Virginia (1983: Doomsday)

The Republic of Virginia is an American survivor state located along the Appalachian Mountains.

Pre-Doomsday
The area that would make up the Republic was the heart of the US coal country. It would at its height include most of West Virginia, Southwest Virginia, the Shenandoah Valley and the Kentucky part of the Cumberland plateau.

Post-Doomsday
Though the area had not been targeted by Soviet nuclear missiles, radiation from the east coast and the Great Lakes inundated parts of the area. The state governments in the region collapsed and political control reverted to a local level. The region quickly fragmented between many squabbling warlords, the borders of these states were extremely fluid and chaotic until a rogue Army General from Fort Campbell arrived in the area with the 101st Airborne.

Establishment
Major General James E. Thompson moved the 101st into the region after the situation in Kentucky/Tennessee became too difficult to contain. He hoped to find an area that had only a minimal fallout impact. After taking control of the city of Charleston, West Virginia, Thompson set out to bring order to the region. Since the area had devolved into legions of small states, Thompson used a "divide and conquer" strategy to eventually finish off the last of the warlords in 1994. The 101st Airborne also received some help from various National Guard units that sided with Thompson to defeat the remaining warlords.

It would take another two years to fully bring the area under control after the last rogue state was destroyed. Guerrilla attacks launched from isolated mountain valleys continued to threaten the new state Thompson was trying to build. The day the last gang cell was destroyed (September 6th) is celebrated as Victory Day in the Republic. It was also the same day that Thompson declared the Republic of Virginia.

Captured POWs, meanwhile, were given life prison sentences to serve in labor battalions tasked with rebuilding the infrastructure of the region. Most die early due to the intense work and harsh conditions.

Contact with Superior
Curious to see what has happened to the rest of the country, President-General Thompson sent a team of explorers to the Midwest. While in Ohio, the team ran into a similar team from the. After informing the President about their discovery, they request the honor to visit the newly discovered nation. The discovery of more survivors in North America created spontaneous celebrations in Virginia. After a few years serving as the first official Virginian representatives to Superior, they departed for Virginia. Thompson soon after established an official embassy in 1993.

Expansion
Since the formative years the Republic has always controlled the West Virginia area and even parts of Virginia and Kentucky. Because of lowering readiation levels in "East" Virginia, they had sent scout parties to the region to assess the damage, and to find survivors. They did, in the communities of Danville, Roanoke, and Lynchburg. Also of note were the communities of Lexington and Woodstock. They housed the Virginia Military Institute, and Massanutten Military Academy, respectively. They ahd fortified themselves into the community. Gaining their loyalty was as simple as informing them of the high position the miltary has in Virginian society.

Contact with Australia
On September 7, 2009, a Virginian patrol came upon an Australian pilot who had crash landed over Virginia early this year. Having lived in the wilderness on his own for several months now, the pilot was grateful to finally be rescued. Contact was made by radio with, who relayed the information to the.

Government
The President is voted in by only those eligible to vote(18 years of age and two tours of duty, irrespective of gender). It is this semblance of democracy that keeps the citizens from rebelling. There is a rudimentary Congress in place, with the House of Representatives being elected directly by the people and the Senate selected by the President. There is the dominant Federalist Party, and recently the old Democratic Party had reformed itself. However, another effect of the militaristic society is that all government officials, from the President-General to a lowly mailman, wear army uniforms. President-General Thompson still wears his uniform from the days of commanding the 101st Airborne. However in recent years with Virginia facing international condemnation, and Thompson's health getting worse and worse, It is planned that he would step down from office and allow a free election. He also removes the life-long term" clause from the Constitution. Supporters for the old Democratic and Republican parties come out of hiding. The election took place on Halloween. Though it was much more Democratic than what is normal is Virginia, Federalist candidate Jay Rockefeller won, due to beloved former President-General Thompson giving Rockefeller his support. October 24th also was a red letter day. It was the first time the citizens had democratically elected its senators. Most districts voted in Federalist candidates, but a sizable margin of seats in the house being filled by Democrats. Those are the seats in the periphery districts in "East" Virginia, and Kentucky voting Democratic. However, due to the newly reformed Republican Party's tendancy to cause partisan bickering, they were only able to win a single paltry district. There is plans for expansion of the Congress to include the Representatives and Congressmen from the territory of Cave City, which has the potential to join Virginia.

Congress:
Federalist Party: 14 (48%)

Democratic Party: 14 (48%)

Republican Party: 1 (4%)

NOTE: These numbers are due to overly cumbersome and buly districts being divided up due to the naturally smaller population of Virginia. One district of note is the area arround the captiol of Charleston. Due to gratitude to the first President-General, when it was formed into its own district, they voted to name themselves the Thompson District.

States
State Name - Capital City - Governor

Cumberland - Pikeville - Hal Rogers (F)

East Virginia - Roanoke - Tim Kaine (D)

Maryland - Frederick - William J. Holtzinger (F)

Ohio - Athens - Paul Wiehl (D)

Virginia - Charleston - Joe Manchin (F)

Military
Due to the extremely violent and dangerous nature of the area, the military has been enshrined in their society. The soldiers get better housing, better food, better medical care and better pay than any other occupation in the nation. Virginia also practices mandatory conscription, requiring all residents between the ages of 18-24 range to serve at least one tour of duty (serving a second tour of duty allows you to vote). The Army also serves as a standing police force during times of peace. They personally dispense the harsh punishments for infractions, which include whippings, executions and hard labor in radioactive territory.

Virginia also supports an Air Force and a River Navy, but both receive mostly outdated equipment with the Army getting the more modern weapons. The Air Force uses old planes from the West Virginian Air National Guard, and the Navy uses several patched together river monitors.

The 101st Airborne remains the elite unit of Virginia, only taking the best soldiers and officers from the three branches. Though technically a part of the Army, in practice they act as another branch of the military answerable only to the President-General. Service in the 101st is usually desired by many young Virginian men who seek to later follow careers in politics. Besides being a heavily armed strike force, the 101st also guards the President-General and other Virginian VIPs.

Each branch of the Military utilizes a form of the Thompson submachine gun, because of its reliability and low expense to manufacture. However, like everything, the Army version is the best and is constantly improved upon. The "newest, latest, greatest" version is the only weapon deemed good enough for the 101st Airborne.

The vehcile pool of the Virginian Army gained a large boost in react years. A short expedition to the military museum in Aberdeen provided an amazing discovery. Working tanks! The actual specimens were left at the site, but they found blueprints in normally classified files. When they were brought back to Virginia, Thompson put a small research team to investigate armoured vehicles. On April Fool's Day 2009 their efforts finally bore fruit. They unveiled the M4A6 Thompson Medium Tank. Looking like the offspring of a Pershing and a King Tiger (because it is), it was the first armoured vehicle designed after Doomsday. Since then there have been a grand total of a dozen vehicles produced. It mainly serves as a way to impress potential allies and demoralize potential foes.

Law & Order
The government relies on draconian punishments to keep order. Minor crimes get lashes and time in the stockade, while major crimes get hangings or firing squads. This harsh system is in place to keep the region from dissolving into anarchy again. Other crimes get hard labor in radioactive terrain. The judicial system is as close to the pre-Doomsday system, but has been restructured to give extremely quick trials where the accused have no representation and are immediately sentenced to lashes, hard labor or death. If there is a silver lining to this system, it is that is is a far greater deterrent than the old US Judicial system. In fact, crime in Virgina has gone down by 95%. However, in more recent years there have been a growing number of Trials by Jury though, understandably, there is a "three-strike" system in place. If the accused is convicted of three crimes, the sentance is automatically set to execution.

Economy
The infrastructure of the nation was repaired using convict labor, but parts of the country remain reliant on dirt roads. Coal is a major export of the nation, though the convoys transporting it to other survivor communities have to be heavily guarded against bandits.

Popular Culture
Since Doomsday the film idustry has suffered greatly. Hollywood had been wiped off the map when Los Angeles was destroyed. However Thompson created a fledgling film studio in the small town of Beckley, West Virginia. The small amount of operating motion picture theatres were not officially required to play the filmns produced, but members of the 101st Airborne unofficially "persuaded" them to do so. Many of the films were directed by the President-General himself. The media in Virginia is controlled by the (naturally) government-run Virginian Media Agency. A prime example of Virginian film is the historical epic Re-Birth Of a Nation, which chronicles the journeys of the Presient-General as he travelled to West Virginia, and freed the oppressed people from the evil warlords and gangsters ruling the land. They also show old-fashioned news reels, which are naturally heavily biased in Virginia's favor. Due to the new Virginian Film Industry, the city of Beckley has officially become the fastest growing, if not largest, city in Virginia.

Health
The high radiation blowing in from all directions has made cancer cases extremely prevalent. So much so that the government has pushed for state-sponsored euthanasia for terminally ill cancer patients so they will not be a drain on state resources. Fortunately the radiation, and thus cancer, levels have slowly gone down over the years. Also, while there are no official birth control policies in place in the Western, or more established parts of the country, there is in the eastern territories. It is in effect a polar opposite of the Chinese One Child Policy. It requires that each couple has one child.....minimum. This is to encourage population of the new territory. However, the policy has a expiration date. It is set up that when the territory reaches an optimal stability, the policy is shut down in the territory. However, the stabilizing populations in "East" Virginia have started the shutting down of this policy.

Modern Times
Recently a team of engineers was sent to the former Virginian capital of Richmond to bring it back up to code for inhabitation. The team restored a small area arround the old capitol building, and "New" Richmond, a small villiage inhabited totally by government eployees, was born. President-General Rockefeller has delayed moving the national government until the city of Richmond is completely restored. However, the process speeds up considerably when people of essential skills are encouraged by incentives to move to "New" Richmond

International Relations
The Virginians have had a recent free election, and membership in the LoN is likely to follow soon. The Virginians have become increaingly close to the Kentuckians, and recent talks have laid down the foundation of an alliance between the two nation. Since the discovery of the survivor community in Portland, President-General Rockefeller has made joint statement with Kentuckian President Jim Bunning supporting the city-state. He plans on offering to send a military expedition to help the Portlanders reclaim the state of Tennessee.