The Stars at Night: A Texas Timeline
- Thread starter Sicarius
- Start date
Finally, some one speaks up! I've been checking everyday, but I've been too nervous to make the first post myself
It lives! I was really starting to get worried. I come onboard and the TL dries up. (quick sniff check) Was beginning to think it was me!
I love that! I'm going to use it on my boss the next time he hounds me for updates every 15 minutes!
Hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far. Take care.
Golden work takes golden time
I love that! I'm going to use it on my boss the next time he hounds me for updates every 15 minutes!
Hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far. Take care.
I'll have some more early RRG stuff soon, but my gut wanted to write about this.
Part 33
Wanted! The Outlaws
The chaos and killing in Texas was, as they say, bad for business. Unless killing and chaos was your business. If so, business was booming.
Banditry in and around Texas had three primary flashpoints: The triply contested Free Texas/Republican/Comanche border with the United States, the nascent border between the Republic of the Rio Grande and Republican Texas, and the long, long west border of the formerly unified Republic, running through to the US and Mexico. Each of these three areas had their own unique charms, by which I mean ways to be brutally murdered.
The bandits of South Texas, more smugglers than desperados, were by necessity the most circumspect. Corpus Christi, a haven for smuggling more than once in Texian history, was the primary point for ingress and egress of illegal goods. IN THIS ECONOMY the city came to rely ever more on the economic boost this provided, and a seedy atmosphere began to prevail. The city’s slow shift into an outlaw haven soon drew the attention of the King Ranch, the de facto authority in the region. Its security services, previously devoted to combating outside forces (largely Mexican banditry), for the first time put a significant focus inward - a precedent that would have major effects down the line. Over-extended in the aftermath of the new Republic’s independence, the Special Force could only afford to dispatch a small contingent of men, a party that likely would have been quickly annihilated if not for their leader: “Two-Gun” Dallas Stoudenmire.
He's got two guns on you right now. One is hidden behind his back. The other? You don't want to know.
A Southron with a somewhat shady past, Stoudenmire had served briefly as a Texas Ranger in East Texas during the Ford-era revitalization. After this, it seems that he spent a period in Mexico, ultimately reentering Texas through the Corpus Christi port. A known law enforcement figure with no current employment, he was contacted by the city’s leading families, who were feeling a little desperate as their town went to pot. Through them, Stoudenmire was put in touch with the Special Force, which proposed he lead their tiny task force (the Special Force leadership obviously has something of a bias in favor of former Rangers). Stoudenmire soon became famous for his quick draw, his ambidextrous shooting skills, and his high body count. With Corpus being the bandits’ sole significant port, this put a serious cramp in their business operations. Small bandit camps began to spring up around the Matagorda Bay, but the isolation and hordes of mosquitoes ensured that these were largely unsuccessful. A few of these pirate villages did cling to continued existence, however, breeding a particularly badass strand of South Texas corsair.
The bandits who continued to pass through Corpus, though, needed to show a bit of subtlety. It was training that served them well as they travelled North to the primary market for their wares - San Antonio. The largest city for some distance, and smack dab on the contested and porous border between the Rio Grande Republic and Republican Texas, San Antonio too was becoming a rough town, home to rowdy garrisons of soldiers, cross-border bandits, and the average citizenry trying not to get shot.
The outlaws who prowled the north-eastern route, through American, Free, Republican, and Comanche lands, were another story. While the Corpus Christi smugglers were mostly Texian (and Tejanos), these men were a more diverse group of Texians, Americans, and various native groups - both “wild” and Idahoan (there was a lot of overlap there, in reality). These guys were your more traditional idea of a bandit - they raided towns, robbed coaches, knocked over small banks, they were just generally assholes. As soon as they executed their heists, they would flee back into the confused maze of borders and the numerous hiding places offered by the area. These were tactics borrowed from the Comanche raiders in the years after the Mexican War, tactics which the three nations plagued by them never really got a handle on. Now there were anywhere from three to seven nations, depending on who you asked, and their handling of ecumenical matters was not exactly top tier. Those few nations and would-be nations that had armed forces worth the name, and those fewer which were inclined to use them on bandits, were checked by the fear of wandering into contested territory and being trapped between outlaws and a foreign force. In the confusion, the bandits operated with functional impunity.
Then there were the south-west bandits. Mostly Mexican and Tejano with a fair Texian minority, these were your classic cattle rustlers. With the disruption that accompanies warfare, the nation’s cattle industry had been thrown into disarray. Texas was hungry. And here come some fine gentlemen with a huge herd of cattle! Hmm, they all seem to have different brands, but beggars can’t be choosers!
Many of these rustlers had formerly run cattle across the border from Texas and America into Mexico, where such practices were tacitly supported by the government. But these days, with the rise in American beef prices from the supply disruption, there was big money to be made in the US. The rustlers also had a complicated relationship with Free Texas - sometimes they would have a mutually acceptable business relationship, sometimes deals would descend into gunplay, sometimes rustlers would raid Texian cattle stocks, sometimes Texians would raid rustlers for their already-raided herds. With a tenuous position in the harsh and largely unsettled west, the Free Texians were somewhat dependent on continued access to these stolen cattle, however they got them.
The relationship between the bandits and the Republic of the Rio Grande, however, was as simple as cow pie. The RRG had maintained more stability than most of Texas, and that meant that their herds were comparatively healthy, large, and centralized (as much as cows ever are). This made it an ideal spot for raids. And it also meant that the RRG had absolutely no need for the rustlers’ “services”, so the relationship was strictly adversarial. The Special Force was very active in combating rustling. It was more or less their main focus, and most of their resources were devoted to it. Nevertheless, the sheer volume of raids saw them stretched thin. More than once the Special Force men would wear out their horses and themselves chasing a peso-ante group of a brothers or a small gang, only to find that an organized band led by a well-known bandit had made off with the herd in the meantime.
Aftermath of a cattle battle.
Law enforcement in general had a rough time of dealing with all this. The RRG had the Special Force. Republican Texas eventually formed a small unit of military police. The Americans had the NIS and the Marshal Service. Free Texas had semi-official vigilante bands of former army men [1]. And they all hated each other - including interforce disputes between the NIS and the Marshals. Between the jurisdictional and military conflicts of the national parties, the years after the collapse of Texas saw cowboys and indians run wild.
[1] This not exactly ringing description is still more charitable than it should be. With Free Texas being the final destination for much of the First Army, it had an unusually high number of veterans even for unusually-warlike Texas. Pretty much everyone had seen action in the Mexican War, the ongoing indian wars, or the recent troubles. A gathering of Camp Johnston’s town drunks trying to instigate a cockfight in an alley could be described as a “semi-official vigilante band of former army men.”
Part 33
Wanted! The Outlaws
The chaos and killing in Texas was, as they say, bad for business. Unless killing and chaos was your business. If so, business was booming.
Banditry in and around Texas had three primary flashpoints: The triply contested Free Texas/Republican/Comanche border with the United States, the nascent border between the Republic of the Rio Grande and Republican Texas, and the long, long west border of the formerly unified Republic, running through to the US and Mexico. Each of these three areas had their own unique charms, by which I mean ways to be brutally murdered.
The bandits of South Texas, more smugglers than desperados, were by necessity the most circumspect. Corpus Christi, a haven for smuggling more than once in Texian history, was the primary point for ingress and egress of illegal goods. IN THIS ECONOMY the city came to rely ever more on the economic boost this provided, and a seedy atmosphere began to prevail. The city’s slow shift into an outlaw haven soon drew the attention of the King Ranch, the de facto authority in the region. Its security services, previously devoted to combating outside forces (largely Mexican banditry), for the first time put a significant focus inward - a precedent that would have major effects down the line. Over-extended in the aftermath of the new Republic’s independence, the Special Force could only afford to dispatch a small contingent of men, a party that likely would have been quickly annihilated if not for their leader: “Two-Gun” Dallas Stoudenmire.
He's got two guns on you right now. One is hidden behind his back. The other? You don't want to know.
A Southron with a somewhat shady past, Stoudenmire had served briefly as a Texas Ranger in East Texas during the Ford-era revitalization. After this, it seems that he spent a period in Mexico, ultimately reentering Texas through the Corpus Christi port. A known law enforcement figure with no current employment, he was contacted by the city’s leading families, who were feeling a little desperate as their town went to pot. Through them, Stoudenmire was put in touch with the Special Force, which proposed he lead their tiny task force (the Special Force leadership obviously has something of a bias in favor of former Rangers). Stoudenmire soon became famous for his quick draw, his ambidextrous shooting skills, and his high body count. With Corpus being the bandits’ sole significant port, this put a serious cramp in their business operations. Small bandit camps began to spring up around the Matagorda Bay, but the isolation and hordes of mosquitoes ensured that these were largely unsuccessful. A few of these pirate villages did cling to continued existence, however, breeding a particularly badass strand of South Texas corsair.
The bandits who continued to pass through Corpus, though, needed to show a bit of subtlety. It was training that served them well as they travelled North to the primary market for their wares - San Antonio. The largest city for some distance, and smack dab on the contested and porous border between the Rio Grande Republic and Republican Texas, San Antonio too was becoming a rough town, home to rowdy garrisons of soldiers, cross-border bandits, and the average citizenry trying not to get shot.
The outlaws who prowled the north-eastern route, through American, Free, Republican, and Comanche lands, were another story. While the Corpus Christi smugglers were mostly Texian (and Tejanos), these men were a more diverse group of Texians, Americans, and various native groups - both “wild” and Idahoan (there was a lot of overlap there, in reality). These guys were your more traditional idea of a bandit - they raided towns, robbed coaches, knocked over small banks, they were just generally assholes. As soon as they executed their heists, they would flee back into the confused maze of borders and the numerous hiding places offered by the area. These were tactics borrowed from the Comanche raiders in the years after the Mexican War, tactics which the three nations plagued by them never really got a handle on. Now there were anywhere from three to seven nations, depending on who you asked, and their handling of ecumenical matters was not exactly top tier. Those few nations and would-be nations that had armed forces worth the name, and those fewer which were inclined to use them on bandits, were checked by the fear of wandering into contested territory and being trapped between outlaws and a foreign force. In the confusion, the bandits operated with functional impunity.
Then there were the south-west bandits. Mostly Mexican and Tejano with a fair Texian minority, these were your classic cattle rustlers. With the disruption that accompanies warfare, the nation’s cattle industry had been thrown into disarray. Texas was hungry. And here come some fine gentlemen with a huge herd of cattle! Hmm, they all seem to have different brands, but beggars can’t be choosers!
Many of these rustlers had formerly run cattle across the border from Texas and America into Mexico, where such practices were tacitly supported by the government. But these days, with the rise in American beef prices from the supply disruption, there was big money to be made in the US. The rustlers also had a complicated relationship with Free Texas - sometimes they would have a mutually acceptable business relationship, sometimes deals would descend into gunplay, sometimes rustlers would raid Texian cattle stocks, sometimes Texians would raid rustlers for their already-raided herds. With a tenuous position in the harsh and largely unsettled west, the Free Texians were somewhat dependent on continued access to these stolen cattle, however they got them.
The relationship between the bandits and the Republic of the Rio Grande, however, was as simple as cow pie. The RRG had maintained more stability than most of Texas, and that meant that their herds were comparatively healthy, large, and centralized (as much as cows ever are). This made it an ideal spot for raids. And it also meant that the RRG had absolutely no need for the rustlers’ “services”, so the relationship was strictly adversarial. The Special Force was very active in combating rustling. It was more or less their main focus, and most of their resources were devoted to it. Nevertheless, the sheer volume of raids saw them stretched thin. More than once the Special Force men would wear out their horses and themselves chasing a peso-ante group of a brothers or a small gang, only to find that an organized band led by a well-known bandit had made off with the herd in the meantime.
Aftermath of a cattle battle.
Law enforcement in general had a rough time of dealing with all this. The RRG had the Special Force. Republican Texas eventually formed a small unit of military police. The Americans had the NIS and the Marshal Service. Free Texas had semi-official vigilante bands of former army men [1]. And they all hated each other - including interforce disputes between the NIS and the Marshals. Between the jurisdictional and military conflicts of the national parties, the years after the collapse of Texas saw cowboys and indians run wild.
[1] This not exactly ringing description is still more charitable than it should be. With Free Texas being the final destination for much of the First Army, it had an unusually high number of veterans even for unusually-warlike Texas. Pretty much everyone had seen action in the Mexican War, the ongoing indian wars, or the recent troubles. A gathering of Camp Johnston’s town drunks trying to instigate a cockfight in an alley could be described as a “semi-official vigilante band of former army men.”
HOW THE HELL DID I MISS THE UPDATE!?!?!?!?!?!
I can't tell you how sorry I am for commenting a day late! Nicely written, and its good to see a small glimpse into the priorities of Free Texas and the RRG. And I second Ares96's motion, more Mexico, more Murica, and more maps!
I can't tell you how sorry I am for commenting a day late!
Nicely written, and its good to see a small glimpse into the priorities of Free Texas and the RRG. And I second Ares96's motion, more Mexico, more Murica, and more maps! 
I third the motion: map!
I didn't imagine the RRG as far north as San Antonio!
I present a map:
I had forgotten about that. I had a vague recollection of it, but I also thought the lines of control had changed.
TTL will get some very badass documentaries from this era. The Warring States era of Texas.
Is it Texases or Texi?
Do the Texas Rangers still exist or have they been replaced by the Special Forces?
Stoudenmire, 'southron with a somewhat shady past,' doesn't that go for every other prominent Southron in Texas. What kind of culture pervades the cities of the RRG right now?
Finally I notice there is no mention of mighty Deutsche cowboys? Are the colonists that inward facing despite having a slice of the borderlands near San Antonio? What are the Men in the RRG and Free Texas doing in regards to the German rebels.
Is it Texases or Texi?
Do the Texas Rangers still exist or have they been replaced by the Special Forces?
Stoudenmire, 'southron with a somewhat shady past,' doesn't that go for every other prominent Southron in Texas. What kind of culture pervades the cities of the RRG right now?
Finally I notice there is no mention of mighty Deutsche cowboys? Are the colonists that inward facing despite having a slice of the borderlands near San Antonio? What are the Men in the RRG and Free Texas doing in regards to the German rebels.