Medieval America Mark III

[Flashman]

Here There Be Monsters: The Dogman

It is a cold, snowy night in the woods of Minnesota. A convoy of Truckers have encamped at an old truck stop. In the distance the Mall of America looms, the greatest fort and bazaar this side of the Mississippi, said to be the point that marks the end of the feudal core and the beginning of the wild plains. When the Cowboy hordes come calling, or the Kanadi raiders descend from their malls, it is the first line of defense for Wisconsin.

Normally, truck stops like this would be full of dozens of convoys. Not now: in the winter season, no trucker would want to be caught dead around the Great Lakes. All fur trapping and trading comes to a halt as people buckle down to survive the harsh season. Most convoys try to get to more southerly climes by this time of year, but this clan has been trapped in the wilds of Minnesota.

They huddle around their bonfire, miserably. In the distance, they hear the howls of a pack of wolves. They huddle in a little bit closer. One man, an older Trucker, chimes in with the tale of the Dogman.

The Dogman has been seen roaming from the north of Michigan to the fabled lands of Laska, but nowhere more then in the region in and around Lake Superior. The creature is said to walk on its hind legs, like a man, and yet it has the body, the face, the teeth of a dog. They are just as cunning as any man, and they lead packs of wild wolves.

Sources vary as to where the Dogman comes from. Some tales say that when civilization collapsed, the millions of domestic dogs that escaped bred with wild packs of coyotes and grey wolves, and what resulted was this horrific hybrid abomination. Others claim that this beast is one in the same as the werewolf of legend. There are those that blame "nuclear waste", whatever that is.

Our Truckers tells a different tale. He tells his convoy that long ago, this land was inhabited by the Indian, a primordial race that today survives only in the west. When the white man came, they wiped them out, This much anyone knows. He speaks of one white man, a soldier named Custer, who was particularly brutal in his conduct, massacring entire convoys of natives and feeding still breathing men, women and children to his packs of rabid dogs. One day, Custer was bested not too far from where this tale was told today. As he was dying, a shaman of the Indians cursed him to wander the earth as a Skinwalker in the form of a half dog, half man. The miserable Custer is still trapped in this body, and he leads his pack of rabid dogs to kill the white man, as punishment for their transgression.

A wolf cries in the distance.

 

[Flashman]

The History of Kuluradu

It could be said that for a land that is generally held to be among the noblest and most learned kingdoms of Medieval America has a shameful past. It arose from a revolt in the Florence Supermax Prison launcehd by the Islamic fundamentalists imprisoned there fairly early on in the regression. Operating the supermax as a fort, they used it to launch attacks on the eight other prisons of Fremont County, liberating sympathetic Nation of Islam members imprisoned add using the prisons as forts. From there, the extremists conquered Florence, Colorado, and then Canon City. A federal government with bigger fish to fry let them go about their business. Converts were made among the dhimmi, and within a few decades the first of the Great Jihads were launched.

The first city to fall to the Great Jihad was the city of Colorado Springs, followed by Westcliffe, Pueblo and Park County. The Second Great Jihad, spurred by the arrival fo Muslim refugee from across the United States and Canada, would see the conquest of the vast San Luis Valley, and the crowning of the first Caliph of Kuluradu in the newly renamed Colorado Springs, now Osamabad. With the arrival of more and more refugees (most notably those that fled persecutions in Dearborn, Michigan) and more and more converts among the local populace, the Calpihate would grow to encompass the "Three Parks" (North, South and the Colrado headwaters in between) and the valleys of Gunnison, Uncompahgre, Grand and Roaring Forks. The Caliphate even held the ruins of Denver for a time. Walis were installed, and the Caliphate got down to business.

It was hoped that by controlling the headwaters of the Arkansas, the Rio Grande, the Colorado, and the North and South Plattes (collectively known as Al-Uyun- the Springs) the Caliphate could use them for rapid expansion across the continent. Indeed, the Caliphate had many early successes, beating back the forces of the New Mexicans and the Desereti when they came knocking.

The Caliphate would begin to run into trouble with the formation of the Cowboy hordes, especially groups like the Danvurs. Much of their territory in the low lands of Colorado were lost to the horsemen, with Osamabad and the Flwrnsa Vallery only being saved by the erection of a series of megalithic fortifications.

The Caliphate would collapse with the New Agers seizure of the San Luis Valley, losing one of its most important agricultural bases. Most of the Walis declared themselves independent Emirs, leaving the Caliph in control only of Osamabad and Flwrnsa.

 

[tehskyman]

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald: A Great Lakes Sailor's Ballad

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they called 'gitche gumee'
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy
With a load of iron ore seventy seven tons more
Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty
That good ship and crew was a bone to be chewed
When the gales of November came early

The ship was the pride of the Michigan side
Coming back from some mill in Duluth
As the lake freighters go, it was bigger than most
With a crew and good captain well seasoned
Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms
When they left fully loaded for Cleveland
And later that night when the ship's bell rang
Could it be the north wind they'd been feelin'?

The wind in the ropes made a tattle-tale sound
And a wave broke over the railing
And every man knew, as the captain did too,
T'was the witch of November come stealin'
The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
When the gales of November came slashin'
When afternoon came it was freezin' rain
In the face of a devil's storm west wind

When suppertime came, the old cook came on deck sayin'
Fellas, it's too rough to feed ya
Late in the evenin a main hatchway caved in, he said
Fellas, it's been good t'know ya
The captain knew then he had water comin' in
And the good ship and crew was in peril
And later that night when his lights went outta sight
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Does any one know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours?
They might have split up or they might have capsized
They may have broke deep and took water
And all that remains is the faces and the names
Of the wives and the sons and the daughters
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
With the gales of November remembered

In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed,
In the maritime sailors' cathedral
The church bell chimed till it rang twenty-nine times
For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call 'gitche gumee'
Superior, they said, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early

Does any one know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours?
When the winds of the north come knocking your door
you better pray fast and pray clearly
For every man knows when the winds start to blow
You had better batten the hatches.
The storms of autumn, will send you to the bottom
like the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Does any one know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours?
'Neath the wind and waves are many mariners' graves
Where lost souls are buried forever
And all that remains are the faces and the names
Of the wives and the sons and the daughters
To those brave men who are gone we sing this mournful song
But in our hearts we shall always remember

Spoiler

I altered some lyrics to fit the realities of a medieval ship.

 

[tehskyman]

Histories of the Old State of Illinois: The Conquest of Iowa

At the beginning of new medieval ages, there were no Presidents outside of Washington and chaos ruled the land in his stead. Illinois at this point consisted only of the northern half of the state, in an arc centered around Chicago, where the governor retreated to after a Missourian army burned Springfield down. It was restricted to this area for several centuries until a cowboy family, turned warlords managed to usurp the governorship from the ruling Marshall family. This new family, the Duponts, used Chicago as a base to push Illinois back outwards. Adopting their cowboy heritage with a lancer tradition, the Dupont armies were a uniquely pure cavalry; horse archers and lancers, where men would be trained to use both. Illinoisan armies hit and ran their enemies, using lancers to smash peasant levies and peppering them with arrows from horseback when the enemy cavalry and heavy infantry arrived. With these tactics, Peter Dupont I was able to conquer all the way to the Mississippi and rule all of Illinois from Chicago.

It would be his great-grandson Bradley II who crossed the Mississippi at Rock Island in the spring of 2624, smashing cowboys all the way to Omaha and establishing Illinoisan control from the Missouri to the Wabash. With victories over smaller armies at Cedar Rapids, Waterloo and Marshallton, Bradley turned west to face a combined army of the remaining Iowa cowboys and their allies from Kansas and Nebraska. It was at Des Moines where Bradley rolled the dice and sealed his legacy. During the industrial era, Des Moines sprawled around an area centered on the merger of the Raccoon and Des Moines rivers. In 2624, it was reduced to a small walled city, centered around the old capitol on the east bank of the Des Moines. When Bradley arrived at Des Moines, all the cowboys had already gathered. Camped separately to reduce tensions between the groups the three armies were split by the rivers. The Kansans were camped between the Des Moines and Raccon, the Nebraskans south of the rivers and the Iowans east of the Des Moines, just outside of the city. Bradley split up his army into 2 parts. Half would cross the Des Moines east of their current location and attack the Kansans from the south. The other half would ride north , cross the river there and attack the Nebraskans. At dawn, he struck. The Iowan army awoke to the sounds of burning wagons and screaming men as Illinoisan Lancers ran through the cowboy encampments and their archers took out those who managed to escape. Helpless, the Iowans watched as their anti-Illinoisan coalition vanished before their eyes. An attempt to cross the rain swollen Des Moines and reinforce their allies failed as man and horse were washed away or shot full of arrows. After the battle, the Illinoisans would cross the river once more. The Iowans confronted them at the ford but rains had rendered their bowstrings limp and useless and the Illinoisans dispatched them easily.

Bradley then rode into Des Moines and captured the aging governor of Iowa Colin Bertrand and his last descendant Jimmy Bertrand. Placing the Hawkeye Crown upon Colin's head, he beheaded Colin and then promised Jimmy his life in exchange for the governorship of Iowa. Jimmy agreed and true to his word, Bradley spared his life. Jimmy would spend the remainder of his days as a monk, hidden away in a monastery just outside of Chicago where he was no threat to the Duponts.

Bradley would spend the next 10 years of his life raiding and defending against other cowboys who sought to rebuild the State of Iowa. Sick and tired of constantly riding out to smash another cowboy horde he then began the work on the Big Wall of Iowa and the Missouri defenses using captured cowboys and the prisoners of other campaigns against Ohio and Michigan as slave labor to build the 400km of rammed earth wall and watch tower system between the Missouri and Mississippi from Sioux City to La Crosse. He wouldn't get to see the wall finished dying of a seized heart just 8 years after construction began. Instead Bradley's son Henry "the Cruel" DuPont would accomplish the monumental task by enslaving tens of thousands to build the wall which stands today as a testament to the power that Illinois once wielded.

 

[Flashman]

The Pacific Ideal: Government in the Northwest

The Republic is the dominant form of government across much of the Pacific-Northwest. Unlike the rest of the continent where violence and scarcity have allowed warlords to rise to power, the Pacific Northwest was secure and lush enough to allow many of the democratic traditions of Old America to not only endure but thrive. Liberty and democracy are so strongly valued by the Northwesterners that most of the city-states declared independence fairly early in the Regression, with "Liberty Flags" of pre-Regressive social movements being flown high to celebrate their newfound sovereignty. Though some despots managed to arise, most were overthrown during the mass conversions to Cascadian Buddhism. Ever since, nearly every city-state in Cascadia has been a republic of one shade and another.

"Liberty Flags" are a Cascadian icon, incorporated into flags and symbology to this day.

The typical Cascadian republic will at a minimum possess a Senate, and some sort of Mayor. Senators are usually drawn from the wealthiest and most influential citizens of a city. Mayors are of varying power, ranging from near despots to figureheads who do little beyond cutting ribbons. Many republics also possess a lower house of some sort, referred to as the "City Council" or "Congress". Generally, this house is meant to represent the citizenry as a whole and will either consist of the citizenry as a whole voting as a vast rabble, or as a "sample" of the citizenry selected by allotment.

The Cascadian committment to "democracy" is looked upon with curiosity by most of the West Coast. While all states pay lip service to notions of democracy and a popular mandate (Most rulers bear titles inherited from pre-Regressive democratic institutions, with California even terming itself a "republic), these notions have become as abstracted as concepts of divine right. Most of the aristocrats and philosophers of Medieval America see democracy as the God that failed, most attributing the fall of the old United States to the rabble. Californians tend to emphasize the failures of Cascadian democracy (and make no mistake, they are many), and wait for the day will it will collapse into such anarchy that they and the Columbians inherit the ashes. Some of the more optimistic philosophers, however, hope that the "Pacific Ideal" will prove resilient, and serve as the kernel from which democracy is restored to the nation.

While a full examination of the governments of the Northwest would be impossible thanks to their number, below is a brief survey of the governmental styles of the "Big 3: that is Portland, Vancouver and Seattle.


The Serene Republic of Portland

The Serene Republic of Portland has perhaps the least democratic system of the Big 3. Incredibly byzantine in its structures and provisions with more laws and loopholes then any common citizen is capable of understanding. Without delving into all of the nitty gritty, here's the basics:

Theoretically, at the very bottom sits the Citizen's Council, the assembly of all citizens of the Republic. Once the primary governing body and the electors of the mayor, the Citizen's Council was robbed of more and more power until the point in the modern day where it can only meet when called for by the Mayor to temporarily replace the City Council. The City Council consists of the noble families of Portland, who have purchased their hereditary right to sit on the council. Families strapped for cash are free to sell their seat to another noble family. The City Council is the theoretical source of all governmental power, seating some 2000 members.

At the same level at the City Council is the secretive "Select Committee", a council of 13 members elected by the City Council. The members, elected from within the City Council to 2 year terms, are supposed to be the most trusted and experienced in the Republic. First created during the war with California, it is officially supposed to deal with matters of state and war deemed either too sensitive for Council eyes or too important to allow dithering. However, do to the political deadlock in the City Council, more and more trivial matters are being sent to the Committee.

The upper house of the Republic is the Senate, composed of 60 men selected by the Council. They deliberate on more important manners, and decide upon the bills passed up to them by the City Council.
Finally, the executive body, consisting of the Mayor and his Executive Cabinet, which must sign off on his decisions. The power of the mayor waxes and wanes with time. Currently, their is a very powerful Mayor in office.

The Peasant's Republic of Vancouver

Vancouver was once the most radical of the major Northwestern republics. It was a peasant republic, with no formal leaders, flying the sickle and hoe on their liberty flags. All actions were intended to serve the people, and all decisions were thrown to the mob. Eventually, however, the realities of being a major state made themselves manifest, and this system was co-opted by the merchants and the guilds to serve their interests, eventually transforming the state into a pure plutocracy. Some time following the defeat of the Columbians and the disbandment of the Jedi Orders, the other holy orders of the Northwest were faced with a choice: accept the orderless Jedi into their ranks, or shut their doors to them. Most orders, resentful towards the inordinate control the Jedi wielded under the Columbians, forced them out, even pushing for the cities to force them into outlawry or even executing them outright.

The orders of Vancouver welcomed the Jedi of the land with open arms, seeing them as a bulwark against the mercenaries of the guilds. Newly militant and looking to solidify their control, the Buddhist orders launched a new revolution, harking back to the days of the Peasant's Republic, utilizing populist rhetoric to gain wide-spread support. After guillotining the former city elders, the religious orders did not re-instate the Peasant Republic as it had once been, rather creating on oligarchic council of the religious orders' representatives who theoretically use their wisdom to look after the spiritual and material health of the Peasantry. Chief among the religious orders are Brothers of the Whitecap. Theoretically, the Premier-Mayor is the executive of the city. He must be a man of "great piety", meaning pliable to the interests of the Brothers.

The Enlightened Republic of Seattle

While republics are certainly valued across the Northwest, and the ideal of "democracy" is at least payed lip service too, nowhere is what Californians term the "Pacific Ideal" more prominent than in the Enlightened Republic of Seattle. Like Portland (and somewhat unlike Vancouver which is almost totally dominated by local Buddhist monks, albeit unofficially), a city council runs the affairs of the city. Unlike Portland, however, that has its council dominated by merchants, the mercantile guilds here are just one set of contender among many- indeed, rather than being a true city council consisting of oligarchs and pseudo-Democratic representatives, the Enlightened Republic allows all of its citizens to sit in on the proceedings of the council and vote upon decisions. Every man and woman who has proved their loyalty to the republic has the right to determine its course.

It is by no means a perfect system. There is, for one, the fact that in order to qualify as a "citizen" in Seattle, you must be a freeman, one who owns land or has served in the militia. This has tended to limit suffrage to the rich and to men in practice, though it is open to all in theory. But even with these qualifiers reducing the total number of people on the council, it is still hopelessly unweildly: with 30,000 members at any given time, it's nearly impossible to get anything done, and proceedings tend to be dominated by demagogic figures who can sway the crowd. Influential groups include religious bodies like the Order of Cobain or the Order of Starbuck, or manufacturing guilds like the Bowing Company.

 

[tehskyman]

The Black Hill Stampede

In all cultures across the continent, midsummer is a time for celebration and festivities. Most sedentary communities might have a small feast for local residents. Larger towns and cities might host tournaments or fairs. But the dry and sparsely populated Great Plains have not a single town or city. However, every midsummer, a town springs up at the base of the Black Hils as cowboys from across the continent gather in a huge stampedes with thousands of people gathered to compete in cowboy sports like rodeo, horse archery, polo and racing.

The idea of a stampede dates to pre-regression era North America and was brought into the neo-medieval age by Albertan tribes who remembered their own tradition of the Calgary Stampede. However, the idea of a big get together between tribes who set aside their differences for a few weeks failed to gain traction with many cowboys and so Albertan tribes were forced to practice their tradition by themselves, gathering each summer solstice, where the Elbow meets the Bow river for their very own stampede.

However when the Sifton tribe began their genocide across the Northern Plains, many Albertan refugees fled south to the Black Hills where they would be safe and could possibly find work as ranchhands with other tribes. They brought their traditions along with them and soon, every year a small stampede would bloom just outside the Black hills about a half days ride from the holy Mt Rushmore and the Face of Crazy Horse. Year after year the stampede would attract more and more participants. Young cowboys would schedule their pilgrimages to the Black Hills to coincide with the stampede and eventually cowboys from Manitoba to Kansas would set aside their differences each year and travel to the Black Hills for a week of rodeos, archery competition and proving their worth to young women and more importantly their potential father-in-laws. However, most cowboys outside of Wyoming, Dakota and Nebraska go but at most two or three times in their lives. The journey and time is simply too great a burden for most tribes to bear year after year.

Though wars would often interfere with the Black Hill Stampede and occasionally halt it for years at a time, every time the Stampede would bloom again, like the first pasque after winter. The mixing of cowboys from North to South has helped contribute to the remarkable levels of homogeneity within the greater Cowboy culture.

Similar events in what were once Dallas, Wichita and Calgary happen as well catering to those who cannot make the often month long journey to the Black Hills yet still want to participate.

 

[tehskyman]

The Great Church of the East: The Triple Crown

As the USA regressed into ignorance, the importance of sports in American life has diminished. Most peasants farmers have neither the spare time or excess calories to justify such a thing. Only the wealthy can really justify sports, and even then they are usually related to their professions. Warlords and their knights compete in melees and jousts, replicating the chaos of the battlefield, both on foot and mounted. Sailors might race their boats across New York Bay, cowboys participate in rodeos to demonstrate their skills and perhaps most unusually, priests and monks race horses.

The Non-Denominational Church and the many components of the US bureaucracy it coopted arose in a time where trans-continental communication, although in a state of decline and soon to fade away, was still a concept present in peoples minds. And so in the final days before the Regression was complete, the Church took over the US postal service as a way of trying to maintain communications across the continent and keep the nation bound together. They were mostly unsuccessful, as even the most accomplished riders would take weeks to reach the Mississippi. However in the areas where they were strongest, the Church maintains a semblance of a communication network using horses and riders to spread messages and edicts outwards from DC. To maintain this network the Church must train and arm messengers as well as breed horses, emphasis on the breeding of horses. This breeding of horses naturally leads to a question of who breeds the best horses and so every other year, members of the clergy and ordinary riders race in 3 races across the continent to discover the best riders and the best horses on the continent.

The first race, like it has always been is the Kentucky Derby in Louisville. Even now, 900 years past, the race is still run in Churchill Downs, now simply called Church Hill, on the First Saturday of May. However, not every aspect of the Triple Crown has remained unchanged.

The Preakness Stakes no longer occur outside of Baltimore, instead occurring just outside of Washinton DC and due to the logistical challenges of trying to cross the Appalachians in only 3 weeks, has been pushed back nearly a month, now occurring the closest Saturday to Midsummer, usually 6-7 weeks after the Kentucky Derby.

The Belmont Stakes continue to happen just outside of New York except now, just outside of New York is Canal Street and happens 2 weeks after the Preakness Stakes which is usually the Saturday after Independence Day.

All three races have tournaments and surrounding festivities that have grown to overshadow the races themselves. In Kentucky, the race corresponds with the Louisville May Day festival and tournament, which attracts peasants from miles around and Knights from hundreds of miles around. The Belmont Stakes happen alongside New York's independence Day celebrations, either kicking off or concluding the Independence Day feast and festival days. But most importantly the Preakness Stakes in Washington DC happen alongside a critical component of the Non-Denominational Church, it's biannual National Congress. The National Congress itself begins on the day of the Preakness Stakes and ends about a month after. Generally by this time, competitors in the Belmont Stakes have returned to DC.

Although diminished by the festivities of the New Medieval Era that have grown up around them, the three races of the triple crown remain attractions in their own right, drawing monks, peasants, merchants and feudal lords alike. They have become an important part of the Church, tying together several traditions and anchoring many others.

 

[Flashman]

The Mushmush

The term "Mushmush" is an exonym, used by the people of the Feudal Core as a "wastebasket taxon" to refer to the peoples who dwell in the far north beyond the Great Lakes and Quebec, termed "Mushmush" out of the (incorrect) belief that they drive their dogsleds forward by incessantly chanting "Mush! Mush!". The first recorded use of the term was by the theologian Harold of Atlanta in an influential treatise on the legality of the expansion of the Nondenominational Church into Canada. As the treatise was widely circulated, so was the term, and it caught on like wildfire. Today, the term is still applied loosely to refer to the northern barbarians, and the products they trade to the south. Universally, their lives center around the winter, preparing for it and surviving it.


The Canucks

The Canucks are a people who dwell along the northernmost shores of the Great Lakes, making their lives in the fjords and islands of that harsh country. Agriculture has devolved into horticulture, albeit with some rather advanced techniques employed to maximize microclimates and get the most out of the stony soil. For the most part, they are hunters and fishermen and above all fur trappers, both catching their own and trading with the more northerly peoples to finally sell their furs to the trade stations of the Mackinaw League, foremost among them Sault Ste. Marie. Occasionally, they will turn to raiding, taking their longboats to set the cities of settled folk ablaze, but this has grown rarer since the war between Ohio and Illinois ended. They consider themselves Lakemen, and so do the other Lakelanders, albeit reluctantly. The greatest number of Canucks pledge fealty to the Governor of Wisconsin, but this is more theoretical than anything.

Their dialect has a surprising amunt of Finnish influence, due to their contact with the Finns of the Upper Peninsula, Thunder Bay and Sault Ste. Marie. They are almost entirely Christian, though Nondenom is rather rare: instead, they have been won over by some of the stubborn Lutheran burghers of Wisconsin. The Wendigo is largely unknown, and the Dogman is widely feared but largely considered a simple demon, and they will only engage in minor folk magic to combat their influence. Of far more concern to Nondenominational Priests are the quasi-religious terms they speak of the Lakes and storms in, and the idols they build to placate both. While Sault Ste. Marie is majority Canuck, it is ruled by Lakeish merchants who have made efforts to shift the culture for the sake of ease of governance. The only true city of the Canucks is Thunder Bay where a Mackinaw fort abandoned in the most recent league war has taken up by an ambitious chieftain, who has grander plans to stand against the League and unite the Canuck people.

The Kanadi

The Kanadi are the people who dwell upon the frigid Canadian prairie, though they no longer confine themselves beyond the 51st parallel. They are Cowboys like most other societies on the Great Plains, and their contact with their American brothers has led them to full-heartedly adopt the New Israelite faith. Like all other New Israelites, they consider themselves to be the Chosen People. Curiosly, they make the pilgrimage to Mt. Rushmore and revere the stone heads as their forefathers and as symbols of the covenant, but they consider themselves distinctly Canadian. Indeed, their banners are emblazened with the symbol of the Maple Leaf, and they even engage in some minor maple cultivation.

Unlike most other Cowboys, the extremely harsh winters on the Canadian prairies have prompted them to adopt a semi-settled lifestyle. Each clan is centered around a large hill-fort called a "Mall". These "Malls" can provide some measure of security in case of attack (though their wooden construction makes them vulnerable to fire), but primarily they are used for protection against the cold and the wolves that winter brings. All things are held in common within the Mall, with the entire clan sleeping under one roof. They engage in minor horticulture at the base of these hillforts. They are terrified of the Dogman, whom they consider to be Judas, and the Wendigo is considered Satan himself. While they wait to deliver up sacrifices to God for the pilgrimage to the Black Hills, they will sacrifice so-called "sin-eaters" (usually diseased kine or sheep) to ensure that they are not visited by the Wind Walker.

The Metis

The definition of what it is to be Metis has shifted in the New Medieval Age. Metis are not simply those of mixed descent, for most of the Kanadi have a non-insignificant amount of aboriginal blood in them, and indeed many of the Kanadi are descended from the current Metis nation. The Metis as a concept have shifted northwards of their historical place in the south of the prairie provinces, assimilated or displaced by the predations of New Israelite horsemen. They now inhabit where the horsemen dare not tread, in the deep and dark forest band of the north between the prairie and the frigid arctic expanse, extending their cultural reach into northern Ontario and Quebec. They have devolved to a lifestyle that is almost totally dependent upon hunting, gathering and fishing. They spend their days moving between summer and winter camps, never settling down in any one place, constantly fighting both between themselves and against foreign peoples at their margins.

By and large, the Metis speak a creole tongue that is in its greatest part French, but with clear influence from aboriginal languages and English, and many tribes speak predominantly aboriginal languages. They are in large part nominally Catholic, but the worship of the Saints has become totally animistic and, some Qebuecoise critics would say, polytheistic. The landscape is marked by cairns in shrines to these animistic saints that the tribes prostrate before during their voyages. Though the Dogman is not known in these reaches, the Wendigo certainly is, and like the Kanadi is regarded as Satan himself. Unlike the Kanadi, who attach to the Wendigo many of the imagistic trappings of a more convnetional Satan, the Wendigo of the Metis is a far more spectral figure, influenced almost wholly by the native conception. So thin that when he turns he becomes invisibe, so tall that when he passes the leaves of the tallest trees shudder, then suddenly still. As it is punishable upon pain of death to depict the Wendigo, it is uncertain precisely how it looks in detail, but shamen speak of taut, ashen skin, of the horns of deer and rams, of thing, bloody lips. In the winter, the Wendigo whispers to men in their lodgings, compelling to commit the abomination of cannibalism with glee and envy. Cannibalism is regarded as the greatest sin imaginable among the Kanadi, and once it has been committed the only cure is death followed by re-baptism. For this reason the Eucharist is punishable by death, and the Quebecoise church has ruled that there is no requirement for the Eucharist for the Metis or the voyageurs who go among them.

The Eskimos

The final of the Mushmush tribes, and perhaps the vaguest. In its strictest sense, it refers only to the coastal Inuit who make their living off the fat of the sea. More often it is a broad term for all peoples of the far north, many of them totally unrelated and of wildly differing traditions. Many consider the Laskans themselves a legendary race of Eskimos, who themselves apply it to practically all peoples beyond the Rockies, from the Athabaska to the Metis.

 

[Augustine Sedira]

I've been working on this map of Medieval America for my own personal project. Its influenced by Matthew White's work and the past three threads which I have been following for a year. I'm entirely sure on how much the map applies to this map but hey, what harm can be down by posting it? It is WIP though as of now.

 

[Flashman]

Chicagoland

Government: Mayorate
Head of State: Colonel of Iowa
Head of Government: Mayor, chosen by primogeniture from the sons of the ruling Daley family.
Population: 160,000 total, with 40,000 in Chicago and 120,000 in Chicagoland
Religion: Non-Denom
Totemic Symbol: Bushel of Wheat

Like many great cities, Chicago straddles the border between many different world. On the one hand, there are the Great Plains, home to those savage New Israelites, their caravans bearing the promise of the riches of the mysterious peoples of the Wild West. Then on the East you have the feudal core, a land of civilization, order and Christendom. To the north there's the Great Lakes, that singular sweetwater sea that the stern Lakemen call home.But just to the south there lay the great Mississippi river basin, the great artery of the America's that will take on to the exotic and eldritch metropolis of N'awleens, a land said to be ruled by women who do not die. Placed as it is, it is no surprise that Chicago has risen to be one of the great cities of Medieval America.

Indeed, its prosperity results from the interplay between the east and the west, and the north and the south. Latitudinally, it has grown rich from the beef trade. Cowboy clans from across the plains have been known to drive their herds into the great markets of Chicagoland. Some of these cows will be bought by more easterly merchants to be driven still further from their native sod but most will be bought by local merchant comppanies to be butchered in one of the dozens of great slaughterhouses of Chicago, the largest in the world. After this, the meat will be salted and shipped either across the Great Lakes or down south onto the Mississippi. The access to beef allows even the most destitute of serfs to enjoy the famous Chicago Frank.

On the longitudinal axis, Chicago has profited from being a great center of trade. Being located right on the Great Lakes, it was sure to benefit trade somewhat. More critically is its strategic location on the so-called "Chicago Portage", a two-mile gap that seperates the Great Lakes from the drainage system of the mighty Mississippi. In less civilized times, this gap had to be traversed by foot. Now, a series of canals and pund-locks, carefully maintained by the Non-Denominational Church's Army Corp of Engineers under the Order of the Elks (at the cost of some rathe significant "tithing" on Chicago's part), have allowed ships laden with cargo to sail from Buffalo to Louisiana. Duties and trade have made Chicago one of the richest cities on the Great Lakes.

It is therefore understandable as to how Chicago became the seat for the DuPont family to conquer the whole of Illinois and Iowa, forging one of the greatest American empires since the fall of Federal power beyond the eastern seaboard. It was equally a surprise, then, when Illinois (embroiled in its war with Ohio, perhaps the greatest war since the Regression) was invaded by the Baileys and the Dabneys who utterly wasted the once mighty empire, executing the DuPonts to a man and putting Chicago to the torch.

The Razing of Chicago

When the Baileys finally set about to putting down the Dabneys, they found some trouble as their fleet of Memphis river boats advanced. In their retreat, the Dabneys had destroyed the locks that linked Chicago to the Mississippi. The Baileys were forced to encamp outside the rebuilt walls of Chicago, while the Dabneys were able to resupply via the Michigan. However, it was not to last: it is no exaggeration to say that the Dabney Illinois Territory was among the most despised states in the whole of the East. They were New Israelite savages that had overcome one of the mightiest kingdoms of America, and continually threatened the Christian nations of the Midwest. The first link to break was Wisconsin, where Governor Oliver Schultz revoked his vassalge to the Dabneys and pledged fealty to the Baileys. The Wisconsite knights divided the Dabney forces, allowing them to be smashed piecemeal.

Then, when the Church declared its "War on New Israelism", the Dabney death-warrant was signed. The Mackinaw league, who had been forced into an uneasy cooperation with the Dabneys, convened in Buffalo and expelled the Dabneys, and then declared a League War, with moral and material support from lords across the nation. The armada was to be headed by the Daley family, who had long ago been exiled to Buffalo for corurption where they grew into a powerful merchant clan. Now, they sailed west to reclaim their birthright.

Along the way, they would stop in Milwaukee to resupply, and take on men. When the Armada came within sight of Chicago, the populace rose up against their New Israelite masters, tearing their men apart in the streets and burning their colossal Revival tents. The Mackinaw force captured the Dabneys and those that were not executed were exiled to the outposts of the far north. In a hasty ceremony, Noah Daley was crowned the Mayor of Chicago. Then, the gates of the city were opened, and the crown was handed over to George Bailey.

Though technically a part of Iowa, pledging allegiance, levies and taxes (at a considerably higher rate then Wisconsin) to the Hawkeye Colonel, Chicago enjoys a remarkable degree of independence. All import duties go to the Daleys, and they have near absolute political autonomy. The city controls the outlying metropolitan areas, and a pale surrounding the many canals that belong to the city, with its territory stretching from Joliet to the grim metropol of Gary. Though a far cry from its height under the DuPonts (its population and infrastructure having been ravaged by the Dabneys), the population is growing fast, helped in no small part by its excellent sewage system which has made it the cleanest city this side of the Rockies. The forecast is looking good for the Windy City, and the beloved Daleys show no sign of being unseated any time soon.

 

[Flashman]

The Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks

When the Regression began and industrial agriculture began to collapse, the impact was felt hard in the Great Plains where farmers found it harder and harder to get large yields out of the hard sod. Many turned to one of the countless "Revival" movements that popped up in Middle America, opposing the Federal government (who they saw as coastal elites)'s usurpation of Christianity, and called for a return to Old Testament values, and a rejection of decadence. These Revival movements would coalesce into the New Israelite faith, and many of the early adopters went ahorse, terrorizing those that did not join the movement (primarily those that still clung to agriculturalism).

Thousands of hungry and terrified refugees were driven east by the trod of horse hooves, and many of them coalesced in and around the nearest major metropolitan center: Chicago. A humanitarian crisis unfolded, and the government was largely powerless to stop it. Many organizations attempted to pick up the slack, but two rose above the rest: first, the local branch of the Non-Denominational Church, which was increasingly the Federal government's only reliable means to provide aid to the states. Secondly, the Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks.

Based out of Chicago, the Elks (originally founded as a fraternity for minstrels) had been one of the nation's leading charitable organization. Being based out of Chicago, it was only natural that they began to focus their efforts on the developing humanitarian crisis on the Great Plains. Going beyond simply helping the refugees that now found themselves in the Midwest, the Elks went to the source, their lodges on the plains serving as local relief centers and helping to allow refugees to safely get themselves to safer areas. Their lodges quickly ran into conflict with the nascent New Israelites, who saw them as stooges of the Nondenom Church. The Elks petitioned the Federal government, impotent as it was, to allow them to take up arms to defend Christian refugees and their lodges against the New Israelites. The Church did them one better, and organized for the Elks to be declared a 508(c)b organization: a Federal religious order.

The coupling made sense: the Elks had always been an avowedly Americanist and theistic organization, and had grown close to the Church during their mutual work in the Regression. Now, with the backing of law behind them, the Elks began the transition from a private fraternal order to a religious military order. They recruited from among the many grateful refugees, eager to turn the tides against the New Israelites, and integrated those Army and National Guard remnants that remained.

While the Elks failed in their quest to turn back the tide of the New Israelites and reclaim the Great Plains, they did save the lives of many refugees and were able to prevent the expansion of the Cowboys further. Indeed, this became their primary function: the Elks spread across the border between the Plains and the emergent feudal core, building fortresses and specializing in combating the Cowboys. The Elks were at their most influential in Illinois where they acted virtually as a "State-within-a-state", controlling massive stretches of the Iowa country to ensure its safety from the Cowboys. They grew rich off of the trans-plains trade, becoming one of the most eminent groups in the Feudal Core.

As so often happens, their host sovereigns felt threatened by their growing power within their country. 250 years ago, Bradley IV Dupont made his move. He accused the Order of heresy, claiming that they had adopted New Israelite beliefs. While the case went through the cumbersome process of reaching the Supreme Court, he did not hesitate, immediately seizing the land held by the Order and hanging its top men. Eventually, the Court would strike down the accusations as spurious, but the damage was done: its core gone, the Order was reduced to its Green Bay Lodge, which Terry II Schultz had refused to hand over to Illinois. His goals already achieved, Bradley decided not to push the issue.

The Order began to attempt to re-establish its power base, but was unable to achieve the same level of influence it had had in Illinois, the New Israelites being less of a threat here. They shifted their focus to keeping the Kanadi in check, and doing mission work amongst the Canucks. During this time with the Canucks, the Elks adopted a new practice from the shamen of these people: the riding of Elks. A practice that has occurred in numerous cultures the world over throughout history, it had been independently developed by the Canucks as a status symbol, and was in turn adopted by the Elks. To this day, the Order maintains a herd of docile moose in Green Bay, and the richest of Exalted Leaders and Knights will ride them into battle.

The Order joined the Daleys in the Conquest of Chicago, serving distinguishedly, and were returned their Grand Lodge after two centuries away. Though the Iowans have allowed the Order to re-establish Lodges within their territory and to once more patrol the Big Wall of Iowa, their center remains shifted, focusing on the politics of the Great Lakes and the trade that passes through it.

At the head of the Elks is their Grand Exalted Ruler, elected by the Exalted Leaders of the various Lodges. He appoints a cabinet of officials to aid him in running the organization. The preponderance of members are Knights of various rankings (up to and including the Esteemed Leading Knight, the organization's second in command). Each is assigned to a local Lodge, led by a hereditary Exalted Ruler who can only be removed by an agreement between the Grand Exalted Ruler and the Grand Chaplain (who is appointed directly by the Church as their representative). The Lodges possess some share of land, and are granted power of local taxation. Trainees for the organization are Antlers, who are appointed as assistants to Knights.

One curious facet of the new Elks is in many ways a return to form: theatrical performances. The practice was re-adopted during the Refugee Crisis to raise money, usually centering around noble Christian cowboys who fight against New Israelite gangs. These shows proved tremendously successful, and are performed across the East. This has revived the Wild West Show of the 19th century.

 

[Augustine Sedira]

I've been looking through the website in other to create a timeline of purely canon material (so nothing from the forum or the what's next thread or anywhere else for that matter; pure canon). In the Spoilers are what I got and below that is a timeline I've constructed from there. Finally below that is things I have gathered from the timeline.

Spoiler

TIMELINE

• 2003:
  
  
  • The Event happens. George W. Bush declares martial law.
    
• 2010s:
  
  
  • The Non-Denominational Church is formed by the US government.
    
• 2060s:
  
  
  • The distant states of the USA begin to break off. These being: Hawaii, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Idaho, Utah, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.
    
• 2090s:
  
  
  • The closer states of the USA begin to break off. These being: Florida, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Arkansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, North Carolina and South Carolina. The Northeast and Virginias stay loyal due to their proximity to Washington. However, they too would break away sooner than later.
    
• 2100s:
  
  
  • A symbioses is finally created between church and state.
    
• 2200s:
  
  
  • Through the breaking away of the Northeast and the Virginias, the USA is left in control of the Potomac Basin and Chesapeake.
    
• 2300s:
  
  
  • Within the western coast and east, heavy cavalry begins to replace the horse archery tactics which dominated the continent.
    
    
  • After losing the northern Potomac Basin, the Americans begin carving out a maritime empire under George VII Bush.
    
    
  • Cuba becomes a dominant trading power in the Caribbean seizing the Bahamas.
    
• 2400s:
  
  
  • The southern whites have become noticeably darker and the southern blacks have become noticeably whiter.
    
    
  • The Chief Justice has become the acknowledged arbitrer of faith in the Non-Denominational Church.
    
• 2500s:
  
  
  • The Californian Warring Period breaks out with there being four warring factions: Sacramento, Socal, Redding and Fresno. The warring broke out due to a Lifer coup.
    
    
  • Due to the relative peace of Socal, the leadership is capable of funding the construction of the Los Angeles Labyrinth.
    
    
  • Cascadian merchants seize San Francisco.
    
    
  • The Floating Isles of Salt Lake are constructed by the Mormons.
    
• 2500 - 2530s:
  
  
  • Jimmy Duval rises to become Colonel of the Red River Territory. He was the illegitimate son of the former Colonel and openly recognized his African heritage. He was, however, white.
    
• 2530s - 2560s:
  
  
  • A mixed race captain of mercenaries, Ted Flannagan, leads a coup and seizes Georgia becoming President.
    
• 2590s:
  
  
  • The racial divide within the south comes to an end.
    
• 2600s:
  
  
  • Sacramento unites California and expels the Cascadians from San Francisco. Using the wealth gained from the conquests, the Californians construct the Sacramento Tower.
    
    
  • Socal descends into a civil war between Los Angeles, San Diego and the inland regions due to their own Lifer coup.
    
    
  • New Mexico subjugates Arizona. With the wealth gained, the New Mexicans construct the Great Pyramids of Albuquerque.
    
    
  • Columbia conquers Cascadia.
    
    
  • The Illinois conquer Iowa and construct the Big Wall of Iowa to halt nomadic raids which had increased during the period.
    
• 2680s:
  
  
  • The Yaegars descend from Wyoming and pillage Salt Lake City. They seize control over the region carving a realm stretching from Provo to Pocatello. They slowly begin to push the Mormons to Idaho whilst persecuting those left in their territories.
    
• 2700s:
  
  
  • Columbia attacks Idaho and crushes the Desereti rump state. Many Mormons flee into the desert from where they raid the Yaegars only to be bloodily defeated.
    
    
  • Arizona gains independence from New Mexico and seize El Paso due to Oklahoman raids weakening New Mexico.
    
    
  • The Californian Republic conquers Socal during the southern civil war.
    
    
  • There is a large population density within the Great Plains which would see nomadic raids increase.
    
    
  • The Rizzini overrun Nebraska and become the dominant tribe in the region.
    
• 2770s:
  
  
  • From Kansas a Bailey-Dabney alliance breaks through Missouri defences at Fort Leavenworth and cross the Missouri River quickly trapping them Gallatin where the entire army was massacred. After burning down St. Louis, the Baileys rampaged through Iowa slaughtering every man and enslaving every woman and child before they ended their raids and carved out a kingdom for themselves.
    
    
  • Whilst the Baileys burnt down St. Louis, the Dabneys seized ships to cross the Mississippi and advance east within the Midwest. They were eventually halted at Lima by an Ohioan army. The Dabneys retreated to Illinois and carved for themselves their own kingdom from where they would annually raid their eastern neighbours. In retaliation, the Ohioans build a great series of defences along the Wabash made up of ditches, walls and towers whilst the Wisconsians simply pay tribute.
    
• 2780s:
  
  
  • Nomads descend from Wyoming and defeat the Yaegers destroying their main force and capturing their chief torturing him to death. The Mormons then descended from the deserts and seized Salt Lake City before holding off the new nomadic invaders.
    
• 2800s:
  
  
  • El Paso breaks away from Arizona.
    
    
  • Columbia conquers the whole of Deseret and defeat the Wyoming nomads.
    
    
  • A Lifer coup takes place in California and Socal breaks free.
    
• 2820s:
  
  
  • George Bailey becomes governor and allows merchants from Memphis to rebuild St. Louis. The merchants would also receive special trading rights within Iowa. George was baptised into the Non-Denom church and with his mercantile contacts, he purchased an armada of river boats to attack the Dabneys. Several years of war broke out between the two groups with George coming out on top crushing his enemies and creating a realm stretching from the Missouri to the Wabash.
    
• 2880s:
  
  
  • The Deseretians rebel against the Columbians and expel them. The nomads of Wyoming and crushed and the Reids take power over Deseret.
    
    
  • The New Mexicans retake the rest of the Rio Grande and raid the Oklahomans taking many slaves in retaliation for former raids.
    
• 2900:
  
  
  • Atlas of Medieval America takes place.
    

THINGS THAT CAN BE GATHERED

• The Caribbean is secretarial and pretty dark skinned.
  
  
• Western Cuba saw a mercantile state arise and dominate the entire island as well as the Bahamas.
  
  
• Sub-Saharan Africa and India are divided between feudal states.
  
  
• Slavery is all over the Americas.
  
  
• Protestantism collapses in Europe with them turning back to the Roman Catholic Church.
  

 

[tehskyman]

The Northern Border: Ontario

Throughout the first few decades of the new Medieval era, Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic Provinces were still nominally loyal to Ottawa, the western provinces having long since broken away. This state of affairs continued until 2172 when the tolerance for the Catholic ways of the Quebecois finally wore thin and the young Prime Minister Scheer declared the rights of all Catholics in Canada null and void. In response to this blatant provocation Premier Jacques II Dechêne sacked Ottawa, killed the Prime Minister, seized his heir, betrothed the Prime Minister's daughter to his son and used his newfound authority as Royal Regent to move the capital to Montreal. This act of aggression against the Non-Denom Church prompted the remaining provinces to break away from Canada and forge their own path in the new Medieval Era.

State of Ontario

System of Government: Feudal State
Head of State: Premier , chosen through primogeniture
Population: 900,000
Religion: Non-Denominational
Totemic Symbol: Trillium Flower

As the only Non-Denom state north of the Great Lakes, Ontario is a bulwark against raiders, savages and worst of all the Quebecois. It also remains the last bastion of English Canadian culture with the Ottawa and St Lawrence Valley having fallen to the countless Quebecois crusade and anti-crusades over the span of hundreds of years.

With the eastern part of what was once Ontario now vassal states under Quebec the State of Ontario directly controls territory from London to Oshawa with vassal states in Peterborough, Hastings and Frontenac County. When Crusades against Quebec are launched, they begin here and when Quebec launches Crusades of its own, most of the time it marches into Ontario, though sometimes it will march south into Vermont. However, Quebecois crusades seldom go further than Kingston and only twice have they reached Toronto.

When Ontario broke away from Canada, it was still officially a province. However this would not do as this would imply a fealty to the Kingdom of Canada, now a nation seized by infidels and heretics. And so it was that then Premier Andrew II Mackay traveled to Cincinnati to formally pledge allegiance to the President of the United States of America and become the State of Ontario, though he would retain his title as Premier. Because of the rifts between the President in Ohio and the President in Baltimore this change would not be acknowledged by the Non-Denom church for 120 years. Tensions would remain high along the Quebec border for years to come, with lancers from both sides raiding back and forth. However no open war erupted until April 2487, when the strategic town of Kingston fell to a Quebecois army. With the fall of Kingston Quebecois ships could now be dragged up the St Lawrence to Kingston and raid the whole of Lake Ontario. This situation was untenable for one of the primary trade routes across the Appalachians had now been cut off. And so the First Laurentian Crusade was declared.

The Crusade succeeded in capturing Montreal, but the crusaders failed to return prior to the onset of winter and the cold, famine and deep snow killed many a Crusader. Where 7,000 men set forth, only 900 returned, missing fingers, toes, noses and ears to frostbite. Thus would be the future of relations between Quebec and Ontario, with Crusaders marching back and forth between Montreal and Toronto. Rarely those cities would fall but often by the time Crusaders returned, winter would have set in and destroyed the returning force.

As a border state, Ontario deals often with the Canucks. As an officially Non-Denom state, Toronto hosts a District Supervisory of the Non-Denom Church and many monks use Toronto as a base before venturing into the northern wilds to preach and convert the savages. Ontario will also suffer through and deal with raids from Pagan and Catholic Canuck tribes.

Peterborough County

System of Government: Feudal Vassal
Head of State: Sheriff, chosen through Primogeniture
Population: 80,000
Religion: Non-Denominational
Totemic Symbol: Canadian Loon


Hastings County

System of Government: Feudal Vassal
Head of State: Sheriff, chosen through Primogeniture
Population: 50,000
Religion: Non-Denominational
Totemic Symbol: Northern Pike


Frontenac County

System of Government: March
Head of State: Major, chosen through decree of the Premier of Ontario, generally passed from father to son
Population: 30,000
Religion: Non-Denominational
Totemic Symbol: Coyote

Frontenac County contains Kingston, a fortress town where the St Lawrence drains Lake Ontario. Kingston is of vital strategic importance to the Non-Denom Nations of the Midwest and Great Lakes because of it's location and as such has been fought over numerous times.

 

[tehskyman]

Alleghey (Allegheny) County

System of Government (De Jure): Feudal Vassal
System of Government (De Facto): Feudal State
Head of State: Commissioner, selected from sons and nephews of ruling Commissioner prior to his death
Population: 1,400,000
Religion: Non-Denominational
Totemic Symbol: Terrier

Like Wisconsin, Alleghey County was once a vassal of it's much larger neighbor. That was until Illinois and Ohio beat each other half to death 150 years ago. Since then, defending against Dabney raids has occupied much of Ohio's manpower and resources and so Alleghey County has broken away to chart it's own course. However now that the raids from Illinois have ceased, Ohio is building up the strength so that one day it can assemble a fleet to sail up the Ohio River, lay siege to Pitsberg until the Commissioner relents and once more agrees to pay tribute to the President in Cincinnati.

Alleghey County is centered on Pitsberg, one of the greatest metalworking hubs in the East. Located where the Alleghey and Mononga (Monogahela) Rivers join to form the Ohio, the rivers power mills and furnaces. Those mills alongside iron ore and coal and timber floated down the river from the Appalachians make Pitsberg one of the largest sources of raw steel in the east. Pitsberg is also incredibly difficult to besiege as the Ohioan Eastern Army discovered during the Great Midwestern War. It is surrounded on 3 sides by rivers with steep banks and forts on the opposite shores.

In addition, Pitsberg also offers one of the few fixed crossings of the Ohio River with a bridge over both the Alleghey and Mononga rivers allowing travelers to safely cross the Ohio river, for a fee of course.

In the past, when Alleghey County was solidly under the control of Cincinnati, there was an organized campaign on the part of Ohio's allies in the Midwest and South to add more Church districts so as to offer better spiritual representation for Midwesterners i.e. gain more power over the supreme Court. The campaign called for Pitsberg to become the seat of a new Church district encompassing eastern Pennsylvania. However, the judges of the Supreme court, 6 out of 9 were previously supervisors from New England, forced Ohio to back down by threatening to have Alleghey County ascend to full statedom. This would have allowed Alleghey County to have the legal rights to resist Ohioan rule. Of course, they do have that power now but only informally and subject to change with the political winds.

 

[Flashman]

Vortextes

Within the New Age religion, vortexes are described as spiraling concentrations of energy that coalesce at certain locales of deep spiritual importance. The spinning resonances are said to break the bonds separating this realm of being from other worlds, alternatively termed in New Age scriptures "The [n]th Dimension" (often 4th), "The Astral Plane", "The Dreamtime", "The Great Beyond", or simply "The Other". It is here at these zones where one's hold on reality is weakest that the greatest spiritual enlightenment and physical healing is to be found.

When one goes through a "Tripping" ritual, they consume as many narcotics as possible and go on a cross-country pilgrimage to see as many of these sites as they possibly can. Most of the peasantry is so poor that they can only hope to fly high at one vortex in their lifetime, while the Priesthood and the political class may see as many as the known world has to offer. The greatest concentration of vortexes is to be found in the ancient land of Dinetah.

Ironically, the study of the non-existent vortexes has created countless treatises on their mechanics based on observable mechanics of water vortices. This has given the New Mexicans a surprisingly advanced understanding of fluid dynamics - invaluable knowledge in a Hydraulic Empire.

Some Major Vortexes

Note: A full listing of the holy sites of the New Age could fill several volumes; seemingly every village has some shrine of supposedly cosmic significance. This list simply provides some of the more notable vortexes, and excludes others.

1. Fifty-One: One of the holiest sites in the New Age. It is said that here the Gray dwelt upon the earth and men flew in metal wagons like birds. The precise site is lost to the sands of time; it is known that it laid somewhere between Death Valley and Las Vegas. With the destruction of Las Vegas the pilgrimage has only become more difficult. Those few who make it to the stretch of desert said to house the ruins will have to rely on less then reliable camel-jockeys to guide them to the alleged site.

2. Roswell: Like Fifty-One, said to be a site where the Gray touched the Earth. The city holds countless relics of this happening including mummified remains purported to be those of one of the Grays who came here: it is worshiped as God, held in the Great Saucer's holy of holies and paraded by the Pecos Cowboys in battle when they believe they face frightening odds. The hillfort marks the easternmost boundary of the Confederacy.

3: The Thing: In the deserts between Two Sun and El Paso there is a thing of a strange power. Many ask "What is it?", to which one can only say that it is a wonder, truly the mystery of the desert. The Thing is housed in a temple complex that is possession of countless other wonders, relics of the New Age and of world hitory. The many pilgrims who make the journey can view these sacred and wondrous objects for the small price of a temple donation, also called an "Admission". Pilgrims marvel at the bone and statues of the monsters of a bygone world, they can protrate at the feet and relics of Grays, chant at marvellous crystals and relics or see the astrological charts that are said to posess knowledge of all history. But the Holy of Holies is what houses the Thing itself, and it is only accessible by the High Priests and the President. Though no one knows what it is, it is whispered that is an ancient mummified God who will awaken from his slumber and usher in the Age of Aquarius. Well whatever it is at least you can enjoy their world-famous hotdogs in the meantime.

4. The Great Pyramids: The Great Pyramids of Albuquerque are the tallest structures in Medieval America, if not the world. Despite the name, it is located just outside of Albuquerque to the west of the Rio Grande - the direction of the sunset and death in New Age cosmology. Built by a President of the fourth dynasty, it stands as a testament to the might of the New Mexican state.

5. Alamogordo: Once far more celebrated then it is today. Here man summoned Trinity who smote the earth with his righteous fury. Following the rule of the Gray President however, the site has been abandoned for its association with his despotic monotheism; it has been abandoned to the Gila monsters. It is said that the vortex here is inverted, radiating out "bad vibes" left over from Trinity's smiting. Only the most daring of mystics who wish to know the darker side of the New Age venture here.

6. Sedona: Sedona was the place where pre-Regressive faithful discovered the vortex phenomenon; it is therefore no surprise that it is home to the greatest concentration of vortexes anywhere in the known world. It was in Sedona that the first great meeting of New Agers was called at the dawn of the Regression and much of the dogma was hammered it. Many temples and holy sites commemorate the places and wise folk who brought gnosis to the South West. Admittedly it has fallen off in the in the intervening centuries what with its disadvantageous position and the power of New Mexico, but it is nevertheless highly respected as a center of worship and learning. It holds host to the Green Temple of Healing Mother Isis, one of the realm's greatest medical establishments and a center for Vortex research.

7. Four Corners: The Four Corners is said to be the place where all realms meet, both earthly and otherwise. It is held to be the center of the universe and the multiverse
.
8. Las Vegas: When Las Vegas was a mighty city many New Agers made their home there, in no small part for its proximity to Fifty One. The temple complexes and the famed treatises of such New Age luminaries as Celestio of Gila led to it becoming a site of pilgrimage (and debauchery) in its own right. Like Alamogordo, it has taken on a different and darker meaning ever since the collapse of the Hoover Dam and the subsequent collapse of Vegasite civilization. Most New Agers give the city and its bad vibes a wide berth and instead opt to see the Hoover Falls, representative of nature's majesty.

9. Los Alamos: Though associated with Trinity, it has not had quite as poor a fate as Alamogordo with many coming to bask in the atomic rays.

10. Monument Valley: It is said that to climb the towering buttes of Monument Valley is to commune with the Sky Father himself.

11. Arcosanti: Like Sedona, Arcosanti is one of the birthplaces of the New Age in Arizona. Famed for its iconic architecture and its bronze production.

12. Chaco Canyon: These ancient ruins in Dinetah are seen as a place of the ancestors. Many come here for its sweat lodges.

13. Poston Pyramid: The oldest pyramid in the west, said to house the body of the "Father of Arizona" who has grown to become something of a minor local patron deity (one whose worship Albuquerque would very much like to stamp out).

14. Hunt's Tomb:

15. Tombstone: An ancient site holy to bowmen. Archers from Portland to Oklahoma have come here to pay homage to the mystic gun fighter and their lost magic. Many test their mettle in a variety of skill based archery competitions.

16. Tumacacori: The third of the great New Age holy cities in Arizona. A small New Age commune overtook the small settlement and became a major stop on the trade routes between Two Sun and Nogales, Tumacacoran camel-jockeys spreading their strange ideas to the North and South. The great temple is in the style of the old Spanish cathedrals.

17. Bryce: The towering hoodoos of Bryce Canyon are surely an incredible site. New Agers believe these are the Ancestors, petrified by the Coyote so that they may pass on their wisdom to future generations.

17. Blanca Peak: The Navajo held the Blanca peak to be the eastern boundary of the world and the home of the rising sun. While this no longer holds for the New Mexicans who consider Roswell to be the known world's eastern boundary, it is still held with much reverence.

19. Mount Taylor: Another of the mountains held as holy to the Navajo. In the New Age, it is held as especially holy to the Indigo Children.

20. Hesperus Peak: This striking peak is the fourth of the cardinal Navajo mountains. Said to be the home of rainbows and the northern boundary of Dinetah.

22. Grand Canyon: The Grand Canyon is inhabited today by wild tribes who speak dialects unintelligible to the surrounding nations. Still, its natural magnificence has made it a holy site to the New Mexicans.

23. Barring Crater: It is said that this great crater is what remains of an event where the stars touched the earth. One President of the fourth dynasty built his pyramid within the center of the crater to be closer to the stars he would one day ascend too.

24. Bandera Ice Caves: Within the Bandera volcano, one can find a strange sight indeed: a natural ice cave in the fiery southwest. Not only do New Agers get to marvel at this strange and resplendent beauty, they get to enjoy one of those little comforts that has largely been lost Post-Regression: a cool drink.

26. Carlsbad Caverns: South of Roswell, these caverns are said to have a rejuvenating effect on those who enter it. It's crystals hold a particular fascination for the New Agers.

 

[Flashman]

That definitely works. I like the idea of the descendants of "Lost Vegas" being considered tainted by their "bad vibes" and have to be nomadic.

I actually like the idea of Bad Vibes Vegas Gypsies/Jews so much that it might finally put the fire under me to actually write the Vegas post.

Where would these trading posts be?

Wherever there's enough water for a couple scores of people to garden and water their camels and/or wherever the trade routes are advantageous.

I like that. Lovecraft's works have become a cultural touchstone for New Englanders not under the control of the coastal United States.

I think it'd actually be strongest in the places of American control, since those are probably going to be the richest ports. Also note that geopolitical the situation in these sites is probably pretty complex; it's not a question of Baltimore having Westphalian control over these territories, but a series of overlapping boundaries and loyalties, cessions and taxation rights.

I also like the idea of most members of the Esoteric Orders* not truly believing in it as a religion but as a nationalist symbol. There'd still be quite a few diehard Esoterics** running around. Maybe the level of faith depends on what class you are. Higher classes are comfortable enough to pay lipservice to the faith and nothing more, whereas the peasants are desperate enough to have stronger faith in it.

The way I see it is that the cult provides a couple of things; on the one hand, it's an opportunity to get drunk with your buddies in the Order Hall - something that'll be desperately missed in New England considering how strong a presence the Masons have there in the modern day and that those Lodges will close down or become filled with shave-headed teetotallers.

On the other hand, it's a means to network. Meetings in the halls allow a parallel government of sorts to form in addition to the Town Halls which I'm sure dominate much of New England; things can be said in private that it would not be expedient to say in public, and lets you meet with other community notables to make deals and trade gossip.

And finally, you have the religious aspect. Just as in the Medieval Era, the problem many people (especially the peasantry) find with Christianity is that while it helps mightily with the afterlife, it ain't got too much to say about the here-and-now: folk religions promise people the prospect of easier living in the moment which they can syncretize with Christianity for the assurance of a good after-now. It also provides curious people the superiority of having access to a "secret doctrine" even if they only take it half seriously.

I think in terms of belief you've got a kind of bellcurve going on; on the left most side you have peasants and the sailors. Peasants are so poor that they're probably not formal members of temples or the most part, but they actually engage in rituals and loosely believe in what of the cult filters down to them. Ironically though they'd probably be pretty likely to have disdain for actual temple goers (who in reality don't take it so seriously). Sailors are more likely to have their own order halls I think, and probably take the thing deadly serious; after all, the sea is capricious and sailors are historically the most superstitous people out there. Probably still consider themselves Christian.

Then you have the middle of the bellcurve. This makes up most of the cult proper, those who can afford to pay membership dues - minor nobility, merchants, guild members. They see it for the most part as a lark, perhaps with a few superstitions taken to heart.

And then a shadowy upper ecehlon who certainly seem to take the whole thing seriously.

I think the best models here are the pre-Regression Freemasons, Mithraists, folk syncreticsm, and Gnostics.

 

[Flashman]

Commonwealth of Michigan

• System of Government: Feudalism
• Head of State: Governor, chosen by primogeniture from the ruling Wolf family
• Population: 2,200,000
• Religion: Non-Denominational
• Totemic Symbol: Wolverine

Of the three great powers of the Feudal Heartland, Michigan has always been an underdog that has punched well above its weight. In terms of population its harsh winters has always meant that it's population has always rested hundreds of thousands below its rivals in Iowa (formerly Illinois) and Ohio. And yet its strategic placement in the midst of the Great Lakes has destined it to eternally jockey for supremacy; centrally positioned between Superior, Lake Michigan, and Erie has filled its coffers and allowed it to build a respectable naval tradition as the most maritime state on the Lakes and one of the most influential in the Mackinaw League.

Of the three great powers Michigan came out with the most of the Great Midwestern War and the subsequent Bailey family. With the destruction of Illinois and Ohio's loss of Toledo, Luthor II found himself the Lord best posed to take advantage of the League. Control of Detroit and its newfound alliance with Ontario and Genesee County kept it in total control of the straits. It managed to cement its control over the quasi-independent cities of northern Michigan and even gain influence in the Upper Peninsula which had been lost to Lansing since the dawn of the Neo-Medieval era. Had they played their cards right, Michigan was set up to chip away at Ohio's influence and potentially become the dominant player in the Midwest.

Unfortunately, it was not to be. The downfall began with his son, Luthor III. Born in the lap of luxury, Luthor was not the savvy politician that his father was. His imposition of the Strait Tolls made him no friends in the Mackinaw League or the East at large for that matter. Attempts to move Ontario and Genesee towards outright vassalage engendered a reaction away to preserve their independence.

The final straw came some fifty years after the destruction of Illinois. A senile Luthor III expected his familial claims over Illinois would be recognized and that a rump Commonwealth would be established under Michigander influence. Obviously this proposal did not sit well with anyone on the Lake League. When Genesee pulled out their trump card in the Daley family and came to an accord with the Iowans, a bitter Luthor demanded revenge and declared a war of aggression on Genesee and Iowa. Almost immediately the states of the Lake launched the Michigan Punitive War.

The Wisconsonites and the Elks rallied the Finnic Yooper tribes to rise up against distant Michigan and built a pontoon bridge to invade the north, where the cities that once enjoyed much more autonomy gladly joined them. Fleets were launched from Lake Erie and Chicago to raze the Commonwealth's shores while Ohioans and Bailey Cowboys marched side by side up the northern border.

Panicking and fearing the total destruction of Michigan, the nobility in Lansing launched a palace coup. Luthor III was replaced with his much more reasonable nephew Ryan (now crowned Ryan I). The damage was already done and Michigan had to sue for a costly peace; Ryan ceded Michigan's claim to Illinois and returned Toledo to Ohio. Wisconsin once again firmly established its influence over the Upper Peninsula. The cities of the north regained their autonomy, as did the cities of Western Ontario. The tolls were lowered and Michigan returned firmly to the number three position, Ohio's dominance over the region once again firmly established.

It's not all bad. The toll may be low but it's still there, and the salt mines of Detroit still floweth over. The inherently reactionary politics of the Great Lakes has seen Pitsberg move towards Michigan out of fear of a resurgent Ohio, though Genesee County and Ontario remain firmly in Ohioan orbit; Michigan's long history of attempted conquest against these territories will not be forgotten any time soon. The drums are beating and whispers can be heard in the courts from Rock Island to Syracuse that a second Great Midwestern War may be on the horizon, one that will determine the fate of the Midwest and finally settle the question of Ohioan supremacy. The only question is; where will Iowa come down in all of this?

 

[Flashman]

Genesee County

• System of Government: Feudal Plutocracy
• Head of State: Count, elected by the Chamber of Commerce from the Feudal Houses
• Population: 520,000
• Religion: Non-Denominational
• Totemic Symbol: Buffalo

Genesee County has risen to a place of respectable power from its humble origins. Positioned as it was between the major cities of Rochester and Buffalo, Genesee played the two off against each other and eventually overtook both in the wake of New York. Genesee established its control over what was once known as the Burned Over Country and - most vitally - it became the gateway to the Great Lakes. Though the nation as a whole may be small, at 80,000 people Buffalo stands proud as one of the largest cities in the nation. In Niagara Square one can hear the chattering tongues of North America in unison trading and haggling.

The Count of Genesee has divorced himself from the politics of the Northeast in favor of the riches of the Lakes. Genesee is per capita the most mercantile state on the Lakes, and it shows in the government; though the Count is generally picked from noble and not mercantile families, the power to elect the Count rests firmly in the hands of the Chamber of Commerce and the merchant interests it represents.

Buffalo is the first and last stop for goods flowing through the Great Lakes. Countless conquests have been attempted; the Quebecois, the New Yorkers, the Ontarians, and most of all the Michiganders. Small as it is, Genesee has been reliant not on brute force but on clever diplomacy to maintain its independence and prosperity. The burghers of Buffalo and Rochester are the shrewdest navigators of the labyrinthine Lake League. They constantly undermine their stronger neighbors; it was Genesee County that has been the most outspoken in favor of the autonomy of Northern Michigan, and the establishment of a friendly quasi-independent Chicago under the allied Daley's has helped to cement their influence. The nation has rotated between a friend-foe relationship with Canadians and the Alleghenians a the politics of the day demand. They are loved by few, but respected by all.

Genesee is also home to the resistance against centralized Nondenominationalism on the Great Lakes. Like many of the Burghers on the shores of the Lakeland, the Geneseean merchants have seen much to like in Lutheranism. Genesee is the national stronghold of Anti-Masonicism, seeing the Masons as a manipulative, unchristian and even demonic entity that ought to be abolished. No Masonic lodges exist within the territory of Genesee and the Churches operate rather differently from the rest of the nation's. This has made them a perpetual headache for Baltimore from both a spiritual and economic perspective, but no solution readily presents itself for the time being.

 

[tehskyman]

Heres an archived offline version of the site if the original ever happens to go down

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mIh70uTsCKVaTccQO3wq2mOlAy7ruu-H/view?usp=sharing

 

[tehskyman]

Commonwealth of Ohio

System of Government: Feudal State
Head of State: President in Cincinnati , chosen from the ruling Ingram-Wolf Family by Feudal Electors (de jure), by the President (de facto)
Population: 7,500,000
Religion: Non-Denominational
Totemic Symbol: Buckeye Tree
Once again a credible challenger for premier power of the Midwest, when the President in Cincinnati has had control over his many vassals, Ohio is able to throw it's weight around. This has meant control over the river guilds along the Ohio, vassalization of its neighbors and creating alliances within the Church powerful enough to challenge the Ivy League supervisories.

Part of Ohio's power comes from it's great population and the power of the Ohio River. The rich soil of Midwest means that more people live within Ohio's borders than any other state on the continent. This has led to some of the largest cities on the continent being located in Ohio. The capital Cincinnati is home to nearly 200,000 individuals and the mills, docks, smithies and markets which employ them. The Ohioan presidential palace is located just upstream of the city and is modeled on the National Mall in Washington with the imperial residences where the Capitol should be. A great palace at one end, surrounded by gardens and a reflecting pool which points towards the Ohio River, a walled city off limits for those without invitations.

A map of Ohio

Just prior to the Great Midwestern War, Ohio was doing well, but not as well as it had been. Michigan was getting it's act together again and Illinois was no longer concerned about the Rizzinni's though some of its more unruly Kentucky vassals had been replaced with loyalists from north of the river. But the devastation and loss of power that came with the end of the war was difficult to deal with. Toledo had been ceded to Michigan again, Allegheny county was severed and many of it's tributary states in Tennissy, Pope-Gallatin county no longer owed tribute to Cincinnati. And the worst was yet to come for Ohio.

When the Dabneys crossed the Mississippi and burned Illinois, there was nothing stopping them from venturing further, and so they did. The Dabneys raided across Indiana, burned down the town of Fort Wayne and were only stopped when a force nearly 15,000 lancers strong met them at Lima. The cowboys were not expecting an army to arrive for several days and as such let the lancers creep up on them during the night. At dawn, under the command of First Consort/Vice President Wallace Wolf, the lancers charged towards the cowboys. This charge scattered the cowboy camp and allowed the lancers to inflict heavy damage on the cowboys. After the rout with his lancer force, Wallace was able to pursue the cowboys all the way back to Illinois. For 50 years after that, much of the President's annual budget went towards maintaining the Wabash Wall, a great series of ditches, walls and forts designed to repeal the Dabney's annual raids. Even then, the wall took many years to construct, took tens of thousands of peasant laborers and was breached at least twice.

With this in mind, when a coalition was built to destroy the Dabneys, Ohio was at its vanguard. It was Ohioan lancers, alongside their Wisconsinite counterparts who broke up the main Dabney force into managable chunks. These groups were then slaughtered to the man. Though Ohio did not seize any of Illinois, it was able to secure friendly terms with George Bailey. When Luthor III invaded Illinois and sent its ships to Buffalo in a fit of pique the year after, Ohio was there as well, taking Toledo back and besieging Detroit.

Since the destruction of the Dabneys the outlook has been positive. With the persistent genocidal threat from Illinois gone, Ohio is once again able to throw it's weight around and bully its lesser neighbors. In 2942 when some of its vassals "independently" raided Tennisy and Pope-Gallatin County, Ohio was able to negotiate an annual tribute from them, in return for keeping its vassals under check. But constantly bullying your neighbors is a good way to scare them and sometimes pandering to them is also needed. In 2977 President Wallace I expelled the Masons from all of Ohio earning him great favor and influence in Buffalo. In 2991 Ohio sent 1500 lancers to Ontario in order to support them in the 7th Northern Crusade.

Until now, the Ohioan claim on Michigan has gone unpressed and a repeat of the Great Midwestern War has been avoided. However rumors swirl in all the courts of the Midwest and Great Lakes that, Wallace's son, President-Elect Stefan intends to do so the moment he ascends to the Buckeye Chair. With Stefan's marriage to First Daughter Joanna Bailey of Iowa and his father's increasing frailty it seems like Ohio may finally overcome one of the greatest hurdles in their quest for nearly absolute dominance over the Midwest. However, Stephen's ascension to the throne allegiance is not guaranteed. A cruel and vindictive man, he has alienated many of his fathers vassals. Unbeknownst to many his bastard half-brother Joeseph lives in Detroit under Michigander protection, ready to sail for Toledo and press his claim on the throne in Cincinnati. If war is to pass, as many believe, it may be messier and bloodier than the last.