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. By the 21st century, with dropping radiation levels, the Republic has begun edging its border slowly over new territory. It is estimated that at this rate, that Virginia's territory could double in size by the 2020's.

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), but for a life-long term in office. 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. The only party is the Federalist party, of which Thompson is a member and chairman. With only a single party in the nation, Congress is a glorified rubber stamp.

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.

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%.

Economy
The punishment of the surviving opponents may have been harsh but it did its job. The infrastructure of the nation was among the first of the nations in North America to be running at a decent capacity.

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.

International Relations
The has announced that unless President-General Thompson institutes a true democracy to the region, the Republic of Virginia will not be allowed membership into the LoN. President-General Thompson has made a statement promising a return to democracy "as soon as the people once again enjoy the peace and prosperity they had before the Reds blew up the world." He has also started an effort to find other nations similar to their own and is reportedly currently deciding on whether or not to recognize.