The Fallen Continent: Texas (Part 2)
We tackle the remaining twenty-two factions of the Lone Star State.
Population: 2,150,000
Largest City outside of Aztlan: College Station
Texas, O Texas! Your freeborn single star,
Sends out its radiance to nations near and far.
Emblem of freedom! It sets our hearts aglow,
With thoughts of San Jacinto and glorious Alamo.
Introduction
[Note: This is a continuation of Part 1 of the Texas article. You can read that entry here, if you haven’t already.]
North of Aztlan and east of the fury of the Panhandle where the fury of Dodge City fell upon Midland, the rest of Texas struggled for survival. With no federal authority to aid them, central and east Texas was left to fend for itself and fell under the control of dozens of tiny factions and hundreds of petty warlords. The central Texas “thunderdome” has since died down, and its plethora of factions has been consolidated into a mere twenty-two. Of those, seven claim to be the rightful rulers of all of Texas; of those, three claim the entire United States, and of those, one of them—a religious millenarian faction—effectively claims the entire world.
State of Texas (Pampa)
Capital: Pampa
Classification: Federal Legacy (Federally-installed state government)
Allegiance: United States of America (Dodge City)
The Texas Panhandle was once the seat of the nation’s capital, during the coldest months of the nuclear winter. After the destruction of Amarillo and several nearby cities, the government fled to Dodge City and then to Midland, leaving the Panhandle in a state of neglect. In the brief period between the fall of Amarillo and the outbreak of the Dodge City—Midland War, the Federal Emergency Management Agency stepped in to govern the remaining refugee camps.
Though FEMA Region 6’s headquarters in Denton were destroyed, the Twin Falls and Amarillo governments had hastily scrambled together emergency forces under the command of surviving elements of FEMA leadership. Placed in command of refugee resettlement camps, complete with food and medicine stockpiles and armed guards, FEMA was a critical pillar of federal authority wherever they could be found. With no consensus on which President to follow and no other powers to guide them, state and local authorities in the region cooperated with FEMA and followed their lead until Brannigan’s Guard came in.
FEMA Region 6 was effectively a rival government in its own right on the eve of the Dodge City—Midland War. Still, they lacked the strength or professionalism to resist the advance of Brannigan’s Guard as they marched south towards Midland. Starving, untrained, and unequipped the Guard may have been, but they were millions and FEMA simply couldn’t fight them all. They stood by as the Guard marched into the northern Panhandle and devoured the food stockpiles meant for the refugees. Many of them fought amongst the existing Amarillo refugees and formed small gangs and cliques, many of which melted away into the countryside as bandits and petty warlords. Most simply starved, and those who tried to take the portion of the stockpiles set aside for FEMA themselves were driven back. Many of the FEMA camp residents, however, actually joined the Guard in their quest to reclaim John Ingersoll’s mythical hoard of grain and beef, hidden away in imaginary silos along I-20.
FEMA Region 6 itself had no choice but to accept the encroachment of Dodge City and offer their allegiance; the Midland army was moving in, and it was just then becoming apparent that Ingersoll was a psychotic, paranoid dictator who had already denounced FEMA in its entirety as a traitor organization. Throughout the early months of the war, FEMA acted as a kind of shepherd organization to Brannigan’s Guard and escorted them to the front lines. When they finally engaged Midland’s army in battle and were decimated, FEMA herded the few survivors back to their defensive line at the Oklahoma border.
The only only towns that never fell under the control of the Midland army were those north of the Dumas and Borger Exclusion Zones. South of this line, all the towns fell under the control of occupying armies and their local governments were outright abolished or left to sit out the war on the sidelines as powerless spectators. North of Dumas and Borger, however, the towns retained some degree of independence and had enough of a reprieve that they could recover from the incredible strain of having to accommodate Brannigan’s Guard. These towns initially were initially self-governing and answered only to FEMA and the army, and later cried out for state representation within the Dodge City Convention. To govern them as the war progressed, the Dodge City government established a Texas state government of its own, officially headquartered in Perryton, but de facto based in Dodge City itself.
The DCC-aligned State of Texas isn’t entirely federally-contrived; it has a handful of state officials who helped establish the government in the 4th Dodge City Congress. These include some officials from various smaller state agencies, and most notably the Amarillo-era state Comptroller who survived the atomic bombing of the provisional capital. He was an early adopter of the Brannigan presidency and led an exodus of like-minded officials towards Dodge City to participate in the Texas government-in-exile, and was sworn in as its first governor. Much of the old FEMA infrastructure was de-federalized and integrated into the machinery of the Texas government; many of its armed guards were assigned to the new Texas State Guard.
Since its founding, Dodge City’s Texas has shifted its frontier south of the Amarillo Exclusion Zone. Its capital is no longer in Perryton or Dodge City, but is now based, de jure and de facto, in the more centrally-located city of Pampa. It’s the shakiest and most hard-pressed of the six contiguous Dodge City states; for once in its life, Oklahoma enjoys the privilege of being Texas’ big brother. The southern border with Aztlan is tense and lawless; it is ever plagued by bandits and crossed over by Anglo-American refugees escaping from Aztlan rule. The east is marred by pestering raids from the Road Warriors in Oklahoma, and there remains some instability within the state itself.
The state’s population is sparse, but the region is still more densely-populated than it was before the Great War due to immigration. Thanks to the larger Hispanic population than other DCC states, Texas is the most Democrat-leaning state in the Convention, though it is still dominated by the Republican Party at the state and federal level. Texas also has the lowest standard of living out of all the DCC contiguous states, and public utilities are rare. Like Oklahoma, a very large portion of the population is made up of “relocated persons,” who lack most political and economic rights that full citizens enjoy.
Texas Ranger Division
Capital: Vernon
Classification: State Legacy (State law enforcement regime)
The Texas Ranger Division’s history is long and storied, and their deeds are some of the most renowned in the history of the state. Naturally, there were many who tried to emulate that fame and give legitimacy to their movements, and took the name of Texas Ranger for themselves. The Texas Rangers operating in the vicinity of Junction, deep in Aztlan territory, are one such faction; most self-proclaimed Texas Ranger regimes, however, fell apart or were absorbed into other factions. The lone exception is the only one to actually descend from the real antebellum Texas Ranger Division.
The Rangers, in their current configuration, were founded by five actual Texas Rangers who recruited a small militia after the Great War. From this nucleus, they grew into a small neo-nomadic army that controlled much of Texas near the Oklahoma border. They initially fought in the name of the Amarillo government, but were pushed to the wayside during the Dodge City—Midland War. They briefly championed the cause of Walla Walla, and were left isolated thereafter. Since then, they’ve stuck to their sphere of influence by the Red River, and cooperate closely with the 137th Special Operations Wing in Frederick, Oklahoma.
The rise of Aztlan in recent years has put the Rangers in an unenviable position. They are now the only force resisting Aztlan expansion from expanding into north-central Texas, and they don’t have the strength to keep it up forever.
Graham Gardeners
Capital: Graham
Classification: Warlord (Local warlord gang)
The Graham Gardeners are a small warlord band that rides the line between vigilante gang and plain raider gang. They aren’t quite orderly enough to be a vigilante gang, nor do they really keep up the pretense that they exist to keep law and order; even the most brutish and despotic vigilante regimes at least maintain an illusion of civility (see: the Farmer’s Defense League). But they aren’t exactly a raider gang, who rides far and wide to bring back loot to their home base. Rather, they could simply be called a “local warlord gang”: a plain and simple despotic warlord regime that’s committed to defending its home turf and controlling the economic activity that occurs there, with no real attempts to legitimize or justify their rule.
Their name refers to their trade: they’re the Gardeners because they put bodies in the ground.
Texas Highway Patrol
Capital: Decatur
Classification: State Legacy (State law enforcement regime)
Allegiance: State of Texas (Paris)
This orphaned troop of the Texas Highway Patrol originally belonged to District A of the Northwest Texas Region. As that region was headquartered in Lubbock, a Lieutenant of the THP declared himself the Major of the region and expanded his command of forty troopers into a thousands-strong militia, supplemented by law enforcement and military odds and ends from the Dallas-Fort Worth area that managed to survive the Great War and escape north into Gainesville. The Highway Patrol fought long and hard against the tide of refugees streaming north from the greater Dallas wasteland, and actually prevailed, against all odds.
The Gainesville-based Highway Patrol regime was initially poised for success, but fractured under infighting following the breakout of the Dodge City—Midland War. The DFW clique within the THP made a play for power and proclaimed their own Republic of Texas in Gainesville, while the Highway Patrol old guard split off and kept a steady course over in Decatur.
The Gainesville government has since been swallowed up by the Texoma Free State, but the Texas Highway Patrol are still going strong in their new headquarters. They continue to skirmish with Texoma raiding parties and petty gangs from the outskirts of the Greater DFW Exclusion Zone. To help ward off the threat of a full-scale Texoma invasion, the THP recognizes the State of Texas in Paris, with whom they are allied in a mutually-defensive pact against the northerners.
The rise of Aztlan is a distant rumor to Decatur, but one that’s increasingly growing louder and closer. Their ears are open to the Texas Ranger Division’s cries for help, and they’re willing to help them fight back against Aztlan. If they come too late, then perhaps they could at least give the Rangers a safe haven within their own borders.
State of Texoma
Capital: Ardmore, Oklahoma
Classification: Legitimist Warlord (Neo-feudal regime)
Headquartered in Ardmore, Oklahoma, the neo-feudal realm that encompasses much of southern Oklahoma crosses over the Red River into Texas. Although the law-enforcement led Republic of Texas in Gainesville was formidable, with professional leadership and a large army made up of DFW refugees, the forces of Jason Murdock’s Texoma Free State were more mobile and better-equipped, thanks to equipment and fuel provided by Murdock’s Promethean Energy patrons. In a masterful campaign won more by clever positioning than actual fighting, Murdock outmatched the Gainesville government and forced it to sue for peace.
As a neo-feudal strongman, Murdock didn’t outright conquer Gainesville or any other territory south of the Red River. Instead, he broke it up into a patchwork of neo-feudal vassal domains. Gainesville was allowed to retain its autonomy, while Sherman and Denison were parceled out to his loyal lieutenants. Since his conquest, no other powers have attempted to challenge his rule. Still, the accomplished dictator is showing his age, and the rise of the Road Warriors in Oklahoma and Ozarks in Arkansas present a growing threat to the long-term security of the Free State.
Bloodhounds
Capital: McKinney
Classification: Warlord (Renegade law enforcement gang)
One of the most fearsome warlord bands out of the Dallas wasteland is the Bloodhounds. Their founder was the Poundmaster, a vicious animal control officer who would sick attack dogs on his victims. He followed the other DFW law enforcement stragglers towards Gainesville and formed his own little clique within the Highway Patrol regime. His influence grew into a police gang centered around McKinney, where he controlled access to the eastern DFW Exclusion Zone. When the Gainesville authorities proclaimed their own Republic of Texas, he took advantage of the ensuing chaos between Gainesville and the Highway Patrol to establish his own fiefdom, independent of higher oversight.
The original Poundmaster has since passed away—he perished in a tripwire shotgun trap while looting a home in the outskirts of Plano—but his favorite lieutenant has assumed the Poundmaster title and maintains his predecessor’s grisly habits. They have an unspoken understanding with Texoma, in which both parties ignore each other’s doings and trade peacefully. The Bloodhounds’ main focus is on looting the Exclusion Zone and controlling traffic that passes through it. Naturally, they are the sworn enemies of the Dallas Demolition Crew on the other side.
State of Texas (Paris)
Capital: Paris
Classification: Local Government (Re-founded state government)
In the east of Texas, far removed from the federal authorities in Amarillo and Midland, local governments were forced to band together and cooperate or risk being overrun by refugees, warlords, and survivalist bandits. Three such associations formed throughout the region: one in Paris, one in Tyler, and the largest in Nacogdoches.
The Paris administration didn’t initially claim all of Texas for themselves as the only rightful government, but they did claim to represent Texas in its entirety when they sent a delegation to the Regenerated Congress in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Paris was far removed from the troubles of Hattiesburg, and it didn’t have much of a right-wing bent, so they quickly slipped away from the Congress and withdrew into isolation once Hattiesburg collapsed into infighting. Their brief involvement with far-right politics didn’t significantly affect Paris domestically, but it did cast a long shadow on their relationship with other factions and localities within Texas. The ideological leanings were less important to said factions than the fact that Paris unilaterally decided that they could represent Texas as a whole.
That line of thinking reached its natural conclusion when the Dodge City—Midland War began. Ingersoll revealed his hand as a purge-happy madman, and local governments all across the state scrambled to jump ship onto something else. After much deliberation, the Paris administration gave their reply to Midland and triumphantly proclaimed the re-foundation of the State of Texas.
Unfortunately for them, the country was too deep into anarchy for their declaration to matter, and other factions had far more urgent business to attend to. Paris’ declaration was met with silence, and the expected outpouring of support never came. To this day, the only other faction that recognizes Paris is the Highway Patrol in Decatur, more out of pragmatism and shared interest than genuine support for the regime.
Domestically, Paris state politics are not strikingly novel or complex. They have county and municipal governments and a state government, and regularly hold local and state elections. While officially democratic, the Paris government’s inner workings are obfuscated by oligarchic rule and a strong Republican Party political machine that keeps elections controlled and uncompetitive. They’re far more democratic than any of their neighbors, but not enough to decidedly win over the kind of person or entity whose support is dependent on a faction’s being a democracy.
Probably the only hotly-debated questions within the Paris government are those of Texan identity and foreign policy. There remain varying views on what direction Paris should take in the future, as it seems clear that they will never be the ones to reunify the state. From the beginning, there were always those that preferred Texas divisionism—the idea of splitting up Texas into multiple smaller states. “Lincoln,” “Jefferson,” and the unimaginative “East Texas” are all popular names for proposed post-Texan Paris, but they are all associated with existing factions and have certain connotations attached to them as a result. The most common term used in local parlance is the “State of Paris.”
Other proposals include outright secession from the United States, proclaiming a rival US government, or rapprochement with the Republic of Texas further south. A small minority even support allying with the Kingdom of the Ozarks that has shown up on their northern frontier in recent years.
Republic of Fredonia
Capital: Mt. Pleasant
Classification: Warlord (Warlord state)
The Republic of Fredonia is not so much an actual republic as it is a warlord statelet controlling the northeast corner of Texas. While not as hectic as the anarchy that spilled out of DFW, Austin, or Houston, upper East Texas still had to contend with a flood of survivors from Texarkana, Longview, and Shreveport, among other, smaller cities destroyed during the Great War. A handful of small warlord regimes have come and gone in this corner of the state, but only three remain today: Fredonia, the Lodge, and the Jefferson Volunteer Rifles. Some include the Government of National Salvation in this list, but they are a special case that differs from other regional warlords.
Fredonia is the largest of the three East Texas warlords, with the largest army and population. Its original “president” was a prewar Brazilian jiu-jitsu instructor-turned-warlord, who rode to power on the backs of refugees from his home city of Texarkana. The instructor is long dead, but he had a well-liked and respected heir who averted the kind of succession crisis that usually cripples petty warlord states.
For the longest time, Fredonia was considered the “big bad” of the region and the main target of most other organized factions. After the fall of Midland, the Government of National Salvation rose to prominence, and Fredonia doesn’t seem so bad anymore. They’ve made common cause with their erstwhile enemies to form a united front against the GNS. Given how reliant Fredonia is on looting and raiding to pay its troops, they’ve suffered more than anyone else from this arrangement, and the cracks in the regime are beginning to show. The incumbent president is really hoping that the GNS falls soon, so that they can stab Paris in the back and return to conquering.
The Lodge
Capital: Atlanta
Classification: Warlord (Local warlord gang)
The Lodge is another small warlord regime with their backs to the Texarkana Exclusion Zone. Their can trace their origins back to a Shreveport refugee gang that loosely organized itself around the Freemasonry of some of its founding members. They’re no longer affiliated with actual Freemasonry, but the Lodge, now settled down in Atlanta, has set up an alternative secret society of their own. Led by their own Grand Master, they have their own set of home-brewed rites and regalia with which all their members must be initiated. The result is a tight-knit, isolationist regime that’s far removed from the concerns of other warring powers.
Jefferson Volunteer Rifles
Capital: Jefferson
Classification: Legitimist Warlord (Vigilante army)
The Jefferson Volunteer Rifles are the third and final East Texas warlord, and are the most well-organized. This highly structured band of vigilantes actually began as a Civil War reenactment group that regularly met and skirmished outside the town before the Great War. After the War, they were deputized by the Marion County Sheriff and incorporated into the local militia. They were needed for the coming struggle against the refugee gangs, and helped Jefferson successfully stem the tide of invaders. Now, they’ve become more powerful than the local government and are the real ruling force in the area.
They have friendly relations with the Republic of Texas and are open to some kind of agreement, if only Nacogdoches will respect their autonomy and not insist on the militia’s disbandment.
Government of National Salvation
Capital: Tyler
Classification: Legitimist Warlord (Oligarchic republic)
Tyler was the nucleus of another regional co-operative between local governments and militias, much like Paris and Nacogdoches. Unlike the other two, however, Tyler initially tried to maintain ties with the Midland Government. For their loyalty, President Ingersoll rewarded Tyler with a warrant for the regional chairman’s arrest. His command was answered by Reynold Husband, a young, ambitious county official who had spent the early years of the post-war era winning over the loyalty of the Texas Light Foot Militia, one of the strongest forces in the region. Husband overthrew the government and purged most of its leadership, instantly transforming the region into his personal fiefdom.
As the head of the legitimist East Texas Emergency Administration (Husband wanted “Emergency Executive,” but didn’t want to send Ingersoll the wrong message), Husband served as Ingersoll’s eyes and ears in East Texas and remotely coordinated with him as his only loyal subordinate east of the Brazos. Of course, that loyalty was only possible by the physical distance between Tyler and Midland, and Husband’s own faith in his lieutenants that they wouldn’t also overthrow him. To prevent such an outcome from occurring, Husband spent most of his reign trying to reclaim the territory that broke away from the old Tyler administration in the wake of the coup. Slowly but surely, he struggled against local governments, rival legitimist dictators, and warlords fresh out of the exclusion zones to build a small empire for himself across northeast Texas. Every new conquest was parceled out to his subordinates to keep them contented, and he cleverly worded every report back to Midland in order to appease the wrath of John Ingersoll.
The initial wave of purges had largely satisfied Ingersoll’s appetite, and Husband had little to fear for some years. As Dodge City grew stronger and Brannigan’s Guard marched ever closer to the heart of Texas, however, Ingersoll’s infamous paranoia began to resurface. Husband was his only subordinate who could actually show results, which only gave rise to the delusion that he could march west some day and take the presidency for himself. Eventually Ingersoll called for the head of Reynold Husband, and Husband’s diplomatic minister was happy to oblige.
Husband’s murderer, Baylor Aaronwright, wisely declined to assume direct command of the ETEA. In the place of the executive Chairman, he established a three-man executive council in which he did not participate; rather, he acted as the power behind the throne and controlled the councilmen as puppets. Aaronwright was a shrewd politician and a decent enough soldier, but he was more of a survivor cockroach than anything else. He lacked Husband’s ambition or military prowess, and the ETEA began to decline under his leadership.
Though some would have assumed the ETEA was simply doomed to decline into irrelevancy, it received two great boons that have bought it a second wind. The first was the capture of the US Dollar printing presses in Fort Worth, whose wrecked remains had been salvaged by prospectors and restored to working order. The presses were originally sold to the Texas Militia by DFW prospectors for a king’s ransom, but the ETEA managed to wrest the presses from the Militia’s hands and carried them off to Tyler. Today, the Tyler presses are the only facility that produces genuine United States Federal Reserve Notes in the prewar style. Most prewar dollars have degraded and fallen apart from continuous use, so the production of these dollars as a universal secondary currency is a major economic bonus to the small power.
The second boon bestowed upon Tyler was the fall of Midland itself. Shortly after the death of John Ingersoll and Luther Pike’s abolition of the Midland federal government, Aaronwright facilitated an exodus of Midland officials to Tyler; most of the new arrivals were spineless Ingersoll toadies who feared a purge by Pike and his new guard, and many were utterly incompetent. Still, they brought capital with them, and a few had actual experience in statecraft. More important than this, the chain binding them to the sinking ship of Midland was finally fettered, and the ETEA could move on.
Feigning utmost loyalty to Ingersoll’s mission, Aaronwright held a congress with the Midland emigres who claimed to represent the last continuous body of the federal government, stretching back to 1789. In order to reclaim the country and keep up the fight that Midland had abandoned, the rump congress of one Senator and two Representatives proclaimed the Government of National Salvation, a provisional emergency government. Again, Aaronwright did not seek the Presidency, but instead elevated Midland emigre Garrison Gothe as Provisional President, and “suggested” other emergency appointments to fill the provisional government until it reached a more legitimate-looking quorum.
The GNS continues to persevere under Aaronwright’s leadership from the shadows, despite the foes who oppose them on all fronts. It helps that many of them hate each other as much as they hate the GNS, and that any united front is bound to fall apart after long enough. Still, their only ally is the distant Law & Order Deputies in Stephenville, who aren’t in any position to come and lend a hand. One cannot help but wonder, then, how long they will be able to keep this game up. When it does come to an end, then possibly the last continuous heir to the United States of old will end with it.
Dallas Demolition Crew
Capital: Kaufman
Classification: Warlord (Local warlord gang)
Hugging the southern boundary of the Greater Dallas-Fort Worth Exclusion Zone is the Dallas Demolition Crew. This warlord band, founded by a prewar crane operator and some fellow workers, took a different approach to warlordism than most of the refugee gangs streaming out of DFW. Rather than seek some new city to inhabit or conquer, they hung back close to the exclusion zone, so that they could get the first dibs on all of its salvageable loot.
The DDC is more than just your typical NEZ scavenger gang, however. They’ve sunk a lot of money into their operation, and they have earned a hefty profit from it. They have acquired protective radiation equipment to shield their prospectors from the fallout, and have even made inroads into scrubbing out the fallout itself. They are one of the only factions that has permanent outposts inside an NEZ, and are certainly the smallest. After acquiring their loot, they sell it to the highest bidder, and even have foreign investors from other factions who sponsor expeditions. Their biggest score was the recovery of the US dollar printing presses in Fort Worth, which were hitherto thought to be lost forever.
In addition to their salvaging expeditions, they also guard merchant caravan travel throughout the NEZ and fight other NEZ-dweller gangs or rival warlords for control over the area. They have an infamous, long-standing rivalry with the Bloodhounds and are locked in a never-ending turf war over the NEZ. They’re maybe the only faction proximal to the Government of National Salvation that isn’t outright hostile to them, and they frequently do business with the GNS and with the GNS’ rivals alike.
The Texas Militia
Capital: Corsicana
Classification: Right-wing Ideological Faction (Right-wing militia regime)
The Texas Militia in their current configuration are not to be confused with the antebellum organization of the same name. That body was congruent with the Texas Military Forces, and consisted of the Texas Army National Guard, Texas Air National Guard, and Texas State Guard, all under the command of the Texas Adjutant General. By contrast, the Corsicana-based faction is a right-wing militia regime dating back to the Starving Time, when new militias were popping up everywhere and old ones were gaining new members before fracturing into splinter organizations. The Texas Militia was the most successful attempt to federate the militias of northern and central Texas into one single alliance, though they notably excluded the Texas Light Foot Militia, which sided with the local authorities in Tyler.
Arguing that the antebellum Texan government was destroyed beyond repair, the militiamen declared the old governmental “Texas Militia” null and void and claimed the prerogative to re-found their own state militia. The current militia, led by an Adjutant General elected by subordinate militia commanders, claims to be the sole lawful authority of Texas. Hemmed in by fallout and strong neighbors, however, the Texas Militia lacks easy opportunities for expansion. Their best bet is to hope the anti-GNS alliance stays intact long enough for them to capture Tyler, before heading west and pummeling the Kingdom of Israel.
Politically, the Texas Militia is mostly led by pragmatists, rather than ideological fire-eaters. They’re still the furthest right-wing force in the state, but are more made up of paleoconservatives and libertarians than the Fraternal American Republic’s fascists, the American Empire’s Klansmen, or the George Washington Legion’s barbarian scalpers. There’s a big emphasis on free commerce and “law and order,” more so than in the actual Law & Order Deputies. Religious views vary between ardent Christian nationalism and more subdued, cautious secularism; both are strongly opposed to the Davidian Adventists in Hillsboro.
Kingdom of Israel
Capital: Hillsboro
Classification: Religious Faction (Millenarian cult)
The Shepherd’s Rod, also known as Davidian Adventism, is a movement within the Seventh-Day Adventist Church with a heavy emphasis on millenarian eschatology and a belief in the eminent return of the Davidic Israelite kingdom on earth. Its most widely-remembered fragment in the popular consciousness is the Branch Davidian movement, which splintered off of the main Shepherd’s Rod movement and went up in flames during the Siege of Waco in 1993. David Koresh may have been the most famous Davidian, but he and his followers were not the only Davidian Adventists, and the rest of the Davidian movement continued to dwell in Waco following the siege.
After Waco was destroyed in the Great War, survivors from Mount Carmel Center fled north along I-35 and rebuilt their organization. With their emphasis on end-times prophecy and history of resisting government authority, the Davidian Adventists showed promise to directionless refugees, looking for answers. An “Army of God” militia, typical of the many others throughout the wasteland, quickly formed and captured the town of Hillsboro.
Years later, schism erupted yet again during a power struggle over the succession of the Davidian Adventist Presidency. The victor, much like David Koresh in the 20th Century, proclaimed himself to be the successor of King David and a forerunner of the Second Coming of Christ. The Kingdom of Israel was established in the Davidians’ territory, and it remains there to this day. Its kingship is a hereditary title linked to the Presidency of the church, and the King is revered as a prophet figure chosen by God. Aside from the idiosyncrasies of Davidian theology, there is not much else that distinguishes the Kingdom of Israel from other millenarian theocracies.
Texas Provisional Government
Capital: Cisco
Classification: Local government (Regional emergency government)
Cisco and its surrounding locales used to be under the control of the Midland Government. When paranoid Ingersoll denounced the mayor and called for his arrest, Cisco stood by their leader and broke their ties with Midland. They proclaimed a rival Texas Provisional Government and called on other cities and counties to join them. Like the Paris government, few did so, but they did bring a few neighboring towns under their control. Towards the end of the Midland Government’s lifespan, a prominent National Guard commander in Midland jumped ship after Ingersoll’s second wave of purges began. He defected to the TPG and brought his troops with him, seriously bolstering the TPG’s strength.
The TPG is a decent enough faction. The government is authoritarian, but competent and benevolent. The standard of living is about as high as one could expect from a faction of their size. They are not dogmatically insistent on their sole legitimacy as the only State of Texas, but are so remote from other “all-Texas” factions that they hold themselves to be the only Texan power worth entreating with in the region. They’ve long been the enemy of the Law & Order Deputies, but that front is waning in intensity as the threat of Aztlan looms ever closer.
Law & Order Deputies
Capital: Stephenville
Classification: Legitimist Warlord (Neo-nomadic regime)
Allegiance: Government of National Salvation
Like the Government of National Salvation to whom they owe their allegiance, the Law & Order Deputies are another well-intentioned local faction that was hijacked by self-interested actors as a result of John Ingersoll’s Great Purge. The Deputies was originally a vigilante army founded by Jordan Eaton, the charismatic and ambitious Sheriff of Erath County. He recruited thousands of civilians (both locals and refugees) as his deputies and embarked on an ambitious campaign of conquest to maintain, as the name implies, law and order in the wake of the apocalypse. The Deputies were initially one of the most successful and well-behaved militia forces in the country, and were something of a model for other sheriffs and vigilantes to follow.
The Deputies’ honeymoon period didn’t last for very long, however. As a large armed force that operated without supervision or direct government control, President Ingersoll naturally grew to view them as a potential threat. In a rare show of tact, he didn’t immediately order Eaton’s arrest, but instead demanded concessions of loyalty and that the Deputies be placed under the President’s personal command. Eaten wasn’t outright assassinated like Reynold Husband was in Tyler, but he did die in a more protracted internal conflict triggered by Ingersoll’s demands.
Following Eaton’s death, the pro-Ingersoll faction took over the Law & Order Deputies and transformed it into what was little better than any other legitimist warlord faction. Local governments were abolished or else only kept around as vassal towns, and the Deputies transitioned into a neo-feudal army. The struggle took its toll on the Deputies, however, and they are still yet to reach their original heights. Their once-respected name has been tarnished as a byword for brutal warlordism, and the Deputies are perhaps the most-despised faction in central Texas.
Still, they remain a decently effective fighting force, and the TPG has failed in all attempts to crush them so far. After the fall of the Midland Government, they enthusiastically shifted their allegiance towards the Government of National Salvation, and similarly received a small influx of Midland exiles fleeing Aztlan rule.
Hamilton County
Capital: Hamilton
Classification: Local Government (County government)
Allegiance: Republic of Texas
Hamilton County is a remarkably straightforward faction in such a complicated region. This small county regime never ceased holding local elections, and the militia has remained steadfast in their loyalty ever since they cut ties with the Midland Government. Their isolated position has prevented them from getting done in the way of expansion, but that was never Hamilton’s goal. They recognize the Republic of Texas in Nacogdoches, and even have some regular physical contact, thanks to trails blazed through the NEZs by the III Corps.
III Corps Military District
Capital: College Station
Classification: Military Faction (Military administration)
Allegiance: Republic of Texas
The US Army III Corps was the largest single US military formation to survive the war intact. III Corps owes its survival to the successful missile defense of Fort Cavazos (retroactively renamed Fort Hood some years later by the Republic). By intercepting the first wave of missiles, the III Corps had bought itself valuable time to evacuate men and materiel from the fort before it was destroyed three days later in a follow-up attack. The Corps’ Lieutenant General died in Austin during the nuclear exchange, but Major General Logan Innes, the Deputy Commanding Support General, survived to take command over the rest of the Corps. III Corps was in the process of mobilizing for deployment in Europe when the Great War began, and the 1st Cavalry Division had already been shipped overseas, where they were presumably lost on the Western Front, somewhere in Poland. Much of the Texas Army National Guard was assembled at Fort Cavazos, however, and joined General Innes in his evacuation to Temple. Between the Army regulars, their dependents, and the National Guardsmen, nearly 100,000 troops were assembled in Temple within seven days of the first nuclear attacks.
It was naturally unwise to keep so much of the Army’s remaining troops and equipment in one place, where they could easily be wiped out in a secondary strike. President Battista in Twin Falls wisely ordered them to disperse, with much of the III Corps spreading itself out across central Texas. Select units and personnel were speedily redeployed throughout the country on what remained of its functioning infrastructure; their expertise and equipment were vital in training and instructing the hastily-raised reservists and National Guardsmen that now formed the backbone of the country’s defense. Some of these men went on to play a prominent role in the foundation of military-based factions, or helped uphold state and federal authority by leading loyalist military units. A few individuals from the Fort Cavazos cohort, including Colonel Henry Mason Haversham of F.A.L.A.N.X. fame, actually led their own factions. Many, however, simply perished. They were deployed to cities that were targeted in secondary strikes, or were assigned to far-flung outposts and were overrun by warlords, or simply expired during the Starving Time.
With roughly 10,000 fighting men still under his command, General Innes used his remaining forces to establish a military government in central Texas in coordination with the Twin Falls Government (and Amarillo after that). Their primary aim was to keep order throughout the towns, highways, and refugee camps, and provide food and shelter for millions of refugees. Combatting banditry wasn’t as much of a problem as Innes had initially feared; he had the best-armed fighting force left on the continent, and did not hesitate to make open warfare on warlord gangs among the refugees. Housing didn’t prove too much of a challenge, either. The III Corps’ territory was mostly urban and suburban in character; many houses were left vacant following the Great War, and the military had no qualms in forcing homeowners to accept refugees into their houses.
Food proved a greater difficulty than anything else. There was not enough farmland to feed all the people they had taken on, and the blankets of fallout in central Texas had left the III Corps isolated from the grain silos and slaughterhouses of Midland, Amarillo, and Dodge City. Naturally, the Corps resorted to extreme authoritarian measures, including draconian law enforcement, austere food rationing, Bolshevik levels of property redistribution, and the subjection of many refugees to effective serfdom in military-run agricultural labor camps. Local governments weren’t outright abolished, but they were almost totally ignored in favor of direct military control. Their methods were brutal, but the III Corps did a remarkable job of keeping a surprisingly high survival rate against impossible odds.
All their work would have been in vain, however, were it not for the substantial agricultural aid provided by their neighbors in East Texas. The “East Texas Cooperative Administration” proved a remarkably steadfast and capable ally during the darkest, coldest months of the Starving Time. Perhaps Nacogdoches was simply worried that the largest, most heavily-armed and armored force in the Americas was sitting right on their border and growing more and more restless and desperate by the day. Perhaps their aid was out of genuine altruism—they’ve certainly promoted the latter narrative in recent times. Whatever the case, the two powers were officially allied by the end of the Starving Time, and waged joint campaigns of southward expansion to crush the smaller warlords and pacify southeast Texas.
While East Texas was quick to break with the Midland Government and dramatically seceded from the United States, III Corps was more cautious. They proclaimed their neutrality from the outbreak of the Dodge City—Midland War, and did not recognize any national government for fear of stoking further controversy—not even Walla Walla earned their recognition. Though they did not officially recognize the Republic of Texas at first, they maintained their alliance with Nacogdoches and entreated with them as the de facto civilian government of Texas. As night fell on Midland, III Corps finally jumped the fence and formally sided with the Republic of Texas. After signing a second compact with Nacogdoches, they were incorporated as a special military governate within the Republic: the III Corps Military District. They still retain the III Corps name—it’s too important to their military culture to give up now—but they’ve dropped the US Army prefix in favor of the Texian Army.
The transition from solitary military rule to Texian military governate came with a shift in governmental policy. Their longstanding capital of Temple, growing overcrowded, hanging on the edge of a large radiation belt, and now perilously close to Aztlan territory, had outgrown its usefulness as a military and administrative center. The capital was instead moved to College Station, where it remains today. The move was accompanied by sweeping governmental reforms, including the return of limited local civilian government and an unelected civilian advisory council to influence the military government’s decision-making process. As a subject of the Republic of Texas, certain public services, such as the postal system, are controlled by the Texian federal government and out of the III Corps’ jurisdiction.
The future of the III Corps Military District is up for debate. Some wish to preserve military rule indefinitely, or advocate for the Republic of Texas to adopt some kind of stratocratic system of government, similar to the USA—Elizabeth City’s experiments in the direction of a Citizen’s Republic. Others favor the abolition of military rule. Proposals include an immediate return to civilian rule, gradually phasing out the Military District by empowering its civilian elements, or postponing demilitarization until the looming threats of Aztlan and the GNS can be dealt with.
Republic of Texas
Capital: Nacogdoches
Classification: Local Government (Re-founded secessionist state government)
State of East Texas
Classification: Nacogdoches
Classification: Local Government (Re-founded divisionist state government)
Allegiance: Republic of Texas
Before there was the Republic of Texas, there was the East Texas Cooperative Administration, an association of county and municipal governments that banded together to run southeast Texas in the absence of state or federal authority. It wasn’t the only such association in East Texas—Tyler and Paris both harbored similar county cooperatives—but it was the largest and most well-equipped to handle the challenges of the Starving Time. Part of their success was due to the presence of two former state legislators and a retired Congressman who lent the ETCA their support and offered it governmental legitimacy. Like other regional cooperatives, they worked with the tacit approval of the state and federal government in Amarillo up until the Ingersoll days.
Nacogdoches was the first major faction in Texas to seriously break with the Midland Government, and their declaration won the most widespread support throughout the state. The ETCA established its own rival Texas state government without recognizing any specific federal government. They held their first round of elections in Nacogdoches itself, in which statewide officials, the state legislature, and city and county seats all stood to run. The “State of Texas” in Nacogdoches persisted for fifty days, after which it seceded from the United States as the Republic of Texas.
They were not the first faction to call itself the Republic of Texas, nor were they the last, but they were the strongest, most relevant, most legitimate, and most committed to the ideals of actual Texas secessionism (the other “Republic of Texas” factions were simply vehicles for local warlords). Texas secessionism and Texas divisionism both began to gain serious traction as legitimate political movements in the latter years of the Great 21st Century Crisis. Within the Nacogdoches government, former US Congressman Dustin Cobb was considered the spokesman of the Texas republican movement. As de facto leader of the Nacogdoches government, Cobb was a shoe-in for the state’s first elected governor, and held a referendum on Texan secession as soon as he took office. The referendum narrowly passed and was followed up by a Texian constitutional convention, in which the government drafted a new republican constitution and seceded from the United States.
Cobb was elected President of Texas in a landslide election later that year, and the Republic has proceeded smoothly since. Much like in the Confederate States and the original Republic of Texas, political parties are officially outlawed and the constitution mandates non-partisan elections. Almost all the participants in Texian elections would have been Republicans, were they still in the United States, but there are unofficial cliques and factions representing certain tendencies and dispositions, much like the “Tendency” system of the Northwest American Republic. Not all residents of the Republic of Texas are Texian citizens, and not all Texian citizens can vote. The electorate is not officially restricted to any one group, but is confined to a fairly small group of people who surpass certain wealth and property requirements and can pass a literacy test. No citizen is grandfathered in to this system, but the end result is that the electorate mostly overlaps with the wealthiest 10-15% of the white male Texian population.
Since its founding, the Republic of Texas has steadily expanded throughout the eastern half of Texas. They now have a coastline, facilitating foreign trade, and have one of the larger economies of the countries. Their currency isn’t especially strong or notable; it’s just another middling fiat currency backed only by the confidence of its citizens and a select few foreign governments willing to buy some of their debt. Their main ally is the III Corps Military District, whose incorporation required the federalization of the Republic. A series of amendments was added to the Texian constitution adopting a federal model, and the territory that previously made up the entirety of the Republic was incorporated as the State of East Texas. Across the Sabine River, Louisiana’s DeSoto Parish has joined the Republic as the State of Louisiana.
Despite their preeminent position in east and central Texas, the epoch of effortless territorial expansion is now over. Nacogdoches and III Corps once enjoyed the privilege of “blobbing up,” incorporating the local governments and crushing all the tiny warlord factions that dotted the region. Now, heavy blankets of fallout and relatively large factions with strong defensive positions impede their outward expansion. They aren’t in any immediate danger—in fact, they have the strongest position of any Texan faction after Aztlan—but the rise of Aztlan presents a looming threat that, if they don’t find a solution to their declining rate of expansion, there might be a force too powerful to contend with on their doorstep someday.
Texas Brotherhood
Capital: Brenham
Classification: Warlord (Warlord confederation)
The Texas Brotherhood is the remnant of the old minor warlords of the Texas Anarchy, the rest of which has been subjugated by the stronger, better-organized factions. During that period, millions of refugees who survived the destruction of cities like Houston, Austin, and San Antonio struck for the habitable portions of the state. The area in between came to be known as “the Thunderdome,” a chaotic free-for-all of tiny ephemeral armies, replicating the chaos of the California Anarchy and the battle royale in the Hudson River Valley. There, they organized into gangs, fell under the sway of charismatic and violent warlords, and carved out new homes for themselves or died trying.
In an arrangement similar to the Road Warriors of Oklahoma, the Texas Brotherhood is a confederation of smaller warlords and gangs, under the suzerainty of the dominant warlord. Such warlords include the typical refugee gangs, outlaw motorcycle gangs, elements of antebellum organized crime (i.e. cartel members), rogue law enforcement cliques, and survivalist militias. This disparate kaleidoscope of petty warlords wasn’t likely to come together, but the strength of their preeminent warlord and the growing threat of larger factions like the III Corps and State of Lincoln forced them to set aside their differences and make common cause.
Notable gangs included:
The Houston Refuge: an opportunistic “bartertown” regime in Sealy, established by Houston refugees.
The Lee Posse: a gang of renegade lawmen from the Austin Exclusion Zone
The Toecutters: a brutal slaver gang who cut the big toes off their victims’ feet to prevent them from easily running away. Gang members string the severed toes onto necklaces.
Ace of Spades: a younger hotshot warlord and prominent gun runner, known for his daring raids against the III Corps.
The American Psychos: prevalent for their extensive use of child soldiers, which they employ more so than other gangs.
Real-Ass Americans: not an outlaw motorcycle gang, but modelled after prewar gangs like the Hells Angels.
The top gang, however, is the Company of the Rose, a warlord band fashioned after the mercenary free companies of the Middle Ages. The name of their company, officially in honor of the “Yellow Rose of Texas,” is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the medieval mercenary company of the same name. The Company of the Rose originated as an actual mercenary company, and travelled from town to town fighting for local governments and rival gangs, depending on who paid them. They reached such a dominant position, however, that they evolved into the neo-nomadic masters of a decent portion of the central Thunderdome. Their former clients had been relegated to satellite gangs, dependent on the Rose Company’s protection. After enough time had passed and the dust of the total anarchy period had settled, the Rose Company reorganized this arrangement into a more codified order, similar to the Bandido clubs of southwest Texas. This organization was the Texas Brotherhood, and all affiliated warlords, gangs, and militias are “brothers” within this fraternity.
Despite the occasional raid or impromptu gunfight across the northern border by rebellious subordinates, the Texas Brotherhood takes care to maintain the peace with the III Corps and enforces harsh discipline on rabble-rousers. Much of their success is due to their unwillingness to confront III Corps and the Corps’ quiet non-aggression with them.
Sid Harrelson
Capital: El Campo
Classification: Warlord (Personalistic warlord gang)
Sid Harrelson is the last of the Thunderdome warlords, who built an army for himself with some of the most vicious fighters to survive the Texas Anarchy. Like other personalistic warlords, he never even established a formal name for his regime or a solidified gang identity; he’s simply the Boss and what he says goes for him and his followers. He wasn’t quite strong enough to build an empire for himself, but he still had the strength to avoid being incorporated into the Texas Brotherhood or State of Lincoln. Since these two entities rose to power, he’s survived by playing them off of each other.
South Texas Liberation Front
Capital: San Marcos
Classification: Local Government (Expanded county government)
Sitting right between Austin and San Antonio, Hays County was remarkably spared from the fate of warlordism and maintained full continuity of government after the Great War. It served as a haven for law enforcement and low-level government officials who survived the atomic bombings of other cities, and developed into an Amarillo-approved island of government authority during the Starving Time. They, more than anyone else, hoped that they could ride out the storm and wait for the federal government to come back east and save them.
That fantasy never came true for Hays County, and the dream of a restored federal government turned into a nightmare once Ingersoll gained the presidency. They were slower than other local governments, perhaps dazzled by all the rival choices in Paris, Nacogdoches, Perryton, and McAllen, with more claimants along the way. They ultimately sided with the now-defunct McAllen government, and served as their forward listening-post and safehouse in central Texas.
After Aztlan conquered and forcibly incorporated the McAllen government, San Marcos was again left on its own. By this time, their drastically-expanded county militia had expanded throughout the area and brought other counties, previously fallen to warlordism, under their rule. They never directly participated in McAllen’s warped democracy even at the height of their cooperation, and mostly remained an emergency government with largely pro forma elections for county and municipal positions. Their isolation taught them self-reliance, however, and gave them the tools they needed to resist Aztlan conquest.
As Aztlan moved steadily north and east into the heart of Texas, Hays County took up the mantle of anti-Aztlan resistance. They established the South Texas Liberation Front, with the explicit aim of halting Aztlan expansion and eventually reclaiming the rest of the state in the name of Texas and the United States of America. The Sheriff of Hays County, the commander-in-chief of the STLF, employs strong “rally around the flag” rhetoric to justify their struggle, and the Front likes to think of itself as the last true Americans in Texas. In addition to the Front’s own armed forces, San Marcos and its neighboring locales also harbor numerous anti-Aztlan resistance groups who help them in the fight. These groups range from well-organized Deutscher Landwehr based in New Braunfels (the new seat of the revived Texas German community, after they were expelled from Fredericksburg) to ragged units that are little better than raider gangs. San Marcos is also home to a Texas Rangers chapter (the Junction Rangers, not the Ranger Division in North Texas) and a Knights Hospitaller chapter.
Their war with Aztlan is ongoing, but is a slow-burn campaign of low-intensity warfare along a troubled frontier, rather than a dramatic campaign of sieges and pitched battles. Aztlan is not quite in a position where they can get around to crushing them, yet. They’re still in the process of tidying up their own borders, cleaning up internal resistance movements, and keeping their constituent subjects in line. Their biggest external concern right now remains the George Washington Legion in Arizona and New Mexico, while the Cristeros are the main fifth column within the United States of Aztlan.
State of Lincoln
Capital: Victoria
Classification: Legitimist Warlord (Neo-feudal regime)
The modern-day State of Lincoln quite similar to the State of Jefferson in California. Both are powerful neo-feudal regimes that legitimize themselves by co-opting historical state divisionist movements that were starting to gather steam in the Great 21st Century Crisis. In Jefferson, there was a burgeoning State of Jefferson that already existed before it was conquered and repurposed for a rising warlord. In Texas, the proposed State of Lincoln (which, unlike Jefferson, wasn’t tied to a specific region of the state before the War) was outright created by an upstart warlord. There were democratic experiments in the direction of Texas divisionism elsewhere, but they all either took the route of rival Texas state governance or Texian separatism. Powers that may have outright seceded from the State of Texas may have been discouraged to do so by witnessing the fate of Lincoln.
The region that became the State of Lincoln started as the Gulf Coast Reclamation Authority, an authoritarian alliance of local emergency governments trying to keep the refugees at bay. As the owners of some of Texas’ last seaports, they had to contend with a chaotic free-for-all of boat people trying to escape over the sea to warmer climes. The GCRA tried to make the best of the situation by encouraging refugees to emigrate, so that they could be rid of them.
Enter: Earl Packard, a Justice of the Peace, come south from the Texas Thunderdome. He gathered a loyal following by recruiting vigilantes and administering justice (or something approximating it) to the bandits and petty gangs of the region. He managed to emerge from the Thunderdome at the head of a small private army of vigilantes, rogue law enforcement, and even a defecting company of National Guardsmen who were worried that they’d die in a secondary strike if they went to Midland like they were ordered to. Packard brushed aside the feuding warlords of central Texas and even survived the wrath of the III Corps before setting down in Victoria, a decent-sized city near enough to the coast to enjoy trade, but removed from the chaos of the boat people. Although undeniably a warlord, Packard’s competence and level-headedness compared to other local warlords or far-off Ingersoll won over the loyalty of the hard-pressed GCRA.
Once Packard had won the fealty of the GCRA and expanded his sphere of influence throughout the region, he created the State of Lincoln as the instrument of his rule. Citing the 1845 Joint Admission for the Admission of the State of Texas into the Union, Packard argued that they were “of sufficient population” and had the consent of the State of Texas to be admitted into the United States as a separate state. Such “consent” was gained by a phony plebiscite held throughout Packard’s realm, in which he claimed to represent Texas at large. Lincoln officially considers itself the 51st state in the Union, but does not recognize any federal government and de facto operates as an independent state.
Lincoln further justifies its existence with a series of legal fictions. The neo-feudal structure is accounted for in the state’s constitution, and the prevalence of slavery and indentured servitude (something explicitly prohibited in post-Texan states in the 1845 Joint Admission that Packard cited) is handwaved away as penal servitude for a seemingly draconian criminal code.
The prevalence of slavery in Lincoln is thanks to its coastal position. With the return of international trade and the repatriation of some of the American diaspora comes the flourishing of Caribbean piracy. Many factions along the American Gulf Coast are outright controlled by pirate warlords, while others harbor pirates and smugglers to reap the rewards of the economic activity they bring. Lincoln counts itself among the latter. It’s strong enough that it doesn’t have to worry about pirate raids, but its strategic access to the Texan interior and open-door policy make it a desirable haven for pirate crews. They chiefly deal in cash crops, drugs, fish, fuel, and smuggled consumer goods from the South Atlantic, but their most infamous cargo is people. Port Lavaca is one of the busiest human trafficking centers in North America, and Lincoln is happy to facilitate the trade. Most slaves are sold to buyers in interior Texas, but Lincolnites also take on slaves as agricultural laborers, industrial workers, servants, soldiers pressganged into the Lincolnite army or local neo-feudal levies, and “army wives,” a euphemism encompassing mail-order brides, forced prostitutes, and sex slaves.
Though the neo-feudal model usually doesn’t provide much in the way of long-term stability, Packard has done an admirable job of crafting a lasting order. In a rare upset for neo-feudal regimes, Packard willingly retired to allow his chosen heir to take office and come into his own. Nelson Glosserman, the new Governor of Lincoln, has steadily guided the ship of state since then, even after Packard passed away. Glosserman has continued Packard’s work of steadily building up a codified legal order for the state and chipping away at the agency and influence of his vassals.
Lincoln has been the big bad of southern Texas for many long years, but times have changed. Now Aztlan towers over all, and no single faction across Texas is strong enough to challenge them. Faced with potential annihilation, Lincoln has at last made peace with its longtime enemies in Brenham and San Marcos, and is working with their neighbors on presenting a united front that can resist the coming onslaught.
Index
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Ace of spades is just cobson.
Texas looks like it wasn't hit very badly, I recognize a lot of these cities' names. Kind of coal that you consistently screw over germans though