Rebuilding the Union

[izixs]

I've been pondering ideas of apocalypse of late....

A lot of alt-history time lines have the creation of different states, or the formation of different rules for how the US came about to the modern world (parliments and kings and other such things). But I've had the itch for something very different. What if modern civilization collapsed with the near extinction of the human race... and some how the US, in some form, survived? What sort of future would that lead to? So since I don't think I've seen such a timeline future or past around here, I figured I'd start my own.

Now please note I'm a fairly busy person in the fleshy world, so updates will be sporadic, but I hope it will come together nicely.

So now I present to you, forumites, Rebuilding the Union. We begin our tale with what for most of us would be the end of the world...

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The modern world came to an end in 2019, around March. A virus released upon an unsuspecting world killed nearly 99% of all humanity. Half the survivors were sickly for months after their friends and family perished. Food, water, and power all stopped flowing in most places of the world. A few isolated pockets avoided the plague entirely, but in most places it was the rare individual whom was immune or resistant who were the only survivors. No one is sure where the virus came from. Some suspected a military lab or a jungle animal. The source was never determined.

In the resulting chaos many disasters were allowed or forced to happen. Lucky for the survivors and life on Earth, the nuclear powers saw the death toll rising and disabled the fail safe systems on the world's ICBMs and similar systems of ultimate death.

Some of the luckiest people were those in far flung parts of the world or at sea. After the virus had run its course, a few bands of survivors from research posts in Antarctica made the harrowing journey to south America. Submarine crews, low on supplies returned to the mainland near the end of the year, having taken up fishing in the mean time.

That was year zero of a new calender. After Plague (AP).

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The pre-Second United States Years


AP 63: Mary Chalmers becomes leader of the Memphis community. The community of a few hundred selected her to lead among those vying for the position because she was wise and was interested in finding other communities like their own in the greater world. Mary was also the town's historian, a title handed to her from her mother and to her mother from her mother. Such roles had become well established in the AP community at Memphis in what was once Tennessee.

AP 65: Memphis explorers encounter a small community at Blytheville near the Mississippi river of two dozen. The Blythians, fearing a return of the plague chase off the Memphis people.

AP 65-73: Teams from Memphis find a few more communities up and down the river. Some contact is made with some while others, like those of Blytheville opt to warn off the strangers. None of the communities number over 20.

AP 73: Mary Chalmers visits the friendly communities personally and convinces most of them to trade crops and useful tools. The communities that were now trading would meet once a year in Memphis to figure out how best to run their farms for the comming year. The gasoline had long run out so it was back to live stock and plow for almost everyone. Even most the people in the memphis community worked on the farms just outside the decaying city to keep everyone fed. This trade group and meeting would become the foundation of something greater down the line...

AP 87: Mary Chalmers dies due to an infection. Her son, Marcus Chalmers is selected to lead Memphis. Marcus would expand the trade pact to a few more communities, including two that had previously been xenophobic.

AP 101: Marcus Chalmers dies. The new leader Gary White is very different from the historians of the Chalmers family. The community at Memphis is starting to boom and leader White feels it is time to make better use of the smaller communities along the river. Over the next few years leader White would demand more and more crops from the other groups.

AP 105: Gary White leads a group of enforcers against the town of Helena to collect wheat that was long over due up river (according to White). The towns people had not had a good harvest the last two years and needed the grains to survive and to have a crop for next year. A skirmish resulted with a few dead on each side. The Helenas surrendered the wheat and soon left the town to join another community at Ratio, AR as they had no way to survive.

AP 106: Word spread about the attack on Helena. The communities of the trade pact were furious, but most were also afraid of confronting the large memphis group directly about it. Most the communities began hiding how much they were producing at that years Memphis meeting. When the tallies were added up it became clear that the reported food production would not be able to feed the Memphis population, let alone everyone else. Gary White, suspecting something was up, decided to send a group to each community to find out for themselves what was going on to confirm wether or not the reported tallies were correct. A few communities were found out to be lying about their food supplies and soon were visited by leader White's enforcers. The enforcers took not just the Memphis share, but the entire store. Again this forced abandonment and a retreat to other communities whom were either not in the trade pact or whom had hid enough food.

AP 107: This year the non-memphis communities met secretly in Banks, MS. They decided White needed to be dealt with. One of their number, Barry Smith, would assassinate White at that years trade meeting and then surrender himself to the Memphis people. The plan worked and soon Gary White was dead. The Memphis community took and beat Barry Smith and eventually locked him up. They decided to select their new leader whom would then determine Smith's fate. Memphis decided to return to the town historians for leaders as the Chalmers had not caused such problems as Gary White had. So Jerry Chalmers became Memphis leader.

AP 108: Memphis was near starving when the trade meeting was held. The other communities had mostly withheld their surplus food and despite the new leader in Memphis were wary of cooperating. Jerry Chalmers announced at the meeting that to prevent the return of leaders like Gary White, a better system had to be in place such that no one community could muscle out another. Jerry spent most the meeting trying to figure out how to satisfy all of them, but for the most part failed to convince them of his pure intentions. But at the very least the other communities relented on the embargos slightly, preventing starvation in Memphis.

AP 111: Jerry Chalmers against tried to work on a renegotiation of the trade pact. This time half the communities sided with Memphis in needing a better system. They agreed to try to convince the rest over the next year and to devote next meeting to writing up a formal agreement.

AP 112: The meeting in Memphis occurred that would start the land back towards the path of democracy...

The agreement that was made would establish five zones, based loosely off the states of the old world in the region. Each zone would have its own group of enforcers, not to number more than forty. Each zone would send one elected representative to a permanent council in Memphis. The five zones would be Tenn, Missy, Ark, Misour, and Ken. If called upon, the council in Memphis could call upon the enforcers of the zones to keep the peace or to repel outsiders and raiders. Some basic rules were also set up for the establishment of new zones. Each zone would also have its own council of three whom would run the enforcers and ensure the zone was producing enough, and if not, to take measures to increase production. Finally, memphis would no longer have a community leader, instead deferring to the zone council for leadership.

The new agreement was signed by all the participating communities, and the agreement was called the New Union of America Agreement. Though it didn't explicitly name the new union such, historians would later mark it as the effective founding document of the Second United States. But it would still be some time before the revival of the true constitution.

----

So there's the start of it. I hope there's some interest in this crazy voyage into fantasy.

[HappyWarrior]

I like it, keep going.

[Smid]

It is rare to find a timeline that is both an original concept and well written. I am enjoying this, please keep up the good work.

[izixs]

The Wheat and Whisky Period: 112-245 (part 1)


AP 113: Jerry Chalmers is elected as the Ten representative to the New Union council. He would serve on it for twenty years before his death by unknown heart ailments. Chalmers seeks to expand the New Union for most of his years on the council but is often countered by the other zone representatives whom have found the new balance of power as acceptable, and fearing integrating another large population center.

AP 119: Misour Enforcers encounter a band of scavengers from St. Louis for the first time. The meeting is said to of been brief as both sides feared the other might be unfriendly.

AP 120: Misour farmers encounter people from St. Louis. They hit it off well and exchange stories and news. A few months later rumors of the meeting reach the Memphis council. Jerry Chalmers is very vocal about needing to make contact with the St. Louis people but the rest of the council refuse to call the enforcers to go that far north. A compromise is made to set up an outpost along the Old Man Mississippi to watch out for more St. Louis people coming south.

AP 122: A few more communities on the edge of the New Union in Ten and Miss sign on to the agreement. As a result of these new communities coming into the agreement, rumors began to appear about a community that had coalesced around Tupelo. The Tupelo group was lead by someone whom was calling himself Master Robertsin. There were also rumors that they had years before exiled all people's whom were of dark skin. This news didn't fly with the Memphis council, nor Jerry Chalmers whom himself was descended by the people whom were once called African Americans. The council unanimously adopted several resolutions declaring all people of all colors will be protected equally by the council and the enforcers. They also opted to set up other watch posts in Miss to keep an eye out for Tupelo people.

AP 125: A harsh winter threatens to prevent a full growing season. The Memphis council calls on some of the youngsters in the Memphis area to claim new lands further from the city. A few refuse but most head out to make new claims. Those that refuse are shunned. Before years end the shunned teens start meeting together to complain about being farmers and being told what to do.

AP 130: The rebellious teens of Memphis form the Whisky society. Instead of being forced to farm for food, they instead do some farming but work to make the best booze the New Union had. Not an easy task considering the near total decay of modern equipment and the very few books that had survived on the subject.

AP 131: A large group from St. Louis was spotted traveling down Old Man Mississippi by boat. They signaled the group and managed to get them to stop. The outpost enforcers met with the St. Louis group of thirty for two days. The St. Louis group was amused by the idea that they were trying to make democracy work in this region. Only two of them had heard of the idea and none of them had heard of the idea being put into practice by any other communities they had met with. The St. Louis people called themselves Saints and were lead by two people, a defender whom was the most fit male in the city, and the grower, whom was in charge of keeping the farms outside the city running and everyone fed and not trying to kill each other. The grower was also the wisest female in the city, which was determined by the previous grower. The logic being that the previous grower would be wise enough to spot the right person. The defender proved their worth through beating up enough other guys. The meeting ended on a high note. The Saints went back up river, not wanting to encourage bad blood with the southerners.

At around the time, the zone south of the river known as Lousia is established by the Union council to handle the newest communities to the far south.

AP 132: The Memphis Council of 132 was much more xenophobic compared to the one of even five years previous. When word of the Saints coming south got to them they started calling for increasing the number of enforcers. They also opted to put an official moratorium of even hearing about small communities wanting to join the New Union.

AP 136: The Memphis Council turns away a representative from a place called Litter Rock whom sought trade with the New Union. Litter Rock had been having crop failures.

AP 140: The Whisky society had by this point done quite well in becoming a near monopolistic force in the New Union. Some on the Memphis Council had begun to fear their influence. Knowing of this fear, the Whisky Union decided it was time to ignore the ban on interacting with outsiders and began meeting with Saints, Litter Rockers and Tupelo 'Albinos'. They also sent a team down the river to try to trade a few barrels of drink for what ever food or interesting things they could find. The river team found a number of settlements along the river, some more friendly than others. But eventually they ran into a bunch of communities with a set up similar to the New Union. A council of organizers whom made sure different communities exchanged food to whom ever didn't have enough. But the organizers were hardly elected, instead being those whom could produce the most and were willing to part with it. This group seemed to be based in New Orleans.

[will continue in a post later]

[izixs]

The world of AP 140 is very different from the modern world of the former calendar. There are many relics of the old world, yes, but few machines still work. There are plenty of cars, but even the very few that still work would not run as there is no gasoline to power them any more. Its either leaked or vapored away or is locked in unreachable tanks along with the other components of crude oil. Transportation has fallen to the old standbys mostly, horses and pack animals. A few bikes.

A few communities might still get some marginal electric power due to hydroelectric power plants. But even those power plants are near failure as the parts and materials needed to maintain them can't be found or made by what is left of the citizens of the world.

Skyscrapers stand as grim and rusting obelisks far from where people actually live, being as they are far from the farms and places where people work to survive. But they often sit on the horizons of the large communities, constant reminders of a world now gone.

The knowledge on how to even operate the devices of the old world wains. Those whom have working guns and who know how to use them and know how to make or maintain ammunition number in the low hundreds for the entire world. In some places, the fabled gun slinger is not only a rare sight but more a figure of legend.

Libraries full of knowledge go unused and have had a century to decay. Elements seeping in and destroying texts that could of been used to rebuild the old world if there had just been one person not desperate to survive around.

The city of Memphis lucked out. Early on the community established the post of historian. They found and preserved the important books. History books, books on carpentry and machining, and the classics. But even this effort couldn't save countless volumes that have since been lost.

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AP 142: The Whisky society begins doing business in the New Orleans trade pact zone. The locals call their group the N'arlens Organization.

AP 143: The Whisky society sends further expeditions into Mississippi and Alabama territory. News of a number of communities in both areas spurs an expedition up the Ohio river, discovering Louisville, Cincin, and Fayette communities.

AP 145: New Union enforcers clash with a group of Saints near the ruins of Scott City. Both sides blame the other for starting the fight that left three dead. The New Union is approached by by the leader of Nashville, prince Gary. Prince Gary's messengers are allowed to contact the council at Memphis. Prince Gary, fearing that his successor will likely be a very bad leader for Nashville, is offering up the community to the Union in order to prevent this. The New Union, hearing about the incident with the Saints, fears that a bigger conflict might be around the corner, and thus need more friends than enemies. But to let in Nashville would give other communities motivation to try to join the New Union. Another factor at work is the Whisky Society, which lobbies fiercely for Nashville to join the New Union. Threats of moving their brewing efforts out of Memphis, and possibly out of the New Union, are made. The council knows that is such happens, then the Whisky Society could then possibly try to embargo their shipments to Memphis, thus making a lot of people very unhappy.

It is decided that Nashville shall join the New Union.

AP 146: Another clash between Union enforcers and Saints leave ten enforcers dead. Saints send a message to the Misour and Ken governments laying claim to Cape Girardeau and everything north along the river and for fifty miles to either side. Complaining to the council in Memphis, the council opts to accept the claim, much to the dislike of the representatives from Ken and Misour.

The council also begins allowing in smaller communities. This prompts the creation of the Indian zone north of Ken.

AP 148: A representative from the New Union council meets with a Saints representative in Scott City in Misour. An agreement is reached where the Saints' claim is recognized provided they never again send expeditions south of the border.

Contact is made again with the Tupelo community. The community there call's itself The Kays.

AP 149: The New Union council finds that the Whisky Society has been violating the New Union rules and has been trading with The Kays. Former prince Gary, now on the council from Ten, demands that the leaders of the Whisky Society be brought to the council to answer for their crimes. The rest of the council, more wary of the growing power of the monopolistic organization, decides against this, instead putting ration fines on anyone they discover who has actually traveled to The Kays to trade alcohol.

AP 150: Prince Gary dies. The New Union starts to border the N'arlens Organization. Rumors of the sea not being much further south prompt a scouting group to go south and around N'arlens. They find the Gulf of Mexico, now being called by those of N'arlens as simply the Gulf.

AP 153: The New Union council again puts an end to accepting new communities. The reasons for this are numerous. But chief among them are the iradic nature of the Indian zone government, efforts of prince Gary's heir, "Prince" Lance, to make Nashville separate from the New Union again, the decreasing threat from the Saints, and the increasing number of people whom are opting not to work on the farms, instead working for the Whisky Society or one of the new craft societies that have popped up to try to follow the path of the Whisky Society. Incorporating new communities might mean more farms working under the direction of the New Union council, but it also might mean for every new farmer, two back in Memphis or Nashville will stop farming and instead take up basket weaving full time.

AP 158: Food supplies are getting ever more tighter in the New Union. To prevent starvation or, more likely, clashes between farmers and enforcers, the New Union council decides to open up to trading with other fledgling nations. Most importantly the Little Rockers, Saints, N'arlens, Louisville, and Cincin. The existence of the latter two communities had slowly become common knowledge. The New Union would trade the random materials being produced by the various Societies in exchange for corn, wheat, and vegetables. Some of the societies, especially the Whisky Society, resisted their trade getting nationalized like this, and in most cases able to wiggle out of actually becoming part of the agreements made over the following few years, but many of the smaller socities fell under their sway.

AP 160: The Defender and Grower of the Saints are murdered. The contest to decide the next Defender happens putting John the Metalworker as Defender. He shortens his name to John Metal. But the Grower of the Saints had not yet named her successor. John Metal, upon finishing the contest of battle then declared that from then on, the Grower would be whom ever is the wife of the Defender, and that the contest of the Defender would determine both positions. It also meant he would have to take a wife for this to make sense, so he ends up married to a young lady named Sarah. Sarah Metal begins an ineffective reign as Grower of the Saints, effectively ending the position as a seat of power in the Saints government.

News of the the rise of John Metal causes the New Union council great concern. An emergency meeting is held. It is decided that the enforcers would not be enough in the future. The council acts to establish the first standing army of the New Union.

The population of the entire New Union was estimated by the council at around 15,000, most of it spread out along the Old Man Miss river, with a few concentrations near the seat of power in Memphis. With this estimate they decide that the army should be composed of 1,000 men of fighting age. Half the army would be a reserve force and sent to keep the peace in the various far flung communities. While there they'd act as any other worker in the community. The remaining 500 would be stationed at strategic locations up and down the rivers with the biggest concentration, around 200, being near the Saints border.



[to be continued...]

[Smid]

This is going really well! Love your timeline!

[izixs]

AP 163: John Metal begins reorganizing the Saints into a cast system with a very feudal feel. At the top is still the Defender and the Grower, but below that he establishes thirteen offices called High Clerks. The High Clerks would each effectively govern a large region and would ensure that a certain percentage of the food and resources would go the capital city of Saints, Louis. The High Clerks could appoint Lower Clerks to more directly ensure a town or towns were giving their fair share.

Several of the High Clerks were assigned territories further east and west of what was considered Saints territory. Their efforts to bring isolated communities in Illinois and Missouri into line would leave dozens dead over the next few years.

AP 167: The Free City of Jackson petitions to join the New Union. This upsets the Whisky Society whom has had close contact with The Kays. A number of the citizens of Jackson were descendants of those driven off from The Kays, and the racially diverse city joining the New Union is seen by some in The Kays and the Whisky Society as a threat to the New Union remaining neutral in The Kays' goal of establishing a racially pure homeland for pale people. The Whisky Society doesn't share the goals of The Kays but knows that if The Kays feel threatened they might come in conflict with the New Union openly which could lead to them confiscating Whisky Society resources in The Kays.

The Whisky Society manages to pressure the New Union council into putting conditions and a waiting period on The Free City of Jackson joining the New Union. Among the conditions are that they would not create a new zone, instead being totally a part of Missy, the fighting men they give to the New Union army would only serve on the border with the Saints (which fits in nicely with fear mongering against the Saints), and that after a waiting period of two years the Free City would have a city governor appointed by the council for five years before it would fall completely under the jurisdiction of the Missy authorities.

The Free City of Jackson agrees to these terms and others much to the dismay of The Kays.

The Free City of Jackson had been for over fifteen years a gathering place of people whom had no where else to go, and thus would easily make an impact on Missy politics.

AP 169: The Free City of Jackson joins the New Union. Karl Tempor is appointed governor by the New Union council.

AP 171: A few small communities in Misour and Indian make it know they wish to join the New Union, fearing being over run by the Saints. Several High Clerks in Misour, wishing to expand their own personal power, seek to prevent this. The ones in the east are pre-occupied dealing with issues with a combative Kingdom of Springfield. Low Clerks are sent to bully the Misour communities into backing out of their requests. In the end, the Indian communities would continue to join the New Union over the next few years while the ones in Misour would not.

AP 172: Karl Tempor is attacked in the night and killed. The New Union council is in uproar. They send a Whisky Society backed new governor to Jackson with fifty troops to lock down the city. The new governor, Karen Chamb is confronted by the city dwellers upon arrival. Several fights break out but eventually Karen Chamb withdraws to the west side of the city where for the next couple years is ignored for the most part as the Jackson citizens opt to avoid confronting the New Union troops unless they stray near their homes on the east side of the city.

AP 174: New Union travelers and Society members report back about several new groups: Kansasey, Dallas, Howston, Kingdom of Atlan, Greater Lakes Republic (also known as Columbia to the locals), and the Empire of Cago.

Karen Chamb retreats from Jackson and the city becomes a full member of the New Union.

AP 175: One of the new representatives to the New Union council, Margot the Blue, whom also happens to be from the former Free City of Jackson, sees the Whisky Society as the biggest threat to the New Union's health. Instead of openly opposing them though, she hatches a plan to undermine them instead. Using her influence on the council, help from back home and help from the farmers of the memphis region, she helps establish the Wheat Council. The Wheat Council would be able to trade in all things wheat related, including alcohol's based of wheat. The Whisky council had by this point diversified a little in order to avoid being controlled by the New Union council, but still derived most of its power over leverage of alcohol trade. The closest competition to it had been several beer barons from Narlens whom ended up joining the Whisky council when the New Union opened up trade.

AP 180: John Metal leads an attack on Kansasey but is stopped at Boonville where he is killed. He is succeeded by his son, Jason Metal.

[izixs]

AP 183: The head of the Wheat Society negotiates an exclusive trade deal with Kansasey with the help of the Widget Society (whom trade in quality tools, both found and made).

AP 186: The population of the New Union is booming as the food shortages have effectively come to an end. More communities begin to get pulled into the New Union, and a few more are actually established as people seek to leave the larger settlements for more land and possibly to get away from annoying relatives. One of the causes of this is the flow of wheat into the New Union from Kansasey. The secondary result of that wheat flow is an abundance of wheat beers produced by the Wheat Society.

This fact does not go unnoticed by Hedrick 'cow Zee'lager, head of the Whisky council. Hedrick uses his influence in the Saints to get several High Clerks to start hitting trade caravans between Kansasey and Misour zone lands. The Saints, still no fans of Kansasey for the 'murder' of John Metal do it gladly.

AP 188: The first food shortage in over a decade strikes as almost none of the promised wheat arrives from Kansasey in the fall. Over a hundred in memphis alone die due to starvation over the course of the winter. Margot the Blue, now an elder and respected member of the New Union council demands answers but is for the most part ineffective in getting any. Some vague evidence of Saints being involved in the raids comes to light but communications with Jason Metal yield no answers.

AP 189: Margot the Blue, having given up investigating the wheat shortage and instead returning to her hobby of having friends spy on The Kays learns of a meeting between Hedrick and the leader of The Kays where Hedrick asks The Kays to raid a Wheat Society warehouse near Memphis. The Kays leader refused but the spy thought it might interest the council that such attack on the grain storage was desired by Hedrick.

With no actual evidence of Hedrick being involved in the Saints raids, Margot decides perhaps it would be useful to blame the Whisky Society for the famine and get rid of them once and for all. The evidence is presented to the council in secret (and doesn't remain very secret as three members were good friends of Hedrick's) and its decided that the Whisky Society must be delt with. Orders are issued to the army to start arresting Whisky Society leaders and to seize their supplies and equipment.

Chattanooga joins the New Union and quickly becomes a trading gateway between Tenn and Atlan.

AP 190: Hedrick and a few others on the run from the New Union army gather in secret with a few dozen Whiskey Society traders and craftsmen and women in the early days of the year. Hedrick professes innocence and rallies those present behind the idea that Margot the Blue and her Jacksonian allies were building their own secret empire to take over the New Union and that the Whisky Society was in their way. Hedrick and those present leave the meeting looking to start gathering other members of the society, those angry due to the famine, and those who disliked how things were being run into an opposition force. They start gathering in various old towns along the road north of Knoxville on the eastern edge of the New Union.

AP 191: Fayette joins the New Union. Raids on Kansasey trade eases as Defender Jason Metal starts taking a bigger interest in his western holdings.

AP 194: Fayette is raided by the Whisky rebels, now four hundred strong. The city is sieged for three weeks before the New Union army arrives. Fearing the better equipped force and its five gunslingers, the rebels retreat to the 75 corridor.

AP 195: The Whisky Society is officially ended in the New Union by the council and its resources integrated into several new smaller brewing societies.

AP 196: Margot the Blue dies.

AP 197: The bama zone is established in the former state of Alabama. However the northern reaches in the New Union along the Tenn boarder remain as MIssy lands.

AP 198: The Kays, fearing the New Union's growth to their south and north start claiming territory further east and start coming into conflict with city states of Hunts and Birming.

AP 199: The ruling group in Kansasey is overthrown by one of their generals. That general is shortly after killed and over several months a battle rages over who is to be in charge. In the end Doctoria Hazel appoints herself Regent and renames the city state Kacity. Hazel promises a strong Kacity to the locals and looks to the New Union's trade societies to back up her rule. Several including the Wheat Society opt to help the new ruler attain legitimacy through back room dealings with those they have influence with.

AP 200: Hedrick 'cow Zee'larger leads the rebels to attack Memphis itself. Their efforts since Fayette had been scattered and ineffective. Seeing his health and rule of the rebels waning, Hedrick sees a spectacular attack on Memphis as the only way to fix both problems. his goal would be to lead the rebels to Memphis, defeat the New Union army stationed there and appoint himself and his fellow rebels as a new council before reinforcements arrived.

They leave in the dead of winter with all their remaining supplies and sneak their way across Tenn. From time to time they'd attack an isolated village but for the most part they avoided anyone they could in hopes of the attack being a surprise.

The four hundred some angry beer makers and agitators finally make their way to the town of Macon just as the new year dawns...

[Next up, the conclusion of the first era of the New Union, Wheat and Whisky!]

[izixs]

I know my updates are not often, but I'm curious as to people's opinions of this time line so far. Also, is there any questions about what happened, the world of AP, or anything else that I can address.

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

There is precedent for Memphis surviving a plague

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Um, they do that already.....

[Smid]

I know my updates are not often, but I'm curious as to people's opinions of this time line so far. Also, is there any questions about what happened, the world of AP, or anything else that I can address.

My opinion of your timeline? I put you as one of my two nominations for "Best Whatif Thread" in Eraserhead's awards. I like it - you do a great job.

[izixs]

I'm glad there's a decent reception for my thought experiment here. At this point I'm not quite sure where I want it to lead, but there will be a president, congress, and supreme court again some day in this time line. Just might take a bit to get there.

In my next update I'll of course resolve the attack on Memphis and its consequences which will eventually lead to a clear end to the first period of the New Union. I think I'll also do an up close on a couple more elements of AP society.

I'm also curious if there are certain areas or non-New Union groups/governments that people would like fleshed out a little more as such requests help me flesh out this time line's world which can be a great help down the line.

[Person Man]

It would be really great if there was an Apocalyptic Timeline that went through the Apocalypse and wasn't a Plague Deluge or Flame Deluge...yet not something that no one would notice-

The Perfect mix between The Stand or A Canticle for Liebowitz and something like Idiocracy would be this-

www.earth2100.tv

Basically, by 2015, crises like Katrina and the 2006-2007 gas shortage become an annual occurence.

By 2050, large-scale warfare, economic depression  and ecological catasophies become a part of life.

...and by 2100, there has been a nuclear war, a massive pandemic and effective loss of the ice caps.- There are still few redoubts of civilization left, but the earth's population has hit a low point of 700,000,000 and 1,500,000,000. - Basically think of a 21st century that turns out, at best, as the 14th century and at worst, the 5th century. 

[izixs]

AP 201: Hedrick 'cow Zee'larger's Whisky rebels attacked Memphis. The battle took place during one of the rare snows that in the old world would cause great havoc and clear the streets. Most the population of Memphis was in the outskirts of the old city and along the river, forming a rough ring. The New Union council was held in a hotel near the middle of the old city. The New Union army numbered 200 and was based mostly along the river and to the south east along the shortest route to The Kays. This gave the rebels a path along the northwest to best reach the inner city. Many had hopped to pass the settled region without being noticed but that was not to be.

On their way into the city they were spotted by locals, some of whom were able to send for help. As the rebels passed Kilowat Lake they encountered a gunslinger. After an argument the gunslinger shot three of the rebels and fled. The sound of gun shots helped attract the attention of a New Union army unit whom shortly after fell upon them. But drastically outnumbered the unit was quickly destroyed. The rebels closed in on the council hall.

The snow allowed other units to trail the rebels, but it was pretty clear where they were headed. By the time a majority of the New Union forces had gathered to move on the central city the council hall had already been taken. Lucky for the sitting council they were not present at the time of the seizure, having long gone home to avoid the weather. Hedrick declared a new council and appointed the more competent rebel leaders to the seats based on which zone they hailed from. The rebels took up defensive positions around the council hall and waited for the army to attack.

The battle waged for several weeks. Several fires gutted near by buildings. Other army forces got to the city and joined those already there. Also large groups of citizen took up improvised weapons and headed to the fight. After seven weeks the rebels were low on supplies and had their numbers cut in half. Hedrick had become ill and had died in the sixth week from pneumonia. Illia, one of the rebel commanders, took charge. The seventh week she met with the rebel council and together they decided this battle was lost. The rebels took several attempts at breaching the siege but eventually it was painfully obvious that the Whisky fighters had lost. Illia surrendered to the New Union army. She and the other commanders were locked up and the legitimate council was not replaced.

The remaining rebels were given the option of exile to the far west or death. Most took exile. Many would eventually find their way to Topkea.

AP 204: The council formally outlaws rebellion. However they also opt to release several of the rebel generals including Illia provided they commit themselves to serving the New Union in some fashion for the next twenty years. Illia, as a former Whisky master, winds up with the Wheat society.

AP 207: The Kays start fighting several of the Alabama governments, seizing farms and towns along the border. When word came back to the New Union council that these seized lands were being ethnically cleansed, the council sent a warning to The Kays that if they didn't end their fight that they would be attacked by the New Union. This put an end to the small war.

AP 208: Contact is made with the nation of Knox in far eastern Tenn. Knox is lead by a Sheriff whom is elected every ten years by the locals, but other wise rules over the Knoxians like a king.

AP 210: The Wheat Society and the city of Memphis push for the splitting of the Tenn zone into West Tenn and East Tenn. Since the rebellion a great deal of expansion of the N.Union had taken place in old Tennessee and it was by far the most populous zone. Having only one zone government and set of representatives was seen as unfair.

AP 215: The Kays formalized an agreement with the Saints and Knox effectively forming an alliance between them. Tenn was formally divided between East and West.

AP 217: The ex-rebel Illia has come to be in the leadership of the Wheat Society. Joining a few other allies she manages to break up the management into national and local branches. This move was intended to weaken the organization but in the end made the society more robust and able to adjust to local challenges.

AP 219: The Kays alliance with the Saints and Knox expands to include Indianap.

AP 220: Leader of the Wheat Society dies and Illia manages to push her way to the top. She quickly moves several former rebels into key positions in the society. Mid summer and the wheat society was blackmailing the New Union council into giving the society greater authority and the ability to deal with The Kays and other groups the union had been having issues with.

AP 222: A young representative from Bama named Oscars Billmo joins the New Union council and quickly becomes an enemy of the elderly Illia of the Wheat Society. Oscars resists Illia's pressures and irks the rest of the council which is under her influence.

AP 224: As her last act as leader of Kacity, Doctoria Hazel allies Kacity with several nations in Iowa and Illinois (not the Saints or Cago though).

AP 225: Fearing growing pressure from the New Union societies and the threat of The Kays and their northerner friends, N'arlens forms a trade pact with a number of gulf groups, including the newly encountered west Florida city states. The Florida cities and the Texas groups in the trade pact wouldn't be known to the New Union for another decade.

AP 226: Oscars Billmo boycotts the New Union council and starts his own council down the street from the New Union council building (still a hotel). After several weeks several other councilors join him.

AP 227: General Tat, field head of the New Union forces, comes to Memphis after getting conflicting orders about patrols in East Tenn. General Tat finds the two conflicting councils, one corrupted by Illia's Wheat Society (Illia passed away the year before it was now being headed by a close ally of hers). General Tat brought the two councils together to try to sort things out. Over a few days several revelations come about dealing with the threats from the Wheat Society. General Tat then had soldiers forcibly remove the 'compromised' councilors, leaving mostly Oscars Billmo's council in tact. The two councils were then instructed to act as one again and the removed councilors were moved across the river and kept under house arrest.

AP 228: After several attempts by the Wheat Council to duplicate the Whisky Societies efforts of the previous century, the New Union council acted to dissolve the nation wide Wheat Council and give full control to the local societies.

AP 230: Ex-Wheat Society leaders come together and try to form a secret pact to reform their national control. A spy reported back to the N. Union council about the meeting. The council met quietly and passed rules to ban secret societies and to arrest and execute the Wheat Society secret leadership. Oscars Billmo objected to this as did a couple of his allies, but fears were to great at repeating history.

A majority of those at the Wheat Society meeting were brought in and executed. The rest fled to either Saints of The Kays once word came about of what was happening.

AP 233: The N. Union council opted to re-make national control of the Wheat Society, but with the leadership being appointed by the council.

AP 235: The surviving former Wheat Society leaders meet privately in Saints and decide to start helping out the reigning Metal Saint defender.

AP 239: Kacity's leader, Doctorior Branze, approaches the New Union with an offer to join their 'American Alliance' with the Iowa and Illinois nations. The council opts to sit on the idea for the time being.

AP 240: Little Rocker and Topkea join the alliance with The Kays, Saints, Knox, and Indianap after some strings being pulled by the Wheat former leaders. The Saints reigning Metal even is convinced to call the alliance the 'Wheat Alliance'. This proclamation disturbs many in the New Union. The army is expanded and more patrols are made near the boarders with the Saints and their allies.

AP 244: Oscars Billmo dies.

AP 245: The New Union council changes the name of the Wheat Society to the Farm Society.




Map of the alliances:




Up next, war, plague, danger, intrigue, and the destruction of the New Union's council....

[izixs]

The World of After Plague 245

As one might expect, the culture of America has changed a lot since the end of the old world. The rapid loss of people, the decay of a majority of technology, and struggles since the end have each taken their toll on the people of the New Union and the surrounding regions.

Technology

In most areas technology has reverted back to late pre-industrial levels. Horses are the primary means of long distance transportation. No electronic communication means that communication over long distance is often done by letters moved by travelers or, in the New Union, the Postal Society carriers. Electricity is rare, but still present in a few pockets in the Tennessee Valley where several hydroelectric dams have been kept barely functional by locals whom didn't want to loose one of their few luxuries. Rumors have it as well that a secret society in Cago has maintained 'the nuk-lar react-ator', near the eastern fringe of their city to provide the elite of Cago with electric power.

Weapons of any quality or advancement are rare. Most ammunition has long past its useful life time and guns able to fire it are often corroded or jammed by the passing of years. A few 'gun slingers' who know how to either maintain or build guns, and more importantly create ammunition for them, wander the world. Instead of being random crazies with the only working guns, time and the difficulty in keeping up the maintain of fire arms in some times quite squalid conditions has weeded out all but the most serious gun slingers, but more on that later. Most other weapons are either improvised (aka, grab that random metal rod and hope its not to rusted) or else crafted by experts. Building and maintaining a simple sword or mace is easier than worrying about the mechanics of a gun. Also what counts as a 'sword' isn't the ideal of a gleaming excalibur, but more a roughly sharpened club.

There are crafts people of various sorts, some of whom could be able to build more complex devices, but lack the tools or materials more readily available a couple centuries past. The biggest hurdle at this time of a complete restoration of the old world is the lack of knowledge or how to use the knowledge that is available. A book on advanced electronics is not that useful if you don't have the beginners manual and the resources to tinker.

Society
In most of the known world (to the New Union) people live mostly free, at least in concept. In reality some areas are very repressive or have turned into societies that have rigid frameworks. Elsewhere, especially in unclaimed or unaffiliated areas, the only law is the law of kill or be killed.

New Union: Mostly free society. No rules on personal behavior though each town and zone might have local customs and behaviors that are expected to be followed. The most restrictive elements are the idea of one's role in society. A person in most parts of the union is expected to work in some fashion. This can be done by either being a farmer, a member of a society, a soldier, or a specialty role. Specialty roles are often passed down in a master/apprentice fashion, with some being limited to one master/apprentice, as opposed to multiple apprentices. These specialty roles include Historian, Scientist, Defender, Gunslinger, Builder, ect ect.

Gunslinger: Most are wandering nomads who pass on their weapon and knowledge to a chosen successor. Once the scourge of the midwest and south, most have taken up a gentleman's code of sorts. They rarely fight amongst each other, and only do so if both participants have successors whom are considered competent in order to preserve the line of knowledge. They're usual source of food and supplies is hunting. Hunting also provides them with food and leather to trade with more settled peoples. Some Gunslingers are more attached to areas or groups. This often leads them to being harassed by others of their people for being 'lay-abouts'.

Litter Rock: The nation most similar to the New Union. Litter Rock is based in the city of Little Rocker and a few surrounding communities. The core of the nation is organized similarly to the New Union with the exception of the rule of law and its writing being written by a legislature of eleven members and a governor (who commands the 300 person army). The north and west regions of Litter Rock diverge greatly from the rest of the nation and tend to be patriarchally ruled communities, usually with one 'great father' having final say in town decisions. This way of things is encouraged by the legislature as it allows them to influence those areas efficiently through this psudo-nobility class.

The Kays: The result of members of the KKK surviving the disaster and setting up a central community. In its early years several of the founding members of The Kays wandered the western 'old south' for like minded individuals. This swelled their membership to a few dozen after several years. Their numbers grew more quickly as the New Union expanded. People fearing Memphis centric control and sometimes the ethnicity of what was behind that control left communities that were joining the New Union. Not all of them fit well with the philosophy of The Kays, but indoctrination of their children took care of that. The Kays have a roughly oligarchical system of 'wizards' and similarly unusually named officer-ships. Its also common knowledge that they wish to ethnically cleanse the known world, which makes them greatly hated.

Saints: In AP 245, the Saints is controlled by the fourth 'Metal', Barry Metal. The aging Barry, and his daughter Julia Metal, rule over the old city of St. Louis and the surrounding country side. They command a militant society based on physical prowess, and more so these days, the ability to deliver food to Barry Metal to be given to the strong of St. Louis. The rest of the Saints territory is administered by High and Low Clerks whom run things in ways similarly to the central Metal authority. Raiding outside of Saints territory to those traveling near their borders or in other groups territory (except to the south where the New Union army awaits or west to Kacity) is encouraged as it means less work if a big haul is had.

N'arlens: Home to traders and crafts people from up and down the Gulf coast and richest of the communities and nations there in, N'arlens is a barely controlled coalition of 'business and guilds' by AP 245. Order is maintained by brute squads employed by a council that made up by the most influential business leaders. The most powerful business leaders are the ones whom administer the transit taxes along the Mississippi River (they still call it that in N'arlens).

Atlan: Not much contact is had between Atlan and the New Union, but is currently ruled by Jasmin I, Queen of The South, and ruler of all Atlan-Tah! Despite being a kingdom, most the peoples of Atlan are free and agrarian.

Indianap, Cago and Columbia: The great unknown forces of the north. Not much interaction occurs between the New Union and what ever power structures exist there in, but it is known that all are highly fractionalized internally but all also greatly distrust the others. Indianap is the weakest with around 40,000 citizens, Cago's next with 100,000+, and Columbia is thought to have 200,000+. Rumors have it that slavery occurs in Cago and Columbia, Columbia is at war with some group called 'The Stealers', and that the leaders of Indianap eat the dead. But rumors are just rumors...

Now that readers have a better clue of the world of AP 245, back to the timeline!

[izixs]

AP 246-247: First New Union War

Tensions between the American Alliance and the Wheat Alliance were high in AP 246. Barry Metal made pronouncements about the evils of the New Union every few weeks during the weekly rallies to pep up the 'Strength', aka those capable of fighting and close supporters of the Metals. Several New Union councilors had taken to making grand pronouncements about the evils of the Saints, The Kays, and the former Wheat leaders.

Early in the year word came in that High Clerk Troy Jenkins of the Saints and some compatriots had apparently gotten in a fist fight with several New Union soldiers near the border. To try to prevent such encounters, or any mixing at all, the N.U. council decided a reorganization of the army was needed to establish tighter discipline.

The army was remade so that there would be one high general and three low generals per zone, and they'd all report to a supreme general whom would be selected from the members of the council. The low generals would be responsible for training and maintaining the army in each zone and the high general would ensure they were doing such else would replace them. The supreme general would only be in command of all the army if war broke out, but would select the High Generals.

The supreme general was quickly selected to be Erik Or'Conner, a veteran of the army himself. By June the new command structure was in place and training was progressing. Or'Conner took a strong interest in the northern frontier as that had been where he had served previously. High General Gas, new head of the army of Misour, was selected mostly to help build a series of forts along the river. Though not technically in control, General Gas complied with General Or'Conner's request for such. Among the new generals was General Mark of East Tenn, a gunslinger whom only took the job as she was interested in refurbishing artillery...

The response of the fist fight in the Saints was a little different. The report of the story came back in that the High Clerk and his friends beat soundly the New Union soldiers (it was more or less a tie) and that the New Union was nothing to fear. Over the course of several months the idea that Saints were not only strong, but able to defeat what is commonly thought to be the best fighting force in America became common knowledge in the Saints. The rumor didn't have legs much beyond the Saints.

The First Union War began proper not with the Saints but with The Kays. The Kays, never far from their ideas of ethnic superiority, decided it was time to test the New Union's resolve. Several grounds passed into New Union lands and captured a dozen people (farmers mostly), some white, some black or mixed. In mid July The Kays sent a letter to the New Union council claiming the twelve had gone into The Kays territory intending to steal food and supplies and to possibly burn down a barn. Further more, they were to be punished for their crimes and The Kays wanted the New Union to inform their people of the punishments that would be had if others attempted similar crimes.

The New Union council responded by demanding that the people be returned to the New Union to be tried by the council. The response by The Kays was to execute the non-whites, severely beat (to the point of being crippled) the four white men, and to return those four back to New Union lands. (dropping them off at a farm near the border. When news of this came to the council, it also came to the rest of the city of Memphis. Hundreds flocked to the council building demanding a response. Left with little choice, the council required General Kinsey of Miss to move the army to The Kays border and to make it known that The Kays had attacked the New Union and until eight of their number had been punished by death and four beat to an inch of their lives the New Union would attack any member of The Kays whom passed within sight of the border.

This declaration didn't reach the fringe settlements of The Kays very quickly, and the uncertainty of where the border actually was didn't help either. The deaths of several The Kays farmers lead to The Kays mobilizing their entire populace of able body individuals whom were not needed for the fall harvest. After the harvest, the rest would mobilize and until the war was over, they would live off the stores and anything they could take from New Union lands... as they were going to war.

The actual first battle didn't start with The Kays. They didn't want to move on the New Union until all of their people were at least semi-able to fight. The Kays had sent word to the rest of the Wheat Pact that the New Union was invading them and to survive they needed their help.

The first to start making moves was Knox whom began to overwhelm East Tenn's more mountainous regions. Next Indianap and Saints moved on Terra-Hot and Springfield respectively, hoping to set up a safe zone in the prairies between them to send assistance if there was need. Litter Rock was hesitant in start in the fall and instead began readying their forces and patrolling their borders to keep an eye out for New Union troops. By October, Saints were marching into southern Quadria and eastern Kacity. Kacity had not had much notice about the starting of the fighting as word of the invasion of East Tenn and Springfield had only barely gotten to the New Union council as it was. At the start of winter, The Kays finally advanced on the New Union. General Kinsey's force of 500 were spread out along the western and northern frontier of The Kays and as such, when a force of 3000 pushed their lines, they easily broke. Kinsey regrouped the majority of the Army of Miss at Oxford. Not realizing the size of The Kays army, Kinsey opted to engage them and the first real battle of the war began on November 1. The battle of Holly Springs left General Kinsey with only around 100 soldiers after seven days of guerrilla fighting in forested terrain. The wounded general sent warning to Memphis about the approaching force shortly before her death.

This warning allowed for General Davis of West Tenn to be ready at Collierville for when The Kays appeared there. The defenses there and a sudden snow storm allowed for the outnumbered New Union forces to repel The Kays. The Kays, down almost a thousand in number, retreated and began ravaging the country side between Collierville and their lands.

Most of the rest of the fighting paused for the winter months. The exception was a group of three High Clerks passing through west Misour causing havoc and establishing Saints control there. General Gas dispatched several small units to try to find and eliminate the High Clerks and their thugs but with little success. Gas instead concentrated on being ready for a Saints assault in early spring. Litter Rockers also began testing the New Union's frontier, raiding homesteads and towns. Governor Peach of Litter Rock in March commissioned Commander Tom to lead an expeditionary force south to disrupt New Union farms. Commander Tom's 'Hellraisers' began their mostly un-harassed conquests towards the Gulf soon after. The movement of New Union troops to defend Memphis and to repel the stronger northern armies left the area mostly unprotected.

In April, the Saints began invading Misour and Indian. Avoiding the forts along the river, they instead concentrated on flanking the N.U. troops in hopes of making a siege of them possible. Topeka finally entered the fray and attacked western Kacity. Like the south-west New Union, the west of Kacity had been evacuated of troops whom were needed on other fronts. This didn't stop a guerrilla resistance from popping up and slowing them down. Indianap also began attacking New Union towns and moving towards the Ohio river. However they soon encountered General Yiser's troops. Yiser's tactics confused and tormented the Indianap soldiers (whom were much less organized than the obsessive compulsive Yiser's force). So despite being outnumbered 10 to 1, Yiser managed to keep the Indianap's far from the Ohio river for most of the spring and summer.

It became obvious that this war was going to be very different than the one with the rebellion. Tactics had improved in the New Union greatly and never again would a force of any size go unnoticed in their territory as scouts patrolled the country side regularly.

But more was needed. So the N.U. council adopted the nations first draft. They hoped to raise another 20,000 troops from the estimated roughly 100,000+ citizens of the N.U. (actual population had soared to almost 150,000 but people usually don't count kids until they're a over ten in this era). The manpower would be needed as no word from Kacity of the Iowa nations had been received since January. It was feared the New Union was on its own.

[izixs]

AP 247-248: First New Union War

As fall began to set in, the Litter Rockers began their main offensive. Governor Peach figured that if it was Litter Rock who took Memphis, they'd have the most legitimacy in seizing the mandate of the New Union. And with it, they'd be able to influence the territories of the New Union into falling under their banner more effectively than the Saints or The Kays. The march on Memphis began without in incident, but less than ten miles from the Big River (everyone had a new name for the Mississippi by this time) they encountered a series of earth worked fortifications manned by the green recruits from the New Union draft. The Litter Rocker forces, commanded by General Peggi were out numbered but better trained. However, General Peggi was totally unaware of this fact and thus withdrew a few miles so that the defenses could be better studied and a plan of assault could be made. It was decided that a full on attack might be impossible before the following spring.

On the far side of the city, The Kays began a new offensive, this time trying to encircle Memphis. The idea was that if they could cut off land routes to the city, and the Litter Rockers could take the far bank, it would be only a matter of time before a siege on the city would be successful. The progress around the city was slow as the New Union forces would sometimes come out to meet The Kays when they passed through territory favorable to the defenders. However, General Davis was hesitant to make a major effort at stopping their progress as it would leave their lines open elsewhere. The lines were occasionally harassed by cavalry and were slowly slipping as it was.

To make matters worse, Saints forces began to filter over the Ohio river and quickly seized control of a corridor parallel the Mississippi. The forts of General Gas were being mostly ignored in this effort, and like Memphis, were threatened with being encircled. But to maintain this offensive and protect it from the army of Indian, Barry Metal began assisting Indianap's routing of General Yiser. This redirection of efforts through the winter months prevented the Saints from meeting up with the Kays and effectively cutting off Memphis from the eastern New Union.

The Saints were also having success elsewhere. They pushed near Iowa City in the north, and had begun to march on Kacity itself along with Topeka's forces. Kacity was desperate. A band of friends figured it was up to them to save the city state from total destruction, and the only way to do that was to bring in a third party. They forged a letter declaring war against the Prince of Omaha and sent it off. The Prince, totally confused by this move considering what rumors had come from the south, was hesitant to respond but upon goading by the city council opted to start raiding Kacity's north to find out more, and to possibly steal some goods.

East Tenn was Knox taking heavy losses taking Tullahoma in mid winter. Holding the city quickly began a full time job and so further strikes at New Union territory were shifted towards less dense areas in Ken.

Winter paused most of the fighting in the north, but further south more tolerable tempratures allowed for the Litter Rock Hellraisers to push on towards the Gulf.

Also in mid winter, the city of Jackson, fearing being next on the target list if Memphis fell, decided it was time to act to save the New Union. Representatives were sent to Hunts, Birming, N'arlens, and Mont-Dothan asking for help against The Kays. Hunts and Birming were to be reminded of the New Union's help years past in preventing The Kays from destroying them.

But this wasn't the only diplomatic maneuvering afoot. Indianap had been searching for an heir to a certain city in the land of Ken...

[MasterJedi]

I miss this. Will we ever get an update?

[izixs]

I plan to get back to this. School/work has been keeping me a tad busy for a while. In fact I was traveling for most the last month. Expect an update next week most likely unless I get ambitious sooner.

[aaaa2222]

This is possibly the best timeline ever. Please continue.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Very good idea.

[LastMcGovernite]

but DAMN this is interesting.  please continue!

[President Mitt]

Yes, this is very interesting, please Continue.

[izixs]

AP 248-249: First New Union War

Agents of Indianap had been doing their best to infiltrate into New Union lands since the fighting began. Most were just spying, but a few were instructed to actively disrupt the New Union in any way they could. One of their agents located a man calling himself Prince Lance IV living in Louisville. Upon spending time with Lance, the agent discovered that Lance claimed to be the descendant of Prince Gary, former ruler of Nashville. His great grandfather had been banished from Nashville by the New Union due to trying to assert his claim, and had come to Louisville where he toiled until his death.

The bit the made this knowledge worthwhile to the Indianap agent was that Lance was married to one of descendants of the ruling group of Louisville before it joined the New Union. Prince Lance IV, having been filled with anti-New Union propaganda since his youth, was a prime choice to lead a local rebellion. The agent helped arm Lance and some associates and they stormed the Louisville city hall. Several battles and a few days later, and Lance declared himself King of Louisville and Nashville.

The reaction from the locals was mixed, but with fears of the impending Indianap invasion high, many reluctantly signed on with King Lance I's rule, at least in the short term. Lance of course declared Louiseville (and Nashville, though Nashville hadn't even heard of what was going on up north and would later reject Lance outright) neutral in the current conflict.

Low on supplies and pushed to the Ohio river in late fall, General Yiser tried to retreat to Louisville. The New Union troops however were turned away at the bridge across the Ohio there and they had to travel many miles down river to find a suitable crossing not being guarded by Lance loyalists. Yiser had no intention of shedding the blood of compatriots, even if they had seemingly turned traitor. Eventually they crosses the river, and were pursued by Indianap troops into Ken.

Not far west of there, Barry Metal decided it was time to crush the New Union's spirits. Having pushed Yiser from Indian and mostly surrounded the forts of General Gas, Metal figured that they could eliminate another large group of New Union fighters without being outflanked. Metal personally lead the western fighters to attacking the river forts. Despite his physical prowess, Barry Metal's tactics were not up to those of General Gas, and it took until late fall for the western forts to fall. The eastern ones however fell quickly, with the New Union troops destroying most of them while retreating. The Saints forces followed them as they slowly made their way towards Nashville. Along the way the New Union troops were reinforced by new recruits from Nashville and were able to slow and eventually halt the Saints advance before they could strike Nashville proper.

The Littler Rockers near Memphis continued to ready their assault on the Memphis fortifications for most the year, occasionally raiding and probing the defenses. It was the Hellraisers further south that made the most progress, reaching the Gulf around new years. Commander Tom approached the N'arlens trade barons, seeking more allies and supplies, but were simply warned not to enter their lands.

The biggest break for the New Union came with Hunts, Birming, and Mont-Dothan joining the American Allies and striking at the rear of The Kays. With almost all the citizens of The Kays absent from their lands, the fighting was minimal until late into the attack. Word had come to the front lines near Memphis of the rear attack and half The Kays abandoned the attack there to try to defend their homes.

On the northern fronts, there was a mix of success and failure. Kacity was totally encircled by the Wheat Pact, with their northern lands being seized by Omaha. On the other hand, the fighters from Iowa begun pushing back the Saints and even began to move towards helping Kacity, but their progress was very slow.

Both sides had trouble in the early spring of AP 249 as a virulent and deadly flu began to infect and kill those on both sides of the conflict. Oddly enough, Louisville, now trying to be totally isolated, ended up suffering the least. Some began to think the flu was caused by the war. The diseases was soon dubbed the 'War Plague'.

The devastation brought by the War Plague gave Supreme General Or'Connor an idea. With diminishes fighting forces on both sides, the victor would soon be whom ever could move the fastest to cut off supply lines, not who could hold half empty forts and cities. That summer, the new troops were to be equipped with as many horses as they could find.

[pogo stick]

Very Good timeline. Bravo!