits. Furthermore, be wary of fighting legislation that Congress really wants -- when the President fights against the body that can select -- or remove -- them, it could mean the end of their career. Fundamentally, the Commonwealth's Presidency is shaped by the national trauma of this quest's America, where the Collapse began with Donald Trump bumbling around with tools he could not begin to understand, much less control. The CFC's President cannot battle with or ignore Congress, secure in their position as being accountable to the electorate, and then only every four years. Instead, they serve at the pleasure of Congress, and may be removed if they act against Congress's wishes.
Emergency powers change this by allowing the President to unilaterally act to deal with the crisis of the day. However, it is not up to the President to call a state of emergency. The President may request a state of emergency, but the decision lies in Congress's hands. Congress may declare a state of emergency at any time, but there are strict limits. To declare a state of emergency, Congress must specify the exact nature of the emergency, what specific factors they believe are presenting an imminent and massive threat to the Commonwealth or its people, and what constitutes a resolution of those factors. The state of emergency, legally speaking, expires once all of those factors are resolved. The state of emergency from Turns One to Four was characterized as an existential threat to the CFC's states structures and its people in the form of imminent military invasion by the Victorian Army. The success condition was characterized as an end to Victoria's ability to militarily threaten the CFC. While this was originally envisioned as establishing a stable defensive strategy Victoria could not overcome, the complete annihilation of the Victoria Army as an institution was also found to qualify.
In the event of a conflict regarding whether or not a state of emergency has expired, the judiciary will mediate the dispute.
Military Affairs
Warfare will obviously be a part of this quest.
Here is how battle rolls will work in this quest. We're using a very simplified system, relative to my other quests. In those quests, I enjoy dramatic swings, so I use dice rolls, d50s or d100s. Here, I want a more methodical approach that rewards forethought and planning, while still acknowledging random chance.
So, here we roll d3s.
Going into a battle, I tally up the various factors at play and assign each factor a point value. Favorable positioning is a point. Fortifications are one point or several, depending on who built them, what materials they had, and how long they had to work. Low supply is negative points, which increase exponentially over time. Then into this, one side rolls a d3 when they take an action. If they get a one, things went poorly for them. They get only one point. If they roll a two, things went about as well as could be expected. They get two points. If they roll a three, things went very well, and they got lucky. They get three points.
This means that it's much more productive to plan carefully and ensure that you've selected a favorable battle to fight before committing to a war; as in real life, the war is most often won in the factories and the government offices before the fighting even starts. However, things can always go wrong, and even an assured victory can sting. The ultimate goal is to beat your opponent's score. A tie results in advantage going to the side with initiative, although it will not be without drawbacks.
Customization Rules
With the creation of the Commonwealth of Free Cities, these rules are now obsolete.
Congratulations, you've chosen the Revivalist start! This kind of faction allows you to customize your strengths and weaknesses according to your preferred playstyle, giving a lot of control over the shape of your fate.
It also means you have some hard choices to make.
We handle customization via the distribution of customization points (CP). You start the process with a certain amount determined by the upcoming vote, and once we've handled that, you select from the below lists any combination of traits you like, as long as the final CP total is greater than or equal to zero.
Military
One of the most vital functions of a Post-Collapse state, and one so easy to mess up.
Old World Hardware (-1 CP): Much was lost in the Collapse, some of which made its way into your hands. Over the years, you have managed to maintain a small stockpile of Pre-Collapse American military hardware, and enough supplies to deploy it. Be it for eventual reverse-engineering or a tactical doomsday weapon, you have it. Can be taken multiple times. Each time grants a body of hardware large enough to auto-resolve in your favor one tactical engagement. Five uses before you can't supply it anymore. Few troops these days are trained to use this type of gear, so intense use may burn through multiple uses.
Foreign-Sourced Equipment (-1 CP): You have acquired a patron willing to source you military gear. It's the old stuff, so it's only a little superior to the stuff Victoria's masters give them, but you have a reliable source of supply. May be taken multiple times. Provides enough hardware to engage Victorian-quality forces at an advantage in one tactical engagement. Unlimited uses as long as you maintain the connection. You are indebted to a foreign power.
Old World Soldiers (-1 CP): The Country's military might have collapsed, but soldiers don't have much of a reputation for going down without a fight. Some units of the old military have survived years of being hunted by Victoria, and although their frontline soldiers are now their officers, they've ensured that standards haven't dropped. Somehow, you have won the loyalty of one of these units. Still maintaining the standards of the Old World, and the veterans of hellish survival conditions, they are the finest soldiers in the world, today. Gain the services of a U.S. Army Combined Arms Battalion, quality 5/5 (Veterans). They are large enough to deploy to a tactical engagement. They have internal standards and procedures to replace manpower but operate on your supply lines. Finally, these troops have at least the theoretical training to use Old World Hardware without burning multiple uses in intense engagements.
Brown-Water Navy (-2 CP): While your river access is somewhat problematic in this day and age and the Great Lakes are only variably accessible, your capital nevertheless rests on a major confluence of riverine trade routes, and if you hope to reestablish control of them, you will need a force up to the task. You have a navy capable of operating in rivers and the Lakes' coastal regions and designed to operate with your current resource limitations. Incompatible with, "No Navy." Compatible with, "Green-Water Navy."
Green-Water Navy (-4 CP): A small group of Coast Guard vessels escaped up the Great Lakes Waterways to Chicago during the Collapse, hoping to find stability. They've been laid up in dry dock for years, but they and their crews served as a valuable source of information and insight in building your own vessels. You have a navy capable of operating in the Great Lakes' deepest and stormiest regions. If you can find fuel for them and repair them, you also have four Legend-class Coast Guard cutters (their aircraft have broken over the years) in dry dock, waiting to sail again. Incompatible with, "No Navy." Compatible with, "Brown-Water Navy."
Old World Training (-2 CP): Those veterans who managed to muster out of the military are all dead or old by now, but they're still willing to serve. You've put them to work training enlisted recruits and officer candidates. The things your trainers have to say about your troops aren't fit for print, but it's better than what most successor states have. New troops start at quality 2/5 (Trained) rather than 1/5 (Green) but take somewhat longer to train. Mutually exclusive with, "Incompetent Military."
Professionals Study Logistics (-3 CP): The greatest general is as useless as their troops if they're all starving. You have made special efforts to establish a dedicated logistics corps within your military to ensure that it always has what it needs. Your military has the best logistics on the continent, which, granted, says very little. Still, the advantage is decisive. You have broad power projection and can simply outlast most opponents absent devastating defeat. Mutually exclusive with, "Shattered Logistics."
Incompetent Military (2 CP): Your soldiers are untrained; your officers are unqualified. You managed to win your home, but you have no confidence in your ability to hold it. New troops start at quality 0/5 (Worthless) rather than 1/5 (Green) but train virtually instantly.
Shattered Logistics (3 CP): You have no unified logistics structure, and all of your troops are equipped by their home constituency. The result is an unstandardized and inefficient mess with virtually zero endurance. You are utterly incapable of waging offensive war against an even slightly organized power, and even on the defensive, you tire quickly. Severely limited power projection and low strategic endurance. Mutually exclusive with, "Professionals Study Logistics."
No Navy (2 CP): Your waterways are blocked, your immediate neighbors incapable of mustering themselves to organized action. What need have you of a navy? Saving costs, you decline to establish a naval military branch. If you take neither this nor any other navy action, you default to Victorian-inspired boat technicals.
Diplomatic
Your strengths as a state in negotiating with and managing the attention of others.
Revivalist Connections (-1 CP): You have established yourself as a leader for Revivalist organization across the Midwest, and have many favors and admirers on which to call. You may lower by 30 the DC of up to three actions targeting fellow Revivalist movements across the American Midwest.
Domestic Connections (-1 CP): Your leading government has learned much of politics in the process of forming, and many officials within it hold favors they can call in to grease the gears of governance. You may bypass the need to consult the Legislature on three actions of your choice.
Established (-2 CP): You have broad recognition as the legitimate government of your region. Your neighbors and a few more distant powers recognize your legitimacy, as do your own citizens. If you do not take this, then at game start the Chicago Congress is ongoing and the Accords have yet to be signed; you control Chicago proper and nothing else, and will need to invest actions into completing the Congress. Failure to do so has dire consequences, both for trying and failing to found a nation in the international spotlight and for making me go through government creation pointlessly.
Good Reputation (-1 CP): Your government is skilled at manipulating public opinion, and has offices specifically trained in interfacing with the media. You are insulated from public opinion loss due to failures or disasters.
Restart the Machine (-2 CP)(UNIQUE): Chicago has always been a city of corruption and backroom dealings. The Collapse has interrupted that a bit, but with dedication and effort, you could ensure that it always will be. The leading party gains special insulation from loss of power despite lacking any legal provisions for such and has broad leeway to act without regard for the composition of the Legislature. In the event that you lose power, high-ranking officials will jump ship to the new victors and swiftly reestablish themselves. It's great, having friends. Of course, there are costs to being the continent's corruption capital...
Hostile Neighborhood (1 CP): You have gained a lot of territory in a very short period of time, and your neighbors are nervous. Your presence has an admirably unifying effect on them; if only it wasn't against you. Your neighbors are suspicious of you and will readily unite into a coalition to contain you, should you resort to military force in order to expand.
Victorian Attention (2 CP): You have gained Victoria's notice, and they are aware of the threat you face. You will face Victorian intervention at some point during turns 1-4.
Russian Attention (3 CP): You have miscalculated the extent of the Bear's distraction. They know of you and the threat you pose. They are coming. You will face Russian intervention at some point during turns 1-4.
Fringe Elements (3 CP): The far left and right are displeased with their defeat in the Chicago Congress, and with the support of their more radical members, have taken to...creative...means of gaining power. You start play with two active Communist and New Capitalist resistances.
Intelligence
Secrets are important in building up a nation in this setting. All the world shall be your enemy, it often seems, and if they catch you, they will kill you -- but first, they must catch you.
Ear to the Ground (-1 CP): You have made the effort to seed networks of friendly ears across the Midwest to carry rumors to your ears. It's not much, but it's something, and more than most can claim. You begin play with the beginnings of a foreign intelligence service. Mutually exclusive with, "Disastrous Start."
Good Security (-1 CP): Ever-mindful of the threat Victoria poses, you've been careful to ensure that your nation is well-protected against intrusion. Your counter-intelligence is strong and your secrets are secure. It would take focused effort from a formidable opponent to break into that you choose to secure. Mutually exclusive with, "Compromised."
Aerial Reconnaissance (-2 CP): The Air Force is gone, its assets dispersed, destroyed, or largely worthless without fuel. However, the insightful may still gain inspiration from what is left behind. You, in particular, had a brainwave stemming from their Predator drones, and have turned a part of your limited industry to the task of emulating them. You have a force of electric, remote-controlled camera drones for discreet remote reconnaissance. They're short-ranged and unsubtle compared to their inspiration, and even what was once the realm of children's toys is a serious and special strain for your industry to produce, but it's significantly more than anybody else has, or is prepared for.
Resistance Contacts (-2 CP): Victoria's people have not had their spirit stamped out. Victoria does a good job of keeping their hand around their subjects' throat, but you know better. It all started with a quiet meeting on the side of a broken highway, with a young man with fiery eyes. You have made contact with the leader of the Victorian Resistance, and he at least kinda trusts you. You have a relatively secure line of contact.
Compromised (1 CP): Secrets you attempt to keep inevitably find their way into the wrong hands. It seems as though you have not been able to keep a lid on things in years' time. It's clear enough what happened. Somebody came calling; somebody talked. You have an informant or several informants in your government passing information to foreign intelligence agencies.
Disastrous Start (1 CP): You tried to establish a network of informants among your neighbors. Tried. While your name remains clear, you failed, and your neighbors are now on guard against a second attempt. Not only do you have no proper foreign intelligence service, your neighbors are highly resistant to your intelligence actions.
Victorian Sympathizers (2 CP): Inevitably, some look at Victoria's successes and decide that the best response is emulation. You do your best to purge these fools as they appear, and your sedition laws give you plenty of room to root them out the moment their loyalty appears to waver, but...it hasn't. These are genuinely patriotic and loyal citizens, utterly convinced of the Revivalist cause...who simply happen to be massive neo-fascists. You have sympathizers of Victorian ideology in your government. They are, as of yet, loyal, but they still represent a massive security risk.
The Greatest Sin (3 CP): Suspicious deaths abound in government offices. This goes beyond simple informants. Somebody with access to the highest levels of government is or is abetting an assassin in wreaking havoc in your government. Every turn, a random government official will need to make survival rolls until you stop the assassin.
Economics
Chicago was always a city of trade. It is much reduced these days as a direct result of no longer being one. With time and effort, it will be again.
Independent Merchants (-2 CP): Few things have been as constant throughout history as trade, and even the Collapse has not fully put paid to that. In addition to your (default) state food purchases meant to feed your population, Chicago is the unofficial hub of a network of independent trading captains, plying what they can of the waterways. It is small, and it is fragile, but it is there. Commerce has not stopped entirely; your income is 50% higher at game start, and while many things are expensive, you can procure at least one of any kind of trade good.
Rail Companies (-2 CP): Infrastructure has broken down in the Collapse. In the absence of enough funding to focus on roads, you have turned your attention to railways. You have set up several companies responsible for constructing rail lines across your territory. Rail companies subject to strict state supervision are hard at work building rail lines across your territory, both between population centers and within the larger ones. By Turn 3, you will have a complete, albeit not comprehensive and certainly not modernized, internal rail network.
Widespread Vaccinations (-3 CP): What remains of the Midwestern medical industry has spent its time wisely since the Collapse. Relying on the goodwill of what traders remain, a small group of doctors has devoted themselves to producing vaccinations and dispersing them as widely as possible. Your population is 60% inoculated against common diseases, and you have the (fragile, vulnerable) beginnings of a pharmaceutical industry. Requires, "Independent Merchants."
Efficient Bureaucracy (-3 CP): Cursed by many as they were, the old bureaucratic institutions of the United States were what allowed it to function as it did, and bureaucracy, in general, is essential to the functioning of a modern state. You have ensured that yours is capable of handling the challenges demanded of it by this latest expansion. Begin play with a proper census, established taxation structures, and all of the manifold other things that go on in the boring background of governance.
Outbreak (2 CP): All of your precautions have failed, and now disease runs rampant in your territory. You begin play with an active, endemic outbreak of particularly lethal influenza, source unknown.
Disunited Currency (3 CP): Dollars were worth precious little even before the Collapse. In the aftermath, local governments took to issuing their own currency or else falling back on barter, in the worst cases. In your case, Chicago actually has a reasonably stable and healthy currency around which your nation has agreed to gather, but that's in the future. For now, you are faced with having to integrate dozens of petty currencies and a wide practice of barter. Your money situation is exceptionally bad. You have significant work ahead of you in getting things back together and functioning properly.
Population Boom (2 CP): With news of the Congress spreading, people have been flocking to the cities under your control! This is terrible. You barely had enough food to feed your population as it was! Now, you face the possibility of having had your population expand drastically, only to immediately collapse into a massive famine. Food supplies have collapsed under a population boom. Take drastic measures to address the situation or face mass die-offs.
Import/Export Professionals (1 CP): It happens in any large city, and in one as new as yours, it's only surprising that it took this long to get this big. Smuggling has reached almost record highs even counting the Prohibition period in the city of Chicago, and the organized crime scene centered around the trade is growing out of all control. Smugglers catering to your massive and needy populace have sprung up in the City of Chicago, feeding a crime wave.
Technology
Much was lost in the Collapse, and much was deliberately destroyed afterward by the Victorians. If America is to reclaim its place, it must recover what has been ripped away.
Libraries (-2 CP): The first repositories of knowledge are, it turns out, the last places to have fallen to the chaos of the Collapse. While many were lost, many more survived, and Chicago, in particular, has taken a name as a haven for such institutions and the knowledge they hold in the aftermath of the Nazis' expulsion from the city. You have collected the contents of libraries from across the continent as their keepers desperately seek a safe place for them. You have ready access to a massive amount of information, and enough books to support a large slice of your population in literacy.
Universities (-2 CP): The professors went into hiding after what that bastard Kraft did to the Ivy League. That said, with the Accords having been signed, the learned intellectuals in your region have begun to come back into the light. You have a significant population of experts on hand from pre-Collapse universities.
Well-Preserved (-1 CP): While widespread looting was an issue during the Collapse, a surprising number of samples of old technology made it through and have found their way into your hands. Reproducing them is beyond you at this point, but you do have quite a lot of old products and blueprints on hand to reverse-engineer once you have managed to properly reindustrialize. Significant caches of pre-Collapse technology have fallen into your hands. Mutually exclusive with, "Empty Spaces."
Empty Spaces (1 CP): Your lands were stripped bare during the chaos of the Nazi uprising. Much has been lost, never to be regained, and now you face a long climb back to the top without assistance. Virtually nothing survived the Collapse, and you find yourself starting from very near to scratch.
Technological Conservatism (3 CP): While the wonders of the old Country are a powerful motivator for your people, they have nevertheless lived decades in a world where, "old," usually meant, "completely inexplicable and prone to malfunction at odd moments." They are distrustful of new technology and will approach its adoption with caution at best. Your population has picked up an anti-tech prejudice over the years.
Crossed Wires (2 CP): At some point, somebody learned something wrong, and that wrong fact passed into common circulation. Somehow, it has avoided being challenged since, and now you do not even know that a falsehood underlies your learned class's assumptions about how the world works. The Collapse has caused your body of engineering knowledge to warp. Your current engineers have a gap in their knowledge which they backfilled with assumptions. You will not know what this is until it explodes in your face, nor will you know in any more detail than, "engineering," to what this gap pertains.
And finally:
Nuke (-5 CP): Many things were lost during the Collapse. Some have been found again. Through some working of influence, you have found something. Some-fucking-how, you have laid hands on a functional B-83 nuclear warhead, the largest nuclear weapon in the United States' arsenal. Just the warhead. It's strapped to a semi. No delivery system included with purchase. This is not a case of Schrödinger's warhead; the nuke exists. If you do not pick it up, the nuke moves on...and finds another master. Best to grab it...if you can afford to.
Legacy
Legacy -- formerly Legitimacy -- is how credible your claim of being an American successor state looks. More or less, it is the question: "How much do you resemble the popular memory of the United States of America?" Radical departures from old American ideals obviously tarnish your image as a successor. As a Revivalist movement rather than an established faction, you begin with -2 Legacy (it'd be worse if you were Resistance, because hoo boy). In general, Legacy is something I compare between factions; it comes into play when people are trying to decide what they think of you.
The faction with the highest Legacy (currently you) is the benchmark; anybody short of that is viewed as meaningfully less of a successor of the old USA. This, incidentally, is why New York City at quest start was the favorite charity case for old American allies but gets nothing from the rest of the world; old allies liked how things were when America had a pulse, and they want to keep the thing that most resembles it around. In case of future revival, you know? Meanwhile, the rest of the world doesn't remember America fondly enough to care to invest in a city squatting under a sword of Damocles.
That said, Legacy is most useful to a strict Revivalist faction. If you actually want to build something intensely different from the old system, low Legacy is beneficial to you over the long term, assuming you go about this remotely honestly. Low Legacy means that people let go of some of their preconceptions. You clearly aren't a USA successor, so nobody expects you to act like one. While it also means some will be inclined to see you as illegitimate usurpers, it clears your plate of having to play a part you may not necessarily want to play.
Neutral Legacy, which in practice is, "Less than the frontrunner's, but not critically so," means that, as a faction, you really just fail to stand out. You're another faction emerging out of the chaos. Neither the old Country born anew nor some radical, (potential) dark mirror of Victoria.
I wouldn't recommend trying to game this too hard; Legacy shifts constantly as other factions make decisions, and given the nature of the system, the value of a single point of the stuff won't stay stable. It's meant to quantify your polity's RP comparative to others', not serve as a super-crunchy stat. That said, at game start, FCNY led the rankings with Legacy 9, and Victoria was the bottom finalist with Legacy -12.
As far as Legacy has mechanical effects, it happens at higher levels. Any faction that hits Legitimacy 25 gains international recognition as the rightful successor to the United States of America, gaining free casus bellis on all territory once held by the former United States. Low Legacy does not have a similar threshold, but again, it's better if you intend to build something different.
Legacy is not impacted by how much of a bastard you are. For instance, couping Central American governments or committing genocide against Native America populations does not net you Legacy. That said, attempting to make meaningful amends for the old United States of America's wrongdoings will absolutely lose you Legacy. Not because it is uncharacteristic of the United States -- although it is -- but because doing so is a very public and pointed reaction against the actions of the Old Country, and therefore distances you from it. So, being genuinely fair and egalitarian towards people of all demographics within your territory, being an honest and cooperative diplomatic partner -- no Legacy loss. Making gestures to rectify or give reparations for wrongdoings committed by the United States, especially in ways that will actually impact your core population -- Legacy loss.
Population: 17,492,832 +/- 800,000, with an estimated 2,500,000 non-citizens, as of Turn 5: Spring 2076.
Legacy: 10
Centered around the City of Chicago, the Commonwealth of Free Cities is a centralized federal state. There are some limited powers accorded to member states, but administration is concentrated in the federal government, and powers not explicitly accorded to the states default to the federal government. It contains a bicameral legislature known as the Congress. The upper -- and substantially weaker -- house is the Senate, with representatives elected by member states. The stronger, lower house is the House of Representatives, which elects its members at large, from party lists. The President is appointed by the Congress and can be recalled in a vote of no confidence. The judiciary is federal-only, and judges are approved by the House.
Maps
Continent Map
The situation as of game start. Brown is for fascist. And also Victoria. Capital is Augusta, Maine.
Lavender is for the Mexican Revivalist movement, which at the moment takes the form of a loose league of city-states making extremely cautious moves towards federation as Russian squashing continues to fail to materialize. They have no capital, but Mexico City is the foremost among them.
Green marks Russian clients or territory. Panama, with the same old capital of Panama City, is an outright puppet regime. It is a relatively stable and heavily-militarized state which lives and dies on its ability to control trade through the Canal. Puerto Rico, with its capital of San Juan, is dependent on Russian food imports and is generally collaborationist as a result. Alaska was annexed whole cloth despite weathering the initial chaos admirably, and now is held under tight and direct Russian control. It is now administered from Anchorage, the pre-Collapse capital of Juneau having been ceded to the Japanese. The NCR, of course, is under an extremely unfavorable peace treaty. Always under the lightest hand of Russia's sphere of influence, they've been making moves to distance themselves from their master, of late. Their capital has moved several times over the years; it has just moved to San Francisco.
Red indicates the holdings of Imperial Japan. Japan keeps these disunited and small, with no one state meriting special notice of its own. While it does extend into the mountains, its reach there is weakest -- entirely nominal, in some areas. The recognized center of Japanese occupation is Seattle.
Purple is the nascent state forming in Miami. Reports are confused. You know that it's something very stridently democratic, but rumors differ from one week to the next as to whatever's happening down there. It's still a ways off, though.
The tiny smudge of blue sticking into the ocean off of Victoria's southern border is the Free City of New York. It controls the modern city's boroughs and also the rest of Long Island.
And the orange is you, the Commonwealth of Free Cities! Your capital is Chicago. You are presently the preeminent power in your neighborhood.
The blanks spaces are areas where administration is unsettled or too unstable for mapmakers to waste time on. This chaos is Russian- and Victorian-encouraged...but with Russian eyes elsewhere, it has been waning. The blank spaces on the map will soon be filling in...
Map of the Country
Courtesy of @EBR, and the primary map we'll be using for this quest! Have a link to a version which zooms in. The colors are meant to categorize the different factions. Yellow is the Commonwealth, dark yellow is fellow Revivalist factions (ranging from dedicated Revivalists a la Fort Wayne and the Kansas Coalition to nominal Revivalists like Minneapolis), brown are former members of Victoria's sphere (ranging from full-on Fascists like the Michigan Militia Corps Wolverines to generic city governments like Cleveland), green are democracies/vestigial pre-war authorities, grey are un-ideological warlords and criminal gangs, and orange is weird/miscellaneous like Volk's theocracy, or the "elective dictatorship" in Marquette.
Politics
The internal makeup of your polity's political scene.
Ruling Coalition: Commonwealth Progressive Party (Social Democrat, 33%), Popular Commonwealth Progressive Party (Socialist-Social Democrats, 21%), Christian Socialist Party (Socialist, 15%). 69% share of Congress.
Left-Wing Opposition: Commonwealth Farmer-Laborer Party (Socialist-Communist, 20%), Commonwealth Green Party (Socialist-Social Democrat, Environmentalist, 1%). 21% share of Congress.
Right-Wing Opposition: Unreconstructed Democratic Party (Social Democrat-New Capitalist, 6%), American Constitutional Restorationist Party (New Capitalist, 2%). 8% share of Congress.
Miscellaneous Opposition: American Leadership Party (Executive, Centrist, 1%).
Diplomatic Relations
Diplomatic agreements you have made with other nations.
Victoria
[X] Erie War Peace Treaty
-[X] War Reparations Clause, Acquisitive: +5
-[X] Artifact Reclamation Clause +5
-[X] War Guilt Clause +5 DC
-[X] Militia Clause -5
-[X] Prisoners of War Clause, Delayed -10
-[X] War Brides Clause, Exchange +15
-[X] Free Migration Clause +30
-[X] Johnson Doctrine Clause +10
-[X] Foreign Aid Clause +15
-[X] Annulment Clause +25
-[X] Hostile Neutrality Clause -15
-[X] Seaway Clause, General: +50
-[X] Free Trade Clause +20
-[X] Lakes Access Clause: -20
Description: A lean, sharp-eyed woman in her mid-fifties, Goldblum is part of the very last generation of Americans to have anything resembling a normal childhood before the Collapse hit in full fury. She has a very long, bitter list of memories of everything that has been taken from her and hers. Her entire adult life has been an extended, organized, carefully planned exercise in militancy, in hopes of one day avenging everything on that list. It shows. Her hobbies include gallows humor and bomb design.
Biography: Born in Kenosha, Wisconsin in 2019, Sara graduated from high school shortly before the onslaught of the Wisconsin Nazis reached its peak, devastating her home. She herself was interned in their Oshkosh concentration camp, from which she escaped along with her confusingly named high school friend, Sara Johnson. Sara and Sara soon joined with an anti-fascist guerilla band, and not long thereafter became accepted into its leadership. From there, the formation of the Wisconsin Iron Brigade is a matter of history, as was the sequence of events by which Sara Johnson ultimately became de facto mayor of Chicago with Goldblum as one of her trusted military advisors.
Family: Sara's immediate family died in various sweeps, purges, and targeted killings by the Wisconsin Nazis. After the War on Nazis, she married fellow guerilla George Plains. Plains transitioned into socialist political organizing, publishing, and broadcast radio after the war. The couple had two daughters, Chaya and Layla. George died of tuberculosis in 2058.
Political Affiliation: American Leadership Party, one of the less-than-handful of delegates elected to the Chicago Convention on that platform. Consistently outspoken on defense issues, consistently willing to abstain on almost any contentious domestic policy issue that doesn't obviously relate to veterans' affairs and/or killing Victorians.
Jerzi Liszt
Name: Jerzi Liszt
Political Afilliation: Social Democrat/Socialist
Age: 35
Bio: Trans man committed to a lifestyle of educating local militias in the art of combat. Low-tech preference, out of pragmatism. Has a child.
Isabella Castillo
Name: Lieutenant Commander Isabella 'Bella' Castillo Political Affiliation: Commonwealth Farmer-Laborer Party (Soc/Com) Age: 32 Bio: Born to refugee parents who fled to Chicago during the Collapse, Isabella is one of the officers of the Commonwealth Navy which sets out to patrols the riverways and coastal waters of the new polity. She is a devoted member of the CFLP's neighborhood organizations, though she believes strongly in keeping the military and its officers apolitical when on duty--it's her duty to defend all of the Commonwealth's citizens, regardless of who they vote for and making her political preference obvious when in uniform is unconscionable. Recently promoted to Lieutenant Commander, she is the executive officer of one of the riverine gunboats that have been collected into the naval forces of the Commonwealth.
Her parents fled from New England during the occupation by Victorian forces. Her father, an enlisted man in what had then been the US Coast Guard was triply despised by the Victorians for being a representative of what they saw as a weak and decadent government, being of Dominican descent, and for being a Catholic. Her mother was a teacher and prominent member of the teacher's union in Boston before the descent into chaos and blood. Growing up first on the road and then in the area of Chicago, Bella was reared on the stories of what the Vickies had done to Boston and on the idea that perhaps things could be better again.
Isabella found radical politics at a young age, vowing an almost rabid hatred of the Vickies and their politics. Community was an important factor in the survival of her family during the hard years and as a teenager she spent much time working with her father fishing on the Great Lakes to help supply her family (including two younger siblings) and neighborhood with food. Her parents, both in their 70s now, are supported by their children and were proudly some of the first in line to support the vote to form the Commonwealth.
Despite her nominal Catholicism, she is openly and loudly queer (perhaps in part to flaunt the parts of her that Victoria hates) and so is also heavily involved in the LGBT+ community in the fledgling Commonwealth. When ashore she lives with her partner, a worker at the Raccoon Stoveworks.
D. Lucia Ferrigno
D. Lucia Ferrigno, Esq.
Background: Maine native, highly unwelcome in Victoria, escaped to the Midwest and has integrated into the local legal field.
Politics: Independent.
Personality: Lucia is what one might expect when one hears high-powered lawyer, save for the red trenchcoat and fedora she favors, more as a uniform of who she is than anything else. She is good at reading a room, good at quickly going through prodigious amounts of paperwork (having no intern or paralegal for that), good at spotting lies and possessed of a silver tongue. That said, she's not a particularly proud individual and will do what jobs she has to in order to make ends meet (before she rose to her current position as representing "the Law", she was a private investigator for a time, then a negotiator). Above all, she is ruthlessly pragmatic, and believes in laying down good foundations that others can build on. For while having the trappings of justice are important, having substance behind it matters more. And if the Commonwealth falls because it placed style over substance, because it is not willing to do what is necessary to lay that foundation, well...it wouldn't be the first time she's seen something go down that road.
David West
Name: David West
Background: A New Yorker by birth and a California by upbringing, David West spent most of his young adult life in "progressive circles" on both East and West Coasts of America. The son of a former editor from the New York Times and a senior reporter from the San Francisco Chronicle, he's a journalist by blood alone. David would, in fact, become a reporter and journalist for the Wall Street Journal and reported on several major events that took place during the mid-21st Century. His success and fame skyrocketed him to become the chief editor at the WSJ but within a few years, he became disillusioned with the political bullshit that had taken root in the company. He moved to Chicago and started up his own paper; The Chicago Courier. David made it his mission to not ever allow politics to come into play.
But as the United States began to collapse. He used what resources and influence he had to try and speak out against the Northern Confederation and soon the atrocities committed by them. In time, he joined with others to promote hope and unity in the face of trying times. Ultimately, this allowed him to gain enough influence with several groups. They choose him to represent them at the Congress.
Politics: Centrist in party politics, has fairly moderate-but-positive views on free speech.
Personality: He likes to imagine that he is Walter Cronkite reborn but he admits that he's probably more like a lame version of Hunter S. Thompson. David West strongly believes in the words and wisdom of Ben Franklin and Joseph Pulitzer and the necessity of charisma and wit from those like Cronkite and Edward Murrow. David West is a charming individual, who always seems to have some factoid or kernel of truth for a discussion. He believes that America is at a turning point and that it is his duty to record and print the truth of what happens to the American people. To let them help make the decision for which direction the nation will take. He plans to make sure they are making informed decisions. He likes New York style pizza more than Deep Dish, but he will take that secret to the grave.
Alberto Zamora
Name: Alberto Zamora
Description: Alberto (alternately known as "Al" or "Bert") was born in the aftermath of the fall and has grown up in a world where he hasn't known the old United States, except in stories passed down by his parents and grandparents and the older members of the community, as well as what few written histories have been preserved in the Chicago environs. The chaos and utter destruction and, at times, grinding poverty of the world around him have affected him deeply and instilled him a desire to build and to create, especially now that the greater Chicago area is beginning to recover and rebuild itself. He worked as a carpenter for a time before apprenticing to an architect and designer and currently works in both trades, as an independent designer for buildings and as a member of a local carpenter's union (he does lean more on the design side these days). He is thirty-six and a relatively prominent "small business" owner and is serving as a representative for his branch of the carpenter's union. He is currently considering going into politics. He is fluent in Spanish, which his parents spoke while he was growing up.
Political Affiliation: Left Soc Dem/Socialist; Alberto has broadly liberal tendencies and believes strongly in the power of the government and a people to do good. He is broadly sympathetic to the socialist positions as well, but walks the line between the two parties, not quite sure where to throw his hat in the ring. He mostly wants to do right by his community and ensure that there is fairness and equality for all and to ensure that the poverty and chaos he witnessed growing up does not return.
Mel McCormick
Name: Mel McCormick.
Political Affiliation: Social-Anarchist (Libertarian-Socialist). Will ally with Communists and Socialists.
Description of Personality: Idealistic, but burdened by the world's cruelty. Weary and cynical to a degree, but with a heart of gold deep within.
Phoebe Deegan
Name: Phoebe Deegan - "Technically I'm Phoebe Deegan III, but I'm named after my aunt who was named after her aunt, instead of mother's mother. Hoping I'll be the one that doesn't die young." Politics: Tech Revivalist - "Gramps was into this game called Battletech, and bought a bunch of college books and technical manuals when everything was going to hell because of some book he read. At this point, I'm the one making sure the Retros doesn't burn them. No clue if any of them are useful, but fingers crossed, eh?" Will ally with any faction that talks positively enough about technological advancement. Personality: Pathologically irreverent. "Retros have sticks up their ass, and I'm big on... I want to say counter-culture, but that implies that the Retros have culture worth mentioning."
Jackson
Name: Jackson (last name lost) Politics: Slight bias towards seating with Soc Dems (hey, the party I never got to admit I voted for pre-Collapse!), but will happily link arms with Socialists and Communists; but not New Capitalists. Absolutely not new Capitalists. Personality: Sleeps on the street with a briefcase outside the Chicago Convention center, despite insisting on being impeccably dressed to the actual convention. When asked, he said it, "felt less morally disgusting than a swanky suite. Reminds me too much of when I was really good at telling rich people how to capitalist better. Still good enough to see that the New Capitalists don't go far enough."
Logan Mercier
Name: Logan Mercier. "Yes...The Family is French. Dad Came here to Fight the Nazis. Yes, people are still crazy enough to fight for a nation on life support. Politics: Social Conservative, with Social Democrat Leanings. "Politics is war without bloodshed...so shut up and form a coalition so we can focus on bloodshed. We have better things to do than argue like children." Will ally with Social Democrats, but is branded as an outsider due to social conservative leanings. Personality: A realist who sees the big fight and picture better than his compatriots. "The Nation is at war, if not for its spirit, then its future. Stop arguing over which side of the spectrum is better and fight for the Future...that's all that matters now."
James Gordon
Name: James Gordon
Politics: Socialist, but can work with both Social Democrats and communists. Severely dislikes capitalists, considers them enemy number three after Victoria and Russia.
James grandparents fled California when the state national guard failed to stop the Russian invasion. His family has always had hope to see America be better and do more for it's people, and James is no different. This time he wants to help make it happen however he can.
James is skeptical of promises from the various religious groups, he thinks people should be focused on making things better here and now, and that they shouldn't worry about what happens after they die.
Simon Johnson the Second
Name: Simon Johnson the Second.
Politics: A New Capitalist with heavy Social Democratic leanings. He is someone who really wants to protect personal property rights and the rights of land ownership and is willing to compromise on anything else. Does not trust communists.
Personality: He came to the city hoping to advocate for the protection of personal property. Though he does not look it, he is a very wealthy man, stemming from over 50 years of nonstop working to sustain himself and his community. He owns a large beaver farm with over 600 beavers near the Great Lakes, where he has seen the raids by the Victorians and the Nazis nearly destroy him and his livelihood. He is willing to pledge as much of his fortune as he can safely give in the defense of this new nation, and to.
Alex Chen
Name: Alex Chen. Chinese by nationality; previously on a work visa in the United States as a high-level business consultant. If the United States still existed, he might have been considered an illegal immigrant, but that hardly matters now. In the chaos of the after of the United States, Alex found both danger and opportunity.
Politics: Secretly believes in New Capitalism but is willing to equivocate, compromise, and appeal to anything as needed for his goals. Currently in the Social Democrat party but has not taken any hard stance yet. Wants to see a new American Republic rising from the ashes, preferably with him at the head, and is willing to stomp on any rights to ensure that future comes to pass (i.e. has moderate authoritarian tendencies, or more than moderate if they involve him). He is not very trusted by his new colleagues.
Personality: A thrill and glory seeker. Despite achieving wealth and status beyond most people, Alex never truly felt satisfied with his mundane accomplishments. When America fell into chaos, Alex saw a chance to do something more than just achieve conventional success--to carve his name into the history books. A skilled orator and a charismatic politician, Alex managed to worm his way into the political sphere despite his foreign roots (helped by a whole lot of pretending not to be foreign). Despite his snakelike qualities, Alex is not primarily driven by a desire for power -- above all, he desires glory and has a vested interest in the rise of this new state.
Alexander Agreste
Name: Alexander Agreste
Politics: Staunch New Capitalist, saw the tide of socialism, so hedged his bets on Social Democracy, his ultimate goal is to restore America, and his dream is to ignite the wave of Capitalism into a world-spanning corporation that will stand the test of time.
Personality: A pragmatic risk taker, he will build a company on the bodies of Victoria, he is inclined to form a business in Weaponry and its development in this lesser goal. He wishes the re-invigoration of America because he believes in its idealistic Capitalism. His family is descended from the French.
Rory McClean
Name: Rory McClean
Background: Like the song says, "My father was a union man, some day I'll be one too!", Rory's father John was a Teamster from Green Bay when the Collapse hit. At first, the union tried to provide help for all its members, families and work with the other unions in Green Bay to hold things together and things kinda worked.
Everything changed when the Nazis and Victorians attacked.
Rory was only nine years old when his family and everyone they knew stuffed themselves with all they could carry onto a handful of semis, cars, trucks and hastily scraped together technicals just as the Green Bay militia was buckling in the face of the Nazi bastards. The next two weeks on the road, dubbed "Hell on Wheels" by the survivors, was an endless Mad Max-style run and gun as union members and their families fought a desperate running battle with Nazi pursuers as they pressed on to safety. The refugees managed to just make it into Chicago after a harrowing ride but Rory's father, mother and older brother didn't. He was effectively adopted, along with several other union family war orphans, by the IWW and has been with the One Big Union ever since.
Politics: A staunch left-wing socialist, Rory is a firm believer in the ideals offered by the IWW in creating a free society without want or fear. Having effectively grown up in the union and Chicago he's intimately familiar with the strengths and pitfalls of union democracy, democratic workplaces and has a sort of rough, effective knowledge of practical economics. He knows enough of how much give and take is needed in Chicago's freewheeling politics that he tends to play the long game and look for all-win scenarios wherever he can. After all the point is liberating everyone, even the people who don't know they're in chains.
Personality: Tough, determined and bearing his own scars from age and experiences with a certain pragmatic streak Rory is willing to engage in some give & take if it means reaching the overall goal of collective liberation. His experiences in the city militia and on the shop floor have taught him to focus on the practical over the ideal. One thing he'll never compromise on are the Victorians and any other fascists roaming the ruins of America. Like the old Spanish union man once said, "Fascism is not to be debated, it is to be smashed." On religion he's mostly indifferent but definitely has some sympathy towards the idea that if there is a God then He must be a sick SOB.
Samuel O'Claire
Name: Samuel O'Claire
Quote: "I spent thirty years sitting on the right side of the aisle shouting down anything I thought was a little too pinko for my liking, which was most things. That time, I got a good, long look at the face of conservative America and it's a face like a blind cobbler's thumb. Thirty years of poormouthing and being cute off to effing and blinding the moment someone says a thing about healthcare or immigrants or gays or what have you. Then dear sweet Vicky popped around for a visit and gave me a present I'd well earned."
Background: Samuel was not young when the Collapse hit and is older now. Chicagoan by birth, he spent a great deal of his adult life in rural Pennsylvania, where he eventually made his way into becoming the Commissioner of Education for a smallish township, running as a conservative independent. Styling himself as a prodigal son returned, he was forced to flee from the encroaching Victorian horde as it spread, making his way back to his native Chicago just in time for his political rabble-rousing to earn him a spot in Congress. He is more than a little bewildered by this turn of events.
Politics: Samuel O'Claire has utterly rejected conservatism and turned his old stylings in favor of the crowd much further left of the aisle. He's uncompromising and defines his politics mostly as being against certain things. These days, he's mostly just against Victoria, and by extension in favor of anything that hurts them regardless of otherwise utility. He's strongly against anything that sparks in his head as, "conservative," with about the same rigor that he used to expend fanatically opposing anything liberal, but still can't quite bring himself to align fully with the communists, leaving him quite firmly as a very angry, very active member of the Socialist Party.
Personality: Stubborn, angry, borderline revanchist. The sort that would crash his car to spite the tree. His uncompromising streak does not seem like it would serve him well in politics, but his fiery rhetoric and ability to ride the waves of anti-Victorian sentiment have allowed him to survive for now. Despises political corruption almost to the same degree he despises Victoria, seeing it as leading to the current state of things. As a continuation of that, he also considers himself partially responsible for the rise of Victoria and the dreadful state of America and is utterly driven to make up for that.
John Franklin
Name: John Franklin (self-admitted it's not his birth name, but instead "the name of two of the better Founding Fathers", taken to protect what remains of his family). Man in his 50s with a great big bushy beard, a bald head, and a cane to help him walk (mostly due to one of his legs always being in a heavy-duty orthotic brace). Background: "My mother burned with Atlanta, trying to discharge her duty as a journalist. My father gathered what friends and family remained on the Coast and moved back to the rest of our family and friends in the Midwest. It wasn't enough. He raised me on the run, him being a vocal advocate against not only the bloody murder of Victoria, but also their anti-technology stance. Him being an expert in computers and supporter of technology, while denouncing their works and stances as Heresy and Blasphemy from a position of Protestant Christianity?
He died on my 10th birthday, leaving me an orphan raised by an ever-shrinking family. When I was a young man, I left them, had someone publish an obituary for me, and took up this name. Walked about, learned what I could. Started a radio station, because why not? One thing led to another, and here I am!"
Politics: A solid Social Democrat, leading an internal coalition that favors religious freedoms, religious groups speaking out against Victoria's atrocities within the religious spheres, technological growth and innovation, and care for their fellow man. At least somewhat bridges gaps between rural/farm voters and urban/technology voters. Strives to be a consensus-builder, seeking laws and resolutions that all or nearly all members of the Accords and agree with; failing that, he starts with "his" groups (the SD's and SD/S's), and tries to find as many willing allies from there. Is heavily cautious of the most extreme positions of Communism, and finds himself dissatisfied with many of the policies of the New Capitalists. Hates Victoria.
Personality: The (un)holy blend of John Adams and Ben Franklin, a family man who loves talking and giving opinions, but cares even more about serving his constituents. Has been a vocal advocate of the Accords becoming a revival of America, whatever the end result. Loves waving his cane about to emphasize his points. Staunch defender of Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Pizza. Hates Victoria. Sells himself as a "scholar and a gentleman" who knows a bit of everything, but in practice tends to lean on the expertise of aides or subject matter experts brought in to advise the assembly.
Brianna Slattery
Name: Brianna Slattery
Description: A passionate woman who always seeks to advance the cause of the meek and advocates expansion and solidification of the principle of rule by consent wherever possible. This fiery redhead is affiliated with both the IWW and the Catholic Church. 22 at game start.
Political Affiliation: Socialist. While she does have sympathy for the communist position of mandatory workplace democracy, she subscribes to the popular theory that their eventual aim is to institute a command economy. She distrusts the amount of power that would give to the state. As such she favors the socialist plan of encouraging coops and keeping a market. She in general has socialist and anarchist sympathies.
National Spirits
That about your polity which sets it apart from others.
Brown-Water Navy: This nation maintains a force of vessels adapted to riverine warfare and areas within sight of shore.
Established: Unique of non-approved states in North America, this nation has attained widespread recognition within its neighborhood and among some select foreign powers. If your foreign diplomatic endeavors succeed, this may broaden further.
Good Security: This nation has a respectable counterintelligence service working to protect it from foreign or domestic threats.
Independent Merchants: This nation sits at the heart of a fledgling network of mercantile services, bringing goods and wealth from abroad.
Widespread Vaccinations: While herd immunity is still a distant dream, this nation has a large proportion of its population inoculated against common diseases, as well as the fragile foundation of a biomedical industry.
Hostile Neighborhood: This nation has sprung up out of apparent chaos in a very short period of time, with the targeted application of large amounts of violence. The neighbors are deeply concerned, and prone to allying against it. Recent achievements, both diplomatic and military, have dealt with this national spirit. It will, shortly, be removed.
Libraries: Throughout the Collapse, this nation has cultivated a reputation as a safe place for relics of the old world's knowledge. They have access to great stores of information crucial to the operation of a modern state. Outdated, yes, but better than the current status quo.
Naval Vessels
Commonwealth riverine gunboat, Des Plaines-class
Displacement: 420 long tons Length: 170ft Beam: 24 ft Draft: 4 feet, 11 inches Speed: 14 knots Complement: 63 officers and men Armament:
8x 7.62mm/.30 caliber machine guns
2x twin 12.7mm/.50 caliber machine guns (forward and aft, rotating tub)
4x single 12.7mm/.50 caliber machine guns
2x single 30mm autocannons in turrets fore and aft OR 2x 105mm Howitzers OR 2x 120mm mortars
Originally conceived of as an all purpose gunboat-slash-monitor for operations in the river systems of Illinois and the surrounding area as well as patrolling the coasts of the Great Lakes to protect river shipping and fisherfolk from predation by pirates and other banditry. With a shallow draft and reasonable length and beam, the Des Plaines class of river gunboat is capable of projecting power and defending the people of the Commonwealth from most waterborne threats, as well as enforcing customs duties and policing the waterways to make sure that the citizens of the new nation are safe in their beds.
The gunboat also carries smaller fast craft for landings and has a well-stocked small-arms locker in case boarders must be repelled. In design, its weaponry is meant to be modular and able to be replaced with a minimal amount of work, usually done by the crew themselves rather then by specialized dockworkers, so that the vessel is capable of carrying out a variety of missions ranging from shooting up technicals to bombarding positions on shore or fighting battles against armored pirate vessels. The class is named for the Des Plaines river, which flows southwest out of Chicago.
This timeline chronicles both how the original novel Victoria went, and my interpretation of the reality that must lie beneath Lind's madness. Plain text recounts the events of the novel; anything in bold is my interpretation. As a reminder, the lens through which I interpret Victoria is that the (first-person narration, memoir-style) book is a piece of party-line propaganda written by the protagonist in the waning years of his life. Russian aid is responsible for much of Victoria's successes, and the events of the book are treated as the party's paper-thin pretenses, stretched over the grim reality of things. The protagonist, who comes across as critically incurious, is unaware of the full scope of Russia's control over his life.
What's Past Is Prologue
???: At some point (maybe right after the First World War?), the House of Hohenzollern (Germany's imperial house, prior to the end of WWI) decides to start styling itself as a German government-in-exile. Naturally, this leads to them no longer being welcome in Germany. They flee and start staying wherever is willing to piss off Germany by hosting them.
2021: The United States begins a steep economic decline, mainly due to Plot Inflation (it's the least implausible reach that Lind makes, just roll with it) and this quest's own presumption of Trump doing something specifically and spectacularly unwise. Naturally, this carries onto the rest of the world, and general chaos ensues.
2022: Russia collapses into civil strife. One of the warlords resulting from that seizes control of the entire country, deciding to revive the monarchy and style himself as Tsar Alexander IV, restorer of the House of Romanov (his legitimacy is less important than the fact that he had guns). The average Russian having about zero fond feelings left for monarchies, much less Romanovs, he is unpopular and decides to embark on military adventures to refocus the population. However, he knows that America will not always be distracted, and begins making plans. He dispatches agents of the resurrected Okhrana agency to America to watch, wait, and plan.
2026: Sensing a kindred (enough) spirit, the House of Hohenzollern flees its latest barely-tolerant hosts to seek refuge with their fellow monarchists in Russia. Alexander promptly makes it clear to them that they now work for him. If they're very good, he'll get them a Germany for Christmas. In the United States, an Okhrana agent named Dimitri meets a German-American Hohenzollern loyalist and political ultra-reactionary by the name of William Kraft (barely-veiled self-insert, and the Suest of Maries). Exploiting the Tsar's control of the Hohenzollerns, Dimitri turns Kraft into an Okhrana asset in case of later need.
Rise of the Northern Confederation
2016: John Rumford, a Captain in the United States Marine Corps, is unjustly driven out of the Corps after he defended the honor of the Corps from a woman's attempt to take it for herself, which harmed his superior's political ambitions.
Rumford (viewpoint character, thinly-veiled self-insert, and huge Mary Sue), disrupts a memorial ceremony by loudly interjecting rather than allow a (female) Marine officer to speak in memory of the dead at Iwo Jima, on the grounds that no women died on Iwo Jima, and thus for a woman to speak of them would dishonor them. The prick. Along with his subsequent insubordination when ordered to make amends, this rightly kills his career.
2016: Rumford tries to find work in farming and elsewhere but finds himself constantly hurt by stupid government regulations meant to buy political points with racial minorities and environmentalists. This, along with meeting several like-minded individuals, stokes his sense of outrage over the country's moral degradation.
Hounded by a dishonorable discharge on his record, possessed of worthless farming land, and trying to find work in a tough market, Rumford fails to support himself. This period, along with contact with like-minded individuals, radicalizes him.
2027: Rumford organizes like-minded individuals into the Christian Marine Corps to fight against the collapse of American society. Their first act is to instruct the poor, helpless folk of an unidentified (and predominantly African-American) housing project to strike back against terrible legislation, which involves nonviolent protests against local criminals and tarring and feathering a federal judge. With road tar.
Yes, really; the judge does not survive being doused with 300-degrees-Fahrenheit road tar. The CMC is a domestic terrorist organization with barely enough plausible deniability to get by, which chooses this community as a convenient patsy for its first operation. They achieve nothing over the long term with this stunt, but they do get attention.
2028: Rumford meets a man who will change his life forever -- William Lind Kraft, an ideological and political visionary. Kraft introduces Rumford to the concept of Retroculture (no tech past 1965 except somehow modern medical tech on a 1965 tech base aaaaaaaaa-). This changes Rumford's entire outlook, and he and Kraft become friends.
Kraft's Okhrana handler is instructed to look into acquiring the CMC as an asset, and upon looking into their ideology, he elects to use Bill Kraft to make contact. Kraft, being quite well-spoken, instantly enthralls Rumford, weaving tales of a glorious Retroculture paradise, becoming his handler as Dimitri became Kraft's.
2028-2032: The CMC reacts to gross establishment abuses throughout New England, nobly resisting their oppressors through such moral means as hostage-taking, mob violence, and assassinations, and slowly help their communities draw further and further away from Washington, taking power back for the people. As the country goes to hell and the establishment resorts to yet-harsher measures, the righteous people of New England grow stronger and more resolute than ever. Moved by their nobility, the Tsar sends an Orthodox Priest, Dimitri, to liaise with and support these righteous folk.
Through hostage-taking, inciting mob violence, and outright assassination, the CMC incites unrest throughout its territory, now aided by Russian support. They also launch a campaign of intimidation against local authorities, slowly subverting them. Under CMC urging, state governments begin distancing themselves from Washington. "Father," Dimitri is ordered to ensure that the nascent secessionist movement stays on track and under control. He has his asset Kraft get him an introduction.
2033: A plague some kid whipped up in his basement with evil genetic technology bursts out from New Orleans and ravages the country! Only the stern New Englander dedication to a quarantine saves them!
It's just a plague. Government quarantines halt it before it leaves the South, but along with an ongoing economic crisis and severe political instability thanks to the Russian-backed CMC, it's the last straw.
2033: Pushed beyond endurance by establishment abuses, righteous folk all over the nation break free! The government sends the 42ndDivision, a collection of murderous criminal thugs literally pulled off the streets and given guns, to crush New England and the CMC, recognizing that they are the birthplace of the revolution. Despite raping the countryside all the way upstate, the division is immediately encircled by the glorious New England militias. It surrenders without a fight, and Rumford turns its members over to their victims for lynching. Afterward, the last of the government quietly dissolves, and the states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont declare their glorious independence as the Northern Confederation!
Yeah. Confidence in the government broken, there are secessions all over the country. The government launches a desperate, Hail Mary gamble: take down the Christian Marine Corps and their treasonous supporters, and demonstrate that Washington still can lead this country. Unfortunately, their near-total economic collapse has seen them forced to gut the military, and they have no forces ready to respond. They resort to a truly desperate gamble -- recruiting armed gangs wholesale in the hopes that their structures will substitute enough for military discipline, handing them unused equipment, and shoving them north. Thus is created the 42nd Division. As they have no logistics, they feed themselves the only way such armies can -- pillaging. Despite their origins, it should be noted that most of these individuals are genuine patriots, signing onto a doomed struggle in the hopes that they could be the ones to save their country. They do put up a fierce but disorganized fight before surrendering. The survivors are indeed turned over for lynching to the people they had robbed on their way north. In the wake of this defeat, their legitimacy more damaged than ever, the federal government collapses. The CMC-backed reactionaries form a fragile, shaky, and distrustful coalition with their state governments.
Starting now, and carrying on through the rest of the plot, the NC develops into an increasingly-rural autarky/tourist paradise/innovative manufacturing hub. Lacking power independence, the vast majority of the population goes without and must revert to farming in a move shaped by Kraft and Rumford's Retroculture vision. It is a hard life, but cleansing. They sell off all of their nature preserves to foreigners for tourist money and give a Chinese corporation a 100-year monopoly in exchange for building a dam across the Bay of Fundy. Oh yes, you read that right: a centuryof uncontested dominance over the proceeds of that megaproject! They convert their economy to tourism and resource extraction -- mostly farming. And also become world leaders in zeppelin manufacture. And cold fusion, eventually. And wireless power transmission. Oh, and they kicked everybody out of the cities. Because cities are bad. And then they do all this! Lovely!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH! SO! The NC is not electricity-independent (no money to maintain their electricity base with the sudden loss of access to the rest of the country and their peculiar near-total lack of ability to draw immigrants or refugees) and has to scramble to make ends meet. They spread out people as far as they can and get everybody they conceivably can into farming so that they can all eat. The end result of untrained city folk going into subsistence farming is, of course, huge numbers of people dying a la fucking Year Zero, which is why it's so convenient that power is now such a rarity! That makes it way easier to justify implementing state control of media, as there's not enough power to maintain multiple, let alone independent, news networks! So the population disperses to farming, massive numbers of people die, and the government hushes it all up to avoid riots! The CMC, which the Okhrana is now starting to train for secret police duties, continues their MO of inciting riots and mob rule against folks who speak up. The government desperately sells as much of its territories to Asian tourist site developers as it can for funding. They do not have the educational or industrial base to become an innovative manufacturing power. They do not specialize in wireless power transmission. They do not invent and master fucking cold fusion! Also, should be noted, while the pre-secession moderate holdouts are basically in panic/damage control mode throughout this and see themselves as choosing the best of terrible options, the reactionaries throughout are egging this shit on fucking gleefully as their political and military leaders Kraft and Rumford get to see their Retroculture fantasies play out before their very eyes.
2034: New York sees the light and secedes as well, joining the Confederation! They let the corrupt city of New York go, however, giving it to Puerto Rico -- trash to trash, after all.
To refocus the population on external troubles, the reactionaries push for the Confederation to annex New York. Given the ongoing chaos and now-open Russian assistance, the state is incapable of offering meaningful resistance. "Father," Dimitri promptly nearly chokes the leadership with their leash, informing them that they can in no way handle absorbing New York City. (Also, the Tsar instructed that it remain free from the increasingly-unpredictable reactionaries in the Confederation, as New York is for various reasons of international interest and its annexation by glorified terrorists would prompt a massive international response.) They do give NYC to Puerto Rico; Puerto Rico immediately says, "no thanks, we can't administrate that from all the way over here," the City itself goes, "also, you never actually set foot in this city and thus can get fucked," and the Free City of New York is born.
2035: The World Islamic Council (which totally exists, and effortlessly spans all intra-Islamic divides, no less!) funds a black Muslim uprising in Boston! Moved by the plight of their fellow Christians, the Confederation moves to intervene, only to find that the UN has sold out Boston! Muslim nations invade the city under the pretext of restoring order, and the Confederation bravely drives them out. Upon victory, they find that the vile Muslims have been forcing Christians into slavery. The Confederation bargains their prisoners of war for the slaves back, but swiftly discover that the Muslim bastards have infected the slaves with the plagues! The NC sternly refuses to take back any more slaves, and furthermore infect their prisoners of war before releasing them home as a means of revenge. Millions die. Massachusetts joins the Confederation.
Boston collapses into riots as the Union burns down around them. Despite the concerns of the holdovers from the more moderate old state governments and, "Father," Dimitri's stern warnings not to overreach, the reactionaries use their control over the military to launch an invasion under the pretext of restoring order, presenting the operation to their allies as a fait accompli. Resistance is either too disorganized to be effective or actively joins with the NC out of hope that they can stop the madness. Certain Muslim-majority nations do have personnel in Boston when the Confederation forces arrive. This is a part of a larger international humanitarian force sent by the UN. Confederation forces capture the aid workers, promptly releasing them to avoid international outcry. They do infect those heading back to the Middle East with the southern plagues; Rumford is indeed a monstrous asshole and considers this flavor of genocide to be a moral imperative. Nothing can be proven, though. The power play is a success, and the reactionaries successfully push to annex Massachusetts.
2035: Gunnery Sergeant Matthews, the only, "good," black man trusted by the CMC, offers to resolve the budding issue of, "bad," blacks, forming the Council of Responsible Negroes ("CORN," yes, really, I swear these aren't my words) to administer over a mass African American exodus to the countryside, where they will be permitted by their gracious and generous white, "neighbors," to take up sharecropping on whites' land. This, along with a complete abolition of due process in favor of a six-days-at-most-no-appeals-apply legal cycle for African Americans, with most crimes resulting in lynching, will solve the issues facing African Americans completely and permanently! The measure passes with immense popular support! Also the Hispanics of the NC riot and are justly deported to Puerto Rico.
The reactionaries use their victory to solidify their dominance in government, seizing most power from the moderates. Retired Marine Gunnery Sergeant Matthews, indeed a member of the CMC thanks to being, "one of the good ones," recognizes which way the wind is blowing and tries to get ahead of it. Gathering like-minded African Americans willing to work with him, he presents the above...thing...to his compatriots, offering his Council's services in keeping the African American minorities suppressed without government attention if Gunny Matthews and his fellow collaborators are permitted to rule over them. The reactionaries eagerly agree. They also begin identifying and separating out Hispanic Americans for eventual ethnic cleansing, although the means is not at this time decided.
2036: Maine Governor Bowen snaps under the pressures of leadership and leads an environmentalist uprising against the NC. He is immediately captured and banished.
Horrified at the reactionaries' actions as well as their growing power, the moderates revolt, led by the last governor they have left to them, Maine Governor Bowen. The reactionaries still control the military, however, and the uprising is crushed and discredited. At this time, recognizing that they've pissed off some people, the reactionaries opt for exile only and also opt to simply deport their Hispanic American population in lieu of murdering them all.
2036: Maine attempts to replace Governor Bowen with Bill Kraft, the CMC's steadfast ally and the man responsible for much of the NC's international contacts! He refuses. Rumford then asks Father Dimitri to petition the Tsar to intercede with the exiled Kaiser, the head of the House of Hohenzollern, asking him to order Kraft to assume the position of Maine Governor. The Kaiser agrees (how kind of him), and Kraft assumes his post. He immediately decides to act to purge the greatest cancer in NC society: modern universities. The Ivy League universities in NC territory are gathered at a meeting, which Kraft crashes. He lectures to them, has snipers shoot anybody who interrupts him, brings in a choir of monks to sing the Dies Irae, gets a bunch of the militia there wearing crusader crosses and carrying Roman short swords, and then has all of the staff massacred. The whole thing is broadcast nationally to unanimous approval, and in the aftermath, the NC opens a more proper academy focused on classics.
Recognizing that Kraft's loyalty to the Hohenzollern's head (who is the Tsar's puppet, remember) is easily exploitable, Alexander orders Kraft, through Dimitri, to assume control of the NC government in the wake of the Moderates' defeat. State legislatures are abolished, and Kraft assumes total control over the country. Thanks to state control of the media, the public still believes that they live in a populist democracy. The news always reports that referenda go Kraft's way, usually by massive margins. Having purged his political opposition, re-enslaved the African Americans, deported the Hispanic Americans, and left the rest of the population starving and dependent on him for information and protection, Kraft now moves on the intellectuals. He does indeed do this as described above, on live television. Those who object draw the Christian Marines' attention...but by now, most know better. The reaction is fearful silence. A university meant to teach the important things in life (classical educations, Retroculture theory, Russian, etc.) opens in the Ivy League's place. The state is now secure.
2036-2037: New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Labrador vote to join the NC (oh, yeah, Canada collapsed), and are accepted! Welcome to our Northern brothers! The Northern Confederation reaches its natural limits!
Russian pressure happens to these poor bastards, along with saber-rattling along various successive borders. Rather than risk the fate of New York, Massachusetts, or the United States federal government, the above areas just agree without a fight, after organizing a desperate evacuation of what populations they have that would be...unwelcome...under NC rule (people of First Nations descent, Quebecois who speak with a noticeable French accent, etc.). I also rule that Lind is terrible at geography, and do not have him take Labrador without a land connection due to all the Quebec in the way. Instead, the NC also annexes the Atlantic coastal regions of Quebec, again under Russian backing. For those keeping track at home: New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Atlantic Coastal Quebec, and Labrador. This is the final shape of the state of Victoria.
Wars of the Northern Confederation
2038: The New Confederacy (oh, yeah, the South rose again) splits as the vile forces of the old order seize control of the government in the name of political correctness, calling themselves the New South! The sane parts of the country (the rural bits) fight back under the banner of the Old South! Bill Kraft sends Rumford to advise the Old South and help the fight against the New South. After getting bored of working within the Old South's modern military hierarchy (yes), Rumford hares off to the New South undercover. He learns that Atlanta, Georgia, the New South's capital, is on the verge of a riot by the city's blacks (yes, really), mirroring a similar one in New Orleans that completely leveled the city (I am actually serious here). Leaving the city, he happens across a Texas Rangers regiment, who prove positively eager to abet his plan to put down the riot by smuggling a nuke into the city. That...happens. And. It. It goes boom. Along with the New South's government. The South rejoices! (YES, REALLY!) Rumford sticks the Old South government the bill and walks home.
The New South (New American Confederation, properly, and never, "The New Confederacy,") was the most viable successor to the United States after the collapse and actually threatened to start restoring order to the rest of the country. Tsar Alexander could not have that; if the New South gained momentum, all of his work would be for naught. The Old South was a reactionary movement playing on increasing racial tensions, fueled by Okhrana efforts and armed by the Tsar. "Father," Dimitri received orders, and Rumford went to Richmond. The Texas Rangers regiment had previously been subverted by the Okhrana, playing on their frustrations with the (lack of) progress with their civil war. Then Atlanta rebelled. The New South's capital was distinctly uncomfortable with its position and hoped to declare independence along with the rest of Georgia, sidestepping out of the increasingly-messy civil war with international support. Rumford pitched to the Rangers the idea that this was the prelude to a foreign invasion of their homeland, with the aim of placing their homes, their families, and their very lives under the rule of a foreign-backed puppet. Hilarious coming from him, but the unit had been primed, their paranoia and frustrations stoked, for months. And...nuke. The Old South found itself in the position of their opposition's capital, an American city, having been leveled with a nuclear bomb, with one of the Old South's own units loudly claiming responsibility. Rumford went home whistling as the South came crashing down behind him.
2042: The same radical environmentalists that backed Govern Bowen's coup take control in Cascadia (Oregon through British Columbia, yes, really) with the backing of the Chinese government! The vile hypocritical hippies promptly sell their state's natural resources to the imperialist Chinese -- the bastards! (Um.) The noble Cascadian resistance calls for aid, and the NC answers! Recognizing that they cannot take on Cascadia without angering China, and that the NC cannot reach China to righteously defeat them, Rumford resolves (with blessed and generous Father Dimitri's unending diplomatic assistance) to rent the Imperial Japanese Navy (oh, yeah, Imperial Japan rose agai- you know how this goes by now!) for a dollar (REALLY!) as a fig leaf. Glorious battle is joined, Cascadia is crushed, Rumford counters Chinese nuclear brinkmanship with a bomb smuggled into Shanghai, and Rumford also murders the also-corrupt leaders of the Cascadian resistance, paving the way for the glorious reign of the Cascadian people!
China sponsors a puppet state for the resources, aiming for a trans-Pacific dominion in a last-ditch attempt to shore up faltering support at home as the Collapse really starts digging in its teeth. Russia, eager to weaken and distract its most powerful land neighbor, enlists Japanese help in fucking with them, agreeing that Japan gets to colonize the Pacific Northwest once China is put in place. Russia will play peacekeeper, favoring Japan in the crisis. Japan, having gone neo-imperialist (I presume the nationalists finally got their way in all the chaos and put either Akihito or Naruhito in, "charge"), is more than happy to revisit this whole Co-Prosperity idea. Rumford is there as an NC observer with no military authority. Rumford makes his masters regret this with the aforementioned smuggled bomb. Tsar Alexander manages to shut Rumford up before the idiot can claim responsibility. He pins the whole thing on Japan. China nearly declares war over the matter and Russia has to threaten a nuclear exchange if war breaks out. The world is closer to nuclear war than any time since the Cuban Missile Crisis, and all because Rumford had to flex for the sake of his ego. Cascadia collapses, Tsar Alexander vents by personally pushing the button on the drone strike which wipes out the Resistance's leadership, and Cascadia dissolves into a collection of Japanese-controlled puppet states. Finally, this is the last straw for the People's Republic of China; the international humiliation and loss of all the money they poured into establishing an American puppet brings down the regime as the empire, long united, once more divides. In and amidst all of this, Russian corporations just so happen to pick up ownership of that dam megaproject over in Victoria.
2045: The Great Captain Rumford battles Aztec pirates (oh, yeah-) at sea for the glory of the Confederation! Praise be to him!
The Aztec Empire did not, in fact, rise again. The cluster of warring states that once was Mexico is having a remarkably shitty time of things, and certain criminal elements are taking the opportunity to fuck with the now Navy-less Atlantic coast of the former United States, but the nation did not revert to Aztec rule. That would be absurd. Rumford spends a few weeks ineffectually flailing at pirates before getting bored and going home.
2047: California falls to a misandrist conspiracy (I refuse to call it feminist as Lind does), calling itself Azania! The harridans enslave all men and revert to cloning tech just so they can get rid of them entirely! Thankfully, the foolish, soft women choose to build a military with only artillery, rockets, and air power, with no ground forces whatsoever, out of fear of getting dirty or chipping nails (YES, REALLY). The NC intervenes, evades Azania's overwhelming reconnaissance advantage through the power of third-grade social pranks and Azania being foolish women, outfights F-35s in F-16s thanks to foolish women being terrible at any kind of war, always enjoys the benefits of its enemy's artillery falling on the entirely wrong daydue to -- you guessed it -- female foolishness, and completely overruns the state. Their own, proper women show Azania's hellions proper femininity, their soldiers charm and return home with many properly settled ex-feminists, and then Rumford sells the women who wouldn't abandon feminism into sexual slavery in the Middle East. It's kinder than leaving them to their ways.
...yeah, no, not kidding. He comes right out with it. Still acting like he's the good guy, too. "Azania," never existed outside of insulting NC propaganda, but, "The Pacific Republic," did. Russia wanted a West Coast client of its own. The NC was completely unable to field proper armies so far from home, so the real fighting was done by Russian-hired, locally-based mercenary forces. The NC provided the campaign's command staff and occupation forces. The Republic fought back with their own natives, the refugees fleeing the chaos of the rest of the continent, and significant forces of foreign volunteers in the last stand of American democracy, wielding the remnants of America's once-mighty war machine and whatever foreign materiel people could ship their way. They weren't a misandrist or even female-dominated state, but they did make use of women in their armed forces. When this (obviously) failed to yield an easy victory, and the NC-led mercenaries instead faced a long, grueling slog against a well-trained and well-equipped force, the NC's leadership grew enraged. NC-occupied areas were scenes of utter brutality. Quite aside from the massacres of undesirable civilian populations and prisoners of war, thousands of women were kidnapped and carried back to the NC as, "war brides," with tens of thousands more sold into slavery internationally. Seeing this, and slowly being buried under superior numbers, the Republic sued for peace on Russian terms. The NC, frustrated, produced the above propaganda version of the war and went home with the last beacon of American liberty slowly asphyxiating to death. They use this propaganda to formally strip away women's rights at home, as opposed to the informal oppression they were already executing.
Victoria
2047: With their enemies defeated and their dam megaproject soon to be completed, the Northern Confederation turn to the question of how to avoid the resumption of vile modernity when power returns. At the urging of the enlightened and far-sighted Maine Governor Bill Kraft, they turn to the definitely-successful pledge system practiced by the Victorian English to resist the scourge of alcohol, enforced by social pressure! The measure passes in a landslide, and the virtuous Confederates toss the forces of hated modernity out, fully and permanently embracing Retroculture! The NC fully comes into its prosperity, becoming a self-sufficient food exporter and reaching the heights of its manufacturing might.
With the United States now fully dismantled and the continent under Russian or Russian-friendly hegemony, the Okhrana has a graduation exam in mind for their pupils, the CMC. The CMC begins formalizing their practice of rewarding informants who come forth with tales of undesirable behavior. Using this, the CMC expands its practices against undesirable individuals. First, they give their victims' neighbors, "friendly," warnings about associating too closely with such suspect individuals. If that doesn't work, they escalate to having the community ostracize the victims. If all else fails, the CMC turns back to their old specialty: sparking riots. Stubborn holdouts find their homes torched at night. Protesting communities are surrounded by trusted militia units and razed, the inhabitants either slaughtered, enslaved, or...repurposed...by the NC's burgeoning sex trade catering to the foreign-owned resorts. Everybody is hungry, but the news talks about how the Confederation has enough food to export at a huge profit, so this must be normal, right? Everybody is poor, but all anybody talks about is how prosperous the Confederation is, so this must be wealth. In practice, nobody knows anything...but they know that you can feed your family for a month by informing on your neighbor with the nice TV today, and that they can do the same to you if you doubt too loudly. The Regime of Whispers has risen. The CMC passes their teachers' test with flying colors.
2048: The NC is a grand and powerful nation, one which frequently dispatches expeditions of zeppelin-mounted marines to North Africa in pirate suppression campaigns. During one such campaign, the troops' battle cry of, "Victoria!" strikes chords at home, and the nation votes overwhelmingly to adopt it as their new name. The nation of Victoria is thus born.
The NC has exactly zero capacity to field troops on the other side of the Atlantic. Occasionally, when Victoria isn't busy crushing another American successor state before it has the chance to live, Tsar Alexander hires and transports parts of their military to participate in Russian influence-building missions in North Africa, with these expeditions played way up back home. The, "Victoria," story is true; Rumford loves him some anachronisms. The propagandists love it, too, and ensure that the ensuing, "referendum," "passes," "overwhelmingly." The nation of Victoria is thus permitted to come into existence by the tolerance of Tsar Alexander.
2054: Beloved, wise, and benevolent Maine Governor Bill Kraft dies in his sleep. The nation mourns the passing of a hero.
With his aims in the remnants of America achieved and his Victorian puppet firmly under local control, Tsar Alexander no longer has any use for an unstable attack dog or the pretense of Victorian independence. Kraft dies of poison. His doctor, equipped to the finest standards of Retroculture, is unable to find anything amiss. Agent Dimitri appoints a more stable replacement. The populace is convinced that they elected him; they are permitted to go on thinking that.
2054: All branches of Christianity resolve their differences and unite against the Muslim threat! Tsar Alexander himself shall abdicate to lead an order of holy warriors against the threat of Islam. A year before the news goes public, the Tsar begs Captain Rumford to set up this order in preparation for the Tsar's arrival, and gather true warriors of the faith to him for training. Rumford gladly accepts. Alas, he has only so long in this blessed profession before age at last claims him. He dies a hero and a warrior of Christ!
They do not do that. Rumford is getting the news, "early," because the news is never coming. In fact, the Tsar never learns of this ruse until after it has come to an end. This is Agent Dimitri following his orders to complete the purge of remaining reactionary elements in Victoria's government. Rumford gathers the remaining true believers to him to prepare for this crusade. On the evening that they are to take their vows, a Spetznaz team descends on their headquarters and kills them all. Rumford dies on his knees. Tsar Alexander is delighted by Agent Dimitri's cleverness, and the Agent finally returns home, to Russia and a well-earned retirement.
2055: Victoria is the greatest country on Earth. Clean, moral, and prosperous, they stand dominant on their continent. They are strong and wealthy. They lead the world in most measures. They are a grand nation, and shall surely stand a thousand years! The specters of modernity and political correctness have been defeated, and now Victoria advances against the vile Muslims. Victoria is ascendant.
Tsar Alexander has reversed Russia's decades-long decline and brought his empire to a glorious new zenith. China is fragmented and too focused on Japan to make trouble; of all the powers of Europe, only Poland is currently stable enough to dare oppose an expanding imperial hegemony; the United States is dead, its successors under Russian or allied control. Tsar Alexander Romanov IV is the de facto ruler of over 30% of the Earth's landmass. He is the greatest monarch in history and now advances against the world. Russia is ascendant.
Chaos
2055-2070: Russia holds the world in its grip. Thanks to its head start out of the Collapse, it is able to worsen affairs for everybody else. What was a mere, if severe, economic collapse gives rise to waves of political chaos and state collapse. Russia's hands are everywhere, perpetuating the chaos, and Russian armies push their borders out at every opportunity, annexing territory and establishing client states. In the Americas, Victoria is Russia's base camp and cat's paw. Victorian, "aid workers," flood every corner of the country, and report back whenever somebody begins to reorganize. Either Victoria or Russia, depending on how organized the attempt is, swiftly responds. The Collapse is bad everywhere, but in America, in particular, it is extended into a hellish nightmare that sees social order all-but-obliterated outside of Russian-approved states.
2055-2070: As ever, the glory of empire has its downsides. Alexander's methods are brutal and cruel, and making oneself the globe's superpower by deliberately exacerbating a global, general disaster has consequences. With the collapse of international trade comes a significant setback in the globalized economy, and those (most) nations which are not self-sufficient swiftly start to starve. The world's population drops for the first time since the Black Death, and unlike other tyrants who killed with hunger, there is absolutely no popular dispute that Alexander's efforts were very deliberate. The deaths were a byproduct rather than the objective, but deliberate, they were. He is the worst mass murderer in history and hated across the world.
2071: Despite its power, Russia has overextended itself. Most of the EU has climbed back to their feet despite Alexander's best efforts. China has pulled itself back together and is registering its marked disapproval of Russian activities. Conquered territories are expressing their desire for independence. Amidst all of this, Alexander is now ancient and ailing. The Empire's influence wanes as it turns inwards, hoping to address these issues. Victoria finds itself riding herd on North America alone. While it manages to keep many areas thoroughly destabilized, some few succeed in reestablishing a measure of order on a local scale.
2072: Ron Burns arrives in Chicago. His first order of business is to contact Sara Johnson, the de facto ruler of the city, and coordinate with her in purging the Victorian observers. Together with the sheer fact of his presence, this means that Chicago is the focus of Victorian attention. Burn swiftly rallies local forces in nearby polities and drives out their own observers. Shortly, this prompts a general withdrawal, and Victoria's eyes return home to report what has happened. Burns and Johnson cooperate in reaching out to their allies in this operation, benefitting greatly by Illinois Governor Audrey Jameson's political support. In the meantime, Burns assumes command over the overall territory of Illinois and Chicago until such time as a proper government can be set up.
2073: Burns, Johnson, and Jameson's combined efforts yield results, and a Constitutional Congress is called in Chicago to discuss the matter of political unification against the outside threat of Victoria. The Congress makes great strides, and despite deep and entrenched political struggles, they eventually come to an agreement.
January 1st, 2074: The delegates to the Constitutional Congress sign the Chicago Accords, forming a new republic centered around the southern tip of lake Michigan. Ron Burns is the provisional leader of this republic while the legislature holds public elections to form a proper civil government.
World Politics
North America
The continent of North America is riven into pieces by Russia's focused attention throughout the Collapse. There is, almost literally, no piece left standing atop another of what came before, barring only a few exceptions.
Canada: Canada collapsed as the chaos of the American Collapse surged over the border. Victoria didn't help. The West is Japanese; the East is Victorian. Everything in between was caught between a tide of refugees. The land is now...quiet. Deathly so. Few survived, and many fled.
Central America: Is on fire. Russia sponsors a Panamanian puppet, but otherwise find it quite convenient to stamp out anybody else threatening to reform.
South America
South America is a region I frankly do not know well enough to do any justice. They suffered the Collapse like anybody else. I know for a fact that Venezuela would not survive the destruction of the international oil market, so they died. Maybe they're back if somebody had an interest in that. I know that the European and Asian powers have no time to deal with them. Beyond that? I know there are old grudges there. A few almost certainly have flared. I simply don't know enough to say what. I would have done more research if y'all had chosen Miami given that Miami has contact with them, but as of now, I just don't know. I do know that French Guiana is now independent simply because there was no ability to maintain control for a while, there.
Africa
Africa is a big place, and I am singularly unqualified to talk specifics. Let's talk broad things, instead.
Northern Africa: Always closer to Europe, Northern Africa is today a fairly dynamic place. Russian and EU interests court and..."court"...local powers, seeking to control the Mediterranean and in particular the Straits of Gibraltar and the Suez Canal. It is a political battleground, one where Russia has a fairly entrenched head start.
Southern Africa: Away from the Mediterranean, Africa is actually free of European politics for the first time in centuries. Absolutely nobody has money or time to continue the pre-Collapse activities they tended to indulge in. For the first time in centuries, Africa from the Sahara on south is relatively free to develop and grow in its own way. It's fairly tragic, and speaks poorly of a staggering swathe of people and things, that I have no idea what that looks like. I presume the Collapse was not kind to it, but I can't imagine that European and American interests absenting themselves had negative long-term effects.
Europe
The European Union survived the Collapse. It barely survived, but survive it did, and these days it has strengthened more than ever. It is now closer to a full-blown federation as its members pull together to resist the Russian menace. It has lost much of Eastern Europe, but what remains is standing back up and preparing for yet another war to shake the planet. Germany has, through most other candidates imploding, managed to find itself as the leading power of this new Europe. The irony is lost on nobody, and appreciated to extremely variable degrees. The EU is on talking terms with China, but a formal alliance has yet to materialize, given that Europe is hesitant of mortally offending the vast majority of non-Chinese Asia.
The Fallen: Russia had quite a free hand during the global chaos. Many European nations found themselves suffering from Russian attentions. Annexed by Russia were: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova. Romania and Bulgaria now play host to puppet regimes imposed by military and economic pressure.
The Balkans: Europe's powderkeg did not fare well in the Collapse, and receiving Russian notice just as the EU was pulling itself together did not help at all. Greece is a battleground, Kosovo and Serbia are actively at war, North Macedonia has moved its entire military to the border with Russian Bulgaria, everything north and west of that is actively on fire from when Russian Romania tried to invade all of them before promptly exploding into economic ruin and needing to be bailed out by its master, and what order exists is the result of the EU wading in and smacking things roughly into shape. Broadly, what isn't Russian is officially EU-aligned. In reality, the EU is struggling to address the result of Russia's stymied attempt at extending its arm throughout the Balkan region.
France: On fire. Still. Figuratively...and very literally. Russia managed to get its hooks in early. At the moment, the chaos is economic, as the hooks have been cleared out, but France is still pulling itself to its feet. It has utterly lost its overseas possessions. It has been reduced to Metropolitan France. Their primary aim is to restabilize and begin participating in the EU as a great power once more.
Britain: What do you think happens when an island nation dependent on trade sees the international market collapse? Britain today is not the Britain of before the Collapse. England, Wales, and Scotland are part of a shaky restored United Kingdom. Everything else is gone. The Commonwealth of Nations is dead. Northern Ireland never rejoined. The overseas possessions are gone. Britain today is a shadow of its former self, its prominence obliterated perhaps for good. It is now a part of the EU not out of any grand policy decisions, but because membership was a condition of the EU coming in and reassembling the country from scraps. It is less than a decade reunited, and still in desperate shape. It is recovering, though, and quite eager for the chance to show that it still has the capacity to stand for itself.
Italy: The country fractured during the Collapse, and there might have been a civil war. Presently, the nation is divided, with other EU nations attempting to negotiate a reconciliation. As of Turn Seven, this reconciliation has gone through and Italy is reunited once more.
Spain: Catalonia lived free! Briefly! Its economy exploded in like a month, but for that month, it lived free! Spain did not do so hot. They maintained continuity of governance, but lost control of many areas. Today they have reunified, however, so they've done better than most. Also they got Gibraltar back. The people there have mixed feelings.
Denmark: Doesn't exist, obviously. In seriousness, the Scandinavian Nations generally pulled through better than most anybody would expect, although Greenland and Denmark have now permanently parted ways. Denmark acted in concert with its northern neighbors to support Finland, which, well...you'll see in a few entries.
Norway: Also survived more-or-less intact. In fact, having massive fishing waters actually did it a world of good, although they nearly hit the crisis point on those waters' carrying capacity. Their stake in the energy market did them significantly less good, but they survived. They have, finally, joined the EU. They maintain the common Scandinavian foreign policy mission.
Sweden: Words cannot describe how nice it was to be sitting on a healthy iron base when the international market collapsed. Sweden acted aggressively to restore economic activity within Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea and has surged ahead to prominence. It heads the Scandinavian nations in a unified effort to unite their foreign policies in the dangerous modern world, particularly with regards to...
Finland: Oh, Alexander wanted Finland. Oh, how he curses that he assumed he could pick them off at his leisure. With Scandinavia recovering faster than anticipated, they realized that so revanchist a Russia would surely come for Finland. The nation is the beneficiary of massive economic and military support from Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, with the three nations pouring vast sums into supporting their neighbor in the hopes that it keeps Russia at bay. By the time Alexander turned his focus here, Finland was more than prepared to resist him. By the time he freed up his attention from commitments elsewhere, the EU was intact enough to make pushing through anyway unwise. Finland mortally offends him by its very existence — a should-have-been victim who survived only due to the interference of others.
Greenland: In the Collapse, they formally separated from Denmark, albeit on amicable terms. Their economy largely vanished during the Collapse, save for the fishing industry, which at least ensured they did not starve. Today they are rather isolationist.
Iceland: Iceland didn't starve, not to the same extent as Britain, but it didn't have a happy reaction to the Collapse. Like Greenland, everything was slashed save for food production, and today they remain incredibly agrarian. They have at last accepted EU membership to stave off increasing Russian pressure to grant free access out of the Barents Sea, and the resultant economic aid is allowing them to return to their pre-Collapse diversification into manufacturing and service industries. Iceland is a nation in recovery.
Poland: Legends will be written of Poland. The only nation to survive the Collapse, maintain governmental continuity, and actively oppose Russia's expansion. The only nation to maintain the fighting for fifty long years. The nation that utterly destroyed itself trying — and largely failing — to keep the border from moving further west. Poland fed itself into the fires of intrigue trying to stop Russia's ambitions. The best that can be said is that they slowed Russia down, when dealing with nations directly bordering Poland. They did not fall, at least, and Alexander certainly intended for them to. But they did not fall. These days they are utterly incapable of fighting anymore. They are the front of the still-cold conflict with Russia, but have no capacity to participate. They have maintained membership in the EU, and now are completely dependent on it. They gave everything, and perhaps managed to give the rest of Europe time. They try to find that adequate consolation, as Germany steps past them into a leading role in Europe.
Asia
Now the site of a fierce struggle for dominance, Asia is one of the two great battlegrounds in the modern cold war. It is a dynamic and tense scene, but despite that, many have found prominence and even prosperity.
The Fallen: Here, too, Russia took its pound of flesh. Alexander is no lover of the Soviet Union, but he surely loves their expanse on a map. He has come after it. Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan are now all a part of Russia. Pakistan is currently in chaos as a result of Alexander frequently intervening to perpetuate the Collapse and ensure that India stays focused on China. Alexander did, however, stay the fuck away from Afghanistan.
China: Despite remaining on its feet for an impressive length of time after the Collapse, the People's Republic of China simply could not weather the strain. After the Cascadia fiasco, it collapsed, once more, into several feuding states. To severely elide over the chaos, a group of factions in southeastern China federated, formally reconciled with Taiwan, and thereby gained a significant advantage over other factions. Through diplomacy and force, they reunited the country (including Tibet, although there is actual acknowledgement of the stickiness of the situation these days and negotiations over its future status are ongoing). The new China styles itself as the Second Republic of China, rejecting the memory of the PRC in favor of claiming Sun Yat-Sen's legacy. It is probably the most democratic the country has ever been for a sustained period of time. It portrays itself as the champion of Asian democracy. Unfortunately, their interventionist attitude and their status as, well, a China, does not make its neighbors terribly well disposed to it. It struggles for traction, and Russia and Japan primarily seek to contain it by diplomatically isolating it. This has the knock-on effect of Europe being hesitant to formally commit to China; they don't want to piss off the rest of Asia.
Japan: Japan suffered an island nation's fate in response to the death of international trade. The central institutions survived, but they were crippled. In the chaos, the nationalists at last got their way, and either Akihito or Naruhito was put in formal power (with the, "loyal support," of the nationalist military). Hearing this, Alexander smelled an ally. Japan reunified with full and focused Russian assistance, and Imperial Japan lived again. Now with allies more than willing to give them whatever they needed to build a military, they waded into the nightmare of the Collapse and carved out an empire. Nobody loves Japan. Asia remembers the last Empire of Japan; they just fear China more. Japan is part of a very fragile and extremely angry coalition hoping to contain Chinese influence, and they have a formal alliance with Russia. Their star is bound to the resurgence of monarchist power. They will live or die on the fate of their ally.
North Korea: North Korea weathered the initial Collapse decently and tried flexing its muscles. Thanks to East Asia becoming a superpower's playground over the years, they had precious little room to move. Eventually, the last of the Kims was overthrown in a Chinese intervention, and the northern half of Korea is currently a Chinese protectorate.
South Korea: South Korea spent many years rattling sabers along the border with North Korea. And then Japan came. With Russian backing and with China in no state to block, South Korea fell. It was a serious and bloody war, but with the Collapse hamstringing any attempts at foreign help and Japan receiving full Russian support, it was only a matter of time once Japan committed hard enough. The country is now occupied, and home to an absolutely vicious resistance movement against this new Imperial occupation.
India: India has virtually zero reason to love China. Having survived the Collapse broadly intact, they took advantage of the PRC's collapse to very firmly settle the question of disputed territories with the various Chinese successor states, and they actively intervened in attempting to prevent China's reunification -- which, on a few occasions, nearly led to all-out war, averted only by the resurgent China's willingness to blink last where it counted. Today, they are fierce allies of Japan and Russia in containing Chinese ambitions. They stay on talking terms with the EU and make abundantly clear their manifest disinterest in a unilateral defense agreement with Russia and Japan, but they are firmly committed on the issue of China: namely, "fuck everything north of our border." They also enjoyed the chance to settle up with Pakistan when the nation imploded during the Collapse, and Pakistan has, as stated above, not recovered since.
Thailand: Thailand was a nation heavily tied into the international market. The Collapse put a knife in its ability to sustain its economy. The country exploded, taking many of its neighbors with it. The Thailand of the modern day is the result of a Japanese intervention in the region which placed a Japanese-"advised" military government in charge. While initially a thinly-veiled puppet, the military government worked hard to connect Thailand back into the resurgent international market and has recovered much of its autonomy, now being more accurately characterized as a junior partner to Japanese ambitions. They have seized the Myanmarese portions of the Malay Peninsula, gained land from what used to be Malaysia, Laos, and Cambodia, and serve as the center of gravity for Japanese influence in the region, bringing military and political pressure to bear throughout its neighborhood to counter Chinese efforts.
Vietnam: Vietnam is a political battleground, once more split between warring states. The north is a Chinese-sponsored democracy centered around Hanoi. The south is a regime under Thai control, centered around Ho Chi Minh City. These nations would likely be the site of a vicious proxy war — one with the potential to send regional tensions hot, given how little China can afford yet another hostile southern neighbor and how catastrophic Chinese forces gaining access to a Vietnam-sized and -shaped front along Thailand's eastern frontiers would be for Thailand's national security — were it not for a third faction occupying those parts of the nation between the foreign-backed powers. This is a nationalist faction rejecting foreign patronage entirely and violently hostile to either side. In what would be ironic to somebody with little grounding in geopolitics, this faction sees a substantial amount of Russian backing, despite their talk of self-sufficiency. Thus, the North and South Vietnams focus, for the moment, on breaking Central Vietnam -- or, as it calls itself, Free Vietnam.
The Middle East: The collapse of the world's largest oil consumer did not do kind things to the Middle East. While not every Middle Eastern nation is an oil producer, many of the largest ones are, and the loss of the oil market did not do kind things. The region exploded. I am not qualified to determine the shape of that explosion. I am extra super not qualified to tell you what, exactly, happened to Israel, although I'm sure it was not the stuff of Disney movies. Suffice it to say that the place exploded, and things have gotten far worse with various powers reaching out to stabilize things in their favor, regain access to the oil fields, or in Alexander's case, keep it an unexploitable mess. It is a mess. Turkey is stable; it is under immense pressure from Russia to keep the Bosporus clear. It is otherwise left alone, but is under no illusions as to how much room it has to even blink.
Oceania
Oceania is the subject of an imperial battleground. Largely defined as a Japanese sphere of influence as a term of their alliance with Russia, the natives are not necessarily so sanguine.
Australia: Australia more or less survived the Collapse. It bloody hurt, but they made it. In the years following, they had a lot of time to build back up unmolested by outside influences. By the time outside powers came to call, Australia was ready to re-enter the global sphere on its own terms. Australia is the founding member of the Pacific-Asian Cooperative Sphere (PACS), a political body devoted to resisting domination by Chinese, Russian, and Japanese influences. Comprising Indonesia, New Zealand, Singapore, and several small island nations in the Southeast Pacific, they use their collective power to resist the Great Powers' influence while remaining on the international stage.
New Zealand: New Zealand was never a great power, and it is not one now. However, by its participation in PACS, it has found a role in international politics.
Indonesia: Indonesia exploded and reformed somewhere between two and seven times, depending on who you ask. Currently, the nation is reunited under a military regime given heavy Australian support in the interest of a strong ally. This has had certain effects, to whit: Brunei, Malaysian Borneo, and Timor-Leste no longer exist. Indonesia is extremely opportunistic about expanding its borders against the backdrop of the Collapse. This has not remotely improved the nation's history of separatist movements, and they are currently trying very hard not to choke on their new acquisitions. The rest of PACS finds them...trying...as a partner.
Hawaii: Hawaii fell to a Japanese intervention. They formally own the islands, although they lease the island of Oahu to the Russian Navy.
Philippines: The Philippines fell to Japan when it was still struggling back to its feet. Today it is the center of a brutal war of resistance, but Japan's control of the cities and ports remains strong. PACS would love to see the Philippines brought into the alliance, but has no interest in open conflict with Japan.
Papua New Guinea: Roughly speaking, Papua New Guinea came through intact...ish...but got hit with the battleground of empires stick. To whit: Japan decided that a land border with which to apply pressure to the Indonesian house of cards would come in handy, so they got to work actively fucking over PNG in the hopes of being able to sweep in. However, they underestimated PACS's willingness and capability to respond. Indonesia swept in first -- but Indonesia underestimated the rest of PACS's willingness to also step in, and overestimated their tolerance for the new junta's imperialist tendencies. PNG is now a trust zone for the PACS, with Indonesia continually agitating to bring it under their rule. The others, kind of sick and tired of covering for Indonesia in the international court of opinion, are saying, "thank you for your input, but no." Then there are significant factions within Indonesia making the point that they're really having enough indigestion already.
Antarctica
So long nominally unclaimed by the various world powers, Antarctica was mostly left out of great power politics during the Collapse. As the world went to hell, the only ones who maintained presences on the continent were those near to it. With international politics melting down, those who remained decided to formalize their claims, for what very little use that was. Australia, New Zealand, Chile, and Argentina now split the southernmost continent between them, with the former Norwegian, French, and British zones having been divided between them.
holy shit i thought nobody else read victoria. i never expected "secessionist steam/britpunk right-wing trash" to be a thing, and then I read that book, and then I was so terribly confused as to how it came to be. just every single thing about that book was wrong
as for my vote, I honestly kind of want to go bundyville on these guys. That right-wing ideal of "the lone, HARD MAN on the WILD FRONTIER," except oh wait the people who live out there actually don't want their families Red-Dawned by the Russians and they're really quite pissed.
edit: i'm reading the timeline again and I forgot how truly, epicly bad this book was.
PRUSSIANS. EVUL UN PEACEKEEPERS. "THE T-34 IS THE BEST TANK EVER CREATED."
The fact that someone wrote this book actively disturbs me on every possible level. I do not know how to properly react to this, but I do thank @PoptartProdigy for at least giving a potential release valve to take out some of my disgust on this...this this... abomination unto the universe.
@PoptartProdigy why do you even do this to yourself? Your "review random FFnet stuff" thread was already a sign of literary masochism, but you must have paid actual money to read this crap? Why?
EDIT: At least this quest has good odds of ending in a protagonist win
In seriousness, the Scandinavian Nations generally pulled through better than most anybody would expect, although Greenland and Denmark have now permanently parted ways. Denmark acted in concert with its northern neighbors to support Finland, which, well...you'll see in a few entries.
