The Fallen Continent: Washington
Enter post-apocalyptic Washington, the first of the 48 contiguous states that make up the American wasteland.
Population: 160,000
Largest City: Raymond
This is my country; God gave it to me;
I will protect it, ever keep it free.
Small towns and cities rest here in the sun,
Filled with our laughter, “Thy will be done.”
Introduction
Washington fell on hard times when the near entirety of the Puget Sound area was rendered uninhabitable. Most of the state’s remaining population now clings to the coast or lives in the far east of the state. Walla Walla was briefly home to a half-baked attempt at establishing a national government; when the Dodge City and Midland governments went to war, the chair of the Midland government’s Senate Committee, fearing a purge by President Ingersoll, met up with the US Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forest Committee in Walla Walla and proclaimed their own United States government from there. Before they could issue any orders or receive the recognition of other states, they were annihilated in one of the Great War’s very last secondary strikes.
Транс-Тихоокеанский Военный Округ
Trans-Pacific Military District
Capital: Ново-Саро́в (Novosarov, or Friday Harbor)
Classification: Special Case (Foreign occupation regime)
Allegiance: Russian Empire (Korsakov)
Matvei Konstantinovich Sokolov was the commander of the Imperial Russian Navy’s nuclear submarine St. Fyodor Ushakov; his vessel was the one that launched the secondary strike that destroyed the US rump government in Walla Walla, twenty months after the initial nuclear exchange. The St. Fyodor surfaced in the Salish Sea, off the San Juan Islands. His crew then invaded the defenseless islands, establishing his own Russian fiefdom in America: the Trans-Pacific Military District. Sokolov renamed his new headquarters in Friday Harbor after his home city of Sarov, which was itself destroyed during the Great War.
The Russians have continued to rule over the San Juan Islands, intermarrying with the local women and trying to promote Russian culture among the population. Their rule is no different from any other rogue military warlord anywhere else in America save for their national origin, but that doesn’t prevent them from being viewed as local Bogeymen throughout the Salish Sea.
The Trans-Pacific Military District recognizes and is recognized in turn by the Russian Empire in Korsakov, which controls Sakhalin, the Kurils, most of the Primorye and Kamchatka, and even northern Hokkaido. The Sakhalin-based government is debatably the most legitimate successor to the antebellum Russian Empire; it has the most widespread foreign recognition and hosts a Patriarch of Moscow-in-exile recognized by the OCA, ROCOR, and Jerusalem-in-exile, but not by Greece. There are, needless to say, many rival Emperors and rival Patriarchs of varying degrees of legitimacy scattered throughout the remnants of Russia, among countless more warlord states. One such Patriarch in war-torn southern Russia enjoys the endorsement of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople, now headquartered in the Monastic State of Mt. Athos.
The Sakhalin-based Empire’s reigning monarch, Empress Anna II, is an American woman from San Francisco distantly descended from Tsar Nicholas I. She was kidnapped by Russian agents in the months preceding the Great War alongside a few other distant Romanov descendants as a contingency plan to secure the imperial succession in case of the death of Tsar Yuri V and his descendants. Anna was already married when she was kidnapped, but her first husband was presumed dead following the great war. The unfortunate empress was forcibly wedded to her captor, a former Imperial Russian Navy commander, who elevated himself to Prince Consort and Co-Regent of the rump Russian Empire. In effect, he is the real emperor and his wife’s reign is a legal fiction meant to give their heirs legitimacy. His other Co-Regent is the Patriarch of Moscow-in-exile, and they are together two of the most powerful men in the Russian wasteland. The Russian Empire’s most notable foreign ally is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, which maintained continuity of government following the Great War.
Captain Sokolov maintains an extremely tenuous claim on the entire American west coast, derived from the miniscule Russian presence in California in the 19th Century. Sokolov argues that, because John Sutter bought but never fully paid for Fort Ross, California remains rightful Russian territory. Sakhalin doesn’t back up Sokolov’s historical claims, but they do affirm the Navy’s rule as a provisional occupation government in America. The District nominally defers to the Empire and interacts with them on occasion, but it mostly functions as Sokolov’s independent fiefdom without much in the way of imperial oversight.
Sokolov’s revisionist territorial claims do not extend to Alaska, which he believes was lawfully transferred to the United States (excepting certain territories that are the supposed rightful property of the Russian Orthodox Church). The reason for this sudden restraint is his relationship with the Alaskan Empire, his only ally in a region filled with bitter enemies.
The New Order
Capital: Oak Harbor
Classification: Right-wing Ideological Faction (Far-right insurgent movement)
Founded in the last months before the Great War, the New Order was based on the defunct white nationalist terrorist organization “The Order,” which was itself based on a fictional group of the same name from an infamous white nationalist novel from the 20th century. The New Order split off from the broader Northwest Front movement after several members from the NVA’s Seattle Brigade were expelled for bad behavior. Founding their own movement, they built up their strength on Whidbey Island, a stronghold of the original Order in the 1980s.
The greatest obstacle to their planned takeover of Whidbey Island was the naval air station at Ault Field, but the Great War provided an opportunity. The field was badly damaged by conventional bombardment but fortunately spared from nuclear attack. The remaining naval personnel packed up what was salvageable and fled to Twin Falls, Walla Walla, and Kahului, only one of which survived the secondary strike period. When the Starving Time further withered the population, a sufficient power vacuum appeared for the New Order to strike.
As the population of Whidbey Island was already 95% white and any remaining federal authority was now negligible, the New Order had little cause to “liberate” Whidbey’s inhabitants. This hasn’t stopped them from taking it over and ruling as petty warlords of a most radical distinction. Their extreme isolation from the rest of America means mainland factions ignore them, if they are aware of their existence at all—including the Northwest American Republic. The Russians, Coast Guard remnants, and Canadian warlords across the Salish Sea, however, fervently oppose them. In fact, the New Order is the only faction in the region that is nearly as despised as the hated Russian occupiers. Still, they have a fanaticism and drive that could possibly propel them to dominance, should open warfare break out throughout the Salish Sea.
Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound
Capital: Port Townsend
Classification: Military Faction (Military administration)
The US Coast Guard endures in Port Townsend, where a handful of Coast Guardsmen rendezvoused following the destruction of other bases across Washington’s northern coast. They made a gallant effort to accept refugees from across the Puget Sound, but could only feed a handful during the Starving Time. Many of the surviving newcomers were organized into a militia to defend their territory against the Russians and white nationalists. The Puget Sound Sector recognized the Kahului government until its dissolution; now, they assure the State of Washington in South Bend that they will only recognize them if Washington, Oregon, and Alaska can come together and form a national government. Alternatively, they may join a hypothetical US Marine Corps-led military regime out of Bridgeport, California, should it ever declare national dominion. Until either of these things come to pass, the Coast Guard is on its own.
Makah Nation
Capital: Neah Bay
Classification: Native American Faction (Indian Reservation)
At the northwestern tip of the state, the Indians of the Makah Nation eke out a meager living. With no government regulations to stop them, they have returned to their traditional practice of whaling to make a living, sometimes sailing fifty miles out to sea to catch grey whales. Secluded in isolation, the troubles that affect the rest of the state have largely passed them by, but they do maintain trade with other factions.
Olympic Free Territory
Capital: Forks
Classification: Left-wing Ideological Faction (Anarchist collective)
Though left-wing ideologues are rare in the United States, as most of them lived in major cities and perished during or shortly after the Great War, anarchist refugees from Seattle took to the Olympic Mountains to enact their anarchist experiment. The result is the Olympic Free Territory, an anarcho-communist collective that meets in the town of Forks during their communal congress. In practice, an anarchist “Black Army” militia is responsible for ensuring that people adhere to the anarchist system. The mountains shield them from attackers, but they have had great difficulty in expanding their ideology beyond the Free Territory.
Quinault Indian Reservation
Capital: Tahola
Classification: Native American Faction (Indian Reservation)
Allegiance: State of Washington
The Quinault Indian Nation is home to around a thousand souls, living in the southwest corner of the Olympic Peninsula. Prewar plans to relocate their capital and primary settlement uphill in order to evade flooding were dashed by the Great War, so most Quinault Indians live on the coast. They recognize the Washington state government in South Bend.
State of Washington
Capital: South Bend
Classification: Local Government (Re-founded state government)
South of the Quinault Reservation is the State of Washington, the self-proclaimed rightful government of the state. Though they have no continuity with the original state government, neither does anyone else; the actual remains of the prewar state government fled to Walla Walla and were obliterated in a secondary strike, alongside the short-lived Walla Walla-based federal government. The South Bend government was formed out of an alliance of Greys Harbor County and Pacific County, both of which thwarted attempts by strongmen to take them over. The counties banded together and adopted an isolationist platform, turning back refugees from Seattle and abandoning the east of the state to the white nationalists. Thanks to hunting and fishing, they managed to pull through the Starving Time.
Unlike many governments of the wasteland, Washington-South Bend holds democratic elections. All statewide and county officials are regularly elected, although the state legislature is tiny and directly appointed by the governor, who retains substantial emergency powers.
The South Bend state enjoys cordial relations with the State of Oregon, the State of Alaska, and the Republic of Hawaii. Together with Oregon and Alaska, they are beginning to entertain the idea of forming a west coast-based US government. Dubbed the “Pacific Project” or the “Pacific Dream” by its proponents, it remains only a pipe dream for now, as too many of the proposed members have disagreements over who should be involved, how the government should function, and where the capital should be located. Should democratic factions like Oregon or the Continuity State of California score a significant enough victory, however, it may help bring the dream into reality.
Provisional Government of Washington
Capital: Shelton
Classification: Legitimist Warlord (Warlord pretender regime)
Shelton County, the last remnant of the greater Seattle metropolitan area, was spared from atomic destruction, but not from the chaos of the Starving Time. Overrun by thousands of desperate refugees, the local government quickly disappeared as petty warlords and tiny gangs fought for control. People barely survived on a starvation diet provided by fishing, scavenging, and the dreaded “Donner Party Option.” The prevailing warlord established the Provisional Government of Washington, inspired by the 19th Century Provisional Government of Oregon, to formalize his rule.
Despite the official-sounding name, the PGW is just another warlord gang enforcing its rule through terror and violence. In this case, the warlord who made it out on top was a barber before the war, and his clientele served as the nucleus around which the rest of the gang was built. He and most of his followers aren’t stupid, however, and didn’t make the same mistakes as their enemies—that’s how they came to be the sole inhabitants of the Seattle metro, the graveyard of dozens of defunct petty warlords. One key decision was to keep enough farmers alive and to preserve enough seed grain to return to agriculture once temperatures warmed enough to make it viable. That may sound obvious—and it is—but there were hundreds of petty warlords at the fringes of major metropolitan areas who didn't think that far ahead and starved when their stockpiles ran out, having never planned ahead for long-term food production.
Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation
Capital: Toppenish
Classification: Native American Faction (Indian Reservation)
The third Native American faction in the Evergreen State is the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation. They do not recognize the authority of the state government, and instead cooperate with the neighboring Safe Zone and the tribes of Warm Springs, Oregon against the Northwest Volunteer Army.
Richland Self-Defense Unit
Capital: Richland
Classification: Warlord (Local warlord gang)
The Richland Self-Defense Unit is a warlord gang that controls the strategic pass of Richland, sitting precariously between two bands of fallout. All east-west traffic across southern Washington must pass through them. They have an understanding with the Northwest American Republic that ensures no punitive expedition from Colville will come south to destroy them. In addition to an unspoken pact of general non-aggression, they also facilitate trade between the NAR and the rest of the Pacific Northwest.
Central Washington Safe Zone
Capital: Ellensburg
Classification: Legitimist Warlord (Rogue county regime)
The Central Washington Safe Zone is a legitimist state formed in direct opposition to the Northwest Volunteer Army. The term “legitimism” refers to warlords or warlord-like dictators and oligarchs who attempt to legitimize their rule by linking themselves to official institutions. This is usually done by a warlord incorporating pre-war administrative elements into his regime and proclaiming himself some kind of special emergency executive leader. Alternatively, the term can apply to legitimate prewar leaders or their descendants whose offices become the instrument of a warlord regime.
Though the region was once a patchwork of bickering towns and gangs, government authority still held on in Kittitas County, which extended its control to neighboring counties through the might of their emergency militia. Its county seat of Ellensburg was initially fraught with unrest and plagued by NVA terrorist attacks, much as it was in the days before the Great War. The tide began to turn when Safe Zone authorities accepted Shoshone refugees fleeing NVA ethnic cleansing and organized them into a crack unit of shock troops.
The Safe Zone has endured the crises it has faced since the nuclear winter and the Starving Time, but not unscathed. It has since morphed into a brutal oligarchy of prewar administrators, allied warlords, and their cadres. To its inhabitants, the Safe Zone is little better than any other warlord state. Yet for most, it is still preferable to the white nationalists further east.
Okanogan County Special Administration
Capital: Okanogan
Classification: Legitimist Warlord (Hijacked government)
Okanogan County was on the brink of capture by NVA forces, until a massive influx of refugees from Seattle and Bellingham arrived after the Great War. Among the masses arose a warlord who conquered the county seat, forcing the local authorities to accept him as the executive of the Okanogan County Special Administration. Though most of the refugees (and locals) starved, the shakeup was enough to dislodge the NVA from the area.
Free State of Washington
Capital: Colville
Classification: Right-wing Ideological Faction (Far-right insurgent movement)
Allegiance: Northwest American Republic
The Free State of Washington is one of the leading members of the Northwest American Republic, a state founded on austere white nationalist principles. Its racial ideology is the most severely pronounced out of any major American power, with an explicit goal to establish the “Northwest Front,” a bastion spanning the Pacific Northwest that is inhabited only by white people. Non-whites, including Jews above all else, are forbidden from dwelling within the Republic. This often means summary execution for those few who are caught, but most are fortunate enough to only face deportation. The Republic is anti-clerical in nature, tolerating Christianity but placing restrictions on its practice, fearing that the religion could water down their white nationalist agenda.
Unlike most far-right ideological states across America, the NAR is somewhat democratic in nature, with an elected president and legislature. The Northwest Independence Party is the only legal political party, but elections remain competitive thanks to the existence of multiple “Tendencies,” factions within the NIP that promote various interest groups. Notable Tendencies include the National Socialist hardliners, the Old Believers, who represent neo-paganism and other far right new religious movements, the Pragmatic Tendency for political moderates (mostly prewar leadership that was assimilated into the Republic), and the Christian Identity Tendency, which represents the Republic’s only state-endorsed Christian church.
The Republic is extremely insular, being mostly shut off from the outside world. It is internally controlled by draconian censorship, strict racial laws, and a perfidious secret police force, the non-subtly named SS: the Special Service. Some describe the NAR as an attempt to reconstruct Nazi Germany in North America; it might also be aptly likened in some aspects to Revolutionary Iran or North Korea.
Their military is the feared Northwest Volunteer Army, whose origins date back to before the Great War, when it was modeled after the IRA and the Italian Mafia as a small, yet effective terrorist organization. Their activities boiled into a low-level insurgency active throughout the Pacific Northwest by the time the bombs fell. After decades of warfare, it has grown into one of the most powerful and well-organized military forces west of the Rocky Mountains. As they come into conflict with new, larger warlord states and the remnants of the US military in Oregon and Idaho, their planned expansion across Washington has stalled. There is much for them to conquer, as they claim all territory stretching from northern California to Wyoming to the Alaskan Panhandle.
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.
I don't get why the NAR has their jimmies so rustled considering niggers are critically endangered in America and the only relevant swarthoids are tiny injun villages
Plot twist: Yuri is a Kuznetov and not a Romanov