Poor Knights of the Holy Trinity (1983: Doomsday)

The Poor Knights of the Holy Trinity is a Catholic nation-state founded in former Ontario County, NY. Originally created as a military order to fight off raider bands they reformed into a government after the civil government of Ontario County collapsed.

Origins
The Poor Knights of the Holy Trinity were founded in 1997 by Joshua Arsenio to stop raider bands from attacking his parish and Geneva. The first knights of the order included Joshua, and 15 other members of his parish. The Trinisters made their name known when they cleared out a powerful raider gang executing all the captured raiders and suffering 9 loses. Even though the order lost more than half of their knights they quickly recovered as applicants flooded into Geneva to join the Trinisters. The local Catholic clergy recognized it as a military order soon after. With more knights joining the Trinisters they became more aggressive in their stance against raiders usually striking hard and fast against raider camps and stamping out gangs brutally. The Seneca County government fell after an explosion rocked the meeting hall, November 4 1999, killing all the public officials. As the city began to fall into chaos Grandmaster of the Order Joshua Arsenio took the city and pronounced it under the control of the Poor Knights of the Holy Trinity. The Trinisters quickly set about reinstating order and began restructuring the Order into not only a military order but also a civil order.

Merging with the Jesuits and other Orders
To help with reestablishing modern society the Trinisters reached out to surrounding holy orders, in April 19 2000, asking them to unit with most agreeing to join. The Poor Knights of the Holy Trinity remained in control of the military, while the other monastic and holy orders took a more active role in the surrounding communities. Catholic schools were reopened and certain monastery's opened up "embassies" to allow scholars to study their books. While the holy orders are extremely close to each other and work together a lot they are still independent of each other with the Trinisters controlling the majority of the nation. Certain positions in government are reserved for Trinisters while others are open for anyone to join.

The Guy Fawkes Rebellion
Grandmaster of the Order Joshua Arsenio decided that the time was close to return Seneca to civilian control, as he saw the Trinisters were not numerous enough to protect all the territory. Arsenio sent out knights to gather up prominent citizens to draft a new Constitution but certain members of the population upset about being ruled by a theocracy saw this as an act of tyranny not knowing what was truly going on. On the 27th of November 2005 a group of armed individuals wearing Guy Fawkes masks attacked the meeting hall. In the ensuing firefight Joshua Arsenio was killed along with 5 out of the 6 Sergeants-at-Arms. The last Sergeant-at-Arm, Frederick Mordicea, became the new Grandmaster of the Order by default on November 28th. Compared to Arsenio, Mordicea is an extreme conservative who was the only one against handing power back to the civil government. Grandmaster of the Order Mordicea quickly launched a counteroffensive against the Guy rebels and routed them from Geneva. Pursuing them into the countryside the Trinisters were halted as they left the city recognizing he was outnumbered Mordicea opened the Trinisters up for Laymen to join but reserving higher positions for those who took the monastic vows. After a month of being trapped in Geneva the newly reinforced Trinisters sallied forth and sent the Guy rebels running into the countryside. The Guy rebels were defeated on April 18th 2006 with the ringleaders signing a treaty stating that they were to leave the land controlled by the Trinisters or be executed; the Guy Fawkes Rebellion ended.

The Mordicea Reforms
Along with opening the Trinisters to Laymen service Mordicea expanded the Trinister's civil government by establishing the four Divisions. Education, Exploration, Law, and Economy, along with a Council of Parishes where the priest and elected official represent their parish. To increase the amount of soldiers available universal military training was mandatory for all citizens of the Trinisters and all citizens were provided with a weapon once training was completed. Schools, observatories, and libraries were restored and placed under control of the Education Division. The Exploration Division began training elite scouts called Pathfinders to map out the surrounding land and to find new communities to join the growing Trinisters. The Economy Division began distributing food to all the citizens, enough to survive and left the rest go to open market, free housing was constructed for the homeless and hospitals were reopened. Taxes could be paid in livestock, foodstuff, labor, or Aurum. Aurum coins began to be manufactured and necessary industries for the state were placed under state control while everything else was left to the free market unless a monopoly or immoral corporation developed.

The Seneca County Campaign
After ending the Guy Fawkes Rebellion and restructuring the state Grandmaster of the Order Mordicea sent Pathfinders out to locate survivor communities in December 9th 2007. After contact was made with communities in former Seneca County Mordicea ordered the knights to move quickly and secure the communities. At first there was much hostility between the Trinisters and Seneca but no bloodshed occurred as it was viewed that the Trinisters were better than anarchy so Seneca County was absorbed into the Poor Knights of the Holy Trinity. The Trinisters were effective at repelling raider attacks on the communities they occupied and made it easier for the Trinisters to contol the rest of Seneca County. By December 19th 2009 Seneca County was entirely incorporated into the Poor Knights of the Holy Trinity.

Consolidating Territory
After former Seneca County was incorporated in December 19th 2009 it was decided by the Council that further expansion was to be halted until the current territory was developed enough to control further lands. The ruling did not sit well with Mordicea as he viewed the Trinisters could expand into Monroe and Wayne Counties before consolidating the land was necessary. Though he was overruled by the Council by 9 to 1. The focused shifted from the military to agriculture and education. The surrounding farms continued to produce as much food as possible with help from citizens who chose to pay their taxes via labor though the demand for food increased so more farms were constructed and auctioned off. The vineyards shifted back to making wine but also started to expand and plant apple trees to increase the amount of produce. On June 7th 2012 Nazareth College was reopened along with other institutes of higher education. Public education became mandatory again on October 1st 2012 with all teachers becoming honorary members of the Trinisters. Trade schools were opened across the state to help re-industrialize. By November 17th 2013 certain industries began to redevelop on the small-scale like clothing, arms, and tool crafting. A major political change occurred on September 29th 2011, a Lower Council was created were anybody could hold office and vote for no matter ones religious belief, Grandmaster of the Order Mordicea was furious at this edict but was outvoted by the now dubbed High Council by 84%. Though Mordicea is able to pass the Citizen Act through the High Council and made it so to earn citizenship it is required to serve the state for 3 years in either the military as a conscript or as a laborer for state sponsored projects.

Government
At the head is the Grandmaster of the Order who is commander-in-chief, head of state, and head of government. Below him are the grandmasters of the four Divisions, each division grandmaster is chosen by the Grandmaster of the Order but must be approved by the High Council and only control areas in their Division. The High Council is made up of two representatives from each parish one elected official from the parish and the parish priest. The powers of the High Council is to appoint ambassadors to foreign nations, create trade routes, approving budget plans and finance, impeach the Grandmaster of the Order for abuse of power, and approve Division Grandmasters. The Lower Council is made up of three representatives that each serve a 3 year term with alternating election years for each parish area. The representative does not have to be Catholic and voting is open to everyone that has fulfilled their 3 year term of state service. Powers of the Lower Council is to create legislation for the entirety of the nation and can override a High Council veto with a 2/3 majority if it doesn't conflict with the Constitution and Canon law, can impeach officials and bring charges about officials that abuse power. Joint powers shared between the Lower and High Councils include issuing a declaration of war, approving economic and political treaties, and foreign policy.

Economy
The economy mostly relies on agriculture with major players being the vineyards and apple orchards. There is little to none external trade as the Pathfinders are still training with only some exploration, the only trade is within the borders and with some surrounding survivor communities that are in the process of being incorporated. Agriculture is the primary employer with employment to the Poor Knights of the Holy Trinity a close second. Other important industries include logging, ranching, and some light industry. Leather and wool industries are increasing in importance and are becoming powerful factors of the economy. The amount of food necessary for survival is distributed to each civilian and citizen and the surplus is placed onto the open market money going to whoever produced the foodstuff. The construction industry has skyrocketed with the need to repair and build. Arms manufacturing is becoming an important industry as the state is gearing towards further expansion. Wind energy has become a major producer for energy but does not supply enough, blackouts are usual and are expected.

Foreign Relations
There has been no contact with other survivor states except with independent survivor communities but there are rumors of Niagara Falls surviving and people of Oswego creating a nation. Current belief held by Grandmaster of the Order Mordicea is expansionism so if contact is to be made tensions would be high.

Military
The military is a central aspect of the Poor Knights of the Holy Trinity with all citizens equipped with firearms to defend the home front, freeing up the conscripts and knights for offensive warfare. Lay Knights make up 78% of the standing army, Monastic Knights make up 7% of the standing army, and Conscripts make up 15%. Pathfinders act as an elite scouting and black ops branch of the Trinisters, they are usually equipped with a hunting rifle, Bowie knife, small amount of explosives, and a sidearm. There is no current Air Force or Navy as the Trinisters are landlocked currently.