Medieval America Mark III

[tehskyman]

The Electors could be chosen by the state legislatures, as it is currently. But that leads to another issue-- if Boston sends Electors to the College, isn't that like saying that the Boston city government is the real State of Massachusetts and not the autonomous state based in Hartford? To keep all the legal claims in order, the Electors may have to be decoupled from the states-- every one of the effective subunits of governments (counties, municipalities) sends Electors, varying with population.
There's also the question of whether the Electors should be totally free to vote their conscience or totally bound by choices made elsewhere. This probably varies over time, as the sub-unit legislatures pick predictable or unpredictable people as Electors.

In my conception of the Electoral College, it is made up of the oligarchical class of the USA. Merchant family heads, land owner heads, military leaders, some church leaders, guild leaders, mayors etc. They are technically totally free to vote their conscience but they generally fall into the red blue or white faction, though there are independents.

The House of Representatives is also divided by the Red White and Blue factions. However, the people who make up the House, are not usually the electoral college. Most of them are too busy to spend all their time in Baltimore. Rather, they send relatives who are not in the Electoral College, like a younger brother or an adult son in their stead (provided they are elected)

 

[tehskyman]

I wonder what role women have in the USA. Maybe they picked up a couple pointers from the Caribbean and allow women to become electors but restrict them from the church and house of representatives?

 

[tehskyman]

Government of the USA: The First Session

After President George Washington II was anointed the President of the USA, he called on the elites of the Non-Denom Church and the Chesapeake Bay area to convene and decide upon the structure of the renewed nation. While waiting for the delegates to arrive, President Washington sat down with the Supreme Court to discuss their place within the USA and to help draft the Articles of Emergency.

Though the exact details of those meetings is not known, from some of Chief Justice Knox II Harrison's surviving writings, the new President was very concerned about balancing the ties of the old USA and crafting a document that would adequately address the issues of the new. By the time the first delegates arrived, the President was ready to present the document to the delegates and allow the scribes to copy it. In addition, the President and the Chief Justice had agreed upon a division of powers between the two poles of the new USA. The Appalachian Guard, the Supreme's court personal army would not be allowed within the Baltimore Beltway unless the President gave the order to do so. Similarly, non-church soldiers would not be permitted within the Washington Beltway unless the Supreme Court assented to it. Furthermore they agreed that the two chambers of Congress would be separated between the secular and spiritual halves of the government, and physically separated too with the Senate and Supreme Court remaining in DC and the House of Representatives and Presidency moving to Baltimore.

As part of moving the Presidency to Baltimore, the remains of the White House itself were dismantled. At this point it had fallen into great disrepair with noone having lived in it for over a hundred years and much of the building had collapsed upon itself.. The new White House would be built on Federal Hill, overlooking Baltimore's Inner Harbor with the main facade being reconstructed as faithfully as possible, facing the city. It would be surrounded by its own set of walls and docks all painted white. Downhill of the White House a new Congressional building and Congressional Apartments would be built. Over time this entire complex would come to be known as the Atlantic Palace.

George Washington II set another precedent with his presidential name as future presidents would now take the names of past presidents upon their ascension to the Resolute Desk as a way of honoring the old patriot saints. Eventually in 2651 the Supreme Court would decree that presidents could take the name of any of the patriot saints of the histories including but not limited to Douglas MacArthur, William Sherman, Alexander Hamilton, Colin Powell, etc.

 

[tehskyman]

The Government of the USA: The Senate

The Senate, with its control and concern over judicial and thus ecclesiastic matters, has become a body populated solely by churchmen and continues to sit in Washington DC. It is in effect, the ruling body of the Non-Denominational Church. Half the Senators are the district supervisors of the church or their representatives, so as to ensure that the church heard from all its adherents. The other half are churchmen appointed by the rulers of each district supervisory so as to ensure states retain some level of control over the judicial branch. The Western Emergency, as the new medieval era is termed, means that the states west of the Mississippi can not be contacted and thus can not be represented in the Senate. To preserve the quorum of the Senate, and to appease the many political families who have been stranded in the DC area since the beginning of the Regression, "Courts in Exile" were set up to represent the 9th and 10th circuit courts. These courts are populated by those old families and from them, the President and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court appoint new senators to represent the lost states.

The rest of the circuit courts are set up by the church in their respective locations, serving to adjudicate disputes between churchmen, noblemen and peasant alike. These rulings can then be bumped up to the Supreme Court if need be.

Vacancies in the District Supervisors continue to be appointed by the Supreme Court, selected from qualified local churchmen. And in an important compromise with the Supreme Court, vacancies in the Supreme Court would no longer be filled by the President. Instead the Senate would select and vote on replacements for the Supreme Court and the President would agree to pass any candidates that passed by his desk.

 

[tehskyman]

The Government of the USA: The Electoral College and House of Representatives

The USA is an oligarchy, where wealthy families control the state through the selection of Presidents, voting on policies within the government, populating/ sponsoring bureaucrats and many other informal means. Though formally all landowning citizens control the House of Representatives, and the Electoral College is open to all eligible citizens, in practice the gentry both landowning and merchant, populate both institutions though not fully. Churchmen, military leaders, guild heads and other special interest groups also have a seat at the table in both the House of Representatives and Electoral College. There are seats in the House of Representatives designated for them and several elector positions are reserved for them as well.

The House of Representatives is the secular chamber of congress, populated by representatives of all free land/property holding citizens of the USA. Every 5 years, elections across direct federal jurisdiction occur and representatives are chosen to represent their constituents in Baltimore. However, in this era, elections are often decided by whichever candidate, with sufficient backing from their faction, can bribe enough people to vote for them. The gentry will put up younger members/ side branches of their family as representatives and offer voters some small amount of silver or favors in exchange for their vote.

Elections for the President also occur though with some important changes. The President now serves for a lifetime term and voting is restricted to the Electoral College. The Electoral College itself would no longer be attached to states and instead would be populated by men (and occasionally women) of suitable standing. Military officers, landowning nobility, merchants, churchmen, guild leaders and other men of high standing would be allowed to enter. One's status in the College of Electors was not heritable, though the eldest sons of deceased electors are seldom denied entry. Members of the Electoral College represent the gentry of the USA. They wield power through their electoral college votes and through many other formal and informal means. Members of the College are permitted to sit in the House of Representatives but seldom do. They are busy people and do not have the time for bickering in the Atlantic Palace. Rather, Electors often send their close relatives or subordinates to represent their family/guild in Congress.

If an election occurs and the Electors can not agree with a majority among themselves, which happens quite often, election of the President and Vice President is given to the House of Representatives and Senate respectively.

The Senate will usually choose a churchman, to govern the USA until the President is selected. Consequently, whoever is the current Vice-President administers the country until their replacement is selected (or they are reappointed). Presidents usually change their Vice President upon their ascension, making a close relative or trusted ally their Veep, though sometimes the losing candidate is made Vice President. The amount of authority the Vice President has varies from administration to administration but usually, the Vice President is trusted as a regent, marshal, chancellor and any other position they may excel in.

The selection of the President in the House of Representatives continues the battle that the Electoral College waged. It is here that the special interest groups, families who are neither blue nor red (for example, merchants with significant land holdings) or rival subfactions come to play. Horse trading and candidates pleading their case to representatives and their families will go on for weeks at a time. Often, candidates will travel through the USA's domains in New England and the Chesapeake Bay area to visit representatives, electors and their families to gain their support. There are often several rounds of voting, with candidates dropping out and endorsing other candidates in exchange for positions within the government.

 

[Thisisanaccount]

I must admit that I wasn't too crazy about the ideas in this post on the Government of the USA, but after taking some time to sit with it I really like it now! Great work!

 

[tehskyman]

Views on my post?

I am open to editing and restructuring based on feedback

 

[Richard Drummond]

Views on my post?

I am open to editing and restructuring based on feedback

I think the system you have come up with is quite great. However, I do wonder if the Presidency wouldn't become more autocratic and heritable after 1000 yeas.

 

[Flashman]

The CIA

In the late stages of American world-hegemony, the number of so-called "Alphabet Soup" agencies proliferated. As the New Medieval Age dawned, the use for various agencies, bureaus and departments waxed and waned with time, some of them existing only theoretically. Many office titles being passed down from generation to generation by minor nobility, only for some monk to dust off the old records and discover that there was some use to one of the countless lost organizations in the current political moment. One such organization of waxing and waning influence was the CIA.

Formerly, the CIA was perhaps the most important of the many organizations that made up the executive branch of the US government. It was the strong arm of the American empire overseas when outright military force proved too gauche, and at home it could exercise an uncomfortable amount of influence over the nation's internal politics.

In the early stages of the New Middle Ages, the CIA proved important in managing the nation's decline, keeping a close eye upon and assassinating dissident lords. However, rivalry with the FBI would eventually prove the organization's downfall when they were outmaneuvered in court by the Bureau and the Church. Though the organization would not be totally destroyed, it would be forced into a position of relative irrelevance over the next few centuries.

The organization's fortunes would turn after the ascension of John Kennedy III, however. Where the FBI had taken most of its members from the Midatlantic, the CIA was disproportionately composed of New England Yankees, the second sons of coastal nobles and burghers as well as priests who attended the hallowed seminaries of the Ivy League. The CIA had vested interests in the rise of New English power both in the secular and religious institutions of American power - and, according to the FBI, ties to the semi-legendary Esoteric Order of Dagon. Regardless, there can be little doubt that the CIA was among the many organizations that had a vested interest in the downfall of the Bureaumen. The organization inherited much of the wealth and properties of the Bureau and once again found itself as one of the most important institutions of American government.

Where the FBI was largely concerned with the emergence of heresy within the faith and assertion of American control overland, the CIA largely concerns itself with infidels and overseas control, allying the organization more closely with the Blues. At times, its focus on infidelity lead to the Agency having a lot of overlapping investigations with the FBI, such as the hunt or crypto-Catholics in the wake of the Jersey Wars, heightening the inter-service rivalry.

The CIA has two main theaters of operation: the North Atlantic and the Carribbean. In the North Atlantic, the Agency is largely concerned with checking the Quebecois and the potential re-appearance of Catholicism in once deeply Catholic New England. In the Carribbean, the CIA casts its watchful eye towards the Voodoo court of Louisiana, and the growth of that religion in addition to the many religions of the Indies themselves. The CIA is far more active in the Carribbean than it is in the North Atlantic, driven by the far more lucrative interests of the American merchant clans to control the lucrative South American trade.

Legend has it, however, that the CIA is far more active then is publicly admitted. It is said that the CIA has inherited many roles of the FBI, and is constantly watching and assassinating lords that would stand in the way of the rise of the Second Empire of Liberty, the New Jerusalem. However, the CIA is unlikely to make the same mistakes as the FBI - it keeps a far more active eye on the lords of America itself, carefully playing a game of chess to ensure that the powers that be never move against it.

There are, of course, the stranger stories of the CIA. That they have infiltrated not only the courts of the East, but that they have employed generations of brain-washed sleeper agents in the far West who are ready to betray their emperors the moment the Americans role in. It is also whispered that the Agency plays some role in investigating apparent "miracles", both for the beatification of Patriot-Saints, and more diabolical phenomenon - cryptids and the strange lights in the sky that certain denizens of the kingdoms beyond the plains are said to worship.

 

[Richard Drummond]

I like what you have done with the CIA. Personally, my headcanon has them adopting some of the more unfavourable rituals from the Caribbean groups such as human sacrifice.

 

[Born in the USSA]

The CIA

In the late stages of American world-hegemony, the number of so-called "Alphabet Soup" agencies proliferated. As the New Medieval Age dawned, the use for various agencies, bureaus and departments waxed and waned with time, some of them existing only theoretically. Many office titles being passed down from generation to generation by minor nobility, only for some monk to dust off the old records and discover that there was some use to one of the countless lost organizations in the current political moment. One such organization of waxing and waning influence was the CIA.

Formerly, the CIA was perhaps the most important of the many organizations that made up the executive branch of the US government. It was the strong arm of the American empire overseas when outright military force proved too gauche, and at home it could exercise an uncomfortable amount of influence over the nation's internal politics.

In the early stages of the New Middle Ages, the CIA proved important in managing the nation's decline, keeping a close eye upon and assassinating dissident lords. However, rivalry with the FBI would eventually prove the organization's downfall when they were outmaneuvered in court by the Bureau and the Church. Though the organization would not be totally destroyed, it would be forced into a position of relative irrelevance over the next few centuries.

The organization's fortunes would turn after the ascension of John Kennedy III, however. Where the FBI had taken most of its members from the Midatlantic, the CIA was disproportionately composed of New England Yankees, the second sons of coastal nobles and burghers as well as priests who attended the hallowed seminaries of the Ivy League. The CIA had vested interests in the rise of New English power both in the secular and religious institutions of American power - and, according to the FBI, ties to the semi-legendary Esoteric Order of Dagon. Regardless, there can be little doubt that the CIA was among the many organizations that had a vested interest in the downfall of the Bureaumen. The organization inherited much of the wealth and properties of the Bureau and once again found itself as one of the most important institutions of American government.

Where the FBI was largely concerned with the emergence of heresy within the faith and assertion of American control overland, the CIA largely concerns itself with infidels and overseas control, allying the organization more closely with the Blues. At times, its focus on infidelity lead to the Agency having a lot of overlapping investigations with the FBI, such as the hunt or crypto-Catholics in the wake of the Jersey Wars, heightening the inter-service rivalry.

The CIA has two main theaters of operation: the North Atlantic and the Carribbean. In the North Atlantic, the Agency is largely concerned with checking the Quebecois and the potential re-appearance of Catholicism in once deeply Catholic New England. In the Carribbean, the CIA casts its watchful eye towards the Voodoo court of Louisiana, and the growth of that religion in addition to the many religions of the Indies themselves. The CIA is far more active in the Carribbean than it is in the North Atlantic, driven by the far more lucrative interests of the American merchant clans to control the lucrative South American trade.

Legend has it, however, that the CIA is far more active then is publicly admitted. It is said that the CIA has inherited many roles of the FBI, and is constantly watching and assassinating lords that would stand in the way of the rise of the Second Empire of Liberty, the New Jerusalem. However, the CIA is unlikely to make the same mistakes as the FBI - it keeps a far more active eye on the lords of America itself, carefully playing a game of chess to ensure that the powers that be never move against it.

There are, of course, the stranger stories of the CIA. That they have infiltrated not only the courts of the East, but that they have employed generations of brain-washed sleeper agents in the far West who are ready to betray their emperors the moment the Americans role in. It is also whispered that the Agency plays some role in investigating apparent "miracles", both for the beatification of Patriot-Saints, and more diabolical phenomenon - cryptids and the strange lights in the sky that certain denizens of the kingdoms beyond the plains are said to worship.

Love it!

 

[djf64360]

The Secret Service should be the personal guard of the President and food testers for poison, but be susceptible to forcibly rigging Presidential elections among the electors or over riding them, and assassinating ones that don't do what they want. This leads to the Appalachian Guard being used as Presidential bodyguards by more cunning Presidents, and the Appalachian Guard is a mix of the Swiss and Varangian Guards.

 

[Kerguelen]

The CIA

In the late stages of American world-hegemony, the number of so-called "Alphabet Soup" agencies proliferated. As the New Medieval Age dawned, the use for various agencies, bureaus and departments waxed and waned with time, some of them existing only theoretically. Many office titles being passed down from generation to generation by minor nobility, only for some monk to dust off the old records and discover that there was some use to one of the countless lost organizations in the current political moment. One such organization of waxing and waning influence was the CIA.

Formerly, the CIA was perhaps the most important of the many organizations that made up the executive branch of the US government. It was the strong arm of the American empire overseas when outright military force proved too gauche, and at home it could exercise an uncomfortable amount of influence over the nation's internal politics.

In the early stages of the New Middle Ages, the CIA proved important in managing the nation's decline, keeping a close eye upon and assassinating dissident lords. However, rivalry with the FBI would eventually prove the organization's downfall when they were outmaneuvered in court by the Bureau and the Church. Though the organization would not be totally destroyed, it would be forced into a position of relative irrelevance over the next few centuries.

The organization's fortunes would turn after the ascension of John Kennedy III, however. Where the FBI had taken most of its members from the Midatlantic, the CIA was disproportionately composed of New England Yankees, the second sons of coastal nobles and burghers as well as priests who attended the hallowed seminaries of the Ivy League. The CIA had vested interests in the rise of New English power both in the secular and religious institutions of American power - and, according to the FBI, ties to the semi-legendary Esoteric Order of Dagon. Regardless, there can be little doubt that the CIA was among the many organizations that had a vested interest in the downfall of the Bureaumen. The organization inherited much of the wealth and properties of the Bureau and once again found itself as one of the most important institutions of American government.

Where the FBI was largely concerned with the emergence of heresy within the faith and assertion of American control overland, the CIA largely concerns itself with infidels and overseas control, allying the organization more closely with the Blues. At times, its focus on infidelity lead to the Agency having a lot of overlapping investigations with the FBI, such as the hunt or crypto-Catholics in the wake of the Jersey Wars, heightening the inter-service rivalry.

The CIA has two main theaters of operation: the North Atlantic and the Carribbean. In the North Atlantic, the Agency is largely concerned with checking the Quebecois and the potential re-appearance of Catholicism in once deeply Catholic New England. In the Carribbean, the CIA casts its watchful eye towards the Voodoo court of Louisiana, and the growth of that religion in addition to the many religions of the Indies themselves. The CIA is far more active in the Carribbean than it is in the North Atlantic, driven by the far more lucrative interests of the American merchant clans to control the lucrative South American trade.

Legend has it, however, that the CIA is far more active then is publicly admitted. It is said that the CIA has inherited many roles of the FBI, and is constantly watching and assassinating lords that would stand in the way of the rise of the Second Empire of Liberty, the New Jerusalem. However, the CIA is unlikely to make the same mistakes as the FBI - it keeps a far more active eye on the lords of America itself, carefully playing a game of chess to ensure that the powers that be never move against it.

There are, of course, the stranger stories of the CIA. That they have infiltrated not only the courts of the East, but that they have employed generations of brain-washed sleeper agents in the far West who are ready to betray their emperors the moment the Americans role in. It is also whispered that the Agency plays some role in investigating apparent "miracles", both for the beatification of Patriot-Saints, and more diabolical phenomenon - cryptids and the strange lights in the sky that certain denizens of the kingdoms beyond the plains are said to worship.

Very nice, Flashman! Also, with the CIA's vested interest in the Caribbean, it would be interesting to see the agency would continue its feud with communist Cuba in the new Medival Era.

 

[Rob Bartlett]

It's very highly super unlikely Cuba is still Communist. I think the closest approximation to it (and it would very much be a lower case "c") would be found in the hill towns of the Northeast and, somewhat ironically, the prairie tribes. The greatest legacy Communism would leave is that its relative irreligiousity for Latin America might mean it's not Catholic like the mainland. I imagine the system of government is Secretarial, but it could be anything. Hell, if you insist on putting some kind of budding Caliphate in the Americas, this might be the best bet. But it is probably a rival of the USA, or at least whoever holds the keys to the Kingdom is.

As for getting franchise in the USA, I think it probably comes from some kind of period of civil, or better yet, military service.

 

[Flashman]

The Noble Brothers of the Ark

During the crusades against the Evangelists, there was a great fear in both Georgia and Baltimore that the retreating heretics would destroy the relics and pilgrimage sites of America's Patriot-Saints during as they retreated, both as an expression of their reverence for the 7th commandment, and as a final display of disobedience to what they considered the diabolical Non-Denominational Church. As such, several knightly orders emerged in this time to protect the great monuments of the Old World. One of these were the Noble Brothers of the Ark.

The Noble Brothers were formed largely by New English Yankees from Boston and environs. They did so in response to tales of the Great Ark of Kentucky, a massive construction that was said to have been the original ark of Noah. With funding from New English merchants, the Brothers joined Ohioan lancers in their conquest of the hill tribes of Kentucky. As recompense for their service, the Commander of the Brothers were rewarded by the Chief Justice and the then-Governor of Ohio with the County of Grant, which he would rule from his seat in Williamstown.

The Brothers would go on to be moderately successful for the next few centuries. They managed the pilgrimage to the Ark, mostly coming out of Cincinatti but still attracting visitors from across the nation. A grand menagerie was exhibited inside, consisting of a few typical creatures of bucholic America, but also several more exotic specimens imported from the mysterious Carribbean. They also controlled a few more modest pilgrimage sites in Kentucky outside of Grant County, and even held a small trading concession in northern Massachusetts, which would be named Arkham. They sent troops to participate in the major crusades of the Non-Denominational world, and continued to remain watchful for the emergence of American Evangelism.

However, as the threat of American Evangelism faded, the Brothers of the Ark went native as it were. Pulled by the Non-Denominational Church away from explicit Buckeye control, the Brothers increasingly saw themselves as Kentuckians, and struggled against the excises imposed upon them by the now-President of Ohio. While the Brothers never explicitly rebelled against their lord, they certainly lent whispered words of support to the restless fiefs of the Kentuckian hillside.

In the 2800s, Cincinatti moved against the Brothers as a part of its ongoing efforts to consolidate its control over Kentucky. Despite objections from the Church, the President claimed that the Brothers had fallen under the sway of Evangelism, New Israelism, Mormon eschatology, and "Yankee Esotericism." Though the President failed in his efforts to have the Commander of the Brothers burned at the stake, he was able to banish the brothers from Ohio.

The Brothers moved their headquarters to Arkansas for a time, serving in the ongoing re-construction of the city. It was the Brothers who constructed the great marble spires in the wharfs of St. Louis - true, it was a poor replacement for the lost Gateway to the West, but they are handsome enough monuments themselves. According to the enemies of the Brothers, the towers are engraved with their strange symbolism. Indeed, the Brothers proved fairly friendly to the Apostles of Nauvoo, bolstering the claims of the Buckeye Crown.

The Brothers of the Ark would go on to join as a fairly sizable contingent of the crusading force that would take back Arkansas, both due to its proximity to their new headquarters and some obscure link to the groups esoteric beliefs.

Unfortunately, the Brothers of the Ark would not rise to become the primary power of Arkansas, the Sons of the South ensuring that their compatriots in the Brothers of Little Rock would take over. Many Noble Brothers would break ranks and join the Brothers of Little Rock outright, weakening the order. The Commander would be rewarded with only a few pitiful townships for his efforts. It is therefore no surprise that the Brothers are one of the many groups that are quite keen on a new crusade, to finally take the fight away from the agricultural lands and into the Great American Desert to do battle with the Israelite.

Arkish Esotericism

The claims of the Buckeye Crown against the Brothers are confusing and at time contradictory. They are roughly as follows;

The Brothers are crypto-Mormons, crypto-New Israelites, and crypto-Esotericists. They (heretically) believe that a second deluge will come before the New Jerusalem can be built, and that they will use the remnants of Noah's Ark to save mankind and build the new world themselves. Further (and somewhat more truthfully), they compare their belief that the ark of Grant County is the true ark rather then a reverent reproduction to the Mormon belief that the Garden of Eden is to be found in Mississippi, and that this is where the 2nd Coming will occur. They push for war with the West on two accounts - one, to link up with their allies in Deseret, and two to draw the ire of the New Israelites to such an extent that Armageddon will occur, allowing the Deluge to come. Finally, and most scandalously, the Brothers believe that the shadowy (and likely fictional) tenants of New English Esotericism are compatible with the Bible.

Of course, the Brothers of the Ark feverishly deny all of this. They profess to be nothing but good American Christians, and the Supreme Court is inclined to agree with them. However, none can deny that they are a bit queer - the symbolism they use in their art is indeed strange, and they do have the rather eccentric habit of building both their riverboats in St. Louis and their trading ships in Arkham on the basis of Noah's Ark, the result of which is an unfortunately high incidence of sinking as it is a rather dreadful design for a boat. They are indeed friendly with the Apostles of Nauvoo, though this would likely not hold if the Supreme Court finally moved against the Mormons (which has likely not happened due to economic concerns).

One strange story that pre-dated the Ohioan accusations was recorded by the venerable Carl of Frankfort. Frakfort, a Churchman and celebrated scribe, claimed to have had a conversation with the Commander of the Noble Brothers. In the course of this conversation (during which the Commander was said to have been quite drunk on Michigander wine), the Commander told Carl of a strange ruin in the Furthest West. A mountain called Yucca, buried in which are the secrets of the Old World. When the secrets are decoded and the seals broken, Armageddon will be unleashed. Perhaps this secret is why the Brothers are so eager to drive westward.

 

[djf64360]

The Heresy of Stone

While the Non-Denominational Church sees American Evangelism as a threat and rival in its periodic resurgences in the South, there was a time in the Regression when the two faiths had a common enemy that was destroyed.

In the hazy period of the Regression, when the old Union broke down, the lost secrets of the fuels and electrical essences broke down and many people common and high were slain, the desperate often turned to cults of a more apocalyptic nature than mere evangelism or staid state sponsored hollow religious ritual. It is said a troupe of desperate and starving people marched from the city of Atlanta being burned and sacked during one of the Regression's wars or riots. Thirsty and hungry they came upon an isolated place in Elbert County where a terrifying stone monument loomed, giving them new commandments to survive the Regression.

These were the Georgia Guidestones. They had strange new commandments such as

1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
2. Guide reproduction wisely — improving fitness and diversity.
3. Unite humanity with a living new language.
4. Rule passion — faith — tradition — and all things with tempered reason.
5. Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
6. Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
7. Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
8. Balance personal rights with social duties.
9. Prize truth — beauty — love — seeking harmony with the infinite.
10. Be not a cancer on the Earth — Leave room for nature — Leave room for nature.

These people found most of the area abandoned due to famine and set up a new religious community to survive the Regression. They would go and cull villages of people to reduce humanity's population, resulting in the Slaughter of Clemson. They would tear down and plow towns after turning the surviving inhabitants out to "leave room for nature". Within a few years, the local preachers among the Evangelicals would raise militias to attack their stronghold in Elberton in three sieges, before an army sent by George Washington II trying to reconquer the region would come upon their stalemate and burn the Stone Worshipper's commune in Elberton to the ground and an Evangelist mob knocked the mysterious monument down and smashed it up to make buildings of their granite.

 

[djf64360]

Ghosts and other Monsters of Folklore

The Non-Denominational Church will root out heresies that are threats to its power, but it cannot stamp out local lore and superstition everywhere. Some old stories persist and some new have been thrown up by the new medieval age. Here are some examples.

The Bonus Army

In times of unrest in Washington, it is said a terrible apparition crosses the sky, the Bonus Army. These are the ghosts of ancient soldiers who mutinied against a President and were massacred by iron clad carriages by the general MacArthur. It is said those who are out in the Mall at night in times of revolt or intrigue in the capitol might get swept into their spectral ranks.

Ghost Trains

Though time and the fall of civilization obscured them, the remains of railroad tracks and ties still crisscross the land. This has given rise to legends among the peasantry of many lands. It is said in some places where old railroad tracks are most visible and least decayed or overgrown that ghostly trains can be seen at night, though no train has existed for centuries. The passage of one is said to mark the death of the ancient President Lincoln.

An overgrown and rusted locomotive found in the back country and feared by the local population as a haunted place

The Doomed Astralnaughts

Sometimes, peasants see unnatural lights cross the sky and burn up and fall to the Earth. In actuality these are ancient satellites in decaying orbits burning up on re-entry. But lacking the knowledge to fully understand this, people of Medieval America believe these to be ghostly apparitions of ancient flying craft that had doomed flights. The Challenger, Apollo the Thirteenth and Columbia are said to be the ghosts reliving their deaths in the sky above when this phenomena is witnessed.

 

[pattontank12]

Wonder if the Quechua people saw a resurgence after the Regression. It could be interesting to see a neo Andean civilization in South America that while Catholic with metal working and horses does have a very Andean culture with the grass rope bridges.

 

[Petike]

Do firearms exist in Medieval America ?

 

[tehskyman]

Do firearms exist in Medieval America ?

no