The Fallen Continent: Missouri
The Fallen Continent: Missouri
The Mother of the West: A divided state that holds the key to the central United States.
Population: 730,000
Largest City: Springfield
Hush-a-bye my baby, go to sleep on Mammy's knee,
Journey back to Dixieland in dreams again with me.
It seems like your Mammy was there once again,
And the darkies were strumming that same old refrain.
Introduction
Although a vast belt of fallout bifurcates the state, the two isolated halves of habitable Missouri are some of the most geopolitically important locations in the country. Missouri’s large population and central location makes gives it the key between eastern and western America.
Because it hosted so many nuclear missile facilities, the state received a heavy bombardment comparable to that of the Dakotas and Wyoming. The resulting blanket of fallout that stretches across central Missouri is known as the Missouri Wasteland, or sometimes the Greater Kansas City Exclusion Zone.
The state government initially reconvened in Springfield under the leadership of the Missouri Secretary of State, where they established a provisional emergency government. They were counting on the successful missile defense of Fort Leonard Wood to buy the military time to evacuate and back them up, but a follow-up attack destroyed the base twelve hours later. Many personnel successfully escaped and made it to Springfield to reinforce the government, but not nearly as many as could have been hoped for.
Although Missouri enjoyed a stronger position than Louisiana or Arkansas, it still suffered grievous trials that hampered its ability to maintain control over its entire territory. It didn’t succumb to revolution like Louisiana or Wisconsin did, but it was sufficiently weakened that rival factions popped up in the north, while the south was left vulnerable to invasion from Arkansas and Kansas.
Bootheel Marches
Capital: Poplar Bluff
Classification: Legitimist Warlord (Neo-feudal vassal realm)
Allegiance: Kingdom of the Ozarks
The Missouri Bootheel was one of the first regions to slip away from government control during the Starving Time. Similar to the Mississippi Delta, this lowland agricultural region succumbed to anarchy and warlordism, although it did not experience the same degree of racial strife. Local warlords fought against incoming refugee gangs from upstream and vied for dominance. The most powerful of these were the Forty Thieves of Poplar Bluff, who in fact numbered far more than forty members. They had developed into a nascent neo-feudal faction by the time the Ozarks got around to conquering them.
Today, this region belongs to the Bootheel Marches, an Ozark march territory like the Kiamichi Marches and Mississippi Marches. It is nominally a part of the Principality of Missouri, but is administered as an independent marcher region much like the Mississippi Marches are. Like the other two marcher realms, the Bootheel is characterized by fiercely independent local lords who still rule their domains with an iron fist. They frequently find themselves at war with the warlord of Cape Girardeau.
Principality of Missouri
Capital: Springfield
Classification: Special Case (Semi-autonomous Ozark principality)
Allegiance: Kingdom of the Ozarks
Springfield was the first home of the Missouri rump government after the Great War. The State of Missouri initially seemed poised to succeed: it had large stocks of grain and cattle to draw upon, crude oil reserves, one of the largest remaining cities in the country, and a large complement of surviving military personnel who escaped Fort Leonard Wood moments before it was destroyed. Unfortunately, it was also plagued with instability and infighting. It experienced the same refugee revolutions that toppled Louisiana and Wisconsin, although Missouri managed to put them down. It suffered two student revolts—one in Springfield, the other in Columbia—which were also put down, at the expense of many up-and-coming professionals who were supposed to spearhead Missouri’s return to heavy industry. The military also displayed questionable loyalty to the state government, who distrusted them in kind.
As the years progressed, the state government’s sphere of influence steadily shrank to three islands of authority. The Springfield government itself controlled the countryside surrounding Springfield and a long stretch of I-44, the 35th Engineer Brigade endured east of the Fort Leonard Wood Exclusion Zone, and the Missouri State Highway Patrol kept order in Columbia. Even still, the Springfield government had a good chance of breaking out of its stupor and reclaiming at least the rest of southern Missouri, were it not for the arrival of the Ozarks.
The Kingdom of the Ozarks had already harbored territorial ambitions on southern Missouri. Although they were an Arkansas-based faction, the Ozark Highlands extend well into Missouri, and there is a longstanding cultural similarity between the peoples of both regions. All they needed was a flimsy casus belli to justify an invasion of the region.
That excuse was provided by the leftist rebels who fled from Eureka Springs after King Malcolm evicted them from their seat of power and awarded the city to Charles Pryce, the Duke of Carroll. When the rebels found safe refuge in Springfield, King Malcolm accused the Missourians of harboring revolutionary terrorists with the aim of destabilizing and overthrowing the Ozark government. He issued an ultimatum for Missouri to hand over the dissidents and allow the Black Watch—the Ozarks’ intelligence agency—to launch an investigation on Missourian territory, which Missouri refused. With their refusal came war between Missouri and the Ozarks.
The war was the longest and bloodiest in Ozark history. Malcolm himself took a back seat during the conflict and preferred to rule in Hot Springs, while his younger brother Bruce took command of the King’s armies. After making a separate peace with the 35th Engineer Brigade, Prince Bruce’s eastern flank was freed up, allowing him to smash the Springfield government with the combined might of the Ozark military.
After years of grueling fighting, the Springfield government threw in the towel and signed the Treaty of Springfield. They dissolved the State of Missouri and ceded all its lands south of the Missouri River to the Kingdom of the Ozarks. King Malcolm created the Principality of Missouri to govern the conquered lands and awarded the title to his brother, who now rules the Principality from the regional capital in Springfield. Like Prince Michael in Oklahoma, Bonnie Prince Bruce does not directly govern Missouri, but rules through an appointed Governor-General. Bruce’s chief concern is still command over the Royal Army, although that does not mean he is unconcerned with Missourian affairs.
The Principality of Missouri stands apart from the rest of the Ozarks due to its different ruling structure. Missouri never experienced neo-feudal rule the way Arkansas did, the Ozarks could not seamlessly integrate their new conquests into their realm as they had done before. Instead, they had to cooperate with a different kind of power structure. There are still lords in Ozark Missouri, but they are fewer in number and higher in stature than their more numerous Arkansan counterparts. To make up for this difference, the mercantile burgher class is far more influential here than it is further south. Here, the corporations and guilds have as much of a say in governmental matters as the regional council of lords.
Much of this commercial influence is afforded by the fact that Springfield is one of the most heavily-developed industrial centers in North America by 2059. It is the largest center of automobile production north of the Rio Grande and is also home to the Royal Springfield Armory,1 the primary supplier of weapons and munitions for the Ozark military and civilian population. Springfield rifles aren’t remarkably innovative—they’re just AR-15 clones, like most military-grade weapons made in post-nuclear America—but they are highly sought-after for their high-quality production and reliability. There is a growing concern within the Ozark realm about the influence of the military-industrial complex and the sway it holds over the Kingdom in general and Missouri in particular.
Boss Leroy
Capital: Neosho
Classification: Legitimist Warlord (Political machine boss)
Boss Leroy is the small-time warlord of Neosho, Missouri. Although the nearby city of Joplin established the Jasper-Newton County Alliance to govern the region in the absence of the state government, neither county governments were actually informed of the decision or invited to join the government. Neosho, the seat of Newton County, later joined Joplin’s faction, but with vocal reservations. Within the JNCA, Newton County fell under the sway of an entrenched political machine led by Josh Leroy and his two accomplice county commissioners.
After the Springfield government fell apart, Leroy no longer maintained the illusion of loyalty to Joplin or any democratic form of government and split off of the JNCA to form his own faction. Since he started going his own way, Leroy’s gained notoriety for his corruption and brutality. He’s caused trouble for Shangri-La and the small free towns between Neosho and the Fayetteville Exclusion Zone by harboring raiders, criminals, and other troublemakers within his jurisdiction. Shangri-La and Joplin would both like to gang up and annihilate him, but Leroy’s got guarantees from the East Kansas Free State that protect his independence.
Jasper-Newton County Alliance
Capital: Joplin
Classification: Local Government (Expanded city government)
North of Neosho is the City of Joplin, which spans both Jasper and Newton Counties without being the seat of either county. Shortly after the bombs fell, the city government made the ambitious move to proclaim the Jasper-Newton County Alliance, a regional administration that would govern the area in the absence of the State of Missouri, which was still in Springfield trying to put out fires. Jasper County readily joined Joplin’s alliance, while Newton County was more hesitant. Together, they developed a curious system where the municipal government of Joplin ranks above the county governments to which it theoretically belongs. After Newton County under Boss Leroy’s leadership left the JNCA, Joplin has established a new Newton County government in the City of Diamond.
Unlike the Springfield government, which was under a perpetual state of emergency, Joplin restored democracy as soon as the initial wave of refugees had been dealt with (skilled professionals and government-affiliated emigres were let in; the rabble were kicked out). Although they maintained loyalty to the Springfield government at a distance, they were always more responsible for their own affairs and resisted attempts by Springfield to strongarm them into total submission. They remained neutral in the war between Springfield and the Ozarks and did not weep when the state government fell. When the State Highway Patrol in Columbia established a new government up north, they did not recognize them either.
Despite the loss of Neosho, Joplin has successfully held its own and survived many grievous trials. They are well-liked by both Shangri-La and the Ozarks, and both are interested in peacefully incorporating the JNCA into their own factions. Given the increasingly threatening stance of the East Kansas Free State and its proxy in Neosho, they will likely have to choose a partner and stick with them for their continued survival.
Polk County Company of Brothers
Capital: Bolivar
Classification: Warlord (Vigilante gang)
The Polk County Company of Brothers is a vigilante gang that rules over the town of Bolivar. They originated as a Starving Time-era neighborhood watch organization, whose purpose was to fend off raiders coming south from the greater Missouri Wasteland. Although rigidly isolationist and deeply distrustful of outsiders, they aren’t beyond reasoning with and are level-headed in their dealings. The Springfield government historically ignored them out of convenience and made no attempts to forcibly reincorporate them. The Ozarks, however, are in less desperate of a position than Springfield once was, and are interested in reaching some kind of agreement with the Company, as they consider Polk County part of their rightful territory.
35th Engineer Brigade
Capital: Rolla
Classification: Military Faction (Military administration)
Allegiance: State of Missouri, United States of America (Dodge City)
The 35th Engineer Brigade is one of the last remnants of the Missouri National Guard. They were at Fort Leonard Wood, mobilizing for deployment overseas, when the Great War began. Also located at Fort Leonard Wood was the US Army Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear School, the Army Engineer School, the Army Military Police School, the Army Transportation Corps, the 4th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, the 94th Engineer Battalion, and thousands of recruits and conscripts that were undergoing basic combat training. Although the successful missile defense bought the Army some time to escape, a follow-up strike destroyed the base mere hours later, and most of its personnel and equipment was lost.
Still, enough of its human capital survived to offer considerable support for the Springfield government and the US government as a whole. The commanding general in charge of Fort Leonard Wood deemed the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear School to be of exceedingly great importance and spirited them away first and foremost; most of the school survived, and its members were sent all across the country at the discretion of the Twin Falls government. Except for the 35th Engineers, whose structure remained intact, the rest of the survivors were a jumbled mess of military odds and ends without clear leadership or organization. They were sent west towards Springfield to support the state government and train up new recruits for the National Guard.
The 35th was instructed to maintain an island of government authority along I-44 around Rolla, east of Fort Leonard Wood, in order to provide a link between Springfield and the State Highway Patrol regime up north in Columbia. The 35th did so, and enthusiastically pressganged civilians (typically law enforcement and militiamen) into their ranks to replenish their lost manpower. Over the years, a rift developed between the Rolla military administration and the civilian government in Springfield. Springfield increasingly entertained the ideas of a return to electoral democracy and an aggressive campaign to reunify the state, while the Engineers were content to maintain emergency rule and considered northern Missouri a lost cause, although they supported a campaign to retake the rest of southern Missouri.
They fought alongside the Springfield government during the war of the Ozark conquest, but caved in before the Ozarks made it to Springfield. They did not submit to King Malcolm, but signed a simple white peace that withdrew the 35th Engineers from Springfield’s affairs altogether. They watched idly as the Ozarks captured Springfield and dismantled its government. When the state troopers in Columbia declared their own government, the Engineers quietly shifted their allegiance to Columbia, and by extension, Dodge City.
Now they are Columbia’s southernmost outpost in the state and serve as the USA-DC’s eyes and ears, reporting on the doings of the Ozark kingdom. They aren’t as interested in retaking southern Missouri anymore, but are slowly trying to resettle and pacify the empty corridor between themselves and Columbia to create a single contiguous region of state authority.
Greater St. Louis Committee of Public Safety
Capital: Farmington
Classification: Legitimist Warlord (Caste-based regime)
When southeast Missouri was overrun by refugees during the Starving Time, local law enforcement in Farmington stepped up to the challenge. They mobilized the locals on a strong localist, anti-refugee platform, put down refugee gangs, and subjugated the region under the boot of a neo-feudal police regime. The instrument of government became the Greater St. Louis Committee of Public Safety, and one of its chief concerns was the “resettlement” of the refugees, who came from St. Louis, Chicago, Davenport, and even Minneapolis and Milwaukee by way of the Mississippi River.
Through this arrangement, the surviving refugees, who outnumbered the locals, were chained to landed estates as neo-serfs and ruled over by prewar farmers, professionals, and law enforcement. These statuses became hereditary, allowing the prewar locals to develop into a new landed gentry. Although the GSLCPS—often just called “New St. Louis” in common parlance—is nominally a republican type of faction, it is effectively a monarchy in all but name.
One would think this would endear them to the Kingdom of the Ozarks, but the Ozarks have mixed opinions towards the Farmington regime. The Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal’s opinion is that they would make a better buffer state than an actual Ozark province. New St. Louis, meanwhile, prefers their independence to Ozark rule and is content to rule their own little world for themselves.
The Cape
Capital: Cape Girardeau
Classification: Warlord (Personalistic warlord gang)
The Cape is the shorthand name for the warlord regime that rules over Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Clyde Foster, their reigning warlord, once belonged to that same cohort of refugees who were subjugated by the Committee of Public Safety, and gained a following by starting a revolt against their native-born masters. The disappointing reality of Foster’s revolt is that the new boss was no better than the old, and the Cape remains yet another warlord realm. After years of conflict, the Cape Girardeau-Farmington war has simmered down into a longstanding rivalry characterized by pinprick raids, ambush murders, and duels between scrappy gunboats on the Mississippi River. The river dispute presents a real threat to Mississippi River trade, so ships from the Ozarks and Little Egypt often patrol the waters to protect commercial vessels from Cape Girardeau river pirates.
Blueshirts
Capital: Bowling Green
Classification: Warlord (Vigilante gang)
Sitting in Bowling Green in staunch defiance of the USA-Dodge City aligned state governments of Illinois and Missouri are the Blueshirts, one of the country’s most formidable vigilante gangs. Characterized by their bold blue uniforms, the Blueshirts are exceptionally well-led and organized, with their own code of laws and cottage industry. Although Columbia and Quincy are trying to slowly draw the noose around them, the Blueshirts continue to punch above their weight and have prevented the Columbia government from pushing east towards the Mississippi River. They sustain themselves through daring raids on government territory and sell the loot to other factions downstream, who supply them with arms and equipment.
State of Missouri
Capital: Columbia
Classification: State Legacy (State law enforcement regime)
Allegiance: United States of America (Dodge City)
While the civilian government established itself in Springfield, the Missouri State Highway Patrol was scattered and decapitated. Troops C, E, and H all degenerated into warlordism at the fringes of the state, Troops D and G remained with Springfield, Troop I was conscripted into the 35th Engineer Brigade, but Troops B and F remained faithful to their mission despite being geographically estranged from the government. Troop B abandoned Macon in the wake of the militiamen’s advance and called on the remnants of Troop F to follow them to the college town of Columbia, which they would administer on the government’s behalf.
Columbia was not informed of Springfield’s decision to place the city under police control and attempted to resist their takeover. This incident ended with little bloodshed, but it set the stage for a larger confrontation later on during the Starving Time. Leftist elements within the City of Columbia and the University of Missouri organized a student revolt, one of the most formidable in the country’s history. The state troopers withstood the siege, however, and were relieved by National Guardsmen from the south. The leftists were defeated and most fled west before they could be killed. Having eliminated their greatest internal rival, the State Highway Patrol ruled with unchecked despotism for the next several years.
Two major events led to the disruption of the troopers’ isolationist fiefdom. The first was the Ozark conquest of Springfield, which led to the end of the state government in the south. As the last remnant of that government, state troopers re-founded the State of Missouri in Columbia and placed it under a state of emergency police governance. The second was the rise of the Heartland Social Republic and its annexation of the State of Platte. The arrival of a new power in northern Missouri that could potentially conquer Columbia scared the state troopers into calling on the United States government in Dodge City, Kansas for aid.
In exchange for membership in the Dodge City Convention and all the aid that would bring, the state troopers were obliged to make certain compromises. They instituted the veneer of a democratic government in Columbia and symbolically made amends with the University of Missouri, in order to appease Dodge City’s demands. Missouri-Columbia does hold regular multi-party elections, but the state government is weak, and elections are noncompetitive and largely decided by the local Republican political machine. The State Highway Patrol remains the real power in the region and the government is subordinate to oversight by an independent police force. Still, even this façade of democracy was enough to satisfy Dodge City, who showered Columbia with supplies and equipment to give them another lease on life.
Having gained a second wind by entering the Dodge City Convention, the Columbia government expanded from a glorified city-state to a powerhouse of northern Missouri. They cleared out a host of minor warlords, coming into conflict with the Blueshirt army in the process, and linked up with the State of Illinois, another remote member of the Dodge City Convention.
Because of the extreme ideological foes they have frequently encountered, the Columbia government promotes a strict, centrist kind of “rally around the flag” nationalism in its propaganda. They discourage the Missourian state identity in favor of a national American identity,2 and are staunchly anticlericalist as a result of their repeated confrontations with Christian nationalist groups.
Vox Populi
Capital: Higginsville
Classification: Left-Wing Ideological Faction (Left-wing warlord)
The Vox Populi are the last remnants of the left-wing student revolt from the University of Missouri that very nearly overran the state troopers governing Columbia. Although the timely arrival of National Guard reinforcements from the south saved Columbia from revolution, they did not entirely eliminate the revolt. The troopers and Guardsmen may have rounded up most of the dissidents and summarily dispatched them, but those among the revolutionaries who saw the writing on the wall got wise and fled west before they could be captured. They raised up an army of discontents and descended on the vulnerable town of Higginsville before transforming it into their new base of operations.
Vox Populi has ambitious aims of continuing the revolution, even after decades have passed since it largely fizzled out downstream. By this point, they are less of a real revolutionary movement than a warlord state that justifies its continued existence through left-wing, perpetual revolution rhetoric. They do a surprisingly good job of producing propaganda and distributing it far and wide beyond their core territory, and people from Oklahoma and Kentucky are aware of their talking points. Missouri-Columbia could invade and defeat them without too much difficulty (and one of these days, they might actually get around to doing it), but they prefer to keep them around for now as an easy enemy to rally people against.
Christian State
Capital: Chillicothe
Classification: Religious Faction (Theocracy)
The Christian State is Missouri’s resident religious faction, made up of fervent Christian nationalists who followed a Methodist splinter church faction and its attendant warlord during the Starving Time. The Christian State is yet another self-proclaimed successor to the United States of America and claims to rule the country and its Christian population; they are aware of their relative weakness given the boldness of their claim, and are not dogmatic about enforcing it.
In matters of religion, their dominant Wesleyan Holiness Church of the Nazarene rides the line between fundamentalism and millenarianism. They don’t outright consider the Great War to be the Biblical apocalypse, but believe it was the heralding of a new era for the restoration of Christendom and the spiritual regeneration of America. The Christian State actually took in quite a lot of refugees for their size, and made an admirable, yet unsuccessful effort to feed them all. The Columbia government despises them as rabble-rouser fundamentalists, the leftists consider them reactionary cultists, the Heartland Social Republic remains ambivalent, but the Missouri Militia Alliance is on good terms with them. They have not yet unified, however, as the Christian State continues to negotiate with Kirksville for a better deal.
Iron Fist
Capital: Cameron
Classification: Warlord (Local warlord gang)
The Iron Fist is a a warlord band that formed under the dark shadow of the Missouri Wasteland, ruling over the few inhabitants of the more habitable portions of the greater Exclusion Zone. They took advantage of the chaos caused by the warfare between northern Missouri’s various factions to emerge from the EZ and carve out a new home for themselves. That home is the town of Cameron, a city spanning multiple counties whose shaky prewar regime could not defend itself from the oncoming warlords.
Free and Sovereign State of Platte
Capital: Maryville
Classification: Special Case (Heartland state government)
Allegiance: Heartland Social Republic
Northwest Missouri first came under the control of the expansionist Mayor of Maryville, who conquered an area roughly corresponding to Missouri’s Platte Purchase of 1836. To capitalize on the state government’s abandonment of northern Missouri, the mayor convened a local congress and seceded from the state as the new State of Platte. Although Platte was forged from the conquests of a rogue mayor, it bordered on the edge between legitimist warlord state and genuine local government. Maryville never stopped holding local elections, and Platte has held regular elections since its founding. The integrity of said elections is dubious; they aren’t outright rigged, but they aren’t competitive and the actual voting process is largely pro forma once the Platte Independence Party chooses its candidates.
When Brendan Wagner’s Heartland Social Republic came upon the scene, Platte was one of the first regimes to peacefully submit, and willingly joined the Republic after several rounds of negotiations. They were admitted into the HSR as the Free and Sovereign State of Platte, whose de jure borders extend from the old state lines east towards the Missouri River’s southern bend as Glasgow. They only control about half of this area, of course, and four other factions can be found within the claimed territory. The HSR has plans to eventually acquire these lands, but they have far more pressing concerns in Iowa, while the USA-DC out west presents a constant threat.
Missouri Militia Alliance
Capital: Kirksville
Classification: Right-Wing Ideological Faction (Right-wing militia regime)
Presented with the opportunity afforded by a total governmental withdrawal from the south, several long-dormant militia groups rose up in northeast Missouri to fill the power vacuum. The two principal groups were the longstanding Missouri Militia and the Missouri Citizens Militia, although there were other, newer groups whose formation dated back to the Great 21st Century Crisis. Similar militias sprang up throughout the state during the Starving Time, but none could match the dominance of the first two militias. Both were active all throughout the state, but the southern uprisings were quickly crushed and most militia activity elsewhere was drowned out by the general anarchy and warlordism that prevailed throughout the wasteland.
The northeast, however, was quickly established as militia country, where state troopers and government agents knew not to set foot. The MM and MCM quickly united as the Missouri Militia Alliance, integrating other newly-raised militias into the fold along the way. Although the two founding members hold senior authority due to their greater size and age, the MMA is a decentralized organization, and subordinate militia commanders enjoy a great deal of autonomy. The political ideology of said militias ranges from right-libertarianism to borderline fascism, and has generally hardened and been driven further right after sustained conflict with the Columbia government.
The MMA is involved in a broad, big-tent alliance with the Blueshirts, the Christian State, the Nauvoo Legion, and the State of Forgottonia against the Dodge City Convention state governments of Missouri and Illinois. It’s a lot of work to juggle between so many different factions with differing interests, but the threat of Columbia-Quincy is enough for Kirksville to make it work.
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.
Previous Entry: Arkansas
Next Entry: Iowa
No relation to the Massachusetts-based Springfield Armory which supplied the United States military from 1777 to 1968.
This may seem like an odd thing to deliberately discourage, but sectionalism is a powerful force in post-nuclear America. Given that basically everyone is an American, it tends to have less meaning outside of USA-based factions, and state and local identities are stronger. Other alternatives to national identity are identities based on religion, race, ethnicity, political ideology, gang, union, or militia membership, or a warlord’s cult of personality.
Missouri Synod not in Missouri?