Essex (1983: Doomsday)

The Combined Communities of Essex, Hertfordshire and London (previously Interim Nation of Essex; also known as the Combine or Essex) is a moderately large state in south east England, claiming the territories of Essex, Hertfordshire, and parts of East London. It is located south of Woodbridge.

History

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Pre-Doomsday
The county was the site of the New Towns of Basildon and Harlow. Following the Second World War RAF Debden and RAF Wethersfield were used as sites for the USAF; also within the county were the airports of Southend and Stansted, which grew in size and significance at the end of the 1970s. However – and importantly – the county was home to a nuclear bunker in proximity to the village Kelvedon Hatch, which by the 1980s was intended for use by the British Government in case of nuclear war.

Doomsday
The county was struck hard by the events of September 26th. Nine nuclear weapons fell on the county:
 * London Southend Airport – 20kt
 * London Stansted Airport – 20kt
 * RAF Wethersfield – 20kt
 * RAF Debden – 20kt
 * Tilbury Port – 20kt
 * Bradwell Nuclear Power Station – 20kt
 * Colchester Barracks - 20kt
 * Coryton Oil Refinery – 100kt
 * Harwich and Felixstowe Ports – 100kt

Parties
Unlike many other survivor nations Essex and its associated territories are run in a (technically) non-party democracy. Communes are all expected to run councils to maximise efficiency and cooperation, and elect or place lots for members to join regional assemblies, whose control generally is over a single borough. These assemblies administer the passage of subsidized supplies throughout the boroughs and also mediate disputes and coordinate actions between the communes. Members of these assemblies can then run for election on the Essex parliament, or if there are not enough volunteers selected in a lottery. The parliament focuses on issues of national importance, such as holidays, military exploits, and (recently) the creation of a standard currency.

As said, there are no distinct parties within the Essex government, as ministers are expected to act within the interests of their electorate rather than a broader party. Nonetheless, loose affiliations of common interests are formed at the assembly and parliament level resulting in a small number of clearly distinguishable groups: the Progressives, who favour expansion; the Corporatists, who wish to accelerate the rate of free market development and are pushing strongly for establishing a currency; and the Socialists, who wish to subsidize the supply of food and water.

High Minister
The post of High Minister is determined by the person with the greatest number of votes from the entire electorate of the Essex population. Assembly members run for election into the parliament and parliament members run for re-election every three years; the highest-voted of the Ministers, whether or not they are experienced in parliament affairs, automatically becomes High Minister.

The current High Minister is Lee Evans of the Corporatist group and former Chairman of the Billericay Assembly. Minister Evans was once part of an Entertainment Brigade, playing with the punk rock band the Forgotten Five; however, as the touring continued and the young Lee Evans was exposed to the suffering in Essex he resolved to aid the rest of the country in any way he could. A prominent figure in the Revolution of 1990 he led the revolt in Billericay and helped to establish the local council and assembly, gaining support through his repeated and popular public appearances. Mr Evans has served since 2006 and was re-elected with a landslide majority in 2009; he is currently a leading figure in the establishment of a currency.

Current situation
After months of battling the Corporatists have finally managed to convince the population to adopt a currency: the New Pound, the same used by Woodbridge. On the afternoon of April 26th High Minister Lee Evans and Prime Minister John Robson of Woodbridge made a joint statement that Essex would take up the usage of a currency, the New Pound, by June 1st. The design of the currencies would be different to each nation but would be legal tender in both, holding the same value, to "Promote economic closeness and wipe away the barrier to free trade both within and between our countries that bartering imposed." The vote passed with a 67% majority, just above the margin required for an issue of "Internal and external significance". Mints are to be established as soon as possible in the town of Braintree.

Future
Expansion has long been an issue for Essex, seeking to expand its resource base and agricultural area. Prior to the discovery of Woodbridge it was thought that territory should be expanded over East Anglia, but after the discovery it was decided to expand into the Home Counties. Claims already exist on East London and on Hertfordshire, but their actual status is tenuous; only Hertfordshire territories within the A10 are truly loyal to Essex, and the country's assistance to the population of Luton remains officially a reconstruction and consolidation effort, though depending on interpretation it could be considered aid to a foreign city-state. It is generally agreed that at some point in the future Essex will need to formalise control over these areas to ensure a steady supply of food and resources. Some believe that the country has plans to expand into Kent, pointing to the missions to Sheerness across the Thames Estuary, though in fact these are unfounded, as many politicians of the Progressive group agree that to do so would be a needless strain on resources when far more important and useful territories are closer and cheaper to repair. Annexation and colonisation of London and Kent are only vague ideas scheduled for the next decade or further.

Radio
Since 1990 great lengths have been taken to establish mass media and entertainment. Operating out of Kelvedon Hatch Bunker, which following the Revolution of 1990 was converted to civilian control and used for broadcasting. There are three public broadcast radio channels: Proposals have been made to extend the number of radio wavelengths available, though many are kept closed and monitored by the military in case foreign radio signals are sent.
 * Essex Waves provides news services, drama and comedy.
 * Sounds provides pre-Doomsday music.
 * The Hits broadcasts modern music and independent comedy productions.

Newspapers
The Essex Chronicle remains the primary newspaper within the country, having absorbed the Hertfordshire Mercury facilities upon expansion in the area. The Chronicle is subsidized and government-owned, delivered to all communes within the country and gives as balanced a view as possible on issues. It holds the distinction of being the only paper to serve the entire country, whereas every other paper only serves at most a few boroughs. The newspaper is printed on recycled paper and encourages readers to return older papers for further recycling.

Fashion
Very little in the way of fashion has held Essex, though ‘designer’ clothes salvaged from Doomsday and produced following the Rejuvenation hold some value on the market. Most of the population of Essex still wear hand-me-downs from Doomsday, albeit heavily patched and repaired following years of wear and tear. The clothes most citizens wear are functional and utilitarian, heavily faded from years of sunlight after work in the fields, and patched.

Economy
The economy of Essex is currently based around a barter system, though calls have been growing for many years for the utilisation of a currency. This is due to the dangerous increase in wealth and buying power of the more productive communes and the fact that the food-based barter system is especially vulnerable to bad harvests, and represents little chance for investment in the future.

Most goods in Essex are handmade, and typically from readily available substances such as wood, metal and the casings of otherwise useless objects. Working pre-Doomsday objects of practical value are extremely expensive and commonly-sought after, with agricultural equipment some of the most costly tools in the entire country. For this reason the government has endeavoured to purchase most available farming equipment, loaning and subsidizing it to needy communes. Communes without ownership or access to combine harvesters or tractors generally make do with extensively modified cars and trucks, horse-driven machinery, or raw manpower. Technicians with the skills to modify cars and the breeders of horses, donkeys and mules are generally members of the richer community in Essex.

Nonetheless, there is an extensive market for goods of less practical value. Antiques and memorabilia can fetch considerable sums, and independently produced artwork can often make artists some of the richest people in the nation overnight – paintings, incredibly scarce due to the lack of usable paint, regularly fetch the worth of a healthy horse from rich communes.

Army
Initially Essex’s military was composed of local Territorial Army and police units granted additional powers, subservient to the Kelvedon Hatch Bunker authorities. Members of the land, sea and air cadets aged over 16 were also pressed into service along with any younger volunteers by the government. Equipped with reasonably modern equipment for the time they were a powerful force in defending against rogue groups from the countryside, even though they were most commonly deployed on government administration missions. However, their misuse at the hands of the government to establish a seemingly self-perpetuating dictatorship led to growing distrust and discontentment amongst the military, which were triggered into launching a coup in the 1990 Revolution.

With the advent of democracy the command of the army began to change; it remained loyal to the government, but became a more independent body, as it had prior to Doomsday. It was also prompted to establish new cadet training organizations within Essex to prepare a new generation of soldiers to take the place of the slowly ageing military. These organizations continually provide a stream of volunteers, sufficient to cover the number retirees and deaths within the small army.

The highest profile event in the army's history is the War of 2008. Following a number of attacks amongst Hertfordshire communities, culminating in a raid that destroyed a fortress on the A10 and a deep raid into Essex, the military was dispatched by the government to locate the enemy which had killed and kidnapped around three thousand citizens. The military was wary, however, as a prior peaceful exploration of several hundred men towards Luton had been utterly destroyed, seemingly vanishing from the face of the earth. The army mobilised over ten thousand men and women and armed them with whatever they could find - cars refitted with guns and armour, horse-drawn carriages seized for usage as troop carriers - and marshalled them into the largest military force fielded by the country to date.

The main taskforce of five thousand men was given the objective of securing Luton as a forward base of operations, and from there locate the Essex citizens. The remaining force would establish a series of defensive perimeters to prevent further incursions into Essex. Discovering that their enemy was the racist 'True British Army', composed of ex-police and ex-military units led by a group of warlords who called themselves 'general-governors' the army was authorised to assault Luton and destroy the local regime. This they did, freeing the town in a single battle, and establishing a new base of operations. Learning that the enemy had made its base in Milton Keynes the army continued its assault, travelling up the M1 - where they were ambushed by an enemy force twice their size. Losing nearly a third of their men the army was forced to make the choice to either retreat or continue against overwhelming odds. It was close decision, until they realised that despite their losses they had inflicted a significant loss on the enemy and were likely the first truly organised opposition to the True British Army. Camping overnight in an M1 embankment they prepared for a dawn raid on Milton Keynes on February 29th. (The later justification for this date was that if it resulted in victory, the men would have to be modest and celebrate every four years; if they lost, they would only have to remember the embarrassment every leap year.)

The battle for Milton Keynes was a spectacular success, and casualties only began to grow late in the morning once the enemy realised what was happening and could organise their defences. However, despite having the proverbial home field advantage, being intimately aware of the town and having fortified it in dozens of different ways, the True British Army rapidly lost ground against the superior Essex troops, who by early afternoon had secured the town centre and executed the True British Army leaders. Demoralised and afraid the remainder of the True British Army scattered into the countryside, offering no resistance as Essex troops freed the captured citizens from an Astwood concentration camp and brought back thousands of immigrants from Milton Kenyes and surrounding territories.

Since their return on March 7th the military has mainly concerned itself with defending against remaining fragments of the True British Army and other raiders, and donating its physical strength in the movement of aid and construction efforts throughout the Hertfordshire and London territories. Having been downsized since the 2008 War most of the military's long-distance efforts involve scouting parties and hunting down raiders.

As the army reaches its third decade of existence it is noted much of its equipment is beginning to malfunction; its well-used rifles and carbines are slowly being replaced by civilian-owned weapons resulting a slowly more diverse arsenal. New workshops opening to provide heavier weapons such as artillery and armoured cars are also leading to the military’s ramshackle appearance. Perhaps the greatest change is that hand-to-hand combat is being taught again, and troops are being supplied with armour ranging from preserved suits of armour through to slats of corrugated iron and car chassis to wear.

Navy
Essex's navy is composed almost entirely of modified civilian vessels that survived since Doomsday. The extent of modification varies; some ships are merely motor launches and pleasure craft with extra armour and larger engines (corvettes), whilst others are large yachts outfitted to support crews of at least a dozen, bristling with mounted weaponry and with ranges extending towards the coast of Europe (cruisers). In between these classes are narrowboats that have been linked together to form a more stable, catamaran-like chassis, supporting medium sized crews for coastal or upriver exploration - frigates.

The unquestioned heart of the navy is Southend. This town, rebuilt in the 1990s-2000s, is the HQ of the Essex Navy containing several shipyards and the main academy. It is also home to Southend Pier, reconstruction of which was recently completed and included a lighthouse for navigation assistance. However, the EN also has two secondary bases - Maldon, near the mouth of the Chelmer and supervising cargo movement up the canal, and Clacton, which is generally considered a more mercantile area for fishermen and coastal traders.

The history of the EN is overshadowed by the tragedy of its first mission, in which an exploration to Sheerness in Kent was sabotaged by remnants of the pre-revolutionary government ramming the wreck of the SS Richard Montgomery, a half-sunken WWII freighter loaded with explosives; the detonated resulted in the complete loss of the entire taskforce and hundreds of survivors in Sheerness. Nonetheless the navy has held itself above the blemish (though commemorates it annually) and has dedicated its attention to three goals: The navy is currently exploring the possibilities of purchasing old foreign cargo freighters and repairing them to create ultra-long-range exploration, diplomacy and trade vessels to act as flagships for the fleet (and also to procure the much needed necessity of oil, though many vessels use turbines mounted on their ships to minimize energy requirements).
 * Exploration of England via waterways
 * Exploration of the European coastline
 * Protection of the growing civilian maritime industry from military threats

Air force
In 2008 it was decided that one of the major causes for the difficulty in the War was that Essex lacked a decisive technological edge. In light of this it was decided that an air force of some sort would need to be restored, and preferably one with greater utility than a few blimps and hot air balloons used for surveillance and light transport duties. However, the country lacked the industrial capability for any form of either propeller-driven aeroplanes or the production of hydrogen that would allow for larger zeppelins. Given Woodbridge's reluctance to surrender parts of its air force even to a close ally it was decided that Essex would have to become self-sufficient in the long term.

The first stage of this would be the creation of an airport to allow the entry of foreign trade. A large runway was constructed on the site of the abandoned and partly ploughed-over RAF Boreham, near Chelmsford, chosen for its central location and proximity to trade hubs (though the move was controversial; people feared an air crash over the town). Completed in December that year attention then turned to expanding facilities and transportation to and from the site, whilst the politicians decided to begin their airfleet.

Their first move was to contact the Kingdom of Prussia. The two nations were aware of each other, but had no formal relations. It came as a surprise therefore when Essex delegates approached intending to talk to the New Zeppelin Company seeking to purchase one of their zeppelins and invite engineers to advise Essex on beginning its own programme. In return for a hefty fee Prussia agreed, selling one of their Graf Zeppelin-derived rigid airships to Essex and acting as advisors on the hydrogen manufacture and zeppelin assembly facilities established at nearby Maldon.

As of 2010 Essex still has only one working zeppelin purchased from Prussia, the EAS Cavalier, and two more smaller ones in production, scheduled for completion at some point in autumn.

International relations
Essex first made contact with Woodbridge in 2000, and following a minor diplomatic incident the two nations opened their arms to each other, becoming close partners in trade and local militia suppression. From Woodbridge Essex has also learned of the other survivor nations in Britain and the wider world. It is considering requesting access to the League of Nations, mostly to capitalise on foreign trade. It is rumoured that Essex would likely be an active member of any potential 'League of Britons', an idea which has been slowly gathering steam for several years.