Aroostook (1983: Doomsday)

The Provisional Republic of Aroostook is an American survivor nation in northern Maine.

Post-Doomsday
The American state of Maine was not spared from Soviet attack during Doomsday. Portland and the Bath Iron Works were both targeted causing massive devastation to the region. This sent refugees from the area toward Augusta, the state capitol, where the state government organized refugee camps. The refugees, however, put too much strain on government’s ability and soon fighting broke out between various factions over the scarce resources. An attempt by Governor Joseph E. Brennan to organize a convoy of National Guardsman and State Police to escort state official to northern Maine was destroyed shortly after they prepared to leave. The majority of the population of Augusta abandoned the city bringing more instability to the surrounding area. Those who remained in Augusta quickly came under the control of various warlords.

Meanwhile, the radiation in the area decimated the fishing along the Maine coast. Much of the remaining Maine fishing fleet and other ships, packed with refugees and what supplies they could carry, left the shores to seek refuge somewhere else.

Founding of Aroostook
Remnants of the state government and the National Guard did manage to establish a provisional state government after contact was lost with the governor in Houlton. One of the first acts of the provisional government was to organize a militia of able-bodied men and women to protect the area from refugees and the increasing number of bandit gangs. Though most refugees were denied access to the area (sometimes at gunpoint), some were allowed in if they had necessary skills in this post-apocalyptic world. Interestingly enough the number of French-Canadians spiked through this form of immigration.

Officially the provisional government referred to itself as “Maine”, but as the years went by the popular designation of the government was “Aroostook” since the government’s jurisdiction extended only to the borders of the Aroostook County.

1990s
By the early 1990s the Aroostook government began authorizing expeditions to see if they could make contact with any other survivor communities. One successful expedition regained contact with the town of Aroostook, New Brunswick, which soon asked to be incorporated into Aroostook. The news of this caused some problems for the provisional government as they were not sure how to best integrate the new population.

Eventually it was agreed in 1992 to create a new constitution for the region. Taking the name “Provisional Government of Aroostook”, because they still hoped contact would be once again made with some remnant of the American government, the new nation divided the area up into several “zones” centered on the larger towns and villages. These zones would have a level of autonomy, effectively making them city-states. Each though would send representatives to Houlton which would act as a central government under a setup similar to a town meeting, but on a larger scale. The old county building at Houlton soon was being called “Aroostook Hall.”

Not all the expeditions were successful. One sent south in 1992 to do some reconnaissance around Augusta never returned. By 1993, however, many of the southern zones were reporting an alarming increase in raids by brigands operating out of the city. Attempts by the new government to coordinate the zones militias failed and Aroostook spent its early years reacting to the brigands instead of actively seeking them out. Raids from the St. Lawrence River area also fell on Aroostook during this time period. Faith in the new government waned.

Meanwhile there was some contact made with isolated communities in Vermont and New Hampshire. Due to the distance and the increasing number of raids, however, there was little interest in expanding into the area.

Contact with Canada
In 1997, Aroostook made contact with and through them the rest of the world. The people of Aroostook were saddened to learn that United States of America had ceased to exist, but many in the country had long since given up hope that the central government would come to save them. If anything the knowledge spurred the Aroostook government to take more direct action to deal with the bandit problem to the south.

Meanwhile, recontact with the rest of the world had created a new political movement that believed that Aroostook should join Canada as a province for the sake of survival.

Liberation of Augusta
In 1999, a combined force of 300 National Guard soldiers and 1500 militia besieged the ruins of Augusta. Along with them were 20 Canadian military advisers who came to observe the battle. Facing them were 600 armed raiders, though some were actually "slaves" who were armed and sent to fight by the armed raiders behind them. The siege lasted two months before a slave uprising gave the Aroostook forces an opportunity to take the state capitol, which was being used as a fortress by the raiders.

After taking the city the Aroostook forces learned about the barbaric society that had grown inside it. The most powerful gang leaders had managed to drive out most of Augusta's population shortly after the state government collapsed. From then on they hoarded whatever supplies were still in the city, launching occasional scavenging expeditions and raids into more civilized territory. During winter when supplies were at their lowest some of the gangs would resort to cannibalism to survive. There was no central leadership among the raiders and they often fought among themselves as much as they did with Aroostook, though during the siege they had come to a temporary truce to defend Augusta. Some desperate refugees and their families had allowed themselves to be put into slavery for a few scraps of food given by the raiders, though they lived under horrible conditions and were usually at the mercy of their feudal lords.

In 2000, the ruins of Aroostook were evacuated. The slaves were resettled in Aroostook. As for the raiders, those who could be vouched for by the new freedmen and swore an oath to the Aroostook state were allowed to settle in Aroostook territory. The rest, after a quickly convened military tribunal, were either sentenced to hard labor in the scavenger gangs that mined the ruins of Maine or were immediately hanged. Orphan children of the executed or imprisoned raiders were adopted and raised by new families.

The "Liberation of Augusta" was soon followed by a similar campaign that cleaned Bangor out of its raider infestation in 2002, but the Bangor raiders were less numerous then the ones in Augusta. The victory at Bangor allowed for recolonization efforts in southern Maine now that the raider threat had been destroyed. Furthermore, the Liberation of Augusta had filled the people of Aroostook with a much needed morale boost and a sense of optimism for the future.

Confederation of New England
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Contemporary times
In a controversial decision the Aroostook government agreed to hold a referendum on August 25th, 2009 on the whether Aroostook should remain independent or request annexation by Canada.

Politics
Current Aroostook politics revolves around the question about the future of the Aroostook state. Some want Aroostook to petition to annex them, feeling that Aroostook is struggling to remain self-sufficient and to survive must integrate itself with its powerful neighbor. The citizens of the town of Aroostook have been particularly adamant about unification with Canada.

Others are suspicious of the expanding Canada and feel that Aroostook should remain independent and seek stronger ties with. The has been particularly supportive of this faction and has publicly protested further Canadian “imperialism” into American territory. With the landmark contact between the state and the Republic of Superior, it hopes to bring together the remnants of old America into solidarity.