The Star-Spangled Expanded Universe of "What Madness Is This?"

[Murica1776]

That Israel flag continues to be one of my favorite fan creations from the main thread.

Also kinda funny how out of place Avraham Stern looks among all the fat jowly dudes. But in a way that almost gives him a kind of appeal. What kind of things does a thin-faced wiry guy have to do to sit at the same table at the past soldier/present playboy Pinnacle body types?

That could actually be an interesting story. He's the newbie to all these Pinnacle "Made Men" as it were.

 

[Eylondambovich]

Judge of the Israelites

I like the title, is this influenced by the bible?

 

[Murica1776]

https://imgur.com/a/1suNR1a

Events of the 1940's:

The Great Southron War: After almost a century of resentment and mistrust, the inevitable happened on March 14th, 1941, "The Day That Will Live in Infamy." The Georgian Airforce launched a sneak attack on airbases in California, New Southampton, and Tillamook. This was followed by massive ground offensive on California and Tillamook, with the Georgian forces in Mexico and Central America taking a more defensive stance. Over 7,000 airmen died in the sneak attack, and the resulting chaos allowed the Georgian offensive to overwhelm the border defenses put in place by Virginia. Virginia and Maryland declared war on that very day. However, neither power was as mobilized as the Georgians, and they were frankly caught off guard. Georgia pushed through California and Tillamook by February of 1942. They were stopped at the Oregon border by the now more fully mobilized Virginians. Fighting would stagnate here for several months, until the Georgians did something truly stupid.

President Constantine Popov, like many Georgians, also resented the Carolinas for not giving them right of passage all those years ago. Angry, impatient, and mentally unstable, Popov ordered an invasion of the Carolinas. This invasion began in April of 1942, and got as far as Orangeburg before being repelled. Before leaving, the Georgian troops burned down and murdered most of the town, and did the same to several towns on the retreat. The Cokies invaded Baldwin in Africa shortly afterwards, and declared a black flag war against Georgian forces, meaning take no prisoners. The Cokies would invade Georgia proper in the Fall of '43, as the Georgians collapsed in the West for reasons shortly to be unveiled. Interestingly, the Carolinians did not try and conquer the Georgian heartland, or even take Atlanta. Instead, they marched within shelling distance of Athens, Georgia, and used artillery and airplanes to gas the city from a distance. Over the course of a week in October, the Cokie troops had a nice, big cookout in the middle of enemy territory while the artillery corps and the Aeroforce committed genocide from a distance. Athens, a hub of the NLP and Georgia generally, had a population of 220,000 before the war. The Cokies murdered 95% of them from a distance while celebrating Thanksgiving and taking negligible casualties. The Aeroforce bombed all the major roads and railways to the city, meaning that almost everyone was trapped inside. The Gassing of Athens shocked the world not just for its brutality, but the clinical nature in which it was done. The Gassing would kill more people than the Cokies lost in the entire war, and that's including civilian casualties. Orangeburg had been more than avenged.

The attack on the Carolinas stretched Georgia thinner than plastic wrap, and the Virginians soon pushed them out of their territory. In May of 1942, the Virginians made another move to tighten the screws. Texas had understandably been concerned by Georgian aggression, and feared the outcome of a victorious or even fully intact Georgia bullying them. Therefore, when the Virginians came down with $10 million in gold and promises of territorial aggrandizement, they were ready to fight. The Texans launched a devastating assault on Oklahoma west of the Mississippi, splitting Georgia in two. Then, by the Fall of '42, the Texans were launching their offensives against Georgian Mexico and the Georgian aligned URCA alongside Virginia, and a unilateral offensive against Louisiana and the rest of Oklahoma. This is what really made Georgia start to buckle. The Virginians pushed deep into Shoshone and Bogdan by the Spring. However, after these offensives, progress stalled, at least in the North. Down in Mexico and Central America, the Texans and Virginians slowly but surely chewed through the Georgian forces. Nonetheless, by January of '44, the Texans and Virginians alike were having a rough time dealing with the increasingly fanatical defense of the Georgians. The fact that the Cokies basically halted after the Gassing of Athens didn't help. When complaints were received the Cokies stated that they were co-belligerents, not allies, and that it was extremely rude for their neighbors to tell them what to do. The Cokies didn't think it was worth it to lose hundreds of thousands of men taking the Georgian Homeland only to have to deal with millions of angry Georgians, many Slavic, after the war.

The war roughly stayed stagnant for a year. Bogdan was increasingly chewed up by Virginia, but the fanatic industrial center of Alexander, Bogdan (OTL Denver) was enough to keep the state's war effort semi-functional. The mountainous terrain of the city and its surroundings meant trying to take it was suicidal, and air raids had been unsuccessful. However, Catholic scientists who had fled Southern Germany after the Shatter would prove to be Virginia's salvation. These men, led by Hans von Stauffenberg, had been some of the foremost atomic physicists in the world, rivaled only by a similar group in the Free World. The war had given the government plenty of impetus to give them cash, and by January of 1946, they had produced a working atomic bomb. On February 1st, 1946, Ol' Dominion was dropped on Alexander. The city was vaporized. Bogdan crumbled within weeks. Meanwhile, as news reached the Georgian Homeland, morale shattered. The Texans pushed into Mississippi and appeared on the verge of taking the actual Homeland. Georgia collapsed and sued for peace.

The country was utterly dismembered. The Texans took Oklahoma, Louisiana, and most of Georgian Mexico. They also set up a new puppet regime in Central America. The Virginians took all of Georgia's Far Western territories, and South Georgia, as well as a bit of Central America and Mexico. The Cokies contented themselves with Baldwin and a large indemnity. What was left of Georgia was made into a stagnant puppet dictatorship that would never truly be able to move on from the devastation of the War. Adding to their woes, large numbers of Georgians were deported from recently conquered lands by the victors, causing various issues. In the aftermath, the rest of the Southrons went their own ways. Virginia became a true great power, and turned its attentions towards Asia and a new alliance system. Texas was itself a burgeoning great power, and was taking time to digest their conquests before looking for new foreign conquests (Central America, Africa, Asia, and Latin America). Carolina detached itself from its neighbors even more, becoming an observer member of the Yankee led AFN. The reasons why they made this choice are myriad, and will be explored elsewhere.

Many have wondered why the Yankees didn't take this opportunity to attack the South. It was indeed considered. However, the Yankees had just come out of the blood soaked crusade of the Shatter. Out of a Yankee Better population of around 48 million, they had lost somewhere between 1-1.2 million, mostly in Ireland. In fact, cleanup operations across the world were still ongoing when war broke out. The wind had been taken out of the Yankee sails temporarily, as losing 2% of your population is known to do. Whether the Yankees could have even won such a war is doubtful, as it seems likely that Virginia, Texas, and Carolina would have signed a ceasefire with Georgia for fear of being devoured. The Yankees simply weren't up for another vicious total war right after ending the last one.

The Great Latin War: The Great Latin War between the Neutrality Pact and the Eduists began in May of 1945, when the Pact launched a pre-emptive strike on a building Eduist invasion force. The strike was indeed devastating, and the Pact pushed the Eduists out of Old Patagonia by the end of the year, pushing into Bolivia. Here, they found plenty of native partisans to help their cause. However, the good luck wasn't to last.

Much of the Pact's problems were derived from geography. Getting supplies and troops over the Andes was time consuming, and Pactist infrastructure had fallen into moderate disrepair, partially thanks to corruption. By mid 1946, the Pact had almost been pushed out of Bolivia. By March of '47, the Brazilians reclaimed their Argentinian lands. The Eduists then went on the offensive, using "fogo de Deus" (fire of God) bombs alongside chemical weapons. It took three years of brutal fighting, but finally the Eduists were prepared to go into Chile in 1950 after pushing the Pact totally out of Argentina. The invasion likely would have been a disaster, again due to the Andes mountains. However, they never got the chance. On July 12th, 1950, the Pactists dropped atomic bombs on Buenos Aires, Eduist troops along the border, and Manaus. 4 bombs in total were used. The Eduists agreed to peace, their program still months away from having a bomb, and totally unaware that the Pact had just spent its entire arsenal on that strike. The Great Latin War consumed some 12 million lives, and stretched Eduist and Pactist alike to the brink. It was even more total than the Great Southron War, being closer to the Shatter in scale. In the aftermath, both powers faced internal issues, and struggled to consolidate. The Pact wound up having an easier time of it, and the Eduists would endure problems for years.

The Rise of Alliance Systems: The 1940's saw the rise of several new alliance structures created across the globe. The Germanians and Dutch formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a mutual defense pact designed to defend Europe's two remaining Protestant monarchies, in 1943. The Republican Union and its allies formed the Alliance of Free Nations, designed to promote Fascist interests across the world, in 1944. After the GSW, the Cokies and their Corean allies would join as non-binding observers. The Virginians formed the League of Southron States, which was composed of Virginia, Maryland, Georgia, and Japan, with the Texans as observers and trade partners. These various states, as well as the independent Russians, Europans, NHRE, the League of Tsars, and China would face off in a global competition for power.

The flag of NATO

The flag of the League of Southron States (LSS)

The flag of the Alliance of Free Nations (AFN)​

Order of Nuclear Bomb Acquisition:

1. Virginia: January 1946
2. RU: March 1947
3. Germania: December 1947
4. Dutch: April 1948
5. Russians: July 1948
6. Europans: September 1948
7. Texans: April 1949
8. Cokies: June 1950
9. Pactists: July 1950
10. Eduists: December 1950

 

[Murica1776]

I like the title, is this influenced by the bible?

It is!

 

[Murica1776]

Updated list of states:

States and Colonies of Texas, 1950 AD

Texas (OTL Texas, plus some land on southern bank of the Rio Grande)
Arizona (Roughly OTL Arizona and New Mexico)
Sonora
Austin (OTL Chihuahua)
South Texas (OTL Coahuila)
Libertalia (OTL Neuvo Leon and Tamaluipa)
Freedonia (Madagascar)
Custer (OTL Veracruz)
Hornberry (OTL San Luis Potosi)
Bellamy (OTL Zacatecas and Aguascalientes)
Durango (OTL Durango, Nayarit and Sinaloa)
Wayne (OTL Guanajuato and Queretaro)
Starr (OTL Baja California)
West Texas (California up to LA)
Tabasco (OTL Tabasco and Campeche)
Hispania (OTL Yucatan and Quintana Roo)
New Guatemala (OTL Belize and Peten (northern Guatemala)
Shawnee (OTL Oklahoma, part of Kansas)
Louisiana (OTL Louisiana and most of Arkansas)

States and Colonies of Georgia, 1950 AD

Georgia
Florida (OTL Florida minus the Panhandle)
Mississippi (OTL Alabama and Mississippi, plus Florida panhandle)

States and Colonies of Virginia, 1950 AD

Virginia (OTL Virginia and West Virginia)
Columbiana (Kentucky and part of southern Indiana)
Washington (OTL Illinois)
Iowai (OTL Iowa and southern Minnesota)
Free Negro Territory of Monroe (Northern Minnesota)
Dakota (N. and S. Dakota)
Madison (OTL Montana and part of Wyoming)
Oregon (OTL Washington and northern Idaho)
Tillamook (OTL Oregon and southern Idaho)
Jefferson (OTL Panama)
Harrison Island (Puerto Rico)
Jamaica
Bahamas
Hawaii
Tecos (OTL Jalisco and Colima)
New Worcester (OTL Michoacan and Guerrero)
Mexico (OTL Hidalgo, Mexico (province in Mexico), Mexico City, and Morelos)
Pubela (OTL Puebla and Tlaxcala)
New Southampton (OTL Oxaca)
California (California down to LA)
Navajo (Utah and Nevada)
New Cork (OTL Chiapas)
Randolph (OTL Costa Rica)
Wyoming (Wyoming and Colorado)
Albermarle (Hispaniola)

States and Colonies of Carolina, 1950 AD

North Carolina
South Carolina
West Carolina (OTL Tennessee)
Knox (OTL Missouri with a small strip of northern Arkansas)
Jackson (OTL Nebraska and most of Kansas)
East Carolina (OTL Namibia)
Polkland (OTL Botswana and Zimbabwe, roughly)
Yonderland (OTL Mozambique)
Carolina-upon-Essex (Guyana)
North Yonderland (OTL Tanzania)
New Scotland (OTL Angola)

States and Colonies of the Republican Union, 1950 AD

Nova Scotia
Massachusetts (OTL Mass and Maine)
Vermont
New Hampshire
Rhode Island
Connecticut
New York
New Jersey
Pennsylvania
Delaware
Ohio (Ohio plus most of Indiana)
Michigania
Keybeck (Quebec and Newfoundland)
Ontario
Burr (Manitoba and Nunavut)
Redemption (Saskatchewan, Alberta, Northern Territory)
Lincolnia (Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Guinea)
Yukon (OTL Yukon and Columbia)
Destiny (OTL Alaska)
Crawford (Greenland)
New Saxony (Iceland)
Douglass (OTL Burkina Faso, Eastern Mali)
Cromwell (OTL Mauritania, Gambia, Senegal, Western Sahara)

States and Colonies of the Confederation of Corea, 1950 AD

Corea (OTL Korean Peninsula)
North Corea (OTL Manchuria, Liaoning, Primor ye)
West Corea (OTL Inner Mongolia, parts of Mongolia)

States and Colonies of the Republic of Japan, 1950 AD

Hokkaido (OTL Hokkaido and Sakhalin)
Mitsubishi (Stretches from OTL Aomori to Fukishima)
Barton (Stretches from Ibariki to Kyoto)
New Osaka (Stretches from Mie to Okinawa)
Formosa (Taiwan)
West Japan (Hainan and Guangdong)
New Nippon (Fujian and Zhejiang)
New Kyoto (Shanghai)​

 

[Kienle]

Despite the later adoption of nukes than OTL, something is telling me that the world is trying to work on rockets and computer technologies earlier than OTL. However, a dictatorial England and Germany could likely snuff out smart people like Alan Turing, Konrad Zuss and various Polish scientists.
Edit: Also, I found it is interesting that the RU army was not as effective as I thought. Seems like they are more fanatical than competent.

 

[Murica1776]

Despite the later adoption of nukes than OTL, something is telling me that the world is trying to work on rockets and computer technologies earlier than OTL. However, a dictatorial England and Germany could likely snuff out smart people like Alan Turing, Konrad Zuss and various Polish scientists.

Rocket technology is definitely being boosted. I plan on writing about a 4-way space race between the Union, Virginia, Germania, and Russia.

Computers are probably being experimented with, but they're going to wind up pretty Fallout-esque because social media is too dangerous for the world's governments to allow, even the freer ones like Virginia. However, extensive use of primitive GPS technology to track criminals is going to be a big thing

 

[Kienle]

Rocket technology is definitely being boosted. I plan on writing about a 4-way space race between the Union, Virginia, Germania, and Russia.

Computers are probably being experimented with, but they're going to wind up pretty Fallout-esque because social media is too dangerous for the world's governments to allow, even the freer ones like Virginia. However, extensive use of primitive GPS technology to track criminals is going to be a big thing

So, in a sense, the miniaturization of transistors might be delayed? This is according to the Fallout wiki description of computer technologies. Or, they could be more analog-based than digital like OTL. Analog makes sense since they have poor interface, preventing social media and software technologies.

Aside, the Russians are rising fast. They might become a new science and technological center of Europe.

 

[Murica1776]

So, in a sense, the miniaturization of transistors might be delayed? This is according to the Fallout wiki description of computer technologies. Or, they could be more analog-based than digital like OTL. Analog makes sense since they have poor interface, preventing social media and software technologies.

Aside, the Russians are rising fast. They might become a new science and technological center of Europe.

I figured that since the Russians have been described by Napo as almost Rapture-esque that once they got their house in order the economy and technology would kinda take off

 

[Born in the USSA]

So if Georgia remains haunted by the loss of the war, in a theoretical post-apocalypse would the country (being an anti-Republican Union and as a minor power more likely to survive) immediately begin attempting to conquer the shattered remains of her neighbors? An Alt!Madness should have a version of the unified Southron Columbia at some point, right?

 

[Murica1776]

So if Georgia remains haunted by the loss of the war, in a theoretical post-apocalypse would the country (being an anti-Republican Union and as a minor power more likely to survive) immediately begin attempting to conquer the shattered remains of her neighbors? An Alt!Madness should have a version of the unified Southron Columbia at some point, right?

I actually don't plan on an apocalypse, but theoretically yes this could happen.

 

[Born in the USSA]

Al

I actually don't plan on an apocalypse, but theoretically yes this could happen.

Alternatively "Columbia" could just be a rename of the LSS after they force Georgia to join. Attempts to strongarm CoCaro would just push them further into the Allied camp, and boom, you'd have a Cold War on the American continent with global implications if the two sides decide to go at it.

 

[Murica1776]

Al

Alternatively "Columbia" could just be a rename of the LSS after they force Georgia to join. Attempts to strongarm CoCaro would just push them further into the Allied camp, and boom, you'd have a Cold War on the American continent with global implications if the two sides decide to go at it.

Maybe a way to get this to happen since Georgia is already a member (not by choice) would be to have Gran Colombia join for protection against the Pact and Eduists, and then the whole thing gets rebranded and gradually integrated.

 

[Ameroboto]

Man, Georgia got freakin' rekt'd! Serve those racist, CSA knockoffs right! I wonder what happened to Popov?

 

[Murica1776]

Man, Georgia got freakin' rekt'd! Serve those racist, CSA knockoffs right! I wonder what happened to Popov?

Well, presuming he wasn't torn apart by his own people, he was probably tried and hanged by the victors, lol. And the ideal is for everyone to destroy everyone, but that's not gonna happen

 

[Murica1776]

I'm taking a break from alt! Madness for a bit to write some Cokie fried pulp fiction along the lines of Napo's stories from the TL and some of the things I mentioned in this thread

 

[Murica1776]

Michael Storm and the Scotchwoman's Revenge was the third adventure of the titular character, created by author Albert V. Nielsen, and was published as a short dime novel by Gore 'n More Entertainment in August of 1921. Gore 'n More Entertainment was a Charlotte based PI, Crime, and War Novel publisher. The company was successful enough, but Michael Storm was what put them over the top. This novel, along with several others, would be adapted into talkies later on. Here's the first part of this classic adventure:

Michael Storm and the Scotchwoman's Revenge Part I & II
By Albert V. Nielsen


Part I​

*BOOM*
*BOOM*
*BOOM*

I drink my coffee and sigh as I look out the window. It's springtime in Charlotte, so it's basically monsoon season. This is the fourth thunderstorm in as many days, and it's a killer. I can see the trees straining against the wind. I sit there and ponder for a moment, wondering if I'm the wind or the trees. Shaking myself out of my stupor, I pick up one of the manila folders on my desk and fill out some paperwork. It's tax season, and as much as I hate the paperwork, its preferable to a visit from the Virtuemen. I'm in the middle of trying to figure out how to claim my hunting ammo as a business expense when I hear three sharp raps on my door. I look at my watch. 10:30 pm. I holler "Sorry, we're closed! Try again tomorrow!" Three more raps on my door, and I hear what sounds like an argument. Sounds like my assistant Louise is trying to remove the miscreant. More sharp raps, getting louder and more aggressive. "Can't you hear good? We're closed! I'm warnin ya, I'm armed!"

The door suddenly opens. Louise gives me a defeated look and says "I'm so sorry Mr. Storm, but she isn't going to go away. Maybe just talk to her for a few minutes? It'll be good paying work, interesting too from the sound of it." I sighed and slump backed in my gen-uine High Point made leather chair, made from Jacksonland harvested cow leather. A real luxury. Paying work is plentiful these days, ever since I shut down those Illuminist Hillbillies out west way. However, it's mostly nickel and dime crap, and boring as all hell. Mrs. Johnson thinks Mr. Johnson has a sweet young thing in the city who he's staying with. Mr. Radcliff is pretty sure the wife's been getting more than produce from the milk man. A businessman wants to sabotage his rival. It keeps the lights on and the icebox full, but it ain't much more. So, anything that's interesting, lucrative, or both will catch my attention. "It's alright Louise, let er in. And we've been over this, you can call me Mike. You're like a momma to me," I say as I pull out a glass and a bottle of Lagavulin 16 year aged scotch. Louise smiles and says "I know Mike. Just strange to not be proper and formal like with my boss is all. I'll send er in now."

Louise waves her arm and then disappears back to her desk. I don't know exactly what I expected to walk through that door, but I certainly didn't anticipate what I found standing in my doorway. To say it was a dame would be to grossly understate the facts. She was a tall, pale thing in a black lounge singer's dress that showed off her long legs, and matching velvet gloves. Her hair was a deep red, almost having a mahogany quality, and her eyes were emerald green. Up North this dame probably would have had to dye her hair and keep her SIN close by. She slunk through my door and said in a thick Scottish brogue "You're Michael Storm aren't ye? The feller who broke those Loomie inbreds out around Nashville?" I make a dramatic flourish with my hands and say "The one and only ma'am. Take a seat. Would you care for a drink? A cigarette?"

The dame practically glides over to one of the worn out chairs in front of my desk and says "Both if ye please." I pull out a pack of Kilgharrah cigs and open the small bar next to my desk. "Pick your poison sweetheart." To my surprise, she points to the bottle of Lagavulin 16. I take it out and as I pour, I ask "You sure about this? This is an awful strong drink for a pretty thing like you." She laughs, grabs the glass out of my hand, and takes a healthy swig. "Mr. Storm, I'm sure you can tell from my accent, but I'm Scottish, born 'n raised. They practically wean us on this stuff in the Old Country." I nod and refill her glass, then offer her a Kilgharrah before taking one for myself and lighting us up. The nicotine and tobacco hit me with a nice smooth buzz. I can tell the dame feels the same way. No wonder they named this stuff after Merlin's pet dragon, it's strong enough to be dragon breath. Finally, I get down to brass tacks "I ain't never had a dame like you in here, and I ain't never had a client basically kick down my door to meet me. So I'm real curious about what you're puttin down."

She takes a long draw on the cig, puts it out, and takes another from the pack on my desk. I notice her hands are shaking. Finally, the dame answers my question. "My name's Siofra Armstrong. I'm in mortal danger Mr. Storm, and I need your help. The OPV is busy dealing with more important things. Mercenaries are hit or miss. I think you're the only man who can help me." I cock an eyebrow and motion for her to continue. Another swig, another draw, and then the spilling of the beans "I'm a singer Mr. Storm. I'm the headliner at the Camelot Lounge over on Tryon Street. It's one of the hottest lounges in the city. Lotta high rollers, and honestly quite a few gangsters. I'm a pretty doll with a mean little piece so usually I'm left alone." To demonstrate this point, she pulls out a .38 snubnosed revolver from her clutch handbag. Continuing, she says "But this thing ain't gonna protect me from Bobby Mackenzie and his goons. I overhead him talking about a bootlegging deal that's going down and he wants to put me down for good. I can't rat to the OPV because then it'll be plastered across the front of the Observer and I'll be a dead woman walking. But, if we can get more information on the deal and take down Bobby, I should be safe again. Please Mr. Storm, help me!? I can pay you very well."

It was my turn to take a massive gulp of scotch. There's dangerous, and then there's whatever this dame was mixed up in. Bobby Mackenzie is a fella from Glasgow who moved Caroline-side after the War. He quickly became one of the most dangerous gangsters this side of the Mississippi. Bootlegging, drug running, murder for hire, blackmail, indecent materials, whores, you name an illegal activity, Bobby Mackenzie probably ran it in Charlotte and most of North Cackalacky. I love the thrill of the chase, but I ain't dying yet. I try to back out, "Miss Armstrong, you have yourself a real pickle there. One that's too much for one PI. Go to the OPV. They can fix ya up, put ya into hiding if need be. I'm a detective, not a one man army." The dame starts crying right then and there. I have no idea how to react, so I just refill her glass and light her another cigarette. Finally, she composed herself. She was clearly heading into persuasion mode, her posture had changed, her eyes had something between a soft glow and the calculating look of a jaguar, and she was fiddling with her cig. "Michael... may I call you Michael?" she purrs. I shrug and she continues, "Michael, I know I'm asking a lot of you. You're a feller trying to make a living, not get shot by a rampaging Glaswegian. But you're my only option. As far as I can tell, you're the only man in this city capable of taking down Bobby Mackenzie. I can't tell you it won't be dangerous. But, I will pay you well and you'll have a friend for life. As for the money, take a look at this envelope." She throws a thick envelope of cash at me, and it was indeed a lot. I could buy a brand new auto and have enough left for a vacation to East Carolina. She kept talking as I was counting, "As for being my friend, I'm very nice to my friends Michael. Especially the big, burly ones who protect me from crazed criminals. You'll find me quite amenable once this is all over. If you're interested in having a pretty thing like me as a friend that is."

I pinch the bridge of my nose, and shake my head. I can feel that this is gonna be a bad idea, and that it could very well bite me. But when you have a gorgeous example of Scottish Presbyterian Womanhood throwing cash and themselves at you for help, well sometimes better judgement escapes you. "Fine, I'll help you. And if we get out of this alive, maybe I'll take ya with me on a cruise to East Carolina." She gives me a wry smile. "Ye've got yourself a deal there Michael. Meet me at the lounge around 8 pm tomorrow. You'll have a table waiting." She got up and sauntered out, making sure to give me a show as she left. I slammed back another scotch and some sleeping pills. I needed all the rest I could get.

Part II
​

Miss Armstrong had not been lying when she said that the Camelot Lounge was swanky. As I walk in and get my coat checked, I see dozens of men in fine suits and their lady friends in dresses and pearls. I toss a dime to the cigarette girl and get myself a pack of Kilgharrah's to smoke. A short, bald little man in a new tuxedo and wearing a pair of horn-rimmed glasses on his beak-like nose walks up to me and says "Good evening sir. My name is Horton Brennan, and welcome to the Camelot Lounge. Do you have a reservation?" I look down at him and say "Name's Michael Storm. I'm a friend of Siofra Armstrong's. She's expecting me." The little man nods in understanding "Ah, you're the one she told me to hold a table for. She also said for me to escort you back stage to speak with her. Follow me sir. Your table will be ready when you get out."

I follow Mr. Brennan backstage, where a half dozen showgirls are getting dressed. We head past the girls and go to a door with a yellow star that reads Armstrong. Mr. Brennan knocks and says "Sue! Your guest is here!" He then rushes off to do something else. The door opens and I'm greeted by the dame, this time wearing a satin white number and with her makeup fully done. "Right on time. I do love a punctual man. Come in," she says. I oblige and enter the small dressing room. There's not a chair so I clear a spot on top of a closed steamer trunk and sit down. "You got any booze back here?" With an alluring smile, the Scotchwoman grabs a bottle of Lagavulin 16 and two glasses, then pours each of us a rather large glass. "I told ye, I practically grew up on the stuff." I chuckle and take the drink, "Well, I never said you were a liar." It was her turn to laugh, and I have to admit, it's a nice sound. I set my drink down and say, "Alright, let's get right into it. What did you overhear about the deal and what do I need to find out, and from whom?" The dame laughs and says "Well aren't you a romantic? I'm not expecting you to show up on a white charger, but not even a how do you do?" I light up a Kilgharrah and say, "Tell ya what sugar cookie, we get outta this thing alive and I'll be a regular Lancelot. Flowers, chocolates, you name it. But for now, I'm focused on the case. So spill."

She raises her hands in mock surrender and says, "Why of course good sir. I heard who they were selling too and how much product they were moving. They were selling 590 gallons of illegal corn mash liquor to the Van Owen brothers from Charleston. They're meeting somewhere, but I don't know where. One of Bobby's legates, Jimmy Gunderson, is here tonight. He'll have the goods. By the time my set ends he should have his guard down. Then you ought to be able to get whatever you want out of him." I write the pertinent info down in my notepad, then ask "Gunderson, what does he look like?" She tosses her hair and says "He's medium height, stocky, brown hair and eyes, ugly face with a big scar over the left eye." I write this down and nod "That sounds good. Anything else?" She laughs, runs a finger along my arm, and says "No officer, that's all the testimony I have. I'm getting ready to go on. I got Horton to give you a free bottle of Lagavulin. Just sit back and enjoy the show Mr. Storm." I nod, smile, and head out.

After leaving the backstage area, I sit down at my table, which is already set with the aforementioned bottle of scotch, a ribeye steak, baked potato, and green beans. Damn, that dame knows the way to a man's heart. As I sit, I scan the audience and see Gunderson. He's the only guy with a scar on his eye, and he's got two blondes on his arm. That in mind, I start tearing into my meal and booze. Horton comes back out and says "Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for your patronage of the Camelot Lounge. It is my extraordinary pleasure to introduce to you our lovely headliner from across the sea, Miss Siofra Armstrong!" The crowd goes nuts, and I give my fair share of applause. The curtain goes up and she gives the crowd that saunter I remember from last night. She heads up to the microphone and says "Good evening y'all. I'm so happy to be here with you tonight, bringing you a bit of entertainment. I'd ask you to please stand as you are able and put your hands over your hearts, as you join me in the singing of our national anthem." I bolt up and salute, as is my right as a veteran of the GPW. The dame gives an outright stunning rendition of Hark the Sound. I damn near cried, it was that good. After the performance, I joined in the general chorus of folks applauding and screaming "Hark the Damn Sound!" Once the crowd died down, she went into her set. It was excellent, I have to admit. Dame knows her way around a microphone.

After the set, Gunderson is pretty clearly intoxicated. I head over to him when he's by the restroom and say "Hey fella, ain't you Jimmy Gunderson?" The ugly bulldog of a man looks up at me with an ugly glare "Who wants to know?" I put on a 100 watt smile and say "It's me! Mikey? From high school?" Gunderson gets in my face. "I didn't go to high school with no Mikey! Who the hell are you boy?" Instead of responding, I grab him by his lapels and drag him into the bathroom, slamming him against a wall. "Alright, you're gonna do this the hard way, huh?" The goon looks at me totally shocked "What in God's name you talkin bout?" I get right in the miscreant's face and shout "Your boss Bobby Mackenzie is selling moonshine to the Van Owens brothers! Where the hell is the deal going down?" The crook gets a smug look on his face "You're a Virtueman ain't ya? Oh please, what are you gonna do, arrest me? I done been arrested 4 times. Between folks like me, the Loomies, and all the illegals, they can't be bothered to get anything on me that sticks cuz y'all are too busy frying bigger fish!" I move my left hand to his neck, and remove my right hand to pull out my .45. "I ain't no Virtueman boy. I'm a lot less friendly. Now, you're going to tell me where the deal is goin down, or I'll blow your brains out!" The man's smile quickly disappeared and he yelled "Who in the Sam Hell do you work for then?" I strike him with the gun, breaking his nose. "If you keep stalling Gunderson, you're gonna be leaving in a body bag. Now, where are they meeting?" The crook slumped in defeat "I'm gonna be a dead man either way ain't I?" I nod. He finally relents and says "They're gonna be meeting in Orangeburg. Neutral territory. That way no one can't do nothing shifty. Now, can I at least know who you are, what with me getting ready to die?" I look the man in the eyes. "Fraid not sir." I drop him and motion for him to leave before me. He basically runs out.

I leave the bathroom and light up another cig. I look around for the dame to tell her what's going on. As I'm heading backstage to go find her, Horton stops me. "She's in her dressing room, wanted me to come find you." He runs his hand over his bald head and stops me again. "Son, can I offer you a word of advice?" I look at him, mildly annoyed. "Sure fella, what about?" He steps in close "Be careful with Sue. She's a beautiful girl, good Presbyterian Scotch stock, etc. A decent person. But she's got a wild side. Loves drama. Gets mixed up in all kinds of crazy stuff. Heck, there was a time when she let Bobby Mackenzie court her! Just take care of yourself, and her, alright?" I nod and speed off. She's an ex of Bobby Mackenzie, and just happened to overhear details of a major deal going down? Something fishy is going on, and I'm going to find out.

What is Siofra Armstrong's real goal? Is she still in love with the deadly gangster? Is she entrapping Michael Storm for his work fighting crime? Or is she genuinely a good girl deep down? Can Michael redeem her, maybe even make an honest woman of her? And what happens with the deal between these despicable anti-Carolinian crooks? Find out in parts III & IV!

 

[Murica1776]

More alt! Madness coming!

 

[Murica1776]

A Peculiar Friendship: The Cokie-Yankee Alliance

FTR announcing CoCaro's observer status in the AFN.
​

The semi-alliance between the Carolinas and the Republican Union doesn't make much sense at first glance. Being a part of the old United States the RU should, by all accounts, be sharpening its knives to get ready and attack the Carolinas to achieve its Manifest Destiny. On the other hand, the Cokies are famously xenophobic, and don't truly care for any foreigners aside from their Corean allies and the Scotch. Nonetheless, when one examines the situation more carefully, the reasons for this alliance become apparent.

First and foremost, the two nations are very ethnically similar. Yankeeland is a fairly "pure" repository of Anglo-Saxon and Teutonic-Nordic peoples, although obviously African Americans and Jews make up a decent minority of the Union. The Carolinas are some 85% descended from Ulster Scotch and Scotch Presbyterians, the rest being a mix of English, Welsh, German, and some Coreans. This count excludes the millions of native Africans toiling away in the nation's colonial empire, who are not citizens in any meaningful sense. What this means is that from an ethno-religious standpoint, the two nations had more in common with each other than with anyone else in the Western Hemisphere. In a world where such things are extremely important, this did much to soften each nation in the other's eye. Economically, friendship made sense. In spite of their limited geographic scope, the Yankees had built themselves into an industrial powerhouse by the time of the Great War. For their part, the Cokies' rich and verdant African empire won after the Cokies bought up much of Portuguese Africa enabled them to grow and mine things the Yankees needed for cheaper prices compared to the Dutch and Germanians. When combined with a lack of shared borders to drive tension and their shared dislike/hatred of the other Southrons, an alliance is actually sensible. Now, let's examine the events leading up to the actual signing of the AFN Charter.

In the aftermath of the Great War, both the Union and Carolina grew rapidly, gobbling up parts of the Europan world by either warfare or fire sale. With this growth in land came a massive growth in economic activity. The Yankees, looking for cheaper sources of tobacco, cotton, and sugar, soon signed a trade deal with the Cokies in 1915. It benefitted both parties immensely. Of special note, Cokie cigars and Cokie-Cola soon became immensely popular in the Union, which had never been known for either cigars or sodas. The deal caused controversy on both sides, but had such huge potential for profit that dissent was quickly shut up by the government and corporations. Cokie Yankee relations received another boost after the Embassy Massacre. The Yankees were utterly horrified by the Illuminist Russians, and ardently cheered on the Carolinians along with most of the world, quite frankly. Although the Cokies didn't achieve their dream of overthrowing the Illuminist government, the ferocity with which they fought earned the country praise in the Union press as "A bunch of pure blooded Pinnacle folk beating back the heathen darkness with light and grinder fire." However, what truly turned relations warm was the Invasion of Alaska.

The Yankee lightning war succeeded in pushing the Russians out of Alaska quickly. However, in their rush to the sea, the Union had outrun its supply lines. When the Loomies counterattacked, the Union seemed to be in danger of losing it all. When Charlotte offered up 6 volunteer regiments for fairly little in return, the Union eagerly accepted. The Cokie troops fought like demented redneck banshees, and helped break the Loomie advance. These hard fighting Southrons earned the respect of their Yankee compatriots for their patriotism, martial ability, and strong Protestantism. The Cokies felt likewise, although they were still suspicious of Fundamentalism. The Cokie-Yankee joint victory parade after the Invasion helped solidify this idea in the minds of most Americans (African Americans remained skeptical for obvious reasons). Looking at that parade, the Yankees knew that these Cokies weren't the miscegenated, Pope worshipping, redheaded thugs and slatterns of Virginia. They weren't the vicious Orthodox mongoloid Slavs of Georgia. And they definitely weren't those crazed animals in Texas. As the Yankees observed the nigh endless rows of almost identical clean cut, brown-haired, blue eyed Southrons marching under the Moon and Stars, they didn't look like foreigners. They looked like the neighbor boys from down the street. In the aftermath, the relationship between the nations became a true friendship, as can be reflected by the media in both countries after the parade. The New York Times positively gushed over the Carolinians and the Alaskan Expeditionary Force, saying "The AEF is proof that the Cokies are a truly Pinnacle and exceptional nation. These Southrons, despite their origins, are good Protestant Anglo-Saxons. And they sent thousands of troops thousands of miles, literally to the other side of the continent, to help defend American freedom. Jehovah bless them." The Cokies responded in kind, with the Charleston Mercury saying "There are many aspects of American Life which, to us, seem quite weird. However, this doesn't alter the most important fact. They are our brothers in Protestantism, and our racial kin. May God watch over the Republican Union of America, our Northern Friends."

During the Shatter, the Cokies were officially neutral concerning the various conflicts of Yankeeland, being more focused on gobbling up Sicilian Africa before the Germans or, God forbid, the Texans. In practice the Cokies provided material aid to the Yankees, and thousands of Carolinian and Corean volunteers fought in Ireland and Israel. For their part, the Yankees donated bullets to the Cokies in Africa, and several hundred Minutemen did offer some limited support. These informal actions did more to tighten the bonds between the two nations. However, it would be the Great Southron War that finally encouraged the two to join in an alliance. The Yankees and their sphere backed the Cokie war effort with material, and were the only nations to not express shock and horror over the Gassing of Athens. Quite the contrary, the Fascist world praised the act as "A mass mercy killing of vicious Voidlings."

After the GSW, the balance of power on the continent was permanently altered. The Virginians and Texans ran the show. Georgia was a broken shell, a satellite state. Maryland was still almost an extension of Virginia. Carolina stood alone as a non-Catholic Southron powerhouse. With the detonation of Ol'Dominion and the formation of the League of Southron States, the Cokies practically ran to Philadelphia to join the AFN. The Cokies viewed themselves as boxed in by aggressive Catholic/partly Catholic hegemons, and they weren't entirely wrong. To avoid attracting too much ire, the Cokies and their Corean allies only signed up for Observer status. However, the general good feeling and military friendliness between the two nations, plus their nuclear arsenals, did enough to deter the rest of the Southrons. In the years after the AFN was created, the Carolinians basically acted as full members anyway, ardently contributing to Fascist imperialism, and receiving Fascist support for their own projects. Hark the Sound and All Hail!

 

[Murica1776]

This is for mainline Madness, inspired by Fort Lincoln.

What Y'all Can't See Won't Hurt Ya: The History of Fort Jackson

Barracks at Fort Jackson, date unknown, likely around the time of Manifest Climax​

In the howling expanse of the Kalahari Desert, there is a fort, rising up from the sandy desert. It is a large, hexagonal building made of reinforced concrete, with a large barracks area attached, complete with a fully equipped mess hall and an R&R facility. The only way to or from the fort is via a private road built by the Confederate government, a long strip of asphalt that basically gleams in the desert sun. This is Fort Jackson, the Confederate government's best kept secret. Not even the Yankees know of its existence. This fort is run by the Army and the CMRI, and is used for all manner of experiments. But why was this huge, expensive facility even built?

The Great Patriotic War taught the Confederate government lots of things about industrial warfare and modern geopolitics. One of the hardest won lessons was learned in Ulster. There, the BU and Europans alike employed chemical and biological weapons with aplomb. Carolinian observers witnessed similar things on the Canadian and Pacifican Fronts. However, Ulster is what brought it home. It is one thing to read about anthrax being weaponized or mustard gas being deployed on far off battlefields. It is quite another to see one's son come home in a box, blistered and swollen by anthrax, or to have to care for a husband blinded by poison gas. These devastating weapons were part of normal, modern warfare. They were horrifying, but effective. As the Carolinians learned this hard lesson, they realized something; they didn't have much of these weapons. Despite being a reasonable power, the Cokies weren't exactly what one would call "cutting edge." Their tried and true firearms and counterinsurgency methods were indeed effective, but their capability paled compared to the ability of the truly great powers to wage war, crush rebels, and smite their enemies. This weaponry gap had grown unacceptably large. It needed to be closed.

In 1915, the Carolinians broke ground on Fort Jackson, which was placed in the northwestern section of the Kalahari, firmly in Jacksonland. It is one of the few structures in Carolinian Africa not built by African de-facto slaves. Paranoia over security concerns led the Confederate government to build it using entirely Army troops, who were given the most modern construction equipment available. The fort was a state of the art building, featuring advanced laboratories, a huge underground prison complex, air conditioning, telephone lines, radio frequency emitters, and fairly plush accomodations for the troops, including record players, a skeet shooting range, and a telegram office subsidized by the Confederate government. The exact cost of the fort is unknown, as expenditures related to its construction were buried in various parts of the budget, but it wasn't cheap. Construction was completed by 1917. Every soldier responsible for building the fort was then stationed there as the security detail. The Chancellor himself visited them to make one thing clear; if they told anyone that there even was a Fort Jackson in Jacksonland, they would never be seen again. The troops got the message.

Shortly afterwards, the CMRI showed up to take joint custody of the fort. This particular unit of the CMRI, the Offensive Weapons Division, showed up on the org chart as an unimportant part of the Experimental Weapons Division. In reality, every one of its members was at least a Lieutenant Colonel, and almost outranked the head of the CMRI himself. Fort Jackson was run by OWD Chief General Hawthorne MacDougall, a second generation Scottish immigrant famous for his cold green eyes and ruthless disposition. Out in the desert, he led the CMRI men in their first endeavor, mastering the mass production of chemicals like mustard and chlorine gas. This was fairly simple, and did not require human testing. However, after this the OWD turned to more experimental endeavors.

This turn coincided with the Carolinian intervention in the Germanian Civil War. The War actually halted experiments at Fort Jackson, as most of the garrison was called up to invade Germanian Africa. After the war, experiments could truly begin. The OWD was interested in a variety of weapons, but the first one they truly tested was an attempt at making a fast acting and more lethal version of chlorine gas, dubbed UltraChlorine Gas. These experiments were surprisingly conducted on thousands of white Germanian Illuminist POW's after the war. This disgusted some of Cokie High Command, who felt that Anglo-Saxon-Teutons, no matter how corrupt, should be treated with more dignity. Chancellor Gamble disagreed, saying "Gentlemen, don't be so squeamish. We would have to kill these worthless animals one way or another. Might as well get something out of it." The Carolinians did succeed in creating a more potent form of chlorine gas, but also came to the conclusion that such a weapon didn't have much more utility than regular chlorine gas. Instead, the OWD began testing incendiary bombs and biological weapons. Various desert villages in the Kalahari and Nambi deserts were obliterated by new classes of incendiary weapons developed at Fort Jackson. The OWD also built model towns by Fort Jackson that they filled with prisoners and then fire bombed, in order to see the effects of the weapons on modern towns and villages.

The bioweapons division conducted all manner of gruesome experiments to track the progressions of various diseases, as well as determine new diseases that could be turned into weapons. Model towns were also built for this division, which used them as a rough sort of guide to see how disease spreads in a modern environment. Anthrax, syphilis, influenza, E Coli, and gonorrhea were among the viruses and bacterias tested on unwilling test subjects, and the results were as horrific as one might assume. Valuable data was obtained from these experiments, but at the cost of thousands of human lives. Fort Jackson blew through roughly 600 prisoners a month and needed constant sources of human test subjects

To obtain these subjects, the CMRI partnered with an unwitting OPV. The OPV in Jacksonland was instructed to call a hotline for any variety of crimes, and a van would come and pick up the miscreant, freeing up their time and resources. No one was told who ran the hotline, and people who asked too many questions got fired or worse. Fort Jackson had a fleet of new vans with Wexford stylings that would be sent out. They were uniformly white except for a seal on each side of the van, the seal of the OWD, described by General MacDougall as "A Cokie Vulture that's mad as hell, holding a banner in his beak that reads "scientia est potentia" (knowledge is power) and clutching a musket in each talon." These vans would go into villages and ghettos set aside for Afro-Cokies and Africans native to the region and depopulate them, taking hundreds at a time and throwing them in the back of the vans, never to be seen again. However, white Cokies were not immune to being treated this way. White Cokies who were LGBT, mentally ill/physically crippled (from factors unrelated to war and accident), suspected Illuminists, and white women and girls accused of interracial fornication (i.e. having physical contact with a Black man that didn't involve beating him for disobedience) were all fair game to be picked up by a white van and whisked away to Fort Jackson, never to be seen again. Predictably, rumors started to crop up. Some said that the government was taking them away as laborers. Others thought that the OPV was deporting them or using them for target practice. Many correctly suspected experimentation of some kind, but what kind varied wildly depending on who was talking. Some particularly kookie types wondered if the government had been infiltrated by Satanists, and was using the van fleet to round up sacrifices for the Prince of Darkness. Interestingly, aside from the rumors of Satanism, the government actually allowed these theories to be spread to a certain extent. As Chancellor Gamble put it, "These rumors about being scooped up by a white van and having God knows what happen to you will do more to encourage law abiding behavior and proper morality than 1,000 Virtuemen. The OPV is nothing compared to fear of the ominous and unknown." Based on the OPV statistics coming out of Jacksonland, it appears the Chancellor had a point. Not that that stopped innocent Africans from being scooped up by vans regardless. And the march of Carolinian Progress went on.

General MacDougall inspecting the troops at Fort Jackson. A second barracks was built in 1938 as the fort grew in importance and size.

A van of similar make and model to those used by the CMRI

A scientist at Fort Jackson, date unknown.​