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[X] Focus your rhetoric on breaking up the forming bloc. Some of these conflicts, you can resolve before Young manages to harden their resentment, and that can help reduce the number of people he convinces.
[X] Focus your rhetoric on breaking up the forming bloc. Some of these conflicts, you can resolve before Young manages to harden their resentment, and that can help reduce the number of people he convinces.
[X] Focus your rhetoric on breaking up the forming bloc. Some of these conflicts, you can resolve before Young manages to harden their resentment, and that can help reduce the number of people he convinces.
[X] Focus your rhetoric on breaking up the forming bloc. Some of these conflicts, you can resolve before Young manages to harden their resentment, and that can help reduce the number of people he convinces.
[X] Focus your rhetoric on breaking up the forming bloc. Some of these conflicts, you can resolve before Young manages to harden their resentment, and that can help reduce the number of people he convinces.
We don't want to appear too aggressive; opposing them openly would make us look like bullies, but we still want to limit wathever damage they might inflict.
Vote Tally : Victoria Falls: A Post-Collapse American Nation Quest [Down With Victoria!] | Page 834 | Sufficient Velocity [Posts: 20850-20905] ##### NetTally 2.2.4
[X] Focus your rhetoric on breaking up the forming bloc. Some of these conflicts, you can resolve before Young manages to harden their resentment, and that can help reduce the number of people he convinces. No. of Votes: 51
[X] Carrots and Sticks: Use a mix of rhetoric and concessions to pry members away from the forming bloc, then find a pretext to expel the uncooperative states. Exclude Shawnee Kingdom, the Volk, and the Wolverines from negotiations on principle. No. of Votes: 3
[X] Focus your rhetoric on breaking up the forming bloc. Some of these conflicts, you can resolve before Young manages to harden their resentment, and that can help reduce the number of people he convinces.
Vote Tally : Victoria Falls: A Post-Collapse American Nation Quest [Down With Victoria!] | Page 834 | Sufficient Velocity [Posts: 20850-20905] ##### NetTally 2.2.4
[X] Focus your rhetoric on breaking up the forming bloc. Some of these conflicts, you can resolve before Young manages to harden their resentment, and that can help reduce the number of people he convinces. No. of Votes: 51
[X] Carrots and Sticks: Use a mix of rhetoric and concessions to pry members away from the forming bloc, then find a pretext to expel the uncooperative states. Exclude Shawnee Kingdom, the Volk, and the Wolverines from negotiations on principle. No. of Votes: 3
[X] Focus your rhetoric on breaking up the forming bloc. Some of these conflicts, you can resolve before Young manages to harden their resentment, and that can help reduce the number of people he convinces.
Well, the... Lloyd Clique, I think it was called, hasn't been posted yet, let alone canonised, and I'm waiting on the ruling for the Long March to continue working on the Families and the faction I have in mind for them. So with all that, the map still has good odds of changing and/or needing some additions.
I happen to have most of the states you mentioned done in my fan map. Send the nearly finished map SVG to me and I'll send you my finished map. Be warned, it might be missing most of SC. But, it'll be easy to do. Oh, and NC.
I happen to have most of the states you mentioned done in my fan map. Send the nearly finished map SVG to me and I'll send you my finished map. Be warned, it might be missing most of SC. But, it'll be easy to do. Oh, and NC.
At the end of the second local conference update, we are left with the president and her advisors about to discuss the civil war. What the results will be are up to the dice but there are the things we can consider.
Currently, the Victorian Loyalist government is in rough shape. They have suffered major military defeats. First, they lost the whole regular army, lost most of the Victorian navy twice, lost much of their air force, and one of the three elite Q3 CMC divisions at the battle of Detroit. The civil war broke out with almost all remaining trained regulars in Commonwealth hands. The Loyalists and Blackwell had to rely the Q0 militia and the Inquisitors who are not proper officers fighting against the two Q3 remaining CMC divisions. The second major defeat was when the 1st CMC division broke the siege of Buffalo inflicting heavy losses on the Loyalist militia and linked up with the 3rd CMC division preventing a early Loyalist victory by Christmas. The third defeat was during Operation Foil. First, the Loyalists used up their veteran loyalist reserves in their dare to die attacks in Buffalo in a failed attempt to force a favorable peace. Blackwell ended up wasting some of his last loyalist veteran reserves. Later, he dispatched over 100,000 militiamen in an attack he knew would fail to prove a point and suffered tens of thousands of casualties before making peace. Now, the peace was harsh but necessary to get the Commonwealth off their backs but many Victorians might regard it as an unacceptable surrender to the dirty cultural marxists. Additionally, the Loyalists damaged their image by threatening "loyal" citizens of Buffalo.
But the Loyalists still have critical advantages. They have the overwhelming numbers of the militia on their side. They have a government that can organize and pay for things such as new equipment, new troops, mercenaries, and feeding the population. The loyalists have the reformist Blackwell on their side and are probably less hated than the CMC divisions.
The Crusaders have the two remaining Q3 CMC divisions on their side. These two divisions are Russian equipped and trained fanatical forces. The Crusaders have a lesser stain of defeat on them as the 2nd CMC division fought to the last while the loyalists surrendered. Their remaining forces are relatively untouched. The CMC divisions can easily cut through the Q0 Loyalist militias. The Crusaders have recently recruited thousands of young men from Buffalo to rebuild the 2nd CMC division and have gone unmolested during December due to the Loyalists being distracted by Operation Foil.
However, the Crusaders have many weaknesses. They do not have a proper government to organize things as they did not expect the government to turn on them. They do not have a way to replace their Russian equipment and they can't equip the reborn 2nd with Russian gear. Their Buffalo recruits are forced conscripts without the fanatical zeal of the two other divisions. They have little popular support as they have a brutal reputation and are currentlyfighting to maintain the privileged positions of the CMC in Victorian society. They are also the more dogmatic minded of the Victorian factions.
Thoughts on possible outcomes.
Quick Loyalist victory.
While a true home by Christmas victory was denied when the 1st CMC division escaped but the Loyalists can still win relatively swiftly I think. If the Crusaders fail to form a proper government and fail to develop some degree of popular support while the Loyalists pin down the Crusaders with their tides of militias, the Loyalists will win once the Crusaders run out of food and bullets. If this happens, the Loyalists are in a good position to recover. They will have militia hardened in battle against elite "modern" divisions into a reorganized army along with the returned Victorian POWs. Victoria still has a large amount of resources and a large manpower pool to draw from. The critical infrastructure was not destroyed by the Commonwealth during Operation Foil and is still usable. The reformers could remove some of the many inefficiencies of the Victorian military and society. Victoria can recover for another round against the Commonwealth especially with Russian aid and break the treaty sooner.
Late Loyalist victory.
If the Crusaders managed to organize a proper government and rally some popular support to fight the "corrupted" loyalists, they could put up a proper fight against the Loyalists. However, the Loyalist government is still the more legitimate government and they can probably buy more equipment, muster more resources and troops, and buy mercenaries to replace losses. A prolonged civil war prefers the Loyalist government. Once the Loyalists wins, Victoria will have a harder time recovering. Critical infrastructure might be damaged. Many more civilians will die due to hunger and plundering armies. Many more troops and militia will have died in battle. The Loyalist government would have wasted a lot more resources in fighting fellow Victorians and allowed more time for the Commonwealth to build up. Blackwell and the reformers might even lose their jobs and negate the benefits of a Loyalist reformer victory but that seems unlikely. If the reformers remain in power, they can still reform Victoria but they will have less resources to work with. The Russians will help them but they will be unhappy. Victoria will likely take longer to break the treaty. Of course in any Loyalist victory, they could be daring enough to rip up the treaty once the Civil War is once and actually get away with it because the CFC is currently spent, but I think Blackwell would prefer time to do his reforms in relative safety than try another dangerous gamble that might blow up in his face so soon.
Crusader victory.
It is hard for me to imagine a Crusader victory after a long war considering the situation. I imagine a Crusader victory would likely occur sooner rather than later if it happened at all. If the Crusaders form a proper government, leverage anger against the Loyalists to rally people to the Crusader cause, develop a cause with some degree of popular support beyond propping up the CMC's role in society, and avoid being bogged down by enemy militia to strike hard while the Loyalists are still reeling from their defeats, the Crusaders could topple the Loyalist government and win. If the Crusaders win, they will probably rip up the treaty as they are fanatics and as the Commonwealth cannot stop them as the CFC is spent, the Crusaders would win some support with that action. The Crusaders are the true believers in retroculture fascism and fourth generation warfare so they will probably double down on the inefficiencies of Victorian society. They will likely conduct a massive purge of former Loyalists and Blackwell supporters which would hinder Victoria more. They might purge the returned POWs. The Russians will be disgusted but would likely return to supporting Victoria to maintain some degree of influence. The Crusaders will probably attack as soon as they believe they can crush us. The Crusaders winning would be a mixed outcome for the CFC. The Commonwealth would be unable to reap the benefits of the treaty and be mocked for being unable to stop their rivals from ripping up the treaty so sooner. On the other hand, the Crusaders would probably weaken Victoria in the long run.
Obviously, a quick Loyalist victory would be the best outcome for Victoria but what would the best outcome for the Commonwealth? A late Loyalist victory allows more time for the CFC to develop itself and its Midwest sphere of influence but allows Victoria to reform itself somewhat. A Crusader victory has the Crusaders give the CFC less time and breathing room but the Crusaders will likely Victoria into the ground in the long run. What do you think?
How many Victorian regular and militia POWs from the battle of Detroit and Operation Foil do we currently have again @PoptartProdigy ?
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"It's impossible to even picture in your mind, isn't it? That the ruins we can see, stretching from the foothills of the Rocky Mountains towards the open plains, all eighty or so square miles of it, once had over seven hundred thousand people living in it, going about their lives. Now? You might find perhaps six hundred or so on any given visit, wandering in small bands. And you only have to look them in the eyes once to know that this place really is a city of ghosts." - Wandering scavenger, who declined to provide any name, June 2nd, 2071
Among the earliest 'true' successor states to the collapsed United States, the Cascadian Republic that had formed from the banded together states of Oregon and Washington, as well as British Columbia, had met its violent end in the year 2042. The collapse of civil order and subsequent occupation by the IJA had longstanding effects on both the Continental United States as well as overseas in being the final straw for the fracturing of what was once the People's Republic of China.
Yet a far nearer party to suffering from the loss of the Cascadian Republic was the Adan Coalition, a minor revivalist movement centered upon the city of Boise. Boise had been relying for some years on electric power imported from former Oregon's hydroelectric power plants, trading their manufactured semiconductors and telecommunications expertise in exchange. The loss of a stable source of power was keenly felt in both political circles and in flagging industries. The Coalition withered, it's lofty dreams left to distant memory.
In such circumstances, which persisted for twenty years, it is hardly surprising that the city's leadership was eager to support the Rainbow Uprising in any capacity it could. While it would be with surplus PRC and Indian equipment with which the Uprising would be fought, the Adan Coalition had sent members of what was once Idaho's National Guard to render assistance in a military advisory role to the various participant armies and had geared up the score of ammunition factories that existed within Boise's metropolitan area to supply as much in the way of munitions that could be spared, with the understanding that the resurgent Cascadian Republic would be willing to enter into a new trade deal much like the previous one.
It was not to be. While the Coalition's military advisors had arrived, the acceleration of the Uprising's timetable led to the ammunition order not being complete. With their work finished, the advisors returned home to Boise, and all of Ada county is said to have prayed for success. Those prayers were evidently not heard.
In the August Mutinies, the Adan Coalition watched their hope for a return to (relative) prosperity sputter out in the Rainbow Army's infighting. With the plans for a resurgent Boise laid to rest, the city began to wind down the wartime production they had worked towards to support their Cascadian allies. The truth was far harsher.
After the quelling of the Rainbow Uprising, the IJA had learned of the Coalition's involvement, though the exact source remains unclear. The response was thorough and utterly merciless.
Aerial bombing, drone strikes, artillery barrages. The Rocky Mountains echoed for weeks on end with the devastation of Boise. What occurred could not be called battle, and labeling it a massacre would only downplay the industrial approach that was employed. It was, to quote an Adan Coalition refugee, "nothing short of demolition from beyond the horizon."
It is still not known just how much of Boise's population died. What is known is that the Coalition's armed forces were destroyed to the last, with every equipment stockpile, munitions dump, armory and fuel depot leveled to the ground. The civilian government was among the first to be lost during the initial attack which destroyed the Idaho State Capitol building. Every last firearms producer and ammunition factory was razed.
After three weeks, the bombardment stopped, and the city's final death knell began. With public infrastructure savaged by artillery barrages, and with open masses of people being strafed by unmanned drones, there had been no ability to clear away the rubble, let alone bodies. Disease became rife among the survivors, among whom those who were able to abandoned the dead husk of what had been a city of over seven hundred thousand people.
In the Rockies, the echoes faded, and the city became still. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Borders look good. Your representatives there have actually been having a rough time getting a consistent name for Miami's polity, but the plurality of responses has it at, "Republic of Miami."
Name: The Helena Government, "The Lloyd Clique" Government: Warlord Clique, 'Neo-Feudalism' (a lot of little states paying taxes and fealty to a bigger state) Capital: Helena, Montana Leadership: Sebastian Lloyd - Warlord of Helena and Generalissimo of the Lloyd Clique State of Relations with CFC: Nonexistant due to the distance, information is largely limited to that something called the 'Commonwealth' badly beat the Victorians in a war. For many, though, that's enough to deserve a toast. Some forward-thinking and ambitious merchants have grasped the potential of a stabilized Mississippi river, who's massive extent reaches even Montana. Short-term Objectives: Prepare for the inevitable chaos if Lloyd dies, get the damn Japs to commit to a deal, consolidate further de facto control over the Flatbed Lake area.
*The medium shade of yellow indicates the areas that are de jure Imperial territory directly administered by them, but de facto controlled by the Clique, who patrol the roads, enforce the law, collect taxes, run the bureaucracy, and otherwise call the shots. The zone has been significantly expanding since the Cascadian Withdrawal, most notably the Flatbed Lake area being essentially abandoned by Japanese troops. Similarly to various NCR occupations, Lloyd's men are regarded as much better than the alternative, but hardly popular in their own right.
- Missoula has experienced a remarkable amount of highs and lows, even by the standards of the Collapse. Having been devastated, recovered, devastated, and recovered, too many cynical residents, it's not a matter of if chaos and war will destroy their newfound prosperity, but when.
- Butte was viciously sacked in the Coalition War, diving from one of the major players in the region and a relatively prosperous settlement to ashes. Lloyd made it a personal project to rebuild the town in the early days of his reign, as both a PR move and a method of establishing another area personally loyal to him, and today the place has, ironically, largely regrown with the help of Japanese trade through the Pass. Memories of the war run hot with those who suffered personally under the occupation, however, and despite the warlord's best efforts, Butte stands in many minds as a martyr to be avenged, rather than a symbol of future prosperity.
- Helena, the home city of Lloyd himself, a modern Stalingrad upon which the Japanese offensive faltered ... Today, it is one of the greatest beneficiaries of the Clique's prosperity, having not only recovered from the Collapse, but grown larger and wealthier than before. It is the heart of Sebastian's powerbase, and one area his second son Malcolm is sure to inherit.
- There are cities that rode the waves of the Collapse, adapting with the changing tides, and carving out a place for themselves in the new world. And then there are cities which were dragged under by the currents, succumbing to violence, disorder, and starvation. Bozeman was one of the latter, and bears the scars even to the date. It's the unofficial home of the "Free League of Montana," a libertarian Revivalist movement which stands as one of the largest and most influential 'radicals' in the Clique, descended from various pre-collapse groups.
- Billings is the home of Ava Rhodes, one of America's only female warlords, as well as one of it's most brutal. Someone who styles herself in Alexander's example, Ava emulates his gambling, manipulative, and ruthless style of leadership, something which has brought her control over Billings and a sphere of influence beyond it, but little love from the Clique or her own people. One of Lloyd's most persistent rivals, she infamously withheld her troops during the war with Regina, widely believed seeking to launch a coup if things went poorly. Is also renowned for being one of the leading figures and victors of the 'Indian Wars.' Calling that war a precedent for the Coalition that fought the Japanese to a standstill is extremely controversial.
- The Crow-Cheyenne Alliance ended in tragedy and bloodshed, as internal leadership struggles, spiraling nationalism, and antagonizing too many of their neighbors led to a vicious reprisal (luckily for them, one that didn't attract Victorian attention, hence there being remnant states). Their memory is carried on by militants based out of Wyola, who pledge to continue the war so long as the First Nations are oppressed by imperialists.
- Great Falls is the largest 'Legitimist' government in the Clique, and the second major force at odds with Lloyd. It is the center of the 'moderate' Revivalist wing whose government has to balance a fine line between denouncing the Japanese invaders for their crimes, and not being too blatant as to compromise the economic benefits of the Pass. Joining the Clique was a bitterly contested move even within the elites of Great Falls, and although it's relative success has seemingly settled the question, resentment about subordinating themselves to 'some warlord playing king' is deep and widespread.
- Lewistown and Grass Range are both technically in the Lloyd Clique, but so autonomous their only real interaction is as a source of crops. Pushing for a closer integration has been raised, but there have always been more important things to handle, and neither of the cities will accept the other being included - they have their own vicious little Hatfield-McCoy feud.
- Malta is the Lloyd Clique's eastern outpost, a useful spot on the Missouri River to trade and keep an ear to the happenings of the midwest. It's annexation provided the official excuse for the war with the Regina raiders, and the city held out under siege for nearly a month and a half until the Clique's forces could be rallied. Malta has a rather awkward relationship with the other half-dozen settlements downstream which are still independent and used to be close peers with.
- Midwestern Canadians weren't quite as badly off as their western and eastern countrymen, but still found themselves in an awful position. The Clique proved the least worst option, and a minor source of tension with the Artic Conservation, as they are effectively the last two 'free,' 'democratic' Canadian states in existence, and neither are fans of each other.
Background: Cascadia, in many ways, stood as the crown jewel of the Japanese Empire, especially after the war in Manchuria turned sour. A quiescent, profitable, and somewhat idyllic land, it featured prominently in Co-Prosperity Sphere propaganda, a shining example of what a dutiful subject can expect and the ultimate prize representing their triumph over the decadent western Yankee Imperialists. Needless to say, this all went to hell after the Color Revolt, and even after it was suppressed, the ensuing brutal crackdown put something of an egg on Japan's face internationally as well as turning the former economic boon into yet another black hole of men and funds.
A year later and with little sign things would fully return to the antebellum prosperity, the Japanese were increasingly desperate for some sort of way to salvage the situation. A general by the same of Yamashiro Yutai proposed a solution: start another war. He believed the insurgents were being supplied by fellow Americans, not in California as many darkly suspected, but over the Rocky Mountains. He intended to clear Route 90 (henceforth referred to as the Missoula Pass) in order to launch an invasion of inner North America for national glory, to cut the rebels' supplies, and to secure new resources for the Empire.
Now, it doesn't take a genius to poke some holes in that theory, and to their credit, the harried Japanese occupation initially refused to cave to the army's pressure. Unfortunately, the Shanghai Incident* put the government under a great deal of pressure to distract the public and save face, so support for a Quick Glorious Little War rapidly spiked. Sensing the opportunity, Yutai indulged in the military's habit of asking for forgiveness instead of permission and had the Pass cleared before launching the expedition.
All the major annually navigable passages through the Rockies had decayed through malign neglect. This was a deliberate move on behalf of the colonizers, isolating the West Coast from the rest of the continental United States, and while there's no specific treaty about it, California starting to refurbish said passes would both be very obvious and immediately alarm their overlords. Thus, the Pacific remained isolated from the mainland ... up until the IJA stormed through Missoula.
The eight-month conflict can roughly be compared to the second Sino-Japanese war if obviously much lesser in scale. The invaders initially made significant progress against the unaware, disunited, and undisciplined locals, the capstone of their early success being the sack of Butte, which had formerly stood as the most powerful faction in western mountainous Montana. Of course, this couldn't last. The locals rallied in the face of foreign invasion, putting aside numerous feuds and rivalries in the face of destruction - spurred on by the typical callousness displayed by the Japanese, many of which were still looking to avenge the initial humiliations of the Rainbow Revolution.
In particular, this impromptu coalition formed around the Warlord of Helena: one Sebastian Lloyd. A charismatic and idealistic leader, he had risen to command his home city from humble origins - Sebastian had been a high school principal before the collapse, and would often humorously compare his new situation to it. Despite being hilariously out-geared and out-trained, the locals put up an increasingly fierce resistance. Although the Japanese troops pushed through to Bozeman, breaking out of the highlands and spilling into the Great Plains, they were held up at the very outskirts of Helena, the city fighting on despite indiscriminate artillery and air bombardment.
And time wasn't on the invaders' side. As the battles turned into a quagmire and requests for reinforcement continued, the situation is Cascadia deteriorated. While the Japanese initially believed to have suppressed the rebels - part of what gave confidence to the expedition - the radical wing of the Green Army had merely been preparing. Three months into the incursion to Montana, the Years of Fire began.
The expedition's logistics had already been inherently tenuous. Difficult terrain, single points of failure, long-distance, local guerrilla resistance - it was the primarily motorized-infantry based nature of the Japanese colonial forces that made the initial push feasible, but as momentum stalled, artillery and heavy vehicles were pulled in to make progress alongside additional troops. This supply chain proved an irresistible and vulnerable target for Cascadian insurgents, the long road from Spokane to Missoula becoming infamous for constant sabotage and ambushes.
All the while, more and more members were joining the increasingly official coalition in Montana, and the breakthrough at Bozeman quickly proved a pyrrhic victory, as the front grew unsustainably wide. The breaking point was reached after an overextended brigade was outright encircled and destroyed near Melville, making it clear a resolution was nowhere near at hand while simultaneously making it impossible for the Japanese to withdraw in good grace. Additionally, the increasingly not-so-minor-and-quick little war was drawing the ire of Russia (as well as Victoria). The two empire's relations were already strained after the Rainbow Revolution and Shanghai Incident, the Japanese blundering into Alexander's carefully arranged american status-quo didn't help matters. General Yamashiro Yutai found himself in increasingly deep shit as it became clear he was about to be used as a scapegoat for everything that had gone wrong in Cascadian for a decade, let alone the botched invasion and insubordination.
Yutai found himself bailed out in an incredible stroke of luck, however, when the expeditionary force was contacted by none other than Sebastian Lloyd himself. The warlord wanted to make peace.
The leader of Helena had used the opportunity provided by the war to consolidate his control over a significant portion of land, soon standing as an almost official leader of the anti-Japanese coalition. Importantly, he made sure to secure the loyalty of much of his partner's militaries, ostensibly in the name of coordinating the war effort. And to the man's credit, this was true and worked - the Montanese forces increased cohesion played a key role in their later victories, especially outmaneuvering the invaders' forces in the plains. Yet, at the height of this success, Lloyd called for, what was in the eyes of many, a glorified surrender.
Now, the warlord had valid reasons for his action. The most prominent logic used was that any kind of real victory was impossible. While Montana was about as far from Victoria as you can get and had a mountain range between them and the Russian colonies, the fate of those who did too well in America was well known. Even if he immediately dismantled the coalition, someone would come for them, simply because they'd won. No, even if they could drive back the invaders (and that's a big if, relying on the Japanese not letting their pride get ahead of themselves and escalating the situation) it'd prove pointless anyway. So Lloyd picked a third option - 'surrender' to the Imperials after having gotten the best terms possible but before things went past the point of no return.
The Treaty of Vancouver was relatively simple: the new "Helena Government" effectively becomes an autonomous buffer state and loose vassal of the New Imperial Japanese State, with Sebastian Lloyd the undisputed dictator of this new entity. The Japanese avoided a potential clusterfuck, got to save face in front of their people after several embarrassments, ... generously map paint themselves new territory in the Midwest, and once again proclaim victory over the barbarian Yankees - not to mention the genuine economic benefits the arrangement, including finding a way to reduce their strategic dependence on foreign food imports. Yamashiro Yutai returned to Tokyo a hero and began a promising career in the Diet, while the Cascadian colonial detachment set about refocusing on handling an increasingly out of control insurgency, alongside helping their 'ally' secure his new domain.
The Warlord, on the other hand, got himself officially recognized as the ruler of one of the largest regimes in inner America. Its territorial extent is often simply referred to as the state of Montana, but in truth, it's a bit more complicated - the Clique's authority (initially) didn't penetrate the highlands far past Butte and is scarcely felt in the eastern reaches. Meanwhile, the Candian provinces of Alberta and to a lesser extent Saskatchewan have their southern extents enveloped by the Clique's zone of control. Needless to say, this betrayal didn't exactly endear the warlord to his new people, and Sebastian quickly found himself relying on his new benefactors to maintain order, although the man had successfully bought over enough important figures and militaries beforehand to prevent a large-scale revolt, and the fruits of the Treaty arrived soon enough to keep tension from boiling over.
The Helena Government - or as it's colloquially referred to even by the regime itself - the 'Lloyd Clique' - benefits from being in Imperial Japan's sphere of influence primarily through shipments of weaponry, a rare degree of stability provided by their patronage, and the economic benefits of having (limited) access to the Pacific. Japan views the Clique as another colony they have to be annoyingly hands-off with, their arrangements are exploitative, unfair, and uneven, if not quite abusive. Nonetheless, this is significantly better than most of what the rest of the Midwest endures, and this limited prosperity provides the main shaky pillar of legitimacy Llyod's Clique rules upon.
All of this came at a significant cost to Sebastian himself. However coldly logical his capitulation may have been, it has cemented the warlords as one of the west's most loathed men alive. Lloyd is seen as some modern fusion of Benedict Arnold, Vidkun Quisling, and Philipe Petain. The fact that he may well go down as one of the most hated Americans of this century since Donald Trump has, needless to say, given Sebastian many a long, sleepless night, let alone the effects it has on his rule and diplomacy.
One faction who remained decidedly unhappy with this course of events was the Russian Empire, who disapproved of the breathing space given to this unapproved American statelet. Even eventually Alexander decided to concede the existence of the Lloyd Clique in the name of normalizing relations with the Japanese Empire, as well on the implicit understanding that the warlord's frankinstine of a state would surely collapse within a few years.
*The Shanghai Incident refers to the IJN Katsuma unintentionally replicating the historical feats of the USS Maine, complete with the Japanese unwilling to lose face and thus escalating the situation with the Chinese. Unfortunately for them, they weren't the United States and China wasn't Spain - something which became harshly clear after Alexander made it explicitly clear he had zero intention of backing them up in a provoked war.
The Man Himself: Like most Warlord Cliques, the Helana government can best be fathomed by understanding its head, Sebastian Lloyd.
As of the year 2076, Lloyd is an old man, nearing his eighties and suffering from an increasing amount of health issues his foreign medicine can only stave off for so long. His new state has existed for roughly over a decade, and despite the enormous amount of effort he has spent simply to keep it afloat, the man is no closer to achieving his dream since the moment the ink dried on the Treaty. The evidently endless energy which had animated the warlord for much of his life has seemingly at last been tapped out, and now Sebastian is prone to fits of maudlin apathy, at long last delegating parts of his rule to subordinates which he never truly trusted. The constant internecine bickering and plotting at his court have momentarily paused, as if holding its breath, dozens of would-be warlords and revolutionaries impatiently awaiting Lloyd's long-anticipated demise.
See, Sebastian Lloyd is an idealist. From the moment he took control of his underfunded public school, Sebastian knew if only he had more authority, more funding, more flexibility, he could fix the systemic issues plaguing his faculty and students. Watching the Old Nation fall apart bit by bit only further solidified this belief, and soon Lloyd spent most of his time and energy merely trying to keep his wards fed and safe. When chaos and violence eventually reached Helena itself, even that proved impossible.
The exact moment Sebastian lost all faith in any authority but himself to deliver safety isn't exactly known, perhaps the man was still wrestling with the idea even as he began to join the battle for power whole-heartedly, organizing a militia and food distribution out of his battered school, opposing the hypocrite holding up in the governer's palace and the madmen trying to imitate those terrorists in the east, as well as half-a-dozen other contenders for control of Helena as all semblance of government authority collapsed. In the end, though, he stood in charge of the city, having suborned the police and bureaucracy to his side while achieving popular mandate.
Lloyd's dictatorship proved relatively benevolent, even if Helena itself had deeply suffered in its own little civil war. Yet there was never enough supplies to go around, far too many hostile neighbors for comfort, and maintaining his own authority proved an endless and demoralizing struggle. Far too often, Sebastian felt like he was back in his office, trying to make a too-small budget fit too many children, futilely attempting to convince the administration to adjust even one of their shortsighted policies ...
Then the Japanese invaded, and if Sebastian had learned one thing about leadership, it was to never let a crisis go to waste.
Yet even as he has at long last achieved his goal, standing officially on top of the endless rat race, the most powerful man in Montana, with finally enough power and breathing room to make the needed changes ... Sebastian Lloyd has come to understand one fundamental fact about power. The more you have, the more everyone else wants it, and the harder you have to work to keep it - or even to survive. Lloyd rides a ravenous tiger and has few true loyalists - the Japanese see him as a useful tool, his subordinated warlords and burghers a temporary condition, and his subjected people view him as a collaborator and a tyrant. Sebastion spends much of his time and energy just trying to keep his state's head above the water, let alone implement the numerous political and social policies he'd originally envisioned. For all that the Old Man is a talented and charismatic leader, his task has proved impossible, and it's honestly a credit to the man that the Lloyd Clique has marched on for ten years.
Sebastian is now unable to convince himself the endless sacrifices were worth it, from the moment he had the police chief poisoned to the latest bribe given out to his subordinates to maintain their quiescency. He has become heavily depressed and apathetic, carrying on mostly out of the knowledge that the clique would burn to the ground in days without Lloyd at the helm, the man and his family undoubtedly the first tinder.
Internal Workings of the Helena Government: Perhaps the greatest distinguishing factor about the Lloyd Clique is that it's big. Although it doesn't actually encompass the former state of Montana (existing only on the eastern side of the Rockies and not reaching past Roundup or Malta, although it does bulge into former Canadian territory) nonetheless by the standards of Post-Collapse America it is pushing the very limits of what Alexander allows, and despite a compromise reached between Japan and Russia, the Clique's stabilization, gradual expansion, and attempted industrialization - absolute no-nos for Alexandrian NA foreign policy - is a persistent source of irritation and tension between the two empires. It's suspected that the Russians only agreed on the assumption that it wouldn't be long before the unstable would-be nation collapsed under its own weight. While Montana is hardly an urban and densely populated region, there are roughly 400 miles between Billings and Lethbridge. This adds up.
Looking at a map of the various subdivisions of the clique, one might believe for a second that they've accidentally opened up to the HRE. The creation and consolidation of the state was anything but organized, and mainly built upon the promise that everyone important would get to keep their power and life would largely continue as it did (as well as dividing the land of those who proved to recalcitrant between them), just without having to worry about the Japanese, Russians, or Victorians killing them all. This has led to an absolute snarl of dozens of different petty warlords, town councils, and vestigial governments all theoretically answering to the Generalissimo, all of them interested in more autonomy and fewer taxes.
If there's one element in which Lloyd can be said to have thoroughly and consistently improved the lives of his new people, it's stability. That key ingredient which is so sorely lacking in the rest of America for so long. Although the clique is far from centralized, the warlord has successfully managed to cram a mandatory territory-wide peace between his subjects. The old feuds are still well and alive, make no mistake, but they're carried on in ways other than open battle.
While Japanese aid may come with more asterisks than anyone is comfortable with, it's undeniably useful. With the Clique's exports being primarily agricultural, the contributions are focused in three primary areas: farming, infrastructure, and security. The more crops sailing back to Japan the better, and helping to fix the tarnished roads, railways, and airports of the land further indebts the satellite state as well as furthering the previous goal. Finally, selling last generation military hardware and simple uniforms on the cheap is both expected and gives their actor some much-needed leverage to keep his abomination of a state intact, and thus the Missoula Pass open. The Lloyd Clique benefits economically from their patron through various investments and (limited) access to the Pacific Ocean, but the New Imperial Japanese State has little interest in actually making their satellite self-sufficient, so their support for Sebastian's various attempts to reform his clique into a socialist nation-state is decidedly lukewarm.
Speaking of which, Sebastian Lloyd had numerous plans about reintroducing an official judicial system, systematizing education, to centralize the military, industrialize his territory, and ensure justice in the economy, but this has had ... mixed results. This is partially due to the nature of his circumstances and unpopularity (for example, centralizing the military was an immediate no-go with his subordinates, and the attempt to open official schooling foundered due to being widely viewed as an attempt to distribute propaganda), but perhaps the most significant obstacle to affecting the change Sebastian initially envisioned is the man himself. At first, the proposed reforms and changes were relatively tame, focused on mending the scars of the Collapse and preventing something like it from happening again (generally speaking, Lloyd blames the unethical nature of Capitalism and weakness of Democracy for the fall of the USA) but as the cost of maintaining his authority and sovereignty continued to climb, the reforms grew increasingly extreme and unfeasible.
Its military can be seen as a microcosm of the Lloyd Clique: powerful, but fragile. The core of the force is the warlord's personal army, roughly ten thousand Japanese trained and equipped troops answering directly to Lloyd. They represent the real key of Sebastian's power - that and the Missoula Pass. Besides the Clique's bloody birth, they've only seen open battle once (a large scale raid by a warlord based out of Regina, suspected to have been encouraged by Victoria as a means of 'testing' the Clique's) but they acquitted themselves well, and Sebastian has made a continued effort to keep his retinue professional and competent in addition to well-equipped. Of course, should this force ever be destroyed - or even suffer significant casualties - it would destabilize the entire Clique, so the Pass Guard is carefully husbanded, spending most of their time doing exactly that. In a scenario of total war, the generalissimo could probably call upon something approaching 50,000 more conscripts hypothetically loyal to him, stemming primarily out of Helena, Butte, and recently, Missoula. Scrounging up the needed equipment and organizing everyone would be a significant challenge, and the force would be far inferior to the near-professional soldiers of the Guard, but the option to mobilize Is there.
The majority of the Lloyd Clique's military comes from its various petty warlord retinues and local militias that constitute the private armies of its various vassals. The quality of these forces varies dramatically, spanning from what're basically private paramilitaries to glorified thugs more interested in terrorizing the people they're allegedly protecting than participating in any kind of actual combat. They, of course, also don't answer directly to Lloyd, which disincentivizes him from trying to change this - after all, he'd just be destabilizing his own rule. If the situation was severe enough, however, the warlord could distribute his cache of superior equipment to the better-off groups and swallow the long-term effects in the name of immediately having a good army.
All in all, a capable military matched by few on the continent, but one heavily tied to the fraught internal politics of the Clique.
Recent Events: The Warlord of Helena and leader of the eponymous state-spanning clique is ailing. Rumors whirl throughout his domain and beyond about the Old Man's long-predicted demise finally arriving, even as others scoff - people have been waiting for Lloyd to drop dead any second now for a decade, and he's still kicking. Nonetheless, for the past few months increasingly credible sources state that a persistent malaise has fallen over the characteristically tireless man, and even those not prone to following rumor have taken note. Although technically speaking Lloyd's second son stands to inherent Helena (his first estranged from the family), the warlord has refused to name an official heir, stating an ideological opposition to the idea that his authoritarian rule would continue indefinitely - and probably canny enough to understand it would just be painting a target on the person's back.
This may have come at a remarkably poor time, as the waves set off by the Great Lakes War reach Montana. Revivalist sentiments and anti-Japanese grumbling have taken a new, dangerous pitch as the continent's status-quo has taken a body-blow it may well never recover from. Although not wracked to nearly the same extent as it's neighbor across the mountains, the Lloyd Clique has struggled with resistance groups since it's inception, and a taste of success has only urged them on. Troublingly, the most organized Revivalist insurgent organizations have remained silent, undoubtedly waiting for their moment along with everyone else … but also perhaps in communication with peers beyond the borders of the Clique.
The Lloyd Clique's patron and the official reason for its existence, the New Imperial Japanese State, has recently attracted controversy. That is to say, more controversy than usual. The ever-simmering tension with the Second Republic of China edges closer and closer to unreversible escalation, hatreds and insecurities both old and new frothing to the surface. Cascadia, long a drain and embarrassment to the Japanese, has seen a cutdown in manpower and recourses as troops are reorganized. The occupiers resort to increasingly inhumane and dubious methods of maintaining control, all the while looking to foist whatever responsibilities it can on local collaborators - whichever ones can be trusted. Needless to say, this has strained the relationship between the Clique and Japan. Always a matter of pure practicality, any pretensions of a cordial relationship have been tarnished by the increasingly bitter rows over the division of duties, supply shipments, and the indiscriminate nature of the empire's drone strikes. Although the arrangement continues so long as the crop shipments flow, the consequences of revealing the Clique's ugly and complicated relationship with its patron to the public have yet to be fully felt.
A. N. - Like my two previous warlords, Armstrong and Zygais, Lloyd is based on a historical figure/archetype: the well-meaning collaborator. The original idea was Wang Jingwei, but all things considered, Sebastian's a lot more like a sympathetic interpretation of Phillipe Petain.
Name: The Helena Government, "The Lloyd Clique" Government: Warlord Clique, 'Neo-Feudalism' (a lot of little states paying taxes and fealty to a bigger state) Capital: Helena, Montana Leadership: Sebastian Lloyd - Warlord of Helena and Generalissimo of the Lloyd Clique State of Relations with CFC: Nonexistant due to the distance, information is largely limited to that something called the 'Commonwealth' badly beat the Victorians in a war. For many, though, that's enough to deserve a toast. Some forward-thinking and ambitious merchants have grasped the potential of a stabilized Mississippi river, who's massive extent reaches even Montana. Short-term Objectives: Prepare for the inevitable chaos if Lloyd dies, get the damn Japs to commit to a deal, consolidate further de facto control over the Flatbed Lake area.
*The medium shade of yellow indicates the areas that are de jure Imperial territory directly administered by them, but de facto controlled by the Clique, who patrol the roads, enforce the law, collect taxes, run the bureaucracy, and otherwise call the shots. The zone has been significantly expanding since the Cascadian Withdrawal, most notably the Flatbed Lake area being essentially abandoned by Japanese troops. Similarly to various NCR occupations, Lloyd's men are regarded as much better than the alternative, but hardly popular in their own right.
- Missoula has experienced a remarkable amount of highs and lows, even by the standards of the Collapse. Having been devastated, recovered, devastated, and recovered, too many cynical residents, it's not a matter of if chaos and war will destroy their newfound prosperity, but when.
- Butte was viciously sacked in the Coalition War, diving from one of the major players in the region and a relatively prosperous settlement to ashes. Lloyd made it a personal project to rebuild the town in the early days of his reign, as both a PR move and a method of establishing another area personally loyal to him, and today the place has, ironically, largely regrown with the help of Japanese trade through the Pass. Memories of the war run hot with those who suffered personally under the occupation, however, and despite the warlord's best efforts, Butte stands in many minds as a martyr to be avenged, rather than a symbol of future prosperity.
- Helena, the home city of Lloyd himself, a modern Stalingrad upon which the Japanese offensive faltered ... Today, it is one of the greatest beneficiaries of the Clique's prosperity, having not only recovered from the Collapse, but grown larger and wealthier than before. It is the heart of Sebastian's powerbase, and one area his second son Malcolm is sure to inherit.
- There are cities that rode the waves of the Collapse, adapting with the changing tides, and carving out a place for themselves in the new world. And then there are cities which were dragged under by the currents, succumbing to violence, disorder, and starvation. Bozeman was one of the latter, and bears the scars even to the date. It's the unofficial home of the "Free League of Montana," a libertarian Revivalist movement which stands as one of the largest and most influential 'radicals' in the Clique, descended from various pre-collapse groups.
- Billings is the home of Ava Rhodes, one of America's only female warlords, as well as one of it's most brutal. Someone who styles herself in Alexander's example, Ava emulates his gambling, manipulative, and ruthless style of leadership, something which has brought her control over Billings and a sphere of influence beyond it, but little love from the Clique or her own people. One of Lloyd's most persistent rivals, she infamously withheld her troops during the war with Regina, widely believed seeking to launch a coup if things went poorly. Is also renowned for being one of the leading figures and victors of the 'Indian Wars.' Calling that war a precedent for the Coalition that fought the Japanese to a standstill is extremely controversial.
- The Crow-Cheyenne Alliance ended in tragedy and bloodshed, as internal leadership struggles, spiraling nationalism, and antagonizing too many of their neighbors led to a vicious reprisal (luckily for them, one that didn't attract Victorian attention, hence there being remnant states). Their memory is carried on by militants based out of Wyola, who pledge to continue the war so long as the First Nations are oppressed by imperialists.
- Great Falls is the largest 'Legitimist' government in the Clique, and the second major force at odds with Lloyd. It is the center of the 'moderate' Revivalist wing whose government has to balance a fine line between denouncing the Japanese invaders for their crimes, and not being too blatant as to compromise the economic benefits of the Pass. Joining the Clique was a bitterly contested move even within the elites of Great Falls, and although it's relative success has seemingly settled the question, resentment about subordinating themselves to 'some warlord playing king' is deep and widespread.
- Lewistown and Grass Range are both technically in the Lloyd Clique, but so autonomous their only real interaction is as a source of crops. Pushing for a closer integration has been raised, but there have always been more important things to handle, and neither of the cities will accept the other being included - they have their own vicious little Hatfield-McCoy feud.
- Malta is the Lloyd Clique's eastern outpost, a useful spot on the Missouri River to trade and keep an ear to the happenings of the midwest. It's annexation provided the official excuse for the war with the Regina raiders, and the city held out under siege for nearly a month and a half until the Clique's forces could be rallied. Malta has a rather awkward relationship with the other half-dozen settlements downstream which are still independent and used to be close peers with.
- Midwestern Canadians weren't quite as badly off as their western and eastern countrymen, but still found themselves in an awful position. The Clique proved the least worst option, and a minor source of tension with the Artic Conservation, as they are effectively the last two 'free,' 'democratic' Canadian states in existence, and neither are fans of each other.
Background: Cascadia, in many ways, stood as the crown jewel of the Japanese Empire, especially after the war in Manchuria turned sour. A quiescent, profitable, and somewhat idyllic land, it featured prominently in Co-Prosperity Sphere propaganda, a shining example of what a dutiful subject can expect and the ultimate prize representing their triumph over the decadent western Yankee Imperialists. Needless to say, this all went to hell after the Color Revolt, and even after it was suppressed, the ensuing brutal crackdown put something of an egg on Japan's face internationally as well as turning the former economic boon into yet another black hole of men and funds.
A year later and with little sign things would fully return to the antebellum prosperity, the Japanese were increasingly desperate for some sort of way to salvage the situation. A general by the same of Yamashiro Yutai proposed a solution: start another war. He believed the insurgents were being supplied by fellow Americans, not in California as many darkly suspected, but over the Rocky Mountains. He intended to clear Route 90 (henceforth referred to as the Missoula Pass) in order to launch an invasion of inner North America for national glory, to cut the rebels' supplies, and to secure new resources for the Empire.
Now, it doesn't take a genius to poke some holes in that theory, and to their credit, the harried Japanese occupation initially refused to cave to the army's pressure. Unfortunately, the Shanghai Incident* put the government under a great deal of pressure to distract the public and save face, so support for a Quick Glorious Little War rapidly spiked. Sensing the opportunity, Yutai indulged in the military's habit of asking for forgiveness instead of permission and had the Pass cleared before launching the expedition.
All the major annually navigable passages through the Rockies had decayed through malign neglect. This was a deliberate move on behalf of the colonizers, isolating the West Coast from the rest of the continental United States, and while there's no specific treaty about it, California starting to refurbish said passes would both be very obvious and immediately alarm their overlords. Thus, the Pacific remained isolated from the mainland ... up until the IJA stormed through Missoula.
The eight-month conflict can roughly be compared to the second Sino-Japanese war if obviously much lesser in scale. The invaders initially made significant progress against the unaware, disunited, and undisciplined locals, the capstone of their early success being the sack of Butte, which had formerly stood as the most powerful faction in western mountainous Montana. Of course, this couldn't last. The locals rallied in the face of foreign invasion, putting aside numerous feuds and rivalries in the face of destruction - spurred on by the typical callousness displayed by the Japanese, many of which were still looking to avenge the initial humiliations of the Rainbow Revolution.
In particular, this impromptu coalition formed around the Warlord of Helena: one Sebastian Lloyd. A charismatic and idealistic leader, he had risen to command his home city from humble origins - Sebastian had been a high school principal before the collapse, and would often humorously compare his new situation to it. Despite being hilariously out-geared and out-trained, the locals put up an increasingly fierce resistance. Although the Japanese troops pushed through to Bozeman, breaking out of the highlands and spilling into the Great Plains, they were held up at the very outskirts of Helena, the city fighting on despite indiscriminate artillery and air bombardment.
And time wasn't on the invaders' side. As the battles turned into a quagmire and requests for reinforcement continued, the situation is Cascadia deteriorated. While the Japanese initially believed to have suppressed the rebels - part of what gave confidence to the expedition - the radical wing of the Green Army had merely been preparing. Three months into the incursion to Montana, the Years of Fire began.
The expedition's logistics had already been inherently tenuous. Difficult terrain, single points of failure, long-distance, local guerrilla resistance - it was the primarily motorized-infantry based nature of the Japanese colonial forces that made the initial push feasible, but as momentum stalled, artillery and heavy vehicles were pulled in to make progress alongside additional troops. This supply chain proved an irresistible and vulnerable target for Cascadian insurgents, the long road from Spokane to Missoula becoming infamous for constant sabotage and ambushes.
All the while, more and more members were joining the increasingly official coalition in Montana, and the breakthrough at Bozeman quickly proved a pyrrhic victory, as the front grew unsustainably wide. The breaking point was reached after an overextended brigade was outright encircled and destroyed near Melville, making it clear a resolution was nowhere near at hand while simultaneously making it impossible for the Japanese to withdraw in good grace. Additionally, the increasingly not-so-minor-and-quick little war was drawing the ire of Russia (as well as Victoria). The two empire's relations were already strained after the Rainbow Revolution and Shanghai Incident, the Japanese blundering into Alexander's carefully arranged american status-quo didn't help matters. General Yamashiro Yutai found himself in increasingly deep shit as it became clear he was about to be used as a scapegoat for everything that had gone wrong in Cascadian for a decade, let alone the botched invasion and insubordination.
Yutai found himself bailed out in an incredible stroke of luck, however, when the expeditionary force was contacted by none other than Sebastian Lloyd himself. The warlord wanted to make peace.
The leader of Helena had used the opportunity provided by the war to consolidate his control over a significant portion of land, soon standing as an almost official leader of the anti-Japanese coalition. Importantly, he made sure to secure the loyalty of much of his partner's militaries, ostensibly in the name of coordinating the war effort. And to the man's credit, this was true and worked - the Montanese forces increased cohesion played a key role in their later victories, especially outmaneuvering the invaders' forces in the plains. Yet, at the height of this success, Lloyd called for, what was in the eyes of many, a glorified surrender.
Now, the warlord had valid reasons for his action. The most prominent logic used was that any kind of real victory was impossible. While Montana was about as far from Victoria as you can get and had a mountain range between them and the Russian colonies, the fate of those who did too well in America was well known. Even if he immediately dismantled the coalition, someone would come for them, simply because they'd won. No, even if they could drive back the invaders (and that's a big if, relying on the Japanese not letting their pride get ahead of themselves and escalating the situation) it'd prove pointless anyway. So Lloyd picked a third option - 'surrender' to the Imperials after having gotten the best terms possible but before things went past the point of no return.
The Treaty of Vancouver was relatively simple: the new "Helena Government" effectively becomes an autonomous buffer state and loose vassal of the New Imperial Japanese State, with Sebastian Lloyd the undisputed dictator of this new entity. The Japanese avoided a potential clusterfuck, got to save face in front of their people after several embarrassments, ... generously map paint themselves new territory in the Midwest, and once again proclaim victory over the barbarian Yankees - not to mention the genuine economic benefits the arrangement, including finding a way to reduce their strategic dependence on foreign food imports. Yamashiro Yutai returned to Tokyo a hero and began a promising career in the Diet, while the Cascadian colonial detachment set about refocusing on handling an increasingly out of control insurgency, alongside helping their 'ally' secure his new domain.
The Warlord, on the other hand, got himself officially recognized as the ruler of one of the largest regimes in inner America. Its territorial extent is often simply referred to as the state of Montana, but in truth, it's a bit more complicated - the Clique's authority (initially) didn't penetrate the highlands far past Butte and is scarcely felt in the eastern reaches. Meanwhile, the Candian provinces of Alberta and to a lesser extent Saskatchewan have their southern extents enveloped by the Clique's zone of control. Needless to say, this betrayal didn't exactly endear the warlord to his new people, and Sebastian quickly found himself relying on his new benefactors to maintain order, although the man had successfully bought over enough important figures and militaries beforehand to prevent a large-scale revolt, and the fruits of the Treaty arrived soon enough to keep tension from boiling over.
The Helena Government - or as it's colloquially referred to even by the regime itself - the 'Lloyd Clique' - benefits from being in Imperial Japan's sphere of influence primarily through shipments of weaponry, a rare degree of stability provided by their patronage, and the economic benefits of having (limited) access to the Pacific. Japan views the Clique as another colony they have to be annoyingly hands-off with, their arrangements are exploitative, unfair, and uneven, if not quite abusive. Nonetheless, this is significantly better than most of what the rest of the Midwest endures, and this limited prosperity provides the main shaky pillar of legitimacy Llyod's Clique rules upon.
All of this came at a significant cost to Sebastian himself. However coldly logical his capitulation may have been, it has cemented the warlords as one of the west's most loathed men alive. Lloyd is seen as some modern fusion of Benedict Arnold, Vidkun Quisling, and Philipe Petain. The fact that he may well go down as one of the most hated Americans of this century since Donald Trump has, needless to say, given Sebastian many a long, sleepless night, let alone the effects it has on his rule and diplomacy.
One faction who remained decidedly unhappy with this course of events was the Russian Empire, who disapproved of the breathing space given to this unapproved American statelet. Even eventually Alexander decided to concede the existence of the Lloyd Clique in the name of normalizing relations with the Japanese Empire, as well on the implicit understanding that the warlord's frankinstine of a state would surely collapse within a few years.
*The Shanghai Incident refers to the IJN Katsuma unintentionally replicating the historical feats of the USS Maine, complete with the Japanese unwilling to lose face and thus escalating the situation with the Chinese. Unfortunately for them, they weren't the United States and China wasn't Spain - something which became harshly clear after Alexander made it explicitly clear he had zero intention of backing them up in a provoked war.
The Man Himself: Like most Warlord Cliques, the Helana government can best be fathomed by understanding its head, Sebastian Lloyd.
As of the year 2076, Lloyd is an old man, nearing his eighties and suffering from an increasing amount of health issues his foreign medicine can only stave off for so long. His new state has existed for roughly over a decade, and despite the enormous amount of effort he has spent simply to keep it afloat, the man is no closer to achieving his dream since the moment the ink dried on the Treaty. The evidently endless energy which had animated the warlord for much of his life has seemingly at last been tapped out, and now Sebastian is prone to fits of maudlin apathy, at long last delegating parts of his rule to subordinates which he never truly trusted. The constant internecine bickering and plotting at his court have momentarily paused, as if holding its breath, dozens of would-be warlords and revolutionaries impatiently awaiting Lloyd's long-anticipated demise.
See, Sebastian Lloyd is an idealist. From the moment he took control of his underfunded public school, Sebastian knew if only he had more authority, more funding, more flexibility, he could fix the systemic issues plaguing his faculty and students. Watching the Old Nation fall apart bit by bit only further solidified this belief, and soon Lloyd spent most of his time and energy merely trying to keep his wards fed and safe. When chaos and violence eventually reached Helena itself, even that proved impossible.
The exact moment Sebastian lost all faith in any authority but himself to deliver safety isn't exactly known, perhaps the man was still wrestling with the idea even as he began to join the battle for power whole-heartedly, organizing a militia and food distribution out of his battered school, opposing the hypocrite holding up in the governer's palace and the madmen trying to imitate those terrorists in the east, as well as half-a-dozen other contenders for control of Helena as all semblance of government authority collapsed. In the end, though, he stood in charge of the city, having suborned the police and bureaucracy to his side while achieving popular mandate.
Lloyd's dictatorship proved relatively benevolent, even if Helena itself had deeply suffered in its own little civil war. Yet there was never enough supplies to go around, far too many hostile neighbors for comfort, and maintaining his own authority proved an endless and demoralizing struggle. Far too often, Sebastian felt like he was back in his office, trying to make a too-small budget fit too many children, futilely attempting to convince the administration to adjust even one of their shortsighted policies ...
Then the Japanese invaded, and if Sebastian had learned one thing about leadership, it was to never let a crisis go to waste.
Yet even as he has at long last achieved his goal, standing officially on top of the endless rat race, the most powerful man in Montana, with finally enough power and breathing room to make the needed changes ... Sebastian Lloyd has come to understand one fundamental fact about power. The more you have, the more everyone else wants it, and the harder you have to work to keep it - or even to survive. Lloyd rides a ravenous tiger and has few true loyalists - the Japanese see him as a useful tool, his subordinated warlords and burghers a temporary condition, and his subjected people view him as a collaborator and a tyrant. Sebastion spends much of his time and energy just trying to keep his state's head above the water, let alone implement the numerous political and social policies he'd originally envisioned. For all that the Old Man is a talented and charismatic leader, his task has proved impossible, and it's honestly a credit to the man that the Lloyd Clique has marched on for ten years.
Sebastian is now unable to convince himself the endless sacrifices were worth it, from the moment he had the police chief poisoned to the latest bribe given out to his subordinates to maintain their quiescency. He has become heavily depressed and apathetic, carrying on mostly out of the knowledge that the clique would burn to the ground in days without Lloyd at the helm, the man and his family undoubtedly the first tinder.
Internal Workings of the Helena Government: Perhaps the greatest distinguishing factor about the Lloyd Clique is that it's big. Although it doesn't actually encompass the former state of Montana (existing only on the eastern side of the Rockies and not reaching past Roundup or Malta, although it does bulge into former Canadian territory) nonetheless by the standards of Post-Collapse America it is pushing the very limits of what Alexander allows, and despite a compromise reached between Japan and Russia, the Clique's stabilization, gradual expansion, and attempted industrialization - absolute no-nos for Alexandrian NA foreign policy - is a persistent source of irritation and tension between the two empires. It's suspected that the Russians only agreed on the assumption that it wouldn't be long before the unstable would-be nation collapsed under its own weight. While Montana is hardly an urban and densely populated region, there are roughly 400 miles between Billings and Lethbridge. This adds up.
Looking at a map of the various subdivisions of the clique, one might believe for a second that they've accidentally opened up to the HRE. The creation and consolidation of the state was anything but organized, and mainly built upon the promise that everyone important would get to keep their power and life would largely continue as it did (as well as dividing the land of those who proved to recalcitrant between them), just without having to worry about the Japanese, Russians, or Victorians killing them all. This has led to an absolute snarl of dozens of different petty warlords, town councils, and vestigial governments all theoretically answering to the Generalissimo, all of them interested in more autonomy and fewer taxes.
If there's one element in which Lloyd can be said to have thoroughly and consistently improved the lives of his new people, it's stability. That key ingredient which is so sorely lacking in the rest of America for so long. Although the clique is far from centralized, the warlord has successfully managed to cram a mandatory territory-wide peace between his subjects. The old feuds are still well and alive, make no mistake, but they're carried on in ways other than open battle.
While Japanese aid may come with more asterisks than anyone is comfortable with, it's undeniably useful. With the Clique's exports being primarily agricultural, the contributions are focused in three primary areas: farming, infrastructure, and security. The more crops sailing back to Japan the better, and helping to fix the tarnished roads, railways, and airports of the land further indebts the satellite state as well as furthering the previous goal. Finally, selling last generation military hardware and simple uniforms on the cheap is both expected and gives their actor some much-needed leverage to keep his abomination of a state intact, and thus the Missoula Pass open. The Lloyd Clique benefits economically from their patron through various investments and (limited) access to the Pacific Ocean, but the New Imperial Japanese State has little interest in actually making their satellite self-sufficient, so their support for Sebastian's various attempts to reform his clique into a socialist nation-state is decidedly lukewarm.
Speaking of which, Sebastian Lloyd had numerous plans about reintroducing an official judicial system, systematizing education, to centralize the military, industrialize his territory, and ensure justice in the economy, but this has had ... mixed results. This is partially due to the nature of his circumstances and unpopularity (for example, centralizing the military was an immediate no-go with his subordinates, and the attempt to open official schooling foundered due to being widely viewed as an attempt to distribute propaganda), but perhaps the most significant obstacle to affecting the change Sebastian initially envisioned is the man himself. At first, the proposed reforms and changes were relatively tame, focused on mending the scars of the Collapse and preventing something like it from happening again (generally speaking, Lloyd blames the unethical nature of Capitalism and weakness of Democracy for the fall of the USA) but as the cost of maintaining his authority and sovereignty continued to climb, the reforms grew increasingly extreme and unfeasible.
Its military can be seen as a microcosm of the Lloyd Clique: powerful, but fragile. The core of the force is the warlord's personal army, roughly ten thousand Japanese trained and equipped troops answering directly to Lloyd. They represent the real key of Sebastian's power - that and the Missoula Pass. Besides the Clique's bloody birth, they've only seen open battle once (a large scale raid by a warlord based out of Regina, suspected to have been encouraged by Victoria as a means of 'testing' the Clique's) but they acquitted themselves well, and Sebastian has made a continued effort to keep his retinue professional and competent in addition to well-equipped. Of course, should this force ever be destroyed - or even suffer significant casualties - it would destabilize the entire Clique, so the Pass Guard is carefully husbanded, spending most of their time doing exactly that. In a scenario of total war, the generalissimo could probably call upon something approaching 50,000 more conscripts hypothetically loyal to him, stemming primarily out of Helena, Butte, and recently, Missoula. Scrounging up the needed equipment and organizing everyone would be a significant challenge, and the force would be far inferior to the near-professional soldiers of the Guard, but the option to mobilize Is there.
The majority of the Lloyd Clique's military comes from its various petty warlord retinues and local militias that constitute the private armies of its various vassals. The quality of these forces varies dramatically, spanning from what're basically private paramilitaries to glorified thugs more interested in terrorizing the people they're allegedly protecting than participating in any kind of actual combat. They, of course, also don't answer directly to Lloyd, which disincentivizes him from trying to change this - after all, he'd just be destabilizing his own rule. If the situation was severe enough, however, the warlord could distribute his cache of superior equipment to the better-off groups and swallow the long-term effects in the name of immediately having a good army.
All in all, a capable military matched by few on the continent, but one heavily tied to the fraught internal politics of the Clique.
Recent Events: The Warlord of Helena and leader of the eponymous state-spanning clique is ailing. Rumors whirl throughout his domain and beyond about the Old Man's long-predicted demise finally arriving, even as others scoff - people have been waiting for Lloyd to drop dead any second now for a decade, and he's still kicking. Nonetheless, for the past few months increasingly credible sources state that a persistent malaise has fallen over the characteristically tireless man, and even those not prone to following rumor have taken note. Although technically speaking Lloyd's second son stands to inherent Helena (his first estranged from the family), the warlord has refused to name an official heir, stating an ideological opposition to the idea that his authoritarian rule would continue indefinitely - and probably canny enough to understand it would just be painting a target on the person's back.
This may have come at a remarkably poor time, as the waves set off by the Great Lakes War reach Montana. Revivalist sentiments and anti-Japanese grumbling have taken a new, dangerous pitch as the continent's status-quo has taken a body-blow it may well never recover from. Although not wracked to nearly the same extent as it's neighbor across the mountains, the Lloyd Clique has struggled with resistance groups since it's inception, and a taste of success has only urged them on. Troublingly, the most organized Revivalist insurgent organizations have remained silent, undoubtedly waiting for their moment along with everyone else … but also perhaps in communication with peers beyond the borders of the Clique.
The Lloyd Clique's patron and the official reason for its existence, the New Imperial Japanese State, has recently attracted controversy. That is to say, more controversy than usual. The ever-simmering tension with the Second Republic of China edges closer and closer to unreversible escalation, hatreds and insecurities both old and new frothing to the surface. Cascadia, long a drain and embarrassment to the Japanese, has seen a cutdown in manpower and recourses as troops are reorganized. The occupiers resort to increasingly inhumane and dubious methods of maintaining control, all the while looking to foist whatever responsibilities it can on local collaborators - whichever ones can be trusted. Needless to say, this has strained the relationship between the Clique and Japan. Always a matter of pure practicality, any pretensions of a cordial relationship have been tarnished by the increasingly bitter rows over the division of duties, supply shipments, and the indiscriminate nature of the empire's drone strikes. Although the arrangement continues so long as the crop shipments flow, the consequences of revealing the Clique's ugly and complicated relationship with its patron to the public have yet to be fully felt.
A. N. - Like my two previous warlords, Armstrong and Zygais, Lloyd is based on a historical figure/archetype: the well-meaning collaborator. The original idea was Wang Jingwei, but all things considered, Sebastian's a lot more like a sympathetic interpretation of Phillipe Petain.
Right, so having read the post on the Lloyd Clique, I can't find anything that would contradict or clash with the events described in The Long March. If there is and I've missed it, please do point it out.
Currently, the Victorian Loyalist government is in rough shape. They have suffered major military defeats. First, they lost the whole regular army, lost most of the Victorian navy twice, lost much of their air force, and one of the three elite Q3 CMC divisions at the battle of Detroit. The civil war broke out with almost all remaining trained regulars in Commonwealth hands. The Loyalists and Blackwell had to rely the Q0 militia and the Inquisitors who are not proper officers fighting against the two Q3 remaining CMC divisions. The second major defeat was when the 1st CMC division broke the siege of Buffalo inflicting heavy losses on the Loyalist militia and linked up with the 3rd CMC division preventing a early Loyalist victory by Christmas. The third defeat was during Operation Foil. First, the Loyalists used up their veteran loyalist reserves in their dare to die attacks in Buffalo in a failed attempt to force a favorable peace. Blackwell ended up wasting some of his last loyalist veteran reserves. Later, he dispatched over 100,000 militiamen in an attack he knew would fail to prove a point and suffered tens of thousands of casualties before making peace. Now, the peace was harsh but necessary to get the Commonwealth off their backs but many Victorians might regard it as an unacceptable surrender to the dirty cultural marxists. Additionally, the Loyalists damaged their image by threatening "loyal" citizens of Buffalo.
The peace deal did also effect the Victorian economy as we made them to cut all there trade deals they had, with where were very good for the Victorian, as those deals were made at the end of a gun. And they also they have to pay us a small reparation
this is also a weakness during and after the civil war as the militia are just civilians pull from there work and given guns, meaning that there workforce and taxpayer are getting killed each time a militia member dies. And in Victorian only men can work and fight, meaning that women cant do any work when they men are at war like what happen during WW1
@PoptartProdigy, how many armies and law enforcement agencies in this world have switched to caseless? Do AK and AR style rifles still circulate among insurgent groups? What has Europe been equipping NYPD?
Apologies if this line of questioning is turning incessant.
