History of the Commonwealth of Susquehanna (1983: Doomsday)

This is a detailed history of the Commonwealth of Susquehanna. It runs from September 1983 to the present.

Doomsday
None of the territory under Susquehanna's current control was attacked although there were several nuclear detonations nearby.

Former Pennsylvania Counties (Susquehanna or nearby)
* if struck by nuclear weapon

Post Doomsday (September 26, 1983- July 1984)
The only targets near the Commonwealth of Susquehanna were Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, and the Bethlehem Steel Mills.

Since there was not much time between the emergency and the actual attacks, barely any refugees made it to Susquehanna. The few that did were given housing, and jobs.

Bloomsburg, Danville and Berwick dealt with fleeing citizens, cutting the population by over half. The remaining people raided grocery stores, and convenience stores. Local police as well as Bloomsburg University security and National Guard units set up perimeters around several grocery stores as well as the courthouse, hospital, and municipal building.

The streets were packed with panicking citizens, and mobbed the places that the government had set up to defend. Once the power went out people began to become more violent. The original groups of people attempting to get food and water turned into mobs armed with rifles and homemade explosives.

Many of the National Guard units were made up of ROTC and JROTC students hastily given assault rifles and gear. Nobody knows who fired the first shots, but Danville and Berwick devolved into violence. Bloomsburg was able to prevent looting by quickly spreading food distribution points around the town, splitting people up into smaller groups, and a mutual unspoken decision to work with each other.

In Berwick, after a police officer was shot, the police opened fire with pistols and shotguns, and the crowed returned fire with an assortment of firearms and Molotov cocktails. The National Guard opened fire on the crowed after the first volley. Soon the crowds fled, leaving ten dead and 23 wounded, as well as two wounded police officers and one wounded National Guard soldier.

Danville lacked a National Guard unit, so the police were quickly overrun, and soon the town council and mayor was dead. Due to rioting the second and third ward of the town were damaged.

Dark Times (August 1984- June 1987)
Not long after Doomsday, bandits and other groups began to attack groups of people living between the towns, and raiding farms, often killing the inhabitants. Every day a new farm would be reported burned. Before that, local police, security, and surviving National Guard units provided security, but soon the communities each formed a militia, with Bloomsburg's being the strongest.

At the time, the communities also had an alliance with Milton, which in the present is under the control of State College. It had one of the larger populations, with nearly 7000 people. But on December 25th, 1984 communications ceased with the town.

Bloomsburg and Danville both sent militia members to Washingtonville to protect it, and a scout party to Milton for information. The men found the entire community sacked and burned, with at least 2000 dead. Less than 300 survivors were brought back to Bloomsburg, and the towns realized that they needed to solidify their holding more.

The communities suffered a rough summer one year with drought in the area destroying 20% of that year's crop yield. This led to extremely strict rationing and many died of starvation. Several communities began to use irrigated water from the river which had slowly risen over the years. People were unsure if it was radioactive or not, but figured it couldn't hurt the plants.

Most hoped that 1986 would be a better year and would receive more rain. Which they did, but this time more rain than needed came down and washed out dozens of fields, heavily damaged lower Bloomsburg, and washed radioactive stagnant water downstream into the area.

The governments all declared states of emergencies and began to aid one another. Water was limited to wells and creeks throughout the nation, a limitation still in place today. It also attempted to contain the waste of water. As soon as the flood waters receded, the area began to rebuild. The communities were back up to standards by 2004.

By spring of 1987, the area had suffered much. Hopes looked to Easter and a new year of planting. Over 2000 had died from starvation, radiation poisoning, heatstroke, and the flood. Others became ill with dysentery, pneumonia, the flu, and other illnesses. This caused an additional 5000 casualties.

Provisional Government (October 1989-1992)
In October of 1989, the communities began to work together more. There were talks of unifying into a provisional government. Bloomsburg was the heart of these talks, being the largest and most stable community. Some were skeptical, wanting to wait for definite confirmation that the United States was gone.

Bloomsburg called a convention at the former Cadbury Conservatory to discuss a possible limited provisional state. All the local boroughs and communities sent at least one representative.

The conclave started on October 6th, 1989. These men would debate for almost a year over whether to secede or declare a provisional government. Some claimed it would be treason. Others wanted to stabilize the region and form the government to make more concise decisions.

About halfway through, leaders from Ringtown and Shenandoah as well as those from southern Sullivan County joined the debate.

In late September of the following year, the communities were still debating the situation. Finally, Lou Barletta, one of the delegates from Bloomsburg stood up and said: 'The United States was a great nation. Pennsylvania was a great state. But those days are over. There has been no contact with the United States or Pennsylvania for almost a decade. We have been on our own for nine years.'

This speech gave the delegates enough to decide. After a few days of negotiations, the group came to an agreement. Then there was the planning phase. On March 31st, 1991 the referendum was held in all the local communities. The ballot had three options on it. It asked: Do you want to form the Provisional Government of Pennsylvania in Susquehanna, an independent nation, or remain part of the United States?

Anyone over the age of 16 was allowed to vote. When the referendum came back, the votes were counted. A final count showed 61% for a provisional government, 26% for independence, and 13% for remaining in the United States.

Elections were held in November of the same year, with only the Democrats and Republicans fielding candidates. The polls were close, but the Democrats won by less than 2% of votes.

After that it took approximately a year and a half to completely consolidate the small community governments and county governments into a centralized power based in Bloomsburg. The constitution was the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Constitution of 1968, with the only revision being that the government was provisional and would turn over power if they regained contact with a 'legitimate' surviving government that the locals felt could represent their interests as well.

The new government took over the Columbia County Courthouse and the Cadwell Conservatory and relocated the main branches to Bloomsburg. There was talk of taking over parts of Bloomsburg University as the capital, but officials rejected it, hoping to reopen the university.

Officially (and recognized as such), the provisional government formed on June 1st, 1991. Technically it was able to organized by 1992, and did not begin operations until later that year.

Blizzard of 1993
During March of 1993, a vicious blizzard blew up from the Gulf Coast across the East Coast and through Pennsylvania. Most nations along the coast were able to inform each other of the movement, but Susquehanna was not as lucky. Therefore the country was caught off-guard by the strength of the storm. Three hundred forty one people died during the storm, most from hypothermia. Many animals died and there were two car crashes of emergency personnel driving to help others.

The government declared a state of emergency and mobilized the civilian militias for rescue and repair work. People were told to stay indoors if possible, and conserve fuel, food, and water. Danville moved approximately half of its population into the high school and community center, centralizing and consolidating heating and food supplies.

Snow drifts in the Commonwealth blocked up roads as government workers hunkered down in shelters or at home. Average snowfall was 30 inches as was estimated in 2010 by some scientists in Canada. After the storm stopped, it took the government three weeks to completely restore services and dig everything out.

It took the nation until mid-1995 to fully recover from the disaster. The government managed repair damage from the winds and snow drifts.

Stabilization and First Contact (1993-2005)
The government took several years before they were able to completely unify, but by 1993 it was under one jurisdiction and organized.

The first project was to secure the roadways between the communities. After several months of fighting, police and militia units were successful in capturing roadways and setting up checkpoints. They also freed farms and secured several more fuel deposits.

The Centralia Mine Fire had been burning since its accidental ignition in 1962. The federal government was trying to force the people out of the community to put the fire out. Unfortunately the citizens resisted, but some voluntarily left, and by the 1980's the population was down to around 1000. By the time the area stabilized, the government in Bloomsburg forced the people out. Military and police teams moved the few remaining people out. Fire and other units began to actively fight the fire, digging up the ground.

After several months of constantly fighting around the clock, the fire was put out and the coal was saved. Citizens were allowed to move back into town and the community was rebuilt.

By the New Year, there were enough farms for a stable food supply that people were able to enjoy the turn of the year. In the spring, the government authorized two exploration missions. One discovered State College and North Pennsylvania after several months. The other returned with information about a survivor state in Reading.

After the success of the two expeditions, three more larger teams were formed in 2003, each with twenty men, and given the few working cars and assorted weapons and food supplies. They were also given orders to scavenge whenever possible. The teams were named Expedition North, Expedition South, and Expedition East.

Expedition North headed from Bloomsburg through Columbia County north, and went through State College. Once leaving State College and refueling their vehicles, they entered into unclaimed territory. The team was attacked by a group of raiders and lost one man. They were able to drive off the enemy, but were more wary as they continued.

On August 3rd, 2003 the expedition encountered a group of militiamen from a nation claiming to be from Binghamton, New York. They were taken to the city, and met with the leaders. They stayed in the city until October 12th, discussing trade agreements. But there were no embassies exchanged or anything because Susquehanna still considered itself as part of the United States. Then the team left for Ithaca, New York after Binghamton radioed ahead. North left in the morning and arrived at Ithaca in the late afternoon after having to abandon one of the cars which died.

When the group reached the city, they were greeted by a crowd who were stunned to see a group from Northeast Pennsylvania. Most had believed that that part was toxic rubble. The men informed the government of the current situation in Susquehanna as well as the history.

Once they finished that, they went into North Pennsylvania again, then visited Niagara Falls and saw how successful the area was. The mission stayed in the city until the weather cleared. They were informed of the survivor states of Superior, Toledo, London, and several other survivor states including one of Canada's survival.

When spring arrived, the group refueled and headed back through North Pennsylvania, and State College. The group returned home April 26th, 2004.

Expedition South took boats down the Susquehanna River, leaving July 27th, as far down as was safe. They stopped twice and found some isolated farms where locals told them of the devastation in and around Harrisburg. Once reaching twenty miles north of the former city, the group tied up their boats and left four men as guards. The rest went by bike and on foot down towards a rumored community based around Gettysburg.

On August 3rd, a group of raiders attacked the team. The men retreated and took three casualties. Running low on ammunition, the commander prepared to abandon the mission when a group of unidentified soldiers killed all the raiders.

The men surrounded the expedition and confiscated their weapons. Then they were escorted into Gettysburg. Once in the community, the men were taken to the government where they told the leaders all they knew about the situation. After ascertaining the men were not a threat, the officials informed the group of Virginia and the fate of Maryland.

The expedition commander viewed the information on Virginia as too much of a threat at the current time. Instead, the team explored the surrounding area around Gettysburg and went west as well. When the weather cooled down, the expedition headed back to where they left the boats.

Once arriving there, they found the guard group had found a few M16 assault rifles in an abandoned National Guard truck. Then the crew headed back north using the few motors left. They arrived back in Danville on November 3rd of the same year.

Expedition East left the same day as Expedition South, but left from Bloomsburg and headed towards Reading. When arriving, the mission stayed in the city for several weeks, arranging trade compacts and territorial lines.

They also decided on linking roadways and rail lines to ease transportation and communication.

They also were informed of the survivor state of Delmarva, which they left for in late September. The team turned and headed west to avoid the ruins of Philadelphia which rumors had was still a radioactive mess.

After some minor exploration of the surrounding area, the group entered into former Maryland where they discovered several settlements. When entering the town, the crew entered into a standoff with local police, before a diplomat from Susquehanna managed to defuse the situation.

They were able to meet with government officials from Delmarva, although not the top leaders. After spending several weeks, the group left and returned to Bloomsburg from the east on November 10th.

Although Susquehanna had no contact, the survival of Canada surprised the government. This information was confirmed on June 19th with an unknown jet aircraft making a flyover above some parts of the nation. Citizens could not see any markings on it, and some were worried if it was the Soviet Union.

Susquehanna sent a Cessna 172 armed with two M2 Brownings up to intercept the aircraft. Launching from Bloomsburg, it managed to find the jet when it returned on a return trip. Flying alongside the slowed aircraft, the pilot managed to communicate to the unknown aircraft to land. The government launched another Cessna for support, and the two aircraft followed the jet down to Bloomsburg Airport.

The pilots on board the unknown jet signaled that they were landing and followed the planes down. After landing, the Governor and a few officials along with several military and law enforcement personnel greeted the air crew.

Once meeting them, the crew was taken to the Governor's mansion where they told the officials there that they were from the Canadian Remainder Provinces. This stunned the government, a the only nation they had known about in former Canada was Niagara Falls and possibly London.

The Canadians told them the history of the CRP, while government officials informed the pilots of the history of Susquehanna. They negotiated communication line with HAM radios, and later telegraph lines, as well as possible aid agreements.

Three days later, the pilots left Susquehanna, but the area was elated to know Pennsylvania as a whole was not alone.

New Nation (2005)
In early 2004, news from Canada informs Susquehanna the fate of the United States government. It was disbanded a decade prior in Canberra, Australia. This lead to an uproar with people protesting on both sides, one secession, and one offer the United States government, even though it disbanded, to take over operations in Susquehanna.

The government was split as were the citizens. Finally it was agreed that now was not the time to attempt contact. A meeting was held in Bloomsburg, similar to the one held over a decade prior, but this was to write a new constitution and form a new nation from scratch.

After several weeks of debate and representatives from Danville walking out twice, the communities agreed on a constitution based off the former United States Constitution, and the Pennsylvania State Constitution.

Later the communities fought over which community would be the capital city. After concessions to Danville, including the executive mansion being in Danville, the communities agreed to Bloomsburg as the capital.

In 2007, the government managed to secure western Luzerne County, and created a military advised territory to stabilize it until the area was stable.

Raider War and Reconstruction
Susquehanna launched a military operation in October of 2011 against raiders who had been attacking and pillaging towns for several decades. It was a prolonged conflict with territory changing hands and many casualties, but eventually, Susquehanna wiped out the raiders by November of 2014.