Blood In The Water: A Post Apocalyptic TL

Gog (♀)

Travels
Benjamin Zabinsky

portlandtown.jpg

Today is March 24th 506 A.E I, Benjamin Zabinsky have set this book, to detail the History, Culture, Customs and Geography of the Americas, before I embark with my people to Jeruselem. My people, the Jews have lived here on Bermuda for 500 years. With tensions on the mainland increasing, we know it is our time to travel across the mysterious Atlantic, and go to our holy land. The many nations to the west have started to battle, and none of them like the Jews. Here I shall lay down the chapters, the first will detail the general history of the event, and the what followed it.



One
The Event​

"Never has an office with so much authority invested in it, have been desecrated by its citizens in their time of most need."

Attributed to "President" Richard S. Schweiker, when he heard about the massacre in Adolphus,KY which killed 15,000 people.


The Event was not one thing that caused the fall of the previous civilization, it was many catastrophes, that contributed to each other. The first was a war, which most records of it have been sadly lost. What I have been able to find is detailed here. The war was between the nation called "America", which we currently reside in, and "Soviet Union". The main battles of the war took place in Europe, but all of America's troops were there. The struggle lasted six days, a curiously short time for a war. At the end of it weapons so horrible that the survivors only referenced them as "atomic bombs" we're used. These atom bombs destroyed a great deal of area when they are detonated, and leave behind "radiation" which makes an area unlivable for a long while. Much of Europe and "Soviet Union" were destroyed. America was heavily wounded, her armies gone and no food to feed her people. Order gradually fell apart as people escaped to the countryside, were supposedly there was more food. By four years after the Event, America had died. The cities rotted as people eeked out a living in the rural areas.

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Remains of Pittsburg​

Due to tens of millions of people moving into farming communities that could only feed themselves, the final two blows occurred. The first was when the farmers tried to force out the refugees, in many cases they were succsesful, others where the refugees out gunned the farmers ended in the communities being taken over. The second was the greatest tragedy of them all. Most of the refugees who had not taken over the communities perished. The final blow to america, her armies gone, her people fighting and dying in droves. The nation never had a formal end, due to the successor states that would follow throughout North America, but some would say it lives in us all. Others claim that the Washingtons are the true heirs, but that is is topic for another chapter. In total people would say by rough estimates that close to 9/10ths of Americans died, and more for the northern neighbor "Canada". Speaking of Canada, only three of their cities were bombed, but this alone collapsed their state. The Quebecois people of north eastern Canada, formed their alliance of cities and farming communities to protect their people, which exsists to this day. "Mexico" the southern neighbor of America did not take any "bombs" but collapsed in short order, as the gangs and millitary fought for control of the lucrative farmlands. This struggle did not end until the Peace of Jalasixo in 67 A.E. In short the previous civilization, fell and a new ones would take time to rise, and I will examine most of their origins.
 
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Gog (♀)

Hello, welcome two my second official TL. In fact my first is on hiatus and I cannot handle the Long one, so this one will be a light one. I hope people understand that information will be light on the war so do not complain about that. Anyway enjoy!
 

Gog (♀)

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NEW YORK
LOS ANGELES
CHICAGO
SAN FRANSISCO
PHEONIX
MIAMI
SAN ANTONIO
DENVER
CLEVELAND
COLUMBUS
DETROIT
NEWARK
CHARELSTON
EL PASO
AUSTIN
SAN DIEGO
BUFFALO
WASHINGTON,DC
LAS VEGAS
MILWAUKEE
HOUSTON

STAY TUNED FOR MORE WILL REPEAT EVERY HOUR
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Gog (♀)

President Richard Schultz Schweike

RichardSchweiker.jpg
1926 A.D.-December 20 1994 A.D./10 A.E.​

President Schweike was the last president of America, or at least the last one who could claim that title with legitimacy. One may say that he was never truly president, for he only was able to extend authority inside the Appalachian region. In fact many historians call his government the "Williamson Presidency" as that was the capital. Richard Schweike was in Texas when the then president, Ronald Reagan asked him to come to Washington. Schweike was merely the Secretary of Health, and was on the plane over West Virgina when the bombs fell. Acting quickly, he grounded the plane at Williamson,WV as that was the closest town. He set up a government one week later, when a secret service official fleeing DC told him that all previous people in the line of presidential secession were dead. He was sworn in at the town square, and used a radio to tell all remaining government officials to come to Williamson. To his dissatisfaction, the only major goverment official that made it there was David Stockman, director of Budget and Management, who would succeed Schweike when he died.
180px-David_Stockman_Michigan.png

Only known picture of David Stockman​

Soon Schweike would find out he had little control outside his bit of the USA. When the 30th Heavy Brigade of the WV national guard, showed up, they were able to start extending control again over West Virginia. The 30th moved from town to town, extending federal control. The biggest blow to morale, was the Adolphus Massacre in Kentucky. It happned five months after the war, and occurred as this. Residents of the small Kentucky town were running out of food. They needed the food the refugees (about 20,000 or so) that had hoarded in their camps outside the town. So they finally sent town militia to seize the food stores the refugees had acquired. Unfortunately for them, the refugees were armed as well. So when people came to take their food, they fought back. It was bloody, shotguns pulverizing many bodies, but when a tossed lantern broke, it set the whole camp on fire, and the Fire slowly spread to destroy part of Adolphus as well. The townspeople fled and most of the refugees perished. In all about 600 or so people died fighting, and 14,000 refugees died in the fire and 400 townspeople in Adolphus. It went to show that the federal goverment could never reestablish control over the USA.

413QP44FJKL.jpg

The camp before the massacre​

As time went by, most of Western WV came under the control of the President, and he began reeestablishing control over Kentucky. Another crisis emerged when it was found out that bandits were raiding the territory from Parksburg, Ohio. Schweike knew that this could be a chance to show that he could be a effective president. So he sent the 1st battalion to Parksburg to fight the bandits. The battle of Parksburg was the first piched land battle in the USA for hundreds of years. It was the federal troops attacking the surprised bandits, who did not think that they troops would follow them this close to the ruins of Columbus. In the end it was a resounding federal victory. Confidence had been restored in the federal goverment, and on that note, Schweike called elections, which he won handily. The goverment consolidated its control, but it's great hero would die in 1994 of old age. His Vice President, David Stockman would continue to be president from Schweike's death until 2004, but by then people had switched to the new dating system.
 
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WarPlanInfrared

Looks nice !

So, the apocalypse happened in 1984 ? If so, the black and white photographs (especially the one with the wrecks of clearly 30s-era cars:p) look really odd, just saying ...

Keep it up !:)
 

Gog (♀)

WarPlanInfrared said:
Looks nice !

So, the apocalypse happened in 1984 ? If so, the black and white photographs (especially the one with the wrecks of clearly 30s-era cars:p) look really odd, just saying ...

Keep it up !:)
Click to expand...
Yes I used a similar PoD to p&s but the apocalypse happened for real this time

I have been having trouble finding pictures of destroyed stuff, for example the refugee camp is a pic of a Sundanese or Palestinian camp I think. The picture I am finding for destroyed cities are mostly like Japanese and German.
 

Ramontxo

Donor
Very promising, consider me subscribed. Just a minor point about the "The Bombs". I think that the basics about the nuclear theory are too widespread to be forgotten. Don't mean the specifics about how they are made, just (at the very least) that they are "Atomic".
 

Gog (♀)

Ramontxo said:
Very promising, consider me subscribed. Just a minor point about the "The Bombs". I think that the basics about the nuclear theory are too widespread to be forgotten. Don't mean the specifics about how they are made, just (at the very least) that they are "Atomic".
Click to expand...

Good point I will retcon that
 

Dunois

Gog I see that you've joined in June 2014, so you probably have never come accross the various timelines on this board under the "Protect and Survive" headings. They looked after a similar premise, namely nuclear war in 1983/4 and its consequences upon the globe.

You probably won't like what I am about to say, but the scenario you are positing is essentially implausible and even borderline ASB in my opinion. This is for the following reasons:

1. There are not enough nuclear weapons around to completely destroy the United States as a functioning entity.
Sure the USSR maybe had 40k nukes, but how many of these were actually deliverable? It does no good to have 40k nukes lying around if you can only deliver 10k of them. Of these 10k nukes, targets are in Europe, the USA, Asia, Oceania and elsewhere. So as a result the USA will be on the recieving end of maybe just half the Soviet arsenal. Most of this will fall onto the missile silos of the midwest

2. The risks of fallout are vastly overrated
The radioactive fallout arising from a nuclear explosion is rather different from the one coming from say a nuclear meltdown or something similar. This is because different nucleides are used, the fission process is somewhat different (thermal vs fast) and so on. A good rule of thumb regarding fallout decay is the seven tenth rule. After 7 hours, fallout will be only 1/10 of what you started off with. The FEMA guide has a good explanation on this (page 13).
Some area of the country will also recieve less exposure than others, the midwest and its silos will be a hotspot of sorts. The south should be better off.
Now a lot of people will die as a result of exposure of course. But you won't end up with dead territories and dead lands. To give you an idea, wildlife thrives around Chernobyl or Fukushima these days. Humans could too, but arbitrary dose limits have been put in place to ally concerns.

3. Physical infrastructure is far more resilient/dispersed than we think
A lot of strategic infrastructure like power stations is spread out all over the place. There are hundreds of them in the United States alone, spread out everywhere and sometimes far away from large cities. Similarly industrial facilities of all kinds are everywhere. In a post strike scenario this means that manufacturing capacity will remain useable to make things.
What about transport infrastructure then?
Roads, electrical grids and railways are fundamentally webs. If you take out one part, the parts that remain can still maintain a level of functionality in the system. A lot of that infrastructure too is quite sturdy. Take the interstate highway system for example, or even railway marshalling yards. You need ground bursts to destroy the latter, nothing less will do. Bad luck that there are hundreds of such yards around ...

4. Fuel availability post strike will be less of a problem that's assumed
90%+ of current oil usage is non-essential in some respects. You won't need to drive to work anymore after the bombs have fallen. Jetting off to the Keys for a break? This is now out of the picture.
Demand will be reduced by 90%+ but supply won't be reduced by the same amount. A lot of refining capacity is again very dispersed and will survive. Oil refining is also not that complicated a process, so jerry-rigging smaller but cruder facilities for the duration is not out of question.

5. Technological knowledge is very resilient
Any small town library has got the basic building blocks required to maintain a decent level of technological knowledge essentially. Sure we are not talking computers and moon landings here. But antiobiotic, hygiene, basic electricity and basic combustion engines. Downteching to borrow a term from the 1632verse.
Technology will stagnate for two decades post strike. But it won't regress to neo-medievalism. Mechanised transport and agriculture will remain available. Sure, with far more help and hands on deck than before but it will remain. Think 1930s or 1910s basically.

6. Nationwide communications will still be possible
Again here, it does not matter if you are unable to call your aunty in LA from Nantucket. What is important is that what skeleton of radio/telephone infrastructure remains can be used by government agencies. During WW2 it tooks hours for phone calls from the East Coast to be connected to the West Coast. Yet the slower pace of communication back then did not mean that the country collapsed on itself.
Of course local authorities will now become far more powerful. But some from of federal authority can and likely will survive.

7. Some countries will be virtually unscathed
This is a big one. I expect a lot of countries in South America and Oceania to come out alright. If if Brazil loses Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. A lot of large cities will remain intact, alongside the associated infrastructure and industries.
 

Gog (♀)

Dunois said:
Gog I see that you've joined in June 2014, so you probably have never come accross the various timelines on this board under the "Protect and Survive" headings. They looked after a similar premise, namely nuclear war in 1983/4 and its consequences upon the globe.

You probably won't like what I am about to say, but the scenario you are positing is essentially implausible and even borderline ASB in my opinion. This is for the following reasons:

1. There are not enough nuclear weapons around to completely destroy the United States as a functioning entity.
Sure the USSR maybe had 40k nukes, but how many of these were actually deliverable? It does no good to have 40k nukes lying around if you can only deliver 10k of them. Of these 10k nukes, targets are in Europe, the USA, Asia, Oceania and elsewhere. So as a result the USA will be on the recieving end of maybe just half the Soviet arsenal. Most of this will fall onto the missile silos of the midwest

2. The risks of fallout are vastly overrated
The radioactive fallout arising from a nuclear explosion is rather different from the one coming from say a nuclear meltdown or something similar. This is because different nucleides are used, the fission process is somewhat different (thermal vs fast) and so on. A good rule of thumb regarding fallout decay is the seven tenth rule. After 7 hours, fallout will be only 1/10 of what you started off with. The FEMA guide has a good explanation on this (page 13).
Some area of the country will also recieve less exposure than others, the midwest and its silos will be a hotspot of sorts. The south should be better off.
Now a lot of people will die as a result of exposure of course. But you won't end up with dead territories and dead lands. To give you an idea, wildlife thrives around Chernobyl or Fukushima these days. Humans could too, but arbitrary dose limits have been put in place to ally concerns.

3. Physical infrastructure is far more resilient/dispersed than we think
A lot of strategic infrastructure like power stations is spread out all over the place. There are hundreds of them in the United States alone, spread out everywhere and sometimes far away from large cities. Similarly industrial facilities of all kinds are everywhere. In a post strike scenario this means that manufacturing capacity will remain useable to make things.
What about transport infrastructure then?
Roads, electrical grids and railways are fundamentally webs. If you take out one part, the parts that remain can still maintain a level of functionality in the system. A lot of that infrastructure too is quite sturdy. Take the interstate highway system for example, or even railway marshalling yards. You need ground bursts to destroy the latter, nothing less will do. Bad luck that there are hundreds of such yards around ...

4. Fuel availability post strike will be less of a problem that's assumed
90%+ of current oil usage is non-essential in some respects. You won't need to drive to work anymore after the bombs have fallen. Jetting off to the Keys for a break? This is now out of the picture.
Demand will be reduced by 90%+ but supply won't be reduced by the same amount. A lot of refining capacity is again very dispersed and will survive. Oil refining is also not that complicated a process, so jerry-rigging smaller but cruder facilities for the duration is not out of question.

5. Technological knowledge is very resilient
Any small town library has got the basic building blocks required to maintain a decent level of technological knowledge essentially. Sure we are not talking computers and moon landings here. But antiobiotic, hygiene, basic electricity and basic combustion engines. Downteching to borrow a term from the 1632verse.
Technology will stagnate for two decades post strike. But it won't regress to neo-medievalism. Mechanised transport and agriculture will remain available. Sure, with far more help and hands on deck than before but it will remain. Think 1930s or 1910s basically.

6. Nationwide communications will still be possible
Again here, it does not matter if you are unable to call your aunty in LA from Nantucket. What is important is that what skeleton of radio/telephone infrastructure remains can be used by government agencies. During WW2 it tooks hours for phone calls from the East Coast to be connected to the West Coast. Yet the slower pace of communication back then did not mean that the country collapsed on itself.
Of course local authorities will now become far more powerful. But some from of federal authority can and likely will survive.

7. Some countries will be virtually unscathed
This is a big one. I expect a lot of countries in South America and Oceania to come out alright. If if Brazil loses Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. A lot of large cities will remain intact, alongside the associated infrastructure and industries.
Click to expand...
Dunois I appreciate your explanation and I do not contradict, but the main reason, in fact I said it so in the first post is that there was no food. The soviet nukes in the mid west wiped out the food supply. Due to this, people abandoned the cities and went to the rural areas, where at least 9/10 of the population died by then.

You have to understand, this is not ASB, but VERY IMPLAUSIBLE. You are right, it is borderline impossible, but it is certainly not ASB, ASB involves physically and otherwise impossible things. A end of civilization steming from a '84 war, is possible.

You see I looked up the P&S stories and I realiszedthere is one vital difference, the war in my TL, lasted TWO WEEKS. Long enough for most of the National Guards to be called up. In P&S it is less than 5 days.
 

Gog (♀)

another thing Duois, ASB is this according to the board:


alternate history scenarios that involve time travel, magic, alien intervention, anything in the sea of time, and other such weirdness. Also alternate histories taking place in fictional universes (Star Wars, etc).
Click to expand...

My TL is none of those
 
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