Alaska

Alaska: land of green forests, black gold, and Red and White Russians. The Russian Civil War continues in Alaska—as it does sporadically across Mother Russia—fought by refugees battling over Alaskan resources. (Highly prized are the large deposits of crude oil discovered by the Russians in the early 1930s.) The American Alaskans, once tolerant enough to accept Russian settlers, have lately started fighting both sides, advertising for mercenaries, to be paid in gold, land, or shares.

The Native Inuit, Eskimo, and Aleutian tribes just stand back and try to survive the crossfire. Of course, with an oil war raging, the Imperial Japanese are a growing presence in the southern areas of the region, offering technical assistance and dangling offers of military aid to the White Russians and Americans. The Whites are happy to have the aid, but the Americans are less needy and more wary.

Alaska is sparsely settled and considerably more primitive than the bulk of the United States' remnants. Running water, electricity, radio and telephone communication is rare and—where present—functions poorly. The harsh terrain and relatively low population has made Alaska a useful staging area for pirate groups preying on Canadian and Russian territory and shipping.

Because of the small number of people living in the territory, Alaska has no central governing body; the various small settlements scattered throughout the territory have their own laws (much like frontier towns of America's Old West). In general, decisions are made by concerned citizens in grassroots town meetings.

Perhaps the largest, most civilized settlement is Anchorage. Anchorage's denizens are mostly subsistence Inuit fishermen, American prospectors and Canadian fur trappers. Anchorage's government, a loose representative democracy, is led by "Judge" Kevin Collins. Collins—a former Texan—forged order in Anchorage through force of will...and force of arms. As a result, most of the pirates, smugglers, and thieves that populate the Alaskan wilderness treat Anchorage as neutral territory.

Appalachian Territory

Other than some sections of the Texas border, the Appalachian Mountains may be the deadliest stretch of territory in North America—especially where the short Allegheny Front (also known as Hell's Heights) crosses the nations of Appalachia, Dixie, Columbia and the Empire State, and touches the Industrial States of America.

The Outer Banks states of Dixie continue to vie with Appalachian authorities for control of the land and the illegal liquor being funneled up from the Banks region into the ISA and the Empire State. Appalachia has long sought Empire State backing (and militia support) for its claim on the mountains, playing off the loathing most northerners have for the reborn Confederacy. Rumor has it that government-backed 'shine operations are deliberately targeted toward the ISA and not the Empire State in a gesture of goodwill (though none of these stories has yet been proved). If true, this has made strange bedfellows indeed of a dry and a wet nation.

Arixo, the offspring of Arizona and New Mexico, finds itself between the rocks of Texas and Utah and the hard places of Hollywood, Free Colorado, and Mexico. Subject to raids and military pressure from each of these nations, Arixo relies on dispersed assets, relatively low population, and toll-enforcing air militias to survive.

While Arixo could probably be absorbed into any of its neighbors without too much effort, the rewards are not worth the price; Arixo has comparatively little that any of its neighbors want, relying on the three Cs—copper, cattle, and cotton—for the bulk of its exports. In addition, Arixo's sparse population has made it easier for pirate bands to set up bases. Cleaning out these pirate nests would be a long, expensive and costly fight.

Arixo is led by an elected President and a fifteen-person legislature. The current President, Theodore Davis, is forced to walk a dangerous tightrope. Secretly, he has formed alliances with many of the pirate bands that operate in Arixo, allowing them to operate within Arixo's borders so long as they do not interfere with the operations of the air militias. So far, these arrangements have been successful. While this period of relative calm lasts, Davis is struggling to shore up his ground and air defenses. The "truce" between Arixo and the pirates can not last indefinitely, and Davis hopes to develop his military resources sufficiently in preparation.


Atlantic Coalition

The former states of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island survives on cross-Atlantic and cross-American trade, financial neutrality, and strict anti-pirate patrolling. Boston serves as one of the main American clearinghouses for European imports and American exports. Although a competitor with the Empire State, the two nations find enough benefit in cooperation to avoid active rivalry.

Notable among the Coalition assets is its surface and airship cargo capacity, one of the highest person-to-ship rates on the continent. Although other nations have more zeppelins or surface ships or cargo planes, no nation has more combined cargo space. The Atlantic Coalition also makes a point of running the most direct routes possible. Other nations run their zeppelins in a hub-transfer system, but the Coalition airships run direct routes to London, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, and Rome, nonstop. It's slightly more expensive, but hours or days faster.Politically, the Atlantic Coalition is little more than a mutual-defense pact between the member states. While there is a central government (a President and a General Assembly) it is fairly weak. Since all participants in the Coalition benefit from the international traffic that passes through the region, there is little internal political struggle.Currently, the leader of the Atlantic Coalition is President Augustus Mason, a solemn and taciturn man of considerable wealth and social influence. A staunch isolationist in political matters, President Mason is content to let the rest of North America handle its own affairs. Ironically, though, the international monies that filter through the Coalition are primarily used for the maintenance of the region’s air and sea defenses. Mason is constantly walking a fine line between international cooperation (largely with Europe) and isolationism (particularly where North American nations are concerned).

Columbia

Guilt by association is a recurring nightmare for neutral Columbia, which dreams of someday putting the fractured United States of America back together again. Unfairly accused of collaborating with every act of terror committed by the Unionist movement, Columbia always loses what political headway it gains between atrocities. (In fact, Columbia has itself been the target of Unionist attacks.)

Recently, after Columbia's failure to rout Hell's Henchmen from the mountains surrounding Piedmont, the Empire State crossed the border and destroyed the pirate haven. When Piedmont authorities broadcast mild threats in response to the uninvited assistance, one Broadway Bomber (whose name remains undisclosed) peeled off and took out Piedmont's aerodrome communications tower.

Columbia serves as neutral ground, the inter-American meeting house for the squabbling nation-states, and to a lesser extent other nations from Europe and abroad. The League of Nations, headquartered in Washington, has representatives from virtually all of the North American countries (as well as delegates from around the globe). These nations maintain embassies in Columbia (notably in Washington), making the city a chaotic potpourri of cultures.

The inflow of monies from other nations provides a large slice of Columbia's economy. Unfortunately, this neutrality makes Columbia the espionage and shady-deal capital of the continent, with American and European radicals and political refugees of every stripe flocking to the city.

Confederation of Dixie

The Confederation of Dixie is a loose collection of the staunchest Regionalist states on the continent. The main trait the nation-states of the New South have in common is a commitment to state government. There are few national laws, with most governing and regulation on a state level. Some of the Confederate states are wet, others dry, still others "damp" (allowing beer and wine, but no liquor).

Most national cooperation is directed toward defense and militia support, although each state maintains its own militias. Even this is largely a matter of state control, as the 1935 air battles between Alabama and Louisiana demonstrates; most of the Confederacy maintained relations with Louisiana throughout the conflict. Indeed, several Confederate states maintain state consulates parallel to the Confederate embassies.Dixie has become something of an international player, courting alliances with the British (which provided the first Confederacy some support in the days of the American Civil War). As a result, British aircraft and munitions manufacturers have helped turn the Dixie militias into serious fighting forces. While foreign aid is still relatively modest, Dixie forces are generally well-equipped and effective.

Dixie’s government is based largely on the original Confederate ruling structure; individual states within the Confederation are clearly more powerful than the central government. The current President of the Confederacy, Robert Turner (a charismatic Southern Gentleman from Mississippi) has managed to forge strong political ties between the member states, though his leadership was tested in 1935, when Alabama launched itself into conflict with Louisiana.