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.

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. Eight nuclear weapons fell on the county: Local military units evacuated senior government officials from the surrounding areas to the Kelvedon Hatch bunker; by the time the first fallout began to settle at midnight, most of the MPs for the county had been transferred to the bunker.
 * London Southend Airport – 20kt
 * London Stansted Airport – 20kt
 * RAF Wethersfield – 20kt
 * RAF Debden – 20kt
 * Tilbury Port – 20kt
 * Bradwell Nuclear Power Station – 20kt
 * Coryton Oil Refinery – 100kt
 * Harwich and Felixstowe Ports – 100kt

Sketchy radio reports allowed the new government to determine that the greatest devastation was on the fringes of the county; much of the centre was untouched by nuclear strikes. However, weather reports indicated that fallout from the Southend bomb would irradiate most of the area south of the River Crouch, and also that the Bradwell explosion would irradiate Tollesbury. Contact with the Colchester garrison, along with various other TA units across the county allowed the government to initiate a semi-controlled evacuation and also dispense information for survivors over how to cope and deal with their situation. Stations were also established along the M25 to control the flow of survivors from London into the city.

Immediate casualty estimates are low, given that most of the blasts were away from major population centres. However, in Southend, it is estimated that at least twenty thousand died from the blast wave and subsequent inferno. In total it is thought that a hundred thousand people died from the initial attack, with the vast majority of these in the south part of the county and within the M25.

Politics
The return of the troops on March 7th brought cheers throughout the county. Triumphantly crossing the A10 Frontier and marching into Chelmsford the battered army (just over a third its original size) accepted the highest praise from local citizens and government officials. As the news rolled across Essex celebrations were held; the Essex Chronicle printed a special edition (simply entitled ‘Heroes’) to celebrate the return along with a comprehensive obituary for every casualty of the war.

The fever of patriotic pride was slow to lose its hold on Essex, and the successful harvest that year added to national fervour. The colonists from Milton Keynes added a much-needed element of dynamism into the slowly stagnating Essex professional circles, whose fresh ideas and willingness to work redoubled work on public projects and the restoration of services in Hertfordshire and London. New border stations were consolidated to repel the infrequent border raids from ex-imperial thugs, and a comprehensive road and rail grid was rolled out across the entirety of the areas claimed by Essex. The country was growing closer once more; and, as usual, it felt the need to explore.

The Navy, now freed from the guilt of its first mission, resumed exploration efforts upstream into the Thames, and out across the Thames Gateway. A few efforts were even made to scout out the coast of Europe, though little of consequence other than a few fishing communities were found. Content with their knowledge for now, Essex citizens returned to focusing on the future of their small nation.

Today, the primary causes of debate within the country are focused on the establishment of a currency other than bartering to maintain stability in bad harvests – the likes of which were suffered in 2006/7. Other proposals involve reconstructing the towns of Hertfordshire, to turn introduce industry into the ‘frontier breadbasket of the country’. Most residents are content to avoid major upheaval however, and instead focus on regenerating the severely damaged ecology of the area, working to reconstruct forests and the hedgerow food chains to reduce the need for the severely strained stocks of pesticides. It is hoped this will allow the nation to create adequate food stocks to destroy starvation once and for all, and provide a solid currency for any future trade opportunities with population centres in England with access to important minerals.

The current great project run by the Construction Corps is the establishment of running water and sewers across the new nation, rather than the mix of reservoirs, piping, and water-trucks that deliver the liquid to more isolated communities. It is hoped that by 2011 running water will be established in every property throughout Essex, a further step in removing starvation and helping agriculture. Once more the large-scale engineering projects of reservoir and hydroelectric damn construction are being seriously considered with resources from ‘trans-Luton’ trickling in. Opinion polls held in December 2009 show that the almost universal view for the next decade is optimistic.

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.

Military
Initially Essex’s military was supplied by local Territorial Army units and the regiment stationed in Colchester, subservient to the Kelvedon Hatch Bunker authorities. Equipped with standard military 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.

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.