The Fallen Continent: Alabama
More than just stars fell on Alabama last night.
Population: 450,000
Largest City: Selma
Away from Mississippi’s vale,
With my old hat there for a sale,
I crossed upon a cotton bale
To the Rose of Alabamy.
Oh sweet rosey,
The Rose of Alabamy!
A sweet tobacco posy
Is the Rose of Alabamy!
Introduction
With high fallout levels, the destruction of most of its cities, and a splintered state government, the state of postwar Alabama was grim. Most of its population perished or left the state, and those who remained were subjected to large host of dozens of warlords. The “free for all” era of Alabama’s history has largely passed, however, and the state has coalesced into a less appalling twelve factions.
Much of this disunity is thanks to the early splintering of the Alabama state government. The government was in session at the time of the Great War and almost entirely destroyed on day one, so there were few remaining leaders to pick up the scraps. Much of the Alabama National Guard was left without civilian leadership to follow and had to take matters into their own hands. It took weeks to formulate a successor government, and by the end of 2029 there were already two rival claimants. The first was the Selma government, established by a council of five state legislators who survived the war, while the second was the Commissioner of the Department of Corrections’ regime in Gadsden.
The Commissioner’s government (often pejoratively referred to as the Warden’s government) was effectively a warlord regime from the very start and was considered a governmental aberration; it was never likely to reunify the State of Alabama, leaving the Selma government, sluggish as it was to arrive, as the most widely-recognized contender. It could have gone further with that legitimacy, but Selma’s participation in the far-right Regenerated Congress discredited its reputation and triggered defections that further splintered the state.
State of Alabama (Selma)
Capital: Selma
Classification: State Legacy (State legislator’s government)
Allegiance: Congress of Southern States
Joining the Regenerated Congress seemed like a good idea at the time for the State of Alabama’s governing legislative council. The federal government in Twin Falls clearly wasn’t helping them any, and at that time it was still trying to siphon troops and food stockpiles out of the eastern states and hoard them for themselves. There were real fears that they’d eventually abandon the eastern US entirely and write it off as unsalvageable. Even the federal remnants in Tupelo, Mississippi weren’t being very cooperative with local Mississippian authorities, let alone neighboring states. Founding a rival federal government for the southeast US to rally around seemed like the best course of action.
Alabama wasn’t as thrilled about the Regenerated Congress’ political extremism as Mississippi or Louisiana were, however; their participation was mostly out of pragmatism and desperation. Alabama certainly had far-right elements, and they had enough of a presence in the Selma government to tip the balance, but the Selma government joined with notable reservations. Much of the new constitution’s emphasis on decentralization and states’ rights was implemented at Alabama’s behest, so that they wouldn’t have to agree as much of the far-right program.
Unfortunately for Selma, their dreams of a southeastern federal government attracting heaps of support from neighboring states went unrealized. Many states sent some kind of delegation to Hattiesburg, but few represented their actual home states in any major capacity. Selma, like the establishment conservatives in Hattiesburg, were unhappy with the company they had just surrounded themselves with, while the lack of widespread recognition defeated Selma’s purpose for joining in the first place. In fact, it had done Selma great harm, as their perceived political extremism triggered a massive defection that wrenched the eastern half of the state out of their hands. To their dismay, the defecting local governments assembled in Auburn and elected the prewar State Auditor as the Governor of Alabama.
When establishment conservatives in Hattiesburg rigged the presidential elections in favor of their preferred candidate Blaine Richmond, the short-lived Regenerated Congress collapsed into civil war. Rather than aid their politically-moderate counterparts in Mississippi, the Selma government stood idly on the side, hoping to ride out the conflict and put the Regenerated Congress behind them. When it seemed that the extremist rebels might actually win, they swallowed their pride and intervened to save Hattiesburg’s hide. The Alabamans demanded a pittance for their work, however, and most of the Hattiesburg government was sacked the moment the ceasefire came into effect. President Richmond was detained and later sent into exile, and the remains of the Regenerated Congress were formally disbanded. What was left of Mississippi’s Hattiesburg government was chained to Selma as a client state.
Although the Regenerated Congress was dead and buried, dream of a united front spanning multiple southeastern states was still attainable. The alliance between Georgia’s military government in Gainesville and the thawed militia government in Anderson, South Carolina showed promise. When Georgian emissaries reached out to Selma for potential cooperation, the Alabamans jumped on board, dragging Mississippi along with them. To coordinate matters of trade, warfare, and diplomacy beyond an informal level, these four governments established the Congress of Southern States. The CSS is kind of like a federal government in and of itself, and serves as a stand-in for the US federal government until the “emergency” is concluded. Effectively, this means the CSS is its own federal government, but the southern states didn’t want to proclaim yet another USA or CSA.
The mechanisms of the CSS are explained in detail in the previous article. As for the domestic functions of the Selma government, they’re about at the level one would expect for a state legislator’s government: oligarchic in nature, but decently effective at providing law and order and a good standard of living for their subjects. They’ve made significant progress over the years crushing the small warlords of southwest Alabama and are now the most powerful Alabaman faction. Whether or not they’re powerful enough to stand up to the FAR is another question.
Alabama Nuclear Recovery Command
Capital: Tuscaloosa
Classification: Military Faction (Military administration)
The 31st Infantry Division has had a long history of barely missing out on wars. They were first organized in World War One as the 10th Infantry Division, made up of troops from the Alabama, Florida, and Georgia National Guards. They were trained and reorganized as the 31st Infantry “Dixie” Division and sent overseas to Europe, arriving just before the Armistice was signed; a small handful of their men briefly saw combat by being sent to reinforce other divisions. They would only see action in the Second World War, slogging it out in New Guinea and helping wrap up the last stages of the liberation of the Philippines. They were supposed to participate in the invasion of the Japanese home islands, but the use of the atomic bomb brought a premature end to the war in the Pacific.
The 31st was called to action during the Korean War, but was never deployed. Like in WWI, the only servicemen who saw action were those who were detached from the division and sent to reinforce other units. It was later downsized to a brigade after the awkward 1950s era of the US Army, experimenting with the unwieldy “Pentomic Division” structure designed specially for nuclear warfare. In 2002, they returned to fill this role and were redesignated as the 31st Chemical Brigade, meant to stay home as a CBRN defense unit. They remained in this role during World War Three and were never sent overseas to fight the Russians.
Most of the Alabama Army National Guard was mobilized as the 30th Armored Division and sent to the western front in Europe. Left behind in Alabama was the 31st, stationed at their headquarters in Tuscaloosa. Possessing Alabama’s largest remaining city and having experience in deterring nuclear hazards, the 31st Chemical Brigade gained immense importance following the Great War and took over the city in the absence of a clear civilian authority.
Through skillful leadership, resourcefulness, and proper training as a WMD unit, the 31st Chemical Brigade managed to impose order on the starving masses of refugees during the Starving Time and absorb surviving law enforcement, other military personnel, and civilian volunteers into their emergency militia. Without a clear civilian authority across the state, many local institutions willingly joined the Command, which was able to crush the warlords of northwest Alabama. Together, this collection of military and civilian odds and ends was organized into the Alabama Nuclear Recovery Command, a military-led faction that now controls most of northwest Alabama.
The ANRC is pretty standard, as military factions go. They did some things they weren’t proud of during the Starving Time, but they can hardly be blamed for it, given the extreme pressure they were under to preserve order and save civilian lives. They are a pretty traditional military faction and prefer to maintain military rule rather than return to civilian government. The ANRC is also markedly apolitical and carefully kept their distance from both the splintered Alabama state governments and the Regenerated Congress fiasco in Mississippi.
The ANRC recognized the Kahului Government until its dissolution during the Hawaiian Spring, and then switched its recognition back to the USA-Midland until it, too, fell.1 Since then, Tuscaloosa has not recognized any national government, although relations have slowly thawed with the USA-Tupelo. Their closest friends are probably in the St. Paul Republic, although it would be a stretch to call them allies. Tuscaloosa has never liked the CSS, and they are one of the few factions that considers them a worse threat than the Fraternal American Republic.
Death’s Head
Capital: Russellville
Classification: Military Faction (Rogue military warlord)
The Death’s Head squad is one of Alabama’s last warlord factions, and they’ve survived this long for a reason. They originated a clique within the 20th Special Forces Group, or at least the part of it that wasn’t destroyed along with the city of Birmingham. While most of the 20th Special Forces joined the 31st Chemical Brigade in the ANRC, maverick Lieutenant Jaxon Maxfield and his comrades went AWOL and formed their own gang. Together, they led a rampage across northern Alabama and established an enduring reign of terror from which the region has yet to recover. They’re a semi-nomadic army, marching throughout northern Alabama and launching hit and run raids before returning to their base in Russellville. They’re one of the most feared factions across the South, due to their ruthless reputation and expertise in unconventional warfare.
The ARNC turns a blind eye to Death’s Head, and some of its officers are still on speaking terms with Maxfield and his men. They’ve got a working arrangement where they sell the gang surplus weapons in exchange for loot from Maxfield’s raids. The USA-Tupelo keeps requesting that Tuscaloosa do something about the constant pestering raids, but the ARNC keeps replying that they have their hands tied.
St. Paul Republic
Capital: Hanceville
Classification: Religious Faction (Catholic theocracy)
Few would expect a state that was 78% Protestant before the Great War would host a Roman Catholic theocracy. And yet, despite making up only 7% of Alabama’s population, the Catholic community remained incredibly well-coordinated and more than able to face the challenges of the Great War and its aftermath. This success depended on the strength of two institutions. The first of these is the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament of Our Lady of the Angels Monastery, one of America’s largest Catholic pilgrimage destinations, located right in Hanceville, Alabama. The second was the Eternal Word Television Network, the largest religious television network in the world. Reaching 250 million viewers across 140 countries, its headquarters rested in the humble town of Irondale, Alabama, less than an hour’s drive away from the Shrine.
The Diocese of Alabama was miraculously spared destruction, as the Bishop of Birmingham was visiting the monastery when the bombs fell. Taking command of the situation, he called on all Catholics in Alabama to come to the monastery for food and protection. Irondale was not destroyed, but, as a suburb of Birmingham, it was dangerously close to the irradiated zone; the EWTN packed up their equipment and relocated to Hanceville, backing the Bishop wholeheartedly. The equipment that was not already destroyed or lost en route, they discovered, was unusable thanks to the EMPs employed during the war, but their technicians were able to set up a working radio station in the months afterward.
The Eternal Word radio station is one of the most powerful in the nation, with a wide listening base and a strong signal that can be heard from many states. In the absence of any state authority, the Diocese and the monastery took up the burden of governing an increasingly large Catholic community, bolstered by refugees fleeing persecution at the hands of Evangelicals, Satanists and other warlords and gangs with an anti-Catholic bent. Acknowledging the practical end of the United States of America, the Catholics of Alabama declared the St. Paul Republic, named after the Apostle Paul, patron saint of Alabama. The President of the Republic was also the Bishop of Birmingham, as the offices of state and church were intrinsically linked.
In the defense of the Republic was its newly-formed military, the Legion of the Eternal Word. They marched north, crushing the petty warlord of Cullman, but have since focused less on expansion and more on protecting their flock. One of the primary capacities of the St. Paul Republic today is to generally serve as the ecclesiastical center of southern American Catholicism. They are in full communion with the Holy See, which was relocated to São Paulo after Rome was destroyed and the prewar Pope was killed. The College of Cardinals assembled in São Paulo and almost immediately elected a new Pope after the Great War. They chose a pretty basic, inoffensive compromise candidate that everyone could get behind but nobody would truly love, since immediate action and clear leadership was more important than anything else at the time.
United States of America (Gadsden)
Capital: Gadsden
Classification: Local Government (Re-founded national government)
State of Alabama (Gadsden)
Capital: Gadsden
Classification: Local Government (Re-founded state government)
Allegiance: United States of America (Gadsden)
While most of the government was concentrated in Selma, the State Commissioner of the Department of Corrections broke off to form his own regime in Gadsden. Known colloquially as “the Warden,” Acting Governor Bobby Stanton gained a small following early on thanks to his extremely tough stance on looters, survivalists, and—to be quite frank—black people. Stanton was interested in ruling for entirely self-serving reasons, and most of his newfound subjects were relegated to what was effectively slavery. After carving out the northeastern corner of Alabama as his private fiefdom, Stanton ruled as a brutal legitimist warlord of the most despicable type. Governor Stanton of “the Warden’s government” was feared beyond his borders as the hangman of Alabama, and it should go as no surprise that he never won any declarations of support from the surrounding warlords and counties.
Absolute though his rule in Gadsden may have been, the Warden never had as tight of a grip on his subordinate towns. The reach of his arm was long, but it couldn’t prevent the tributary towns from conspiring against him and eventually overthrowing the Warden’s government not long after the end of the Starving Time. The rebels cast down the old regime and not only re-established the state government in Gadsden, but founded a new national government upon optimistic democratic principles.
The founders of the United States of America (Gadsden), like the founders of many other rival US governments, hoped that theirs would be the one that could provide a neutral, democratic alternative to all the cynical, authoritarian federal claimants out there. And like their counterparts, the Gadsden government’s declaration was promptly ignored by the rest of the country. In truth, the Gadsden government can be better described as democratic-ish, as there are a lot of vestigial holdouts of the Warden’s regime that the new government has to accommodate. Still, they have achieved some noteworthy reforms towards racial equality, in an attempt to break out of the South’s far-right mold and shake off the legacy of Warden Stanton.
The USA-Gadsden has decent relations with the St. Paul Republic, but it’s an awkward relationship given St. Paul’s theocratic and secessionist nature. Things are much more tense with their other neighbors, the reborn Confederate States of America in Rome, Georgia. The Confederates aren’t fond of their bleeding heart liberal neighbors across the state line, and a showdown between the two powers seems likely.
Chilton County
Capital: Clanton
Classification: Legitimist Warlord (Rogue county regime)
When Alabama split up after the Great War, Chilton County was unsure of who to support. The Camden police department made up their mind for them, launching a coup and declaring their support for the “Supreme Court’s Government” in Auburn. The result was a pretty bog-standard county dictatorship, but the fact that they’ve survived while a dozen of their counterparts didn’t says something about them.
The Auburn government is, of course, long gone now, but Chilton County remains. The Fraternal American Republic has, in its clemency, given them a chance to rethink their relationship and join them. If Chilton can’t stomach that offer, then their only other chance is to beg the Selma government, their former enemies, for forgiveness, and join them and the Congress of Southern States.
Fraternal American Republic
Capital: Cordele, Georgia
Classification: Right-Wing Ideological Faction (Spartanist dictatorship)
The Auburn government initially seemed poised to unify the state. They had a larger territory and population than the Selma and Gadsden governments, and generally enjoyed more recognition from the isolated counties throughout the state. Interestingly, the initially liberal Auburn government took an authoritarian turn early on, while the Selma government (which was, admittedly, never as far-right as its detractors perceived it to be) steered towards the political center. This can be explained by the death of Auburn’s governor, the prewar State Auditor, who died of radiation-induced cancer three years after the Great War. The Auditor’s much more ambitious son strongarmed his way into power following his father’s death and descended into dictatorial rule. A lot of the goodwill that Auburn had built up among the various free counties across Alabama was quickly eroded, while Selma slowly regained its preeminent position.
When the Southeast Constitutional Militia in nearby Georgia was taken over by Commander-in-Chief Calvin Quade and transformed into the Fraternal American Republic, Auburn was suddenly faced with a far more dire threat than anything they had encountered in Alabama. The Auburn government swiftly fell to the FAR onslaught, placing eastern Alabama under the control of what started as a right-wing militia alliance, had then grown into a neo-feudal regime, and is now reforming itself into a fascist, Spartanist dictatorship. The FAR’s drive west is on hold for now, as the Republic is in hibernation, crushing a mutiny by the original Southeast Constitutional Militia, made obsolete by Quade’s newer, more loyal forces: the New Continental Army.
Hardee’s Hundreds
Capital: Dothan
Classification: Warlord (Personalistic warlord gang)
Hardee’s Hundreds is the private army of small-time warlord Mason Hardee, an upstart warlord who once showed promise but was dealt a string of unfortunate setbacks. He used to be an up-and-coming lieutenant in the Andalusia Safe Zone, a legitimist warlord faction that was relatively strong, by the standards of the southern Alabama anarchy. When the Real America moved in as they made their great escape from Florida, Hardee and his hangers-on staged an evacuation of their own. Carrying with him the last remnants of the ASZ that didn’t surrender to the Floridan emigres, Hardee fled east into the last remote corner of Alabama, in Dothan. His troops are hardened raiders that all the nearby factions have to contend with, but it’s safe to say that he’s fighting a doomed battle.
The Real America
Capital: Troy
Classification: Legitimist Warlord (Neo-feudal rump state)
The story of the Real America starts in Tallahassee, Florida, where a refugee gang known as “the Tenners” emerged. They got their start raiding settlements up and down Florida’s stretch of I-10, and soon evolved into a powerful neo-nomadic faction that directly or indirectly controlled most of the Florida Panhandle. Chief among their possessions were the port towns of the Forgotten Coast, some of the last functioning ports this side of the Gulf of Mexico. Through these ports, the Tenners made a fortune importing heroin and cocaine into North America while exporting slaves captured on their raids. Drunk on success, the nomadic Tenners settled into a neo-feudal order and made their bid for the American succession. This was when they took the name “the Real America,” to emphasize their claim.
Unfortunately for them, the Real America’s extensive relationship with the drug trade, human trafficking, and Caribbean piracy attracted the wrath of foreign powers. The USA-in-Exile in New Miami, Cuba (formed from the remnants of a US military invasion during the Third World War) staged a daring invasion of the Forgotten Coast by collaborating with local authorities who resented Real American rule. The USAIE established a “West Florida Liberated Zone” in the wake of their invasion and chased the Real America out of Florida.
The Real America couldn’t withstand the sudden assault by a powerful military faction, but they were still mobile enough to fight their way into neighboring Alabama and carve out a new home for themselves. Still flush with drug money, they bought off some of the local warlords to their side, while others were crushed by an army of mercenaries. After settling into their new digs, the Real America has also taken the effort to reform itself into a proper centralized dictatorship.
They may be the most powerful warlord faction in Alabama, but the days of the warlords are coming to an end. Compared to the dour National Democratic Organization or the fearsome Fraternal American Republic, the Real America has only a slim chance of surviving their next encounter with a major faction. And unlike in Florida, they won’t have anywhere to run next time.
Knights of the White Camelia
Capital: Greenville
Classification: Right-Wing Ideological Faction (Right-wing warlord)
If they weren’t so small, overshadowed by larger factions on all sides, the Knights of the White Camelia might very well be America’s most-hated faction. Established by a small-time warlord with extreme racial views, the Knights were named after a 19th century Reconstruction-era paramilitary that split off from the original 1st Wave Ku Klux Klan. Their modern-day revival started out as a simple raider gang filled with skinhead convicts and other unsavory types, but they swelled their ranks by inviting extreme rightists from the Regenerated Congress who grew disillusioned with the Selma government’s political moderation. Somewhere along the way, the Knights’ far-right trappings transformed from merely antisocial shock jock talking points to an actual extremist program.
While human trafficking and forced labor are not uncommon sights throughout the wasteland, the White Camelia is the one and only faction in America that openly practices racial chattel slavery for African Americans. By this point, the practice is more of an exercise in historical revenge than out of an actual need for forced labor. Most of their slaves are captured from neighboring factions or purchased from the Real America, who still dabbles in human trafficking. Their slave-raiding has plunged them into a long, simmering conflict with the Selma government, who is finally getting around to bringing their full weight to bear down on them. Even the National Democratic Organization doesn’t like them, and has now launched an offensive to capture Greenville before the CSS does.
National Democratic Organization
Capital: Atmore
Classification: Military Faction (Extremist military government)
The National Democratic Organization is what everyone is afraid of when they hear the words “military government.” This clique of militarist fanatics and political extremists dates back to the days of the Regenerated Congress, when far-right elements pressured the Selma government into breaking bread with other rightists throughout the American south. While the extremists in Mississippi were militia captains and Klansmen, the Alabaman extremists found an ally in the Alabama National Guard. The generically-named National Democratic Organization was founded by far-right ideologues and hardliner National Guard officers to represent their interests in the Selma government, where they served as an outspoken and obnoxious opposition party, complete with its own paramilitary structure.
When President Richmond launched his purge on the rightists in Hattiesburg, Alabama responded with a crackdown of its own. The NDO was dissolved and many of its members in the National Guard were arrested. The NDO hadn’t accrued quite as much momentum as its Mississippian counterpart before the election, so their objections stopped just short of outright civil war. But a mutiny by the 711th Brigade Support Battalion successfully captured the town of Atmore, and the far-rightist Guardsmen soon proclaimed a rival government. They invited surviving dissidents in the Selma government to join the re-founded NDO, and have kept up the fight of the Regenerated Congress ever since.
Don’t let the “democracy” in their name fool you, the NDO is about as undemocratic as military factions get. They are, in effect, what one might call a “right wing death squad,” and are widely feared for the sweeping scope of their particular sense of righteousness. They are staunch white nationalists and have zero tolerance for racial minorities. They spare blacks; they just get sent packing for the pirate towns on the Gulf Coast. No one else can afford such magnanimous treatment. Sexual deviants, political dissidents, any other conceivable group that would offend their sensibilities are likewise persecuted with ruthless efficiency. The NDO does not, however, have any strong religious convictions beyond a vague preference for traditional American Christianity, insofar as it can agree with their purifying mission. The 711th Battalion harbors Christian and non-Christian extremists alike. Warlike though they may be, they aren’t depraved bandits like the Death’s Head squad up north; in fact, the NDO is quite disciplined. They exercise violence very carefully and deliberately—they just happen to have a lot of people in their crosshairs.
Years of anarchy and the resulting kaleidoscope of warlords bought the NDO plenty of space to freely operate. Unfortunately for them, Selma was better able to exploit it and reincorporate breakaway towns, while the NDO has remained fairly small. Selma may hold the upper hand over the NDO, but the 711th is a tight-knit, highly professional force that can’t be rooted out easily. Now they finally share a common border, but Selma is hesitant to light it up with conventional warfare. Between the NDO, FAR, and American Empire, the western wing of the Congress of Southern States has found itself in grave danger of being surrounded. Their only hope is that the can keep these squabbling right-wing extremists divided and defeat them in detail. The NDO isn’t stupid, however, and understands the value of cooperation. They don’t like the American Empire’s optics—because even right wing death squads have optics, and Alabama never went in on the Klan like Louisiana and Mississippi did—but the Fraternal American Republic looks like a promising patron.
Pirates of Penzance
Capital: Gulf Shores
Classification: Warlord (Gulf Coast pirate haven)
Connected to the rest of Alabama by a thin strip of non-irradiated land are its only two settlements along the Gulf Coast: Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. These resort towns were filled with stranded tourists after the Great War, isolated and without direction or aid. Many of them fell victim to piracy, kidnapped and sold as slaves elsewhere across the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. The remaining tourists banded together to fight fire with fire. A natural leader emerged among the tourists, who, with a good sense of humor, called himself the Pirate King and dubbed his followers the Pirates of Penzance, holding court at Orange Beach. The name is fitting, taken from an opera about a band of pirates that terrorize a peaceful resort town on the English coast. For many years the Pirates launched actual pirate raids, attacking shipping across the Gulf of Mexico, kidnapping boat people and stealing their valuables, ferrying contraband in and out of America, and launching deep-sea fishing expeditions.
The Pirate King and his mates seldom sally out to sea anymore, however. Piracy is a risky and increasingly expensive endeavor, and the Alabama coast better serves as a regional hub for independent pirate crews. Gulf Shores and Orange Beach are now the coastal equivalent of the American interior’s wasteland bartertowns; pirates and smugglers meet here to organize raids, recruit crewmates, trade loot, drugs, and slaves for food and fuel, and start their cargo off on the inland drug routes. It’s a very lucrative operation for the Pirate King and his crew, and the USAIE’s eviction of the Real America from the Florida Panhandle redirected a lot of the Forgotten Coast’s business to Alabama, further driving up profits. Yet even with all this money, the Pirates of Penzance are small fry compared to the big shot pirate havens of the Gulf Coast, first among them being the State of Lincoln and the Florida Admiralty.
Index
Click here to read the master post of the series, with links at the bottom of the page to all other Fallen Continent entries.
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The Alabama Nuclear Recovery Command is the only faction to switch its allegiance back to the USA-Midland after previously abandoning it.
Very much looking forward to the florida post
Is the Pirate King's real name Gilbert Sullivan or Sullivan Gilbert?