Provisional Indiana (1983: Doomsday)

The Government of Indiana at Lafayette is the un-official name of a group of several cities and towns throughout central and north Indiana. Currently centered around the largest town is Lafayette as well as the common ground for discussion. Many of the cities are working with the Dixie Alliance and the United Communities on creating one central government.

Pre-Doomsday
Like the rest of the USA, Indiana was taken completely by surprise by the incoming attacks, leading to the destruction to much of the state's population.

Doomsday
Three nuclear blasts over Indianapolis completely destroyed the city. No known members of the government of Indiana survived. Grissom Joint Air Reserve Base was destroyed with Newport Chemical Plant, all in which were near the small cities of Peru and Brazil. Small villages began to be overrun with refugees, many who were barely alive. Gary and Fort Wayne were also attacked, further decreasing Indiana's already devastated population. Some would attempt to escape to the north-east corner where there no confirmed strikes, while others escaped to Lafayette.

Philip Sharp's Escape
Like most Sundays while Congress was in session, politicians of all stripes were either at home or visiting friends locally on September 25, 1983. Such had been the case with Indiana's Philip Sharp, recently elected to the newly formed 2nd district. He had been elected to the former 10th district, but the 1980 census had changed that. A Democrat, he had survived the sea change that had propelled Ronald Reagan to office. The midterm elections of 1982, with the new districts, had assured him a job for at least the next two years. That is, until the missiles were launched toward the Washington, DC, area.

Sharp had been in Hagerstown, Maryland, that evening, and had received a call from a panicked aid who lived near the capital. Moments later, the hotels lights had gone out and everyone had begun to scream and wail at the news that the missiles had been fired. He wasted no time. Grabbing his overnight bag, he headed to his personal vehicle. He said a quick prayer of thanks that it had not been deep in a parking garage. Not realizing the EMP had been what had knocked out the power, he was unaware of the advantage that his vintage 1968 Mustang carried. His family had kidded him when he had bought it, But its ignition had no electronics - just a straight switch. The eight track tape player, though, was hopeless. But it was not music he needed, but news. That, too, was not to be, for the radio's transistors had fused to the circuit board.

Within the hour, though, he had made his way to the Greenbrier Resort, hoping to find many of his colleagues there as had been set down in the emergency procedures manual. A handful of junior members of both houses had made it, as had the vice president and the leaders and whips of both parties. It looked like the facilities might last for several months with no problem. Vice president Bush and the other leadership had constant contact with President Reagan via a buried fiber optics network that had been impervious to the EMPs. Near the end of April, 1984, it had become obvious to most at Greenbrier and at the Mt. Weather bunker (where President Reagan and his top adviser James Baker were stationed) that the nation could not be run from underground hideouts. The government, it had been decided, would evacuate to Australia so they could at least hold control over the Pacific territories and Hawaii and possibly Alaska. Sharp and some of the other younger congressman were aghast, and when offered a spot on the waiting plane, refused, choosing instead to attempt make their way back to their home states.

The early years
After Doomsday, Sharp would play a major part in the politics of the area. With the bombings of major cities and air bases in the center of the state, Indiana had become literally divided down the middle.

However, the first politician to shine in Lafayette was Mayor Sheila Klinker of Lafayette. She was able to keep the order by taking command of the city's National Guard units as the default commander in chief until the capital could be contacted. Emergency signals had been sent to nearby cities until the units from Richmond and the Fort Wayne area joined those of Lafayette. Officials of the Federal Communications Commission stationed in the city were able to find a sub-contractor to repair citizen band radios (the founder's of Wabash National Electronics having only just been licensed earlier in the year).

That very month, the residents of Terre Haute, thought destroyed in a nuclear blast, made contact with Lafayette. The explosion that had been seen from afar had been at the Newport Chemical Depot, set afire by the thermal blast of a low yield nuclear detonation above a military base about ten miles north of Terre Haute. As Terre Haute was filling up with refugees from harder hit cities, volunteers had worked for weeks to contain the chemical fires.

Philip Sharp's Return
The trip had not been easy, even though the US government had provided fuel efficient vehicles with large gasoline tanks and refurbished electronics. There was absolutely no guarantee that there would be any gasoline when and if the cars ran out of fuel. The maps had been marked as best as the vice president's staff could figure based on the flyovers that their small military helicopters had been able to determine. The eastern states were reachable, with luck, but the past the Mississippi was probably a pipe dream. Sharp was only two states away, less than five hundred miles to his home town. Driving nonstop, for almost fifteen hours over back roads with abandoned cars every few miles, Sharp made it to Shelbyville, Indiana, which had become a regional capital. The local authorities, supported by local units of the Indiana's National Guard, apprehended him and held him for questioning. He gladly accepted their offer for shelter and a meal in a local jail.

Once he had established who he was, he began to inquire as to who was in charge. He had hoped that the capital, or at least some of the government there, had survived. But the news that the mayor of Lafayette had become the de facto leader surprised him. In the weeks following that, he began a tour of the nearby surviving towns and villages of the state he had been sent to represent eight years previously. He had not "been home" for long since leaving over twenty years earlier to finish his schooling at Georgetown University and Oxford. He hoped, though, that he could put his doctoral work, and years of service in Washington, to work in what was now like one of the struggling nations of postwar Europe which he had visited in the seventies. As he saw the new republic taking shape, he was not satisfied with the direction into which the Klinker administration was leading it, so, in 1987 Sharp ran for the chance to be its second mayor

Geography
Located in the northern part of the former US state Indiana, is mostly flat. The landscape is roaming corn fields. The largest river is The Wabash.

The till plains make up the central allotment of Indiana. Much of its appearance is a result of elements left behind by glaciers. The area includes some low hills and the soil is composed of glacial sands, gravel and clay, which results to exceptional farmland in central Indiana. The unglaciated segment of the nation carries a different and off-balance surface, characterized in places by profound valleys and expeditious streams.

Economy
Indiana is part of the Corn Belt and thus its mostly a rural type of living and farming is the largest occupation. Soybeans and Corn are grown the most. Factories in Lafayette are beginning to grow, but slowly.

Some of the largest companies are the local Bank One and government run Indiana Corn which helps the local farmers with the production of corn.

Energy
The state known for bio-fuel is rarely used, due to farmers using crops for food and animals. Wind is a largest power source with wind farms all over the state. Though mostly found in the Lafayette area, Union City, and the city of Hoosier also have wind farms in operation.

Indiana Day
Indiana Day is December 11, the day that the state of Indiana joined the Union.

Sports
Sports in Indiana is a major part of Hoosier life. Basketball is a Hoosier tradition, Purdue is most popular in the area, with some IU fans too.Indiana has extensive history in auto racing, Indianapolis had the Indy 500, but on Doomsday the track was destroyed. The Republic Of Indiana has plans of rebuilding the track, but no construction has started. Indiana has a rich basketball heritage that reaches back to the formative years of the sport itself. Although James Naismith developed basketball in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1891, Indiana is where high school basketball was born. In 1925, Naismith visited an Indiana basketball state finals game along with 15,000 screaming fans and later wrote "Basketball really had its origin in Indiana, which remains the center of the sport."

Education
Education is low in the rural areas of Indiana, but Purdue University has begun programs in all the major cities of Indiana. At the end of every year, children all over the nation take the ISTEP, it shows how much a child had progressed in his or her studies.

Indiana's 1816 constitution was the first in the country to implement a state-funded public school system. It also allotted one township for a public university. However, the plan turned out to be far too idealistic for a pioneer society, as tax money was not accessible for its organization. In the 1840s, Caleb Mills pressed the need for tax-supported schools, and in 1851 his advice was included in the new state constitution. Although the growth of the public school system was held up by legal entanglements, many public elementary schools were in use by 1870. Most children in Indiana attend public schools, but nearly 10% attend private schools and parochial schools. About one-half of all college students in Indiana are enrolled in state-supported four-year schools. The largest institution is Indiana University, which was endorsed as Indiana Seminary in 1820. Indiana State University was established as the state's Normal School in 1865; Purdue University was chartered as a land-grant college in 1869.

Government


The Government of Indiana at Lafayette is run by the Indiana General Assembly, which is a bicameral: a lower house, the Representatives, and the upper seat, the Senate. The Indiana Constitution is the basic foundation of the nation. The president may only serve for a total of 8 years. President Evan Bayh, first a senator for Indiana's 3rd district, the newly elected president of March 2010, on Doomsday he was at Terre Haute.

The top officials in 2010 are:


 * Evan Bayh(D) President
 * Pete Visclosky(D) Vice-President
 * Jill Long Thompson(D) Speaker Of the House
 * Dan Burton(R) Senate Majority Leader

The meetings of the government are held in Tippecanoe Courthouse.

Military
The military is fashioned after that of Switzerland, where weapons and uniforms are kept at home, Ages 18-34 are conscript, and women do not have to join but may voluntarily join. About 3 out of 5 young men are fit to join the Compulsory military service. They are given basic training for a duration from 17 to 23 weeks. Before Doomsday, Indiana had a armory in about every city. control over the area. The Military is known for its total black outfits,black balaclavas, Delta Force style helmet. Indiana purchases their vehicles, Jeeps, from North Pennsylvania and Toledo. They have struck a deal with North Penn regarding fuel which allowing North Penn to build two military bases, by Muncie, the Hoosiers get fuel at Indiana uses the M-16 rifle as its primary weapon. During Doomsday, Indiana's Air National Guard units were not destroyed, due to a shortage of fuel, these units are only flown when the nation is in danger of air attacks.

International Relations
Indiana has held a respected name in the international community and with regional neighbors. Indiana first meet Kentucky in 2006, Kentucky having communications throughout the state and occasional contact with Canada and Australia.

Indiana has a large influence with southern Indiana, Kentucky has allowed open borders between Indiana and the states of Bloomington,Southern Indiana and Evansville. Large precentages of both Indiana's call themselfs 'Hoosiers'. Southern Indiana and Indiana have also college's working with both nations, Purdue and Indiana University. While Indiana has good ties with the Dixie Alliance and United Communities, it has yet to join ethier of the two. While Indiana has a great relationship with Kentucky, Virginian Republic's popularity is not the best within Indiana. Both northern and southern Indiana's have mengled over how Virginia's is brute and harsh military dictactorship.