Louisiana (1983: Doomsday)

Louisiana was one of the states of the United States of America, located in the mid-south adjacent to Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, and the Gulf of Mexico. It was the 18th state admitted to the Union in 1812. Its capital up to Doomsday was Baton Rouge. The state was reconstituted on March 15, 1984, with the new state capital in Lafayette. When Lafayette was abandoned due to gang violence in 1997, the state was formally split into Monroe Parish and Lake Arthur Parish. Both Monroe and Lake Arthur consider themselves to be the legitimate state capital, although their dispute is an amiable one.

Monroe, a community of 15,000, is the official capital, but practically is the capital of "North" Louisiana; it has a close political relationship with Natchez, Mississippi, the dominant town in the region. Lake Arthur, a community of 2,400 located a short distance from the Gulf of Mexico, is the de facto capital of "South" Louisiana; it is the hub for a string of survivor communities and camps stretching from the old Texas border to the famous bayous in the east. Among those communities is Lafayette, which hosted most of the Lake Arthur and area population during the "Great Hurricane of 2005"; the city is currently home to 8,000 people.

The cities of New Orleans, Shreveport, Lake Charles and Alexandria were destroyed on Doomsday, along with the state capital, Baton Rouge. There were survivors, however, and a provisional state government in Lafayette was formalized in 1984. Lake Arthur and Monroe became other important centers, and relations were formalized with communities in Arkansas and Mississippi.

Gang violence in Lafayette had been a problem from Doomsday on, and by 1997 it finally got so intense that Governor Comeaux called for a mass evacuation to Natchez, Monroe and Lake Arthur. State powers were temporarily handed over to Monroe and Lake Arthur. The state capital officially resettled in Monroe, but government officials in Lake Arthur (led by the Lieutenant Governor and the Speaker of the House) claimed it was the rightful capital. Neither town has ever dropped its claim, but both towns effectively operate as capitals of separate states anyway.

More to come....