The Fallen Continent: Wyoming
Enter Wyoming, with the Yellowstone National Park and the beginnings of the Badlands, a vast stretch of desolate territory spanning the northern central United States.
Population: 280,000
Largest City: Laramie
Where thy peaks with crowned head,
Rising until the sky they wed,
Sit like snow queens ruling wood and stream and plain;
'Neath thy granite bases deep,
'Neath thy bosom's broadened sweep,
Lie the riches that have gained and brought thee fame.
Introduction
Wyoming was the least populated state before the Great War, with a population just under 600,000 people. A relatively high percentage survived the War and the Starving Time compared to other states. It was, however, heavily targeted for its many nuclear missile silos, leaving large swathes of the state still uninhabitable and local government unstable. Most of Wyoming is part of a larger region across the northern Great Plains called “the Badlands.”
The Badlands
The Badlands also includes eastern Montana and most of the Dakotas, and arguably part of Minnesota, all regions where the immediate instability and food insecurity of the postwar period never truly ended. Most of this region’s antebellum population was urban, and subsequently perished during the Great War (much like Siberia, another region known for its wide-open spaces and mostly-urban population, which also suffered terribly during the war). The region is plagued with vast stretches of irradiated land, thanks to the many missile silos that once dotted its landscape.
Most of those who survived the war fled south, with its warmer climate, larger remaining towns, and more stable governments. Those who remained in the region fought amongst themselves; the only newcomers in the region are small, petty warlords who lost the more decisive battles further south (or north, in the case of a few arrivals from Canada). With the notable exceptions of the Knights Templar, the Scourge of the Badlands, and the Almighty Army, the Badlands lack factions who have both the desire to unify the region and the strength to earnestly attempt it. The result is an anarchic free-for-all among warlords and bandits, while the more settled factions hope to ride out the storm through isolationism.
This region is characterized by a large number of small roving factions who move from town to town. Many of these factions have only a few dozen fighters, some even less, and others still are too small or ephemeral to show on a map. The towns they rule over frequently change hands as new warlords move in, or as factions break apart or absorb their rivals. The towns themselves can only support populations of a few hundred people, and rarely more than one or two thousand. Even the more settled factions, including pre-war civilian and military authorities, are seldom better than the warlords they fight against.
Food security remains low, hunger is frequent, medicine rare, and lifespans short. Cannibalism is uncommon, but not unheard of during the winter. Nomadic warlords take cattle and chickens with them wherever they go, usually tended to by civilian servants under their yoke. The settled towns oversee subsistence farming carried out by their serfs, and human trafficking and forced labor are commonplace throughout the entirety of the Badlands. Some factions, notably the Promethean Energy strongholds, produce enough oil that they can trade for resources or pay off incoming warlords.
The larger factions are typically stretched to their furthest limits and cannot support more than a few towns along one or two stretches of highway. Unending low-level warfare persists throughout the entire region, as there is not enough manpower or ammunition to sustain anything more intense. The wealthiest can import ammunition from outside the Badlands or produce a handful of materiel on their own, while the weaker warlords have to make do by scavenging and looting. Either way, knives, machetes, and bows are commonplace, just as they are in the American Southwest.
Not all of Wyoming is Badlands, however, and the south of the state enjoys a standard of life comparable to Utah or Colorado. If major factions like the USA-Bozeman or Provisional All-American Government prevail in their main theaters of conflict, they may be able to turn around and pacify the Badlands. Until then, it’s up for one of the stronger Badlands factions to get a lucky enough break to conquer the region for themselves.
Wyoming State Guard
Capital: Laramie
Classification: Legitimist Warlord (Quasi-military dictatorship)
Without a Lieutenant Governor, Wyoming’s line of succession was shorter than other states. The late Governor was instead succeeded by the Superintendent of Public Instruction, who attempted to re-establish the state government in Laramie. Trouble set in quickly, however, as Laramie found itself robbed of its National Guard. Within days of the Great War’s outbreak, Acting President Battista federalized the Wyoming National Guard and ordered it to join him in Idaho. Most of the Guard perished with the rest of Twin Falls, and the survivors were generally brought into the fold of the Idaho and Montana National Guards.
Working with the few National Guardsmen left in Wyoming, the Laramie government hastily cobbled together a new force that could maintain order, organize relief, and conduct humanitarian aid: the Wyoming State Guard. Starvation was less of an issue in Wyoming than it was for other states, thanks to its more diffuse population, reliance on animal husbandry over agriculture, and lack of incoming refugees (although some refugees from Colorado bound for Idaho Falls got themselves into trouble, and the Yellowstone National Park is its own story). Nonetheless, what famine Wyoming did face spread panic throughout the ranks of the inexperienced State Guard recruits. The Guard mutinied during the first Cold Summer following the Great War, which escalated to a military coup against the Laramie government.
No other factions throughout the state recognize the Guard’s authority, instead preferring the rival governments recognized by either Bozeman or Dodge City. Their own control over the state is flimsy, mostly limited to a local stretch of I-80, Highway 30, and Highway 287. The only faction that recognizes them as the sole rightful authority of Wyoming is the Colorado Republic, with whom they enjoy very friendly relations, ever since an initial pact signed by the State Guard and the old Loveland Colorado state government.
The Spartans
Capital: Baggs
Classification: Warlord (Raider gang)
The Spartans are the largest gang in Wyoming outside of the Badlands, sitting close to the Colorado border. With only larger, state-level factions nearby, their continued existence is only thanks to their remoteness and isolationism.
Free and Democratic State of Wyoming
Capital: Rock Springs
Classification: Local Government (Re-founded state government)
Allegiance: United States of America (Bozeman)
While southeast Wyoming came under the rule of the Wyoming State Guard, the western counties did not, and maintained their autonomy and democratic processes by working together. After the fall of the Laramie state government, this association of counties pre-emptively declared their own government, the Free and Democratic State of Wyoming. In a rare exception to the typical suspicion held by most factions towards them, the FDSW appealed to the Bozeman government for aid, believing them to be the lesser of two evils. The threat of military intervention has caused the State Guard to forgo any plans for westward expansion; the two rival Wyomings remain at peace for now, locked in a tense standoff along I-80.
Again bucking the trend of typical relations between Bozeman and its constituents, the federal government has allowed Wyoming to retain its autonomy. This may be in part because of the difficulty in administering both the FDSW and Yellowstone National Park directly, or perhaps Bozeman simply learned their mistake after suffering so many mutinies and defections in the past. FDSW government itself is ad hoc and unwieldy, functioning more as a confederation of cooperative towns and counties than an actual state government. They can, however, get their act together and reliably close ranks whenever Bozeman starts breathing down their necks and demands results.
The Good Man
Capital: Farson
Classification: Warlord (Personalistic warlord gang)
The Good Man is the mysterious and charismatic patriarch of the town of Farson. A strong cult of personality surrounds him. He himself professes to have mystical powers of healing and clairvoyance, but does not adhere to a specific church or religious movement.
American Redoubt
Capital: Pinedale
Classification: Right-wing Ideological Faction (Right-wing militia regime)
Allegiance: Northwest American Republic
The American Redoubt is a small faction that makes up the southernmost constituent of the Northwest American Republic, though this was not always the case. The American Redoubt was a movement also predating the Great War, based around politically-conscious migration to the American Northwest. Unlike the Northwest Front movement, the American Redoubt represented survivalists, preppers, and Christian militiamen of conservative and libertarian persuasions, rather than white nationalists. Given their proximity to the NVA’s Wyoming Flying Column and shared anti-government goals, the American Redoubt often operated alongside Flying Column, and has steadily shifted their views further and further right, away from the libertarianism which once characterized them.
By the time of the Great War and the general NVA uprising against the United States, the Redoubt came to control a decent swathe of territory in western Wyoming. After the Fourth Battle of Coeur d’Alene and the incorporation of relatively moderate politicians into the NAR, the Redoubt agreed to join the Republic and merged its ranks with the Wyoming Flying Column. The Redoubt remains wary of the NAR’s extreme racialism and is more lax on enforcing racial policy (i.e. killing and expelling nonwhites), and is highly critical of the NAR’s secular, anticlerical stance on religion.
Militarily, the Redoubt is Bozeman’s primary foe in Wyoming and has long been a thorn in their side. They also represent one of Bozeman’s primary targets in their ongoing effort to secure the Rocky Mountain states. The Redoubt’s continued survival is thanks to guerilla warfare, by which they avoid Bozeman troops in the face of overwhelming force and harry them from the flanks. Once the Church of the Blood falls, however, Bozeman will be able to bring much more of their forces to bear on the rebels.
Kingdom of God (Church of the Blood)
Capital: Jackson
Religious Faction (Prophet-warlord regime)
The Kingdom of God of the Church of the Blood is another prominent religious faction. Unlike the Apostolic Temple, the Church of the Blood is Trinitarian and remains recognizably Christian, although they are certainly bloodthirsty and radical. Their leader is a self-proclaimed prophet who wishes to carry out the will of God in purifying the country to prepare the way for the return of Jesus Christ.
They are mostly based in Wyoming around the Grand Teton National Park, but extend into Idaho as well. They are not long for this world, as they are next on the Bozeman chopping block. Though they believe it is their imperative to conquer the world for God and their prophet, they will need a miracle to survive the government’s wrath.
National Park Service (Yellowstone)
Capital: Fort Yellowstone
Classification: Federal Legacy (National Park Service)
Allegiance: United States of America (Bozeman)
With the government thrown into chaos, the National Park Service found itself having to not only administer territory, but relocate the thousands of displaced tourists and source their own food, all while still trying to maintain the Yellowstone National Park as a nature preserve. Prior to the war, there were fears that the enemy might target the Yellowstone Caldera with nuclear weaponry in order to trigger an eruption. Such an event could have rendered a third of the United States uninhabitable by covering it in volcanic ash and would have contributed to the already devastating nuclear winter. Such an event, thankfully, did not happen, and the Great Plains remain habitable for human beings.
Though spared nuclear or volcanic devastation, the Park Rangers still faced an unprecedented crisis. The Great War occurred in July, the busiest time of the year for the Yellowstone National Park. Hundreds of thousands of visitors were now stranded in Yellowstone, most with no home to return to, even if they were willing to brave a journey potentially spanning hundreds or thousands of miles. The Park Rangers took on who they could and sent the rest on to Twin Falls, Idaho Falls, Bozeman, and southern Wyoming (most of whom perished within two years due to starvation, disease, and secondary strikes). Many refugees diffused throughout the state on their own, others voluntarily relocated to West Yellowstone, Montana, and over one hundred thousand were herded into refugee camps within the park itself by the Park Rangers.
Without the kind of infrastructure meant to support this many permanent inhabitants, the situation grew desperate. The Rangers deputized many civilians to bolster their numbers to the point where they could control this many people, leading to a lack of discipline. West Yellowstone, although it lay just outside of park boundaries in Montana, came under the Park Service’s de facto control as the Rangers and their deputies assumed responsibility for the town’s defense. West Yellowstone quickly grew in an attempt to keep up with the tens of thousands of newcomers, but still could not accommodate them all. Those who remained within park boundaries were settled in camps near park lodges like Canyon Village, Lake Village, and Norris. Fort Yellowstone, the Park Service’s headquarters, grew into a town in its own right.
When winter arrived (and would remain for the next year and a half without ceasing), panic set in. The Park Rangers initially attempted to maintain the ban on hunting and fishing, and made harsh examples of poachers who preyed on the park’s wildlife, loggers who illegally felled trees, and other resource exploiters. Food grew ever scarcer, especially after the loss of the Twin Falls government, and humanitarian relief arrived less and less frequently. Laramie was suffering from mutinies, and Bozeman, though sympathetic, had its own problems to deal with. The Park Rangers splintered into two factions: the anti-poaching establishment and pro-poaching pragmatists. There was hypocrisy at play, as some anti-poaching Rangers still took part in it to sustain themselves; it was more a matter of Park Ranger localism vs. populist demagoguery, and both factions had ulterior motives.
Riots ensued, which grew into a brushfire civil war among Park Rangers while the refugees joined in. Hungry poachers devastated the park’s ecosystem, but starvation still ensued; most deaths from starvation across the State of Wyoming occurred within Yellowstone National Park. Cannibalism was practiced by both sides. The anti-poaching localists, however, had the official endorsement of the Bozeman government, who eventually got around to providing the Rangers with supplies, reinforcements, and whatever food they could spare.
With federal support, the anti-poaching faction won, driving their opponents into the Badlands and establishing control over the entire park. With unchallenged dominance, they enforced draconian penalties for poaching, though the practice was increasingly unnecessary. The population had dropped through starvation, war, and emigration to a sustainable level and the ecologically-compromised portions of the park were now set aside for hardy agriculture and aquaculture. The park’s last dissidents had fled, melting into the Badlands gangs or falling in with the Kingdom of God in the Tetons, which had largely slipped out of the Park Rangers’ grasp.
The National Park Service retains its autonomy for now, including its control on West Yellowstone, but is in the process of transferring administrative control back to Bozeman. There now exists a generation of young people who have only known life in the park, which presents difficulties to the Service’s ambition of transforming Yellowstone back into an uninhabited nature preserve.
United Tribes of the Wind River
Capital: Fort Wakashie
Classification: Native American Faction (Indian reservation)
The United Tribes of the Wind River was created out of the old Wind River Indian Reservation by the union of the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes. The union was necessary in the face of upheaval by tourists who had come to see the natural sights and annual Powwow celebrations. The Reservation faced a repeat of the disaster that overtook the Yellowstone National Park, until the crisis was managed by a diarchy of tribal dictators that evicted the tourists and non-Indians from their territory through paramilitary force.
Even so, the Yellowstone War sent a second wave of troublesome tourists coming their way. The United Tribes now had to face an even angrier and hungrier wave of poachers, bent on shooting all the game they weren’t allowed to bag back in Yellowstone. The Wind River Reservation’s herd of bison was nearly wiped out during the struggle; it would have perished due to a lack of genetic diversity, but Indian troops rustled enough bison out of Yellowstone in a series of raids to restore vigor to the herd.
Though the United Tribes’ initially democratic government could not sustain the pressures of the Starving Time and much of their territory was lost to the Provisional State of Wyoming in Riverton, the union has still endured and their people have not all starved. They now maintain an uneasy truce with their white neighbors, though they still protest the Provisional State’s illegal occupation of their land. They do not recognize any national government, although they are not secessionists, either.
Provisional State of Wyoming
Capital: Riverton
Classification: Legitimist Warlord (Rogue county government)
Allegiance: United States of America (Dodge City)
Riverton, a ceded city encircled by the Wind River Indian Reservation, was put on the map of post-nuclear America when it came under the control of one Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Sayers II. The eccentrically-named former state legislator came out of retirement to help lead Fremont County’s humanitarian efforts and subsequently rose to the top of the rationing board. After the Wyoming State Guard overthrew the Laramie government, he proclaimed his own rival state government: the Provisional State of Wyoming.
His declaration was not well-received throughout most of the state and was even rejected by Fremont County itself. He had a very critical support base, however: the Wind River Indian Reservation’s white minority, as well as the incoming population of Yellowstone refugees, including exiled Park Rangers who formed the pro-poaching faction. Raising a private army out of these disgruntled demographics, he captured Fremont County’s seat as well as the southeast corner of the reservation. One of Sayers’ most important decisions was to recognize the US government in Dodge City, whose confirmation of his rightful rule over the state netted him much-needed legitimacy. Two other small factions now recognize his authority, in turn: the Wyoming Department of Corrections and Niobrara County.
Their relationship with the Dodge City government is remote, but growing more connected as the Kansas-based regime expands its authority in Nebraska. The PSW is represented in the Dodge City Congress by a single non-voting representative, appointed directly by the governor. Dodge City has stated that they will allow the representative for Wyoming-at-large to vote when Wyoming begins holding democratic elections. No such elections are held within the Provisional State above the local level, as the governorship remains a dictatorial emergency position (currently held by a prewar judge of the Chancery Court after Sayers’ passing) and the miniscule state legislature is appointed by the governor.
All-American Army
Capital: Thermopolis
Classification: Warlord (Semi-nomadic Badlands warlord)
The All-American Army is one of the many warlord bands and gangs found throughout the Badlands, sitting right at the edge of what can be considered such. Like many of the more powerful Badlands warlords, they are a semi-nomadic army that spends most of the year on the move, raiding towns and collecting tribute. They spend approximately a third of the year resting at their headquarters in Thermopolis, sitting out the winter, refueling, and repairing their equipment. The AAA also semi-facetiously claims the entirety of the United States, based on no authority other than their own.
Butler Brothers
Capital: Worland
Classification: Warlord (Criminal family)
The Butler Brothers are an extended family gang that centers around the three eponymous brothers: John Butler, his identical twin brother James, and their younger brother Joseph. The brothers three, along with their sons, cousins, and nephews, form the nucleus of a larger gang numbering just under one hundred fighters strong. Many Badlands gangs are ephemeral, with lifespans seldom surpassing ten or even five years; the Butlers’ family ties, however, have kept this gang together since the day they first started recruiting tourists out of Yellowstone.
Joseph, who installed himself as the Mayor of Worland, is the more sedentary administrator of the three, who always stays behind to govern the city while his elder brothers spend most of the year out in the bush, raiding distant settlements and bringing back loot. All three are notoriously tough fighters and are feared for their ruthlessness, but they’re congenial towards honest visitors and run the town in an orderly fashion. They can’t compete with the Promethean Energy towns as hubs of Badlands trade, but they’re a fairly decent bartertown compared with most of their peers.
Park County
Capital: Cody
Classification: Local Government (Sheriff’s regime)
Park County, containing more than 50% of the Yellowstone National Park’s land area, was theoretically partly responsible for the hundreds of thousands of refugees stranded within its borders. Faced with a crisis beyond their ability to manage, they simply threw up their hands and let the Park Rangers handle it. Instead, they fell back to the county seat, leaning heavily into their Sheriff’s Office to secure a perimeter and maintain order.
Cody received a few thousand refugees over the next three years, sending most along into the Badlands while taking on the most skilled. They faced their share of troublemakers, but had survived to that point with only a little bit of cannibalism during the Cold Summer period. The real crisis came when an organized band of exiled Park Rangers attempted to conquer the town. The Sheriff’s Office threw back the attackers in a valiant effort, but has since grown quite big for their britches. Park County is now ranked alongside the many Sheriff’s dictatorships of America, albeit one of the better ones out there. The current Sheriff is both benevolent and competent, but he’s growing old, and the people have much less confidence in his potential successors.
Fortunately for Park County, the Buffalo Bill Dam and its accompanying power plant were not targeted during the war. The dam continues to serve Cody as a source of electricity, fresh water, and fish.
Powell Safe Zone
Capital: Powell
Classification: Legitimist Warlord (Local militia regime)
The City of Powell originally answered to Park County, but became responsible for its own affairs as the county seat grew more withdrawn and isolated. The town fell under the control of a prewar military veteran–turned–construction foreman-turned-warlord and his followers, who established the Powell Safe Zone as the instrument of their rule. Though the “Safe Zone” name sounds like it might invite refugees, Powell is extremely isolationist and turned back even the few Yellowstone outcasts who came their way.
Army of God (Living Water Ministries)
Capital: Lovell
Classification: Religious Faction (Pastor-warlord)
The Army of God, run by a local postwar church by the name of Living Water Ministries, is a roving army led by a Nicene Christian pastor-warlord. They collect “tithes” of food, ammunition, gasoline, and other supplies as they move from town to town, fighting a holy war against the “heathen” raiders and “Babylonic” government authorities. The militant Christian Nationalist group was previously involved with the American Redoubt, but split following the Redoubt’s alliance with the NVA. The church is based in Lovell, but in the typical semi-nomadic Badlands fashion, the army itself spends at least six months out of every year in the field.
Free Rangers
Capital: Greybull
Classification: Legitimist Warlord (Rogue law enforcement regime)
The crossroads of Greybull, like the City of Powell, was left out to dry by Park County. Many of the refugees cast out of Yellowstone ended up here by following the highway east, driving the town to the brink of anarchy. That anarchy only ended when the same Park Rangers who failed to capture Cody rolled in. Calling themselves the Free Rangers, they turned Greybull and its surrounding communities into their own petty dominion.
After all the poaching and warring they’ve done to get this far, the Free Rangers have degraded into a force little better than the other warlord bands who terrorize the Badlands. The hand by which they rule the unhappy denizens of Greybull is not much lighter than the fist by which they smite their opponents, having reduced their subjects to effective serfdom to ensure an annual harvest.
Sheridan County
Capital: Sheridan
Classification: Local Government (County government)
Allegiance: Free and Democratic State of Wyoming, United States of America (Bozeman)
Sheridan County is one of the few strong county governments in the Badlands that has not had to surrender its democratic institutions to survive. Under the rule of an elected Sheriff, Sheridan maintains its independence thanks to a strong and loyal “County Army.” They recognize the Free and Democratic State in Rock Springs, and by extension, the Bozeman government.
Buffalo Republic
United States of America (Buffalo)
Capital: Buffalo
Classification: Right-wing Ideological Faction (Libertarian militia regime)
When the town of Buffalo was seized by a libertarian survivalist militia, they unhesitatingly proclaimed their own national government. They call themselves the United States of America, but they are colloquially known as the Buffalo Republic. One of their main policies is their proud return to the gold standard; regardless of one’s economic beliefs, the lack of gold circulating through the Badlands makes this a questionable decision. They are quite dogmatic in their insistence that they are the one true America, which surprises even other supposed national claimants like the AAA. Their isolationist outlook, however, prevents them from getting into much trouble with their neighbors, and they can capably defend themselves when attacked.
The Prince
Capital: Kaycee
Classification: Warlord (Personalistic warlord gang)
The Prince is one of those philosophical warlords who thinks he’s a bigger deal than he really is. He read Machiavelli once, and now all he talks about is how “it is better to be feared than to be loved” and “he who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command.” The fact that he’s made his home in the remote town of Kaycee, however, demonstrates how afraid he really is to confront the more powerful factions at the margins of Wyoming.
Promethean Energy (Gillette)
Capital: Gillette
Classification: Legitimist Warlord (Promethean Energy regime)
The town of Gillette calls itself “the Energy Capital of America,” due to its prominence as a central hub for oil, natural gas, and especially coal. The town is administered by Promethean Energy, a pre-war institution created by the US government during the 21st Century Crisis to keep fuel prices down and secure control of strategic resources.
Promethean Energy’s upper management was lost during the Great War, as was the House Committee that regulated it, but local chapters survived throughout the country. In most instances, they were absorbed into larger factions as neo-feudal vassals, state institutions, or allowed to operate independently as a private corporation. No other factions in America are openly ruled by any other corporation; in addition to the problems corporatocratic regimes already face, few corporations survived the Great War. Moreover, PE has certain advantages that put it on par with local governments or small military formations.
As PE was not created to pay dividends to shareholders or investors but rather to secure energy resources for the state, it has state-like ambitions instead of a pure profit motive. Moreover, PE is widely dispersed throughout the country in company towns. Amid the war-torn Badlands, PE towns have housing, electricity, vehicles, stockpiles of food and supplies, and the armed security forces to defend them. Additionally, it had the added legitimacy of being a quasi-government agency specifically created to continue operating in the face of war or civil unrest.
In some cases, this simply made PE towns a tantalizing target for warlords; in other cases, the site managers became warlords in and of themselves. Yet still, some company towns endured, preserving their company institutions and culture. Gillette is one such town among several in the Badlands. Now, decades after the bombs fell, Gillette is a decent town to live in, as long as you're a PE employee or family member. Refugees and outsiders don’t have it as good, and most get put to work in the fields in order to feed the oil workers. Gillette is one of those places where the war rigs go to buy fuel, trade resources, and rest before they hit the road again—it’s Wyoming’s quintessential bartertown.
AFL-CIO
Capital: Wright
Classification: Left-wing Ideological Faction (Labor union)
As all Promethean Energy employees were members of the AFL-CIO, many energy towns ended up being run by unions instead of PE management. The coal mining town of Wright largely exists in Gillette’s shadow, much to the frustration of “Tiny Tim,” the local union boss who’s run the country for decades. The union leadership of Wright is more democratic than Gillette, at least—for a certain definition of “democracy.” But just as Promethean Energy towns are generally not good places to live for non-employees, the union-run energy towns are not so kind to non-union members. Conditions for AFL-CIO members are decent, however, and Tim is a well-liked boss, despite his short temper and gruff demeanor.
Scourge of the Badlands
Capital: Spearfish, South Dakota
Classification: Warlord (Preeminent Badlands warlord)
The Scourge of the Badlands is one of the older, more well-established warlord factions in the Badlands region. They ride up and down the highways, carving a small empire for themselves along I-90 and demanding tribute from towns under their hegemony. Alongside the Knights Templar and the Almighty Army, they’re one of the only Badlands factions that has the desire to conquer the entire region and the strength to possibly attempt it. There’s a lot for them to overcome, however, and conquering the Promethean Energy stronghold of Gillette will prove a major hurdle.
Wyoming Department of Corrections
Capital: Newcastle
Classification: State Legacy (Prison state)
Allegiance: Provisional State of Wyoming, United States of America (Dodge City)
Newcastle is administered by the Wyoming Department of Corrections, as it houses the Wyoming Honor Conservation Camp & Boot Camp, one of the state’s prisons. The camp itself functions less as a prison now and more as a headquarters for the warden’s private army. The Department recognizes the Provisional State of Wyoming as the rightful government, and by extension, Dodge City’s federal government.
Niobrara County
Capital: Lusk
Classification: Local Government (Emergency county government)
Allegiance: Provisional State of Wyoming, United States of America (Dodge City)
Niobrara County is another surviving county regime eking out an existence on the edge of the Badlands. The county government remains under emergency rule, but hasn’t quite descended into the outright despotism of a legitimist dictatorship. They recognize the PSW and the USA-DC. They’re actually close enough to the DC-aligned 1057th Military Police Company in Nebraska that they occasionally receive some tangible material benefits from this arrangement, however seldom.
The Cossacks
Capital: Douglas
Classification: Warlord (Nomadic Badlands warlord)
The Cossacks are one of Wyoming’s stronger warlord gangs. Even for their size, they have a large and well-maintained arsenal of technicals: the light cavalry of the wasteland. Their use by a faction named after one of the most famous light cavalry forces in history, then, is fitting. The Cossacks’ original “Hetman” was an actual Transbaikal Cossack, the son of Russian and American parents. After the Great War, he proclaimed his own American Cossack host, bringing fighters into his band by initiating them into the same lineage of Cossacks from which he descended.
Headless Horsemen
Capital: Glendo
Classification: Warlord (Nomadic Badlands warlord)
The Headless Horsemen are stronger than the typical nomadic warlord gang, riding on the high of a few years’ lucky streak. Several good scores and the incorporation of some good fighters from defeated gangs have propelled them to success as they gradually work their way south across the Badlands. They’re currently holed up in Glendo, taking on the Cossacks gang. Depending on how things go, they hope to try their hand at invading the civilized south and carving out an empire for themselves. They may be dismayed, however, when they see the kind of fight a professional faction like the Wyoming State Guard can put up.
Index
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