The Inland Empire (1983: Doomsday)

The Inland Empire (TIE) is a survivor state encompassing the former counties of Riverwood and San Bernardino, California. It has a total area of 27,298 sq mi and, as of the 2011 census, has a population of over 2,200,000. It is known for its resiliance and industriousness in hardships, especially Doomsday itself.

Pre-Doomsday
The Inland Empire was the Riverside-San Bernardino area before the war. Even then, it was sometimes called the Inland Empire. In the later half of the twentieth century, the area saw significant economic and population growth, allowing cities and suburbs to grow, making a once largely agricultural area a more urban area. The former counties shared names with the cities of their county seats.

Before Doomsday, Riverside County had a very large agricultural center, growing and selling primarily citrus, especially Valencia Oranges. This allowed Riverside to grow throughout the twentieth century. San Bernardino was home to multiple Hollywood personalities, including Gene Hackman.

Doomsday
The Inland Empire was spared the horrors of Doomsday for the most part, though cancer rates in the southwestern portion of the region did soar in the mid '80s. Riots and looting broke out in many areas in the region. Much of the area, being desert, suffered a famine that killed off 20% of the population. Riverside, however, had an abundance of water and food and was able to save much of the surrounding area.

Some smaller communities, however, did not make it. Calimesa, for example, was overlooked by the disaster relief caravans and much of the population died by 1984. 1985 saw the population turn on each other and resort to cannibalism. By 1987, the entire population had died. This horror story, however, was not as prevalent as some believe.

Post-Doomsday
The City of Riverside remained, for the most part, calm. A small government was started and disaster relief became a top priority. The new city-state started water and food caravans along highways going to San Bernardino and Ontario. The first caravan was I-215, which connected Riverside with Ontario and San Bernardino. This is generally considered the birth of the Inland Empire.

The second caravan, State Route 60, was supposed to connect Riverside with Los Angeles. Los Angeles, however, had been nearly obliterated and the western portion of the route was closed down. The route, however, stretched to the east and allowed Riverside to connect with the inland portion of former Riverside County. The third caravan, the doomed State Route 61, connected Riverside with Orange County. However, the only way to Orange County through this route was to go through Los Angeles county, which was nearly suicide. It did, however, stretch into the Eastern part of San Bernardino County, allowing these communities to survive.

The years 1984-1988 saw the alliances of the city-states of San Bernardino, Riverside, and Palm Springs, along with multiple other city-states. In 1989, talks of a single union among the city states resulted in the creation of the First Charter of the Inland Empire. The area was proclaimed a colony of the United States, though they paid taxes to the local system. In 1991, the United States was officially deemed 'destroyed' and the Inland Empire Constitution was written and drafted.

The City of Riverside became the Capital of the Inland Empire and the local militia became the army. The new system was incredibly efficient and promoted ideals that humanity had not fallen, but learned a lesson from the nuclear war. The Inland Empire, however, was missing one thing: a source of trade. It was forced into isolationism, but explorers into parts of Orange County reported seeing multiple tribes of people in the county. Trade was attempted, but these tribes belonged to a loose conglomerate of hostile peoples. The Inland Empire was forced to look elsewhere.

The decade of the '90s saw the people wanting to explore and find people to trade with. While some explorers headed into northern California and Nevada, others wanted to salvage things from Los Angeles County. Hazmat suits were discovered, along with sanitation stations. As the loot from the county became grander, the missions became riskier. These missions resulted in the eventual reclaiming of several props from the ruins of Hollywood, including a nearly intact 'w', 'd', and two 'o's from the Hollywood sign. Several cameras were found and restored and people wanted to make a new Hollywood.

Palm Springs became the New Hollywood in 1999. Meanwhile, several states in Nevada and Northern California were found and discovered, including Sierra Nevada, Deseret, the Municipal States of the Pacific, and Dinétah. While trading with these states commenced, expeditions further into California resulted in the rediscovery of several more props.

1999 saw the return of the Silver Screen with the release of Thunderhead, a movie set in the post-apocalyptic world. The movie was incredibly horrible, but everyone knew it was the return of Hollywood. By 2010, several original stories had been made, along with sequels to several pre-war movies. Palm Springs had been transformed. As of 2012, 342 movies had been made and 197 of these movies had been copied and distributed to other states or nations... for a modest fee of course.

Recently, The Inland Empire has invaded parts of Orange County due to their extreme aggressiveness. The Orange County campaigns have gone on since 2005 and have resulted in much of Orange County becoming a territory of the Inland Empire, though it is not represented by the Inland Empire at this time. Expansion around Salton Sea has also picked up recently, but some areas remain uninhabitable due to residual fallout.

Geography
The area around the city of Riverside is a lush area, though a large area to the south of the city is the Sonora Desert. To the north of Riverside, there are several mountains and most of the Eastern Inland Empire is desert. San Bernardino lies in a valley and the elevation of The Inland Empire ranges from 11,499 feet above to some 200 feet below sea level. Much of Salton Sea is in Riverside County and The Inland Empire is currently annexing areas around the lake.

Demographics
As of the 2010 Census, 61.8% of the population was white(40.4% White Non-Hispanic), 7.5% black, 5.7% Asian, and 25.0% of other or mixed race. 43.9% were Hispanic of any race. 21.9% of the population was foreign born. Of this population, over 30% of the entire population lives in or near Riverside City, 20% lives in Palm Springs, 15% live in San Bernardino, and the rest belong to other cities.

68% of the Inland Empire are Christians with 39% being Roman Catholic, 14% as Protestant, and 25% belonging to another denomination of Christianity. 1% are Jewish, 6% belong to various religions, and 24% profess no religion.

Politics
The government of The Inland Empire is a Representative Democracy. The constitution remains the same as the old US constitution, though a striking difference between the election process is that the elections are non-partisan. This requires voters to know who they are voting for, discouraging 'dumb voting'. Another difference is that it is considered bad practice for a candidate to negatively campaign against other candidates. Presidents are elected to two four year terms. Senators are elected every year with no limit on term numbers.

Education
It is required of all citizens in The Inland Empire to go to school for at least ten years. The University of California remained intact and functions as a college for higher education. Enrollment costs have been lowered since Doomsday, and it grants duel citizenship to anybody from another nation or state that attends the college. Should a foreigner leave the school for whatever reason, they do need to get a job and apply for full citizenship or return to their state of origin.