The Fallen Continent: Idaho

Briefly home to the capital of the United States, Idaho now serves as the seat of two of its strongest factions.

Population: 500,000
Largest City: Idaho Falls

And here we have Idaho
Winning her way to fame;
Silver and gold in the sunlight blaze
and romance lies in her name.

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Introduction

The state today most closely associated with prewar government authority was, paradoxically, one of its most unstable at the time of the Great War. Idaho was one of the states worst hit by the 21st Century Crisis’ wave of political violence. Much of the state, particularly in the Idaho Panhandle, was effectively controlled by the Northwest Volunteer Army. Yet things were to change following the destruction of Boise and Pocatello.

Three days after the bombs fell on Washington D.C., Tony Battista, the US Secretary of Commerce, arrived at Twin Falls, Idaho by plane along with other remnants of the federal government. As the last senior member of the Presidential cabinet, he was quickly sworn in as the Acting President of the United States. He appointed a new presidential cabinet, mostly drawing from surviving deputy cabinet members while also making some entirely new appointments for various acting secretary positions. The Battista administration, along with the handful of congressmen in Twin Falls, were later remembered as the “Twin Falls Government.” The Twin Falls Government was nigh-universally recognized, even by foreign governments, and immediately set before itself the herculean task of managing the worst crisis in human history.

Battista federalized the National Guard and implemented a policy of nation-wide triage. Huge swathes of irradiated territory were written off as anarchic, uninhabitable “Nuclear Exclusion Zones.” Other cities with the necessary resources to withstand the coming trials were designated as government safe zones, the Reconstruction and Recovery Centers, and received additional supplies and reinforcements. Thanks to the prolific distribution of a widely-publicized nuclear safety map, most civilians knew where to go to escape nuclear fallout and find refuge.

Battista communicated with state and military officials remotely via radio, hoping to reconvene what remained of the US Senate. The Twin Falls Government even coordinated with US military forces overseas, still attempting to prosecute the war against China and Russia. Domestically, the situation was growing strained, but the Twin Falls government could count on the Snake River Valley to serve as a breadbasket during the coming nuclear winter. The Idaho National Guard even recaptured Coeur d’Alene for the second time, pushing the white nationalist insurgency to the brink of ruin. Then the secondary strikes came.

A series of coordinated attacks by over a dozen Russian nuclear submarines laid waste to nearly the entire Snake Valley, destroying Twin Falls and the government with it. Surviving government officials in the region fled to intact Idaho Falls and Bozeman, Montana, while a reconvened rump Senate in Amarillo, Texas elected their own new president: Texas Congressman Oscar Zinn. The rest of the country answered to Amarillo for the next ten months, until it, too, was caught by a secondary strike. The third government was established in Dodge City, Kansas, before President John Ingersoll relocated to the less incendiary city of Midland, Texas. A civil war ensued between the Ingersoll government and the insubordinate officials he left behind in Kansas. One last desperate attempt to form a universally-recognized government was made in Walla Walla, Washington, before the Great War’s last secondary strike took it out, twenty months after the initial nuclear exchange. Other claimants sprang up across the country: Bozeman, Montana; Kahului, Hawaii; St. Cloud, Minnesota; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Tupelo, Mississippi; State College, Pennsylvania. The days of a unified America were over.

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State of Idaho

Capital: Idaho Falls
Classification: Federal Legacy (Federally-installed state government)
Allegiance: United States of America (Bozeman)

The State of Idaho is one of the main constituents of the United States of America in Bozeman, Montana. Its roots lay in the scant few days of the Twin Falls government, when Battista, having a faint suspicion that the Russians might attempt secondary strikes (he himself was ordering similar attacks against the Russians), dispersed his government throughout Idaho and western Montana. His suspicions were proved correct, having gambled with his life and lost.

Following the dämmerung of Twin Falls, the remaining state authorities coalesced around Idaho Falls, while federal authorities relocated to Bozeman, Montana and Amarillo, Texas. There was an air of tension between the northwestern authorities in Bozeman, Idaho Falls, and Walla Walla and the new Amarillo government. The Twin Falls government was overwhelmingly Democratic, a remnant of the prewar Chelsea Clinton presidency, while the Amarillo government was mostly Republican. Local authorities were mostly democrats as well, as most conservatives and rightists in the region had spent the last few years boycotting what they perceived as rigged elections or had taken up arms against the government (e.g. the Northwest Volunteer Army).

The breaking point came when the Republican John Ingersoll, one of three present congressmen in the first Dodge City government, strong-armed his way into the presidency with what was effectively a unilateral proclamation. Enter: Sheldon Deacon, a Homeland Security officer from Helena, Montana and a Democrat, who rose to prominence fighting against the NVA insurgents. He was appointed Acting Secretary of Homeland Security by Tony Battista and fled from Coeur d’Alene to Bozeman as soon as Twin Falls was destroyed. He played an increasingly vital role during the Amarillo days, commandeering the Montana rump government and largely ignoring federal directives. He replied to Ingersoll’s ascension to the presidency by helping found the short-lived Walla Walla government, which he again mostly ignored. After the destruction of Walla Walla, he proclaimed his own presidency, even though the Secretary of Homeland Security is not included in the Presidential line of succession.

Deacon subsequently ruled as a civilian dictator with unlimited emergency powers—undoubtedly undemocratic, but viewed as a necessary evil given the circumstances. He might have achieved more widespread recognition, if it were not for his stubborn insistence on dissolving the Idaho rump government and consolidating all his holdings into a single unitary state. This triggered widespread defections among more remote military and civilian factions that would have otherwise aligned with him, leaving the otherwise powerful Bozeman regime without many allies.

The dictatorial presidency has retained many of its powers even after Deacon’s death, but the new president has reluctantly devolved some powers back to the state governments. There does exist an Idaho state government once again, although it is weak, effectively a rubber stamp for its masters in Bozeman. It has no elections, as all its members are manually appointed by the Acting President.

Idaho Falls is also the new headquarters of the orthodox LDS Church in America, whose worldwide headquarters have been relocated to the State of São Paulo, an independent country in what was formerly Brazil. The Bozeman government is the only national contender to enjoy the official endorsement of the main LDS Church.

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Idaho Self-Defense Force

Capital: Hailey
Classification: Military Faction (Rogue military formation)

Most of the Idaho National Guard was federalized by Tony Battista on day one of the Twin Falls era and was subsequently slain during the follow-up attacks on the Snake Valley. The Guard resorted to extensive conscription to fill the gaps afterward, and tried to gain support by adopting localist principles and selectively admitting refugees. The 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat team (or at least its constituents that had not been sent to Afghanistan with the rest of the brigade) faithfully served the new Idaho Falls government alongside the rest of the guard up until its dissolution by President Deacon. Fearing another federalization that would march them straight into a nuclear attack and hyped up by localist rhetoric, the 116th Cavalry mutinied, and reformed as the Idaho Self Defense Force.

They have slowly expanded throughout central Idaho since the mutiny. Their proudest achievement was the capture of Arco, previously controlled by a vicious warlord who attempted to fend off invaders with a WMD arsenal of home-brewed nuclear waste bombs and poison gas. The Self-Defense Force is involved in a loose axis with the Idaho Emergency Militia and the Central Idaho Recovery Authority against both the Bozeman regime and the Northwest American Republic. The Adjutant-General in Hailey hopes to unify this triumvirate into a new rival Idaho state government.

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King of the World

Capital: Jackpot, Nevada
Classification: Warlord (Personalistic warlord gang)

After being evicted from the Twin Falls Exclusion Zone, the King of the World still ventures north to raid and scavenge the towns along the Snake River. In doing so, he often comes to blows with salvage parties from other factions.

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Farmers Defense League

Capital: Glenns Ferry
Classification: Warlord (Vigilante gang)

The Farmers Defense League is a vigilante gang that rules over one of the few stretches of the Snake River valley outside of any exclusion zone. There are some benevolent vigilante regimes throughout the country. There are many others who are brutal, but at least mean well. The FDL is neither of these things. They are as ruthless and kleptocratic as vigilante gangs get, and any farmers under their “protection” are effectively serfs.

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Kingdom of Idaho

Capital: Idaho City
Classification: Warlord (Gang alliance)

The Kingdom of Idaho is a fractious coalition of gangs ruling over a town of a few thousand people. The king is elected for life by a “congress” of gang leaders. They initially sustained themselves by scavenging the ruins of Boise. As that treasury has now dried up, they now survive by periodically launching raids to the west and south for more food and supplies.

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Canyon Free Zone

Capital: Caldwell
Classification: Warlord (Warlord bartertown)

Being located so close to Boise, much of the population of Canyon County fled north and west after the war. Even more fled as clouds of fallout kicked up by the secondary strikes along the Snake River began to drift in. The few who remain live under the Canyon Free Zone, a warlord regime born from the anarchy that ensued after the withdrawal of government forces. The Free Zone is less of a managerial serf state than the FDL—its arch-nemesis—but is more of a hub for smaller gangs to congregate and do business under the supervision of the Eighty-Fours, the Zone’s preeminent gang.

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Snake River Republic

Capital: Ontario, Oregon
Classification: Legitimist Warlord (Flawed democracy)

The Snake River Republic is mostly based in Oregon, but also controls some territory on Idaho’s side of the river. This stretch of irrigable land makes the SRR punch above its weight through impressive agricultural output. This makes them the frequent targets of smaller warlords nearby, however.

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Central Idaho Recovery Authority

Capital: Donnelly
Classification: Legitimist Warlord (Neo-feudal regime)

The Central Idaho Recovery Authority is a neo-feudalist regime that grew out of the Idaho Field Office of the BATFE. The ATF had already gained notoriety in Idaho due to its handling of the Ruby Ridge Incident in the 1990s; the rise of the Northwest Volunteer Army only provided fuel to the fire for further violence. As the crisis escalated, the ATF became the brutish vanguard of anti-terrorist operations, often to the frustration of other federal agencies. When the Idaho National Guard was evacuated to the east, the ATF stayed behind, still bent on thwarting the white supremacist insurgents. The agency soon broke with the government entirely, snowballing into a neo-feudal army that controlled most of central Idaho.

The Central Idaho Recovery Authority’s mission is nominally the eradication of the NVA; in practice, the authority functions as a warlord army that marches from town to town collecting tribute and annually winters in Donnelly. Like all neo-feudalist regimes, the Authority is a patchwork of gangs, militias, law enforcement, cities, counties, and other bodies all held together by their hegemonic master at the top. They were initially one of the most powerful factions in the state, but the Authority’s refusal to reform past the neo-feudalist structure means they are losing ground to the more dynamic Northwest American Republic. Their best hope now is to join forces with the ISDF and Idaho Emergency Militia to create a united front against them.

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Northwest American Republic

Capital: Coeur d’Alene
Classification: Right-wing Ideological Faction (Far-right insurgent movement)

Free State of Idaho
Capital: Coeur d’Alene
Allegiance: Northwest American Republic

The Free State of Idaho is the proud cradle of the Northwest American Republic. Their roots stem back to the Coeur d’Alene Uprising during the Great 21st Century Crisis, when a white nationalist demonstration over a child custody dispute escalated into a full-blown riot after state troopers tried to shut it down. The riot ended in disaster for the Northwest Front movement after the National Guard was called in to quell the unrest, but the white separatists were not deterred. They fled to the countryside, playing a game of cat-and-mouse with state and federal authorities for years. By the time of the Great War, large stretches of territory outside of cities and off the main highways already belonged to the insurgents.

The Great War provided a window of opportunity for America’s largest militant dissident movement, whose area of operation was mostly unaffected by nuclear attack. They descended upon Coeur d’Alene in the days following the nuclear exchange, capturing the city in open battle. Several weeks later, federalized National Guard troopers dislodged them from the city once again under the orders of Acting President Battista. The federal victory was short-lived, however, as Twin Falls soon went up in flames.

As the government fell back to Idaho Falls, the Northwest Volunteer Army, the militant arm of the Northwest Front movement, made its move. They launched a general uprising throughout the Pacific Northwest and marched freely into territory where they had previously only operated in secret. When the NVA returned to Coeur d’Alene for the second time, they declared the independence of the Northwest American Republic. Three months later, the NAR Provisional Government held its first elections, with only one political party participating: the Northwest Independence Party, previously the American National Socialist Party.

The NVA’s success cannot be chalked down to their military efforts alone, as much of their progress is thanks to cooperative locals in the form of other militia movements, police departments, and even civilian officials. The First Northwestern American Congress saw the induction of many of the Pacific Northwest’s last Republican politicians into the regime, who have somewhat watered down the Northwest Front extremism with more measured paleoconservatism. Though the NAR is a one-party state, the NIP consists of multiple factions, including hardline national socialists and more moderate conservatives.

Since their initial postwar gains, however, the NAR’s territorial expansion has become more incremental and cautious. Within the Republic’s contiguous territory, the NVA’s focus is primarily defensive; offensive activity is mostly limited to more far-flung ventures in Oregon and Wyoming. Their independence has not been recognized by any faction within the United States of America or outside it, and the NAR is generally detested by its neighbors. Only the Battleborn Army in Nevada views them in a more or less favorable light.

The currency of the NAR is the Northwest Mark, named after the Reichsmark of Nazi Germany. The financial history of the Republic has evolved from its roots in NVA bank robberies before the Great War, to US Dollar counterfeiting operations, to NVA-issued bills of credit. The bills of credit, much like Continental Dollars during the American War of Independence, were issued by the NVA as IOUs to reimburse the owners of confiscated property with the promise of repayment in real money once the war of Northwest Liberation was over. The original bills have now been paid off in the form of (practically non-redeemable) silver-backed Northwest Marks.

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Idaho Emergency Militia

Capital: Salmon
Classification: Legitimist Warlord (Rogue county regime)

The Idaho Emergency Militia is the instrument by which Lemhi County retains its independence. Here, a county administrator evaded Bozeman’s imposition of unitary rule by establishing a legitimist dictatorship and forming his own militia. Bozeman is stronger now than it was in years past, however, and the only thing keeping the federal threat at bay is the prospect of a united front between themselves, the ISDF, and the CIRA.

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New Apostolic Temple

Capital: Challis
Classification: Religious Faction (Messianic cult)

The New Apostolic Temple is one of the more powerful cult factions across America. They, like many Christian-derived cults, are non-Trinitarian and acquired their beliefs from certain western esoteric spiritual traditions. Their leader, a self-proclaimed Messiah, has secured several towns across Custer County and urges his followers to reclaim the world for him. They are bitter opponents of all of their neighbors.

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Index

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