Kingdom of Cleveland (1983: Doomsday)

Doomsday


On DD the two 20 kilotonnes bombs aimed for the Tees valley area missed.
 * One exploded 7 miles north of Hartlepool and due to a delayed detonation 40 metres under the North sea.
 * One exploded 12 miles south of Middlesbrough over the practicaly uninhabited North Yorkshire Moors.

Although the bombs themselves missed, radioactive fallout from the bomb that exploded in the North sea blew inland on the prevailing North-east winds.

Over the next month radioactive fallout kills over nearly two thirds of the total population of the Tees valley area. Many of those who survive take shelter in underground anhydrite, coal and potash mines located around the area. Among the notable survivors is Princess Anne (Daughter of Queen Elizabeth II) who was opening a disabled riding school outside Middlesbrough at the time of the attack, also travelling with her at the time of the attack was her two year old daughter Zara.

Survivors stayed underground as long as possible with scavenging parties collection food and water from the surface and returning it to the mines for the rest of the survivors.

Due to the failure of the electricity grids the mines begin to flood by December 1983 and the have to be abandoned.

After several years of social unrest, disease and famine the remaining population of just under 97,000.

Current situation
In 1995 the first elections take part in the Tees Valley, the new government is Royalist with the Prime Minster being named as former Cleveland Police Officer Ray Mallon. Princess Anne become a the constitutional monarch Queen Anne II. Under proposals by the new government the name of the area reverted to its ancient name of Cleveland and become a constitutional Kingdom, Middlesbrough is named as the captial. The Presidential Residence is in Thornaby, the Royal Residence is Wynyard Hall near Sedgefield.

In 1996 the unradiated parts of the former counties of North Yorkshire and Durham become part of the Kingdom of Cleveland.

In 2002 Queen Anne II married local man James Monroe in the ruins of Guisborough Abbey. The heir to the Crown, Princess Zara was one of the bridesmaids.

In military respects the royal army consists of a full time cavalry regiment tasked with protecting the queen and a part time regiment of riflemen

Discovery by the Celtic Alliance
In 1997 during a fishing trip from off the east coast of Yorkshire a small Scottish trawler comes across a cobble (small open fishing boat) longline fishing.

The two crews make contact and after visiting the mainland they return to Scotland, seting up trade routes between the Kingdom of Cleveland and the Celtic Alliance.

The Tees valley has power supplied by Hartlepool Nuclear power station (which had only been operational since early 1983), a large iron and steel works (which has been mothballed since DD attacks in 1983) and has several shipyards producing mid sized wooden vessels used for trading up and down the east coast and smaller fishing vessels, the small towns in unaffected areas of Yorkshire have begun farming both arable and livestock as well as fishing from the small ports such as Whitby and Ravenscar.

The former international airport has been adapted for use as a medical staging points however PM Mallon refuses to allow an end cycle centre as he believes that every life is important.

As of 1997 (at the last census) the total population of the Kingdom of Cleveland stands as 104,000. With over 735,000 deaths from the radioactivity, starvation, social unrest, disease and accidents.

The Kingdom of Cleveland is due to vote on a referendum on becoming part of the Celtic Alliance in mid 2010. However popular opinion is that the Kingdom of Cleveland will remain independent.