The Windy City went through the wringer during the American Collapse.
The City was always dependent on the trade and commerce that its connection to the riverways gave it. It was the thing that gave it its strength, but it meant that when things came crashing down, so too did the city. The flow of food cut off, with...predictable results.
The Victorians have so many tens of millions of lives to answer for.
That said, the complete collapse of order within the City that so many predicted never really came about. Things got bad, don't mistake it, but the City hung on by its fingernails. Some say that it was the ongoing presence of the City as a steady customer that prevented the
complete collapse of the Midwest's farming industry, although that's a bit like saying that the fire-eaten husk of a log that got wedged upright from being buried in ash prevented the
complete collapse of the campfire.
All that being said, Chicago kept on pushing through, surviving on a starvation diet imported from all over the Midwest. Slowly, the City started climbing back onto its feet.
Enter the
literal Nazis.
No, not the Victorians. They didn't need to bother. No, a massive cross-section of neo-nazis from all over the goddamn country converged on the Northern Midwest. They wreaked
havoc. Nobody was ready for them. For a few months, they ran wild, and some began to whisper that this was the first wave of a Northern Confederation annexation of the City.
And that just wasn't gonna stand.
You could write a book on how the Northern Midwest threw those Nazi bastards out. Folks have. Short version: it was hard and bloody, and it left scars on the City that ran
deep. What the country's troubles couldn't do, once again, bastards intent on getting theirs out of the wreckage managed on their own. People dispersed into the countryside, and for a while, it seemed like that was it. The Victorians kept on sending, "fact-finding missions," through, and wouldn't you know it, anybody making strides in getting reorganized tended to come down with a bad case of the deads shortly afterward. No evidence, of course. But everybody knew that it was the Russians.
But then something funny wound up happening. See, it turns out that no matter what period of history you're in, Russia can only get so big before it bits off just that little bit too much and starts getting indigestion. One day, the mysterious disappearances just...quit happening. The Victorians kept coming through, of course. They were a little more panicked each time because they weren't able to send enough people to do things about the reorganizations themselves. The Russians weren't coming, and -- well, the folks who'd grown up knowing nothing but Russian terror and Victorian treason had kids of their own by then, and all of a sudden no Russians showing up in the night.
You ever heard what kinds of things a person can do when it's their kids on the line?
Afterward, people starting getting the old power plants running again. See, things had stabilized a bit, and we're not Victorians. We
like our electricity. And you know something? Once you've got power going, the big city looks a
lot nicer.
Things are different in Chicago these days. The City's got way fewer people than it used to, and those people have a very different vibe. You don't really see the boats in dock you used to. The museums are dark and dusty, where they're not looted. Hell, the Italian joints barely run anymore. Do you know how hard it is to get tomatoes these days? Biggest stable producers are over in the NCR. Good luck getting trade goods out of
them before Russia snags it. It's been ages since I've had a proper pizza. The City feels like it's had part of its spirit ripped out by the roots. A lot of folks who used to live there before the Collapse can't make themselves go back, even now that it's livable again.
But damn, it's alive. We've got folks playing music on street corners. We've got people from all over the Country showing up in the hopes that we've got something better to offer. The America we used to have might not be around anymore, but we're building something
new here, and god
damn, we're all alive to see it!
And you know, once you've gotten yourself put back together and you're thinking ahead a bit, there's a strong drive to spread out a bit. Talk to folks. Urge them back into the old cities. Bulk up.
Get ready, for when Mother Bear has the attention to spare to swing on by again.
Things these days are a little uncertain. We've built up fast, and we're having some growing pains of our own. We've got a lot of people from all walks of life streaming into our area. There's a lot of friction, and a lot hasn't been settled yet. But we're
alive. We took the American Collapse to the face and got back up. Now, we've got folks from all over the Northern Midwest in town to talk about how we're going to get this place up and running again. Isn't that incredible? Isn't it grand?
We're going to be all right. This whole mess is gonna blow over like a rotten breeze.
And hey, if we can deal with one thing around these parts, it's the odd stray wind.
-Derek Holland,
It's All Gonna Be Fine, published in the
New Chicago Tribune, April 14th, 2073.
The signing of the Chicago Accords was the largest event in the Midwest in decades' time. Delegates from all across Northern Illinois and the southern tip of Lake Michigan arrived in response to calls for a reorganization into a proper state, to discuss what kind of shape this new country should take. Negotiations went on for months. It was only thanks to Russia's distraction and Victoria's incapacity that the conference went ahead, but ahead it went. For months on end, delegates debated what kind of nation they wanted to see.
These negotiations are what we're covering now.
THIS VOTE WILL HAVE A MORATORIUM. I will make and threadmark a post once voting is open.
Folks, this is the politics vote. I know this is a very intrinsically political quest, so here's where we go nuts on that. Now, you all know what you want far better than I do, and I don't actually want to write out a bunch of options that will get erased anyway by a tide of write-ins. So, here's how this one is going. I am going to hold this moratorium until I get a good variety of input on the following categories:
- Does this government care about ideology on a systematic level? If so, whose ideology gets a step stool over the others, and how big is it?
- On the spectrum from, "Revise the U.S. Constitution," to, "Burn it and start anew," where do we stand?
- How centralized is this thing? Do local governments or the central authority hold more power?
When I unlock the vote, I'll write up what you've proposed, for ease of parsing, and we'll vote on what I've collected. Anything not within these categories is going to be largely below the level of abstraction for the purposes of this vote; I'll generate something that fits the winning votes, and you'll engage with that throughout the quest. Here we're generating the style of polity we like, not actually drafting foundational legislation.
Have fun, folks! If you want to be very sure that I see your stances, tag me with them! This thread moves fast. I hope you all liked the update, and have fun with the discussion!
(Roleplaying as actual delegates to the Conference is not essential, but I know a lot of you are thinking about doing it already. Go ahead, enjoy yourselves, if you care to. 
)
One final note: I know we're delving into very divisive issues. Let's remember not to stray too far from the points at hand, please, and always respect one another's positions. Remember the rules of the site. Alright, now. Go!
