User:SouthWriter/sandbox/archive

The Commonwealth of Plymouth is a small nation in what was formerly the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It takes its name from the Plymouth Colony, one of the first colonies in North America. It borders the Outer Lands to the south, currently disputing jurisdiction of the Cape Cod region which is claimed by the Association of the Outer Lands.

Pre-Doomsday
Plymouth was one of the most historical spots of all of North America. Not only was it the second settled spot in the Original 13 Colonies, but the beliefs it was founded on would later become part of the framework of the Constitution of the United States. The Plymouth Colony, which was eventually joined the Massachusetts Bay Colony, lasted nearly 70 years.

In the 20th century, Plymouth's population began to double within 20 years. Although this was cut short by Doomsday, the population has slowly begun to increase again.

Doomsday
On September 25, 1983, residents of Plymouth were shook to hear of incoming ICBMs coming toward the US from the USSR. Assuming the worst to come to the big cities, the best the town and county governments could do was get to shelter and ride out the expected fallout. Across the mostly level horizons, they could see mushroom clouds in Providence and Boston. But the low yield blast over Otis Air Force Base near Barnstable caused shock waves and some thermal blast in surrounding villages. The attack on the Boston Metropolitan Area deeply affected the northern parts of Plymouth County.The Town of Plymouth soon received hundreds of refugees coming from Boston and Providence. Plymouth was blanketed in fallout, killing nearly 1,000 people, though most of the population had managed to avoid succumbing radiation contamination. Nearby county governments collapsed, leaving Plymouth to establish itself in a hardh new world.

Post-Doomsday
While the situation had always remained somewhat stable in the area, the disorganization of the surviving towns and cities was a huge issue. By the spring of 1984, after a harsh winter without power, the county government attempted to establish some kind of emergency government over the surrounding area. Sending watercraft across the bay, they found that Cape Cod had already aligned itself with the "Outer Lands" which had been established in December, 1983. Plymouth County eventually grew into a mecca for those fleeing the rest of Massachusetts, which for the most part was in chaos.

By May, 1984, the government of Plymouth County created a provisional government known as the "Provisional government of Massachusetts at Plymouth" with hopes of eventually restoring the whole state to its historical boundaries within whatever remained of the United States. They were hopeful of gaining the lost peninsular of Cape Cod but negotiations broke down by summer's end. Over the next decade, expeditions inland found little in the way of civilization. The former Rhode Island was a wasteland, and the towns of eastern Massachusetts had long since been abandoned. The former government of Vermont had been apparently replaced by those wishing for a single state in New England to go by the name of the Republic of Vermont. Parts of western Massachusetts, in fact had been taken over by that government.

Foundation of the Commonwealth
Finally, in 1997, contact was made with Canada which informed Plymouth of the dissolution of the United States of America two years before. So, in December of 1998, a constitutional convention was held to the establish the Commonwealth of Plymouth. That document laid out the historical boundaries of the original Plymouth Colony as its own and laid claim to the constitutional boundaries of the state known historically as the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Having seen the devastation first hand, the framers had also claimed much of the disputed areas from colonial times (which eventually become other states), but have since dropped those claims due to international relations.

Present Day
By the 21st century, Plymouth had contact with Canada and, through them to the Celtic Alliance. With this international help Plymonth has grown into a relatively successful nation complete with a major port at Plymouth, the original port city of New England.

Having received so many refugees from the devastated nuclear wasteland that had been Massachusetts, with the dehibilitating factors of radiation sickness, lead to some tough decisions. More and more, the stricken victims had begged to be "put out of [their] misery" which leadto the legalization of euthanization in 2007.

In March of 2010, Plymouth officially requested for the return of Vermont's Massachusetts lands to Plymouth control. Chances are, however, that they will remain in Vermont's grasp, and many in Plymouth fear that Vermont's expansionism will eventually consume all of New England, including Plymouth.

Economy
The economy of Plymouth is primarily controlled by fishing. Timber and Agriculture remain dominant in the more rural areas of the interior of Plymouth. Agricultural products of note include livestock, and fruits, tree nuts, and berries. As power lines have been restored, the restored Nuclear plant has begun supplying energy to several other countries, which is a huge source of income. Dependence on imports for many foods, though, has meant that food shortages continue to occur.

Energy
With the Pilgrim Nuclear Generating Station surviving in Plymouth, it is able to supply over 600,000 homes with electricity. It currently sells its surplus to the Outer Lands and Vermont, with plans of an underwater cable to supply power to the Maritime coastal states, including Aroostook.

The station was nonfunctional from 1983 to 1999, when the Celtic Alliance helped repair it. But even with improved relations within the community of nations, the plant's days are limited. An aged plant, needing extensive maintenance (including hard to obtain materials), is scheduled to be closed by 2015. Plans are, however, to eventually replace the power plant with a "tidal generators" out toward Cape Cod. Engineers from the Celtic Alliance assure authorities that these stations will not interfere with the fishing industry, for they are to be within a quarter mile of the shore at high tide and not in the open bay where most of the fish are found.

Military
As reports of incoming balistic missiles were heard, the miltiary all over America had evacuated military bases first, assuming the worst. Small bases like Camp Edwards, near Barnstable, were easy to evacuate, as was the adjacent Otis Air National Guard Base. These forces had saved several planes and transport vehicles as they spread north into Plymouth county. Otis were indeed hit by a 4 kt bomb that was a ground burst, cutting them off from Barnstable and the whole Cape. But once the fallout had dispersed, Camp Edwards yielded the essential materials to train soldiers and can maintain its current troop number of 8,000 and reservists at 4,000. As a result, these surviving troops became  the military of Plymouth. It is not mandatory to join the military but all who wish to go to college must be a member of the Plymouth Home Guard, or must be an ex-member of the Plymouth Army. Directly after Doomsday, the troops stationed there were deployed to impose martial law.



The military is made up of the:

Plymouth Air Core - numbering 2,000 soldiers. The Air Force is primarily used to scout the lawless lands around Plymouth.

Army of Plymouth - numbering 5,000 soldiers. - In case of a war, the Army would be used to launch ground assaults.

Plymouth Navy - numbering 500 soldiers - The weakest of the military, it is a collection of small vessels and the Coast Guard.

Home Guard of Plymouth - 2,000 soldiers - In case of emergencies, the Home Guard will be used to defend the Homeland.

Emergency Reaction Militia - 2,000 soldiers - If the Home Guard fails, the ERM would be used as a back-up plan to make a last stand and to try to keep a piece, any piece of the Homeland alive. Currently underfunded, mainly armed with hunting rifles and pistols.

Government
The Commonwealth of Plymouth is a constitutional democracy. It is led by a President, who is in charge of the executive branch, and a Parliament, which is in charge of the judicial and legislative branches. The president is elected every 4 years no term limitations. In addition, the president may be given emergency powers for up to 8 years. Members of Parliament may be elected every 2 to 6 years.

International Relations
Plymouth has applied to join the League of Nations. Due to distance it can not join the United Communities but would like to eventually. Plymouth shares great relations with the Celtic Alliance,Virginia and Kentucky, State College, Reading, and Delmarva. They do not get along with Vermont and are on the verge of war with the Outer Lands over Cape Cod. They also have a rival to the north that also claims to be a successor to Massachusetts. It has also applied to join the Atlantic Defense Community, being the first American successor state to do so.

The Association of the Outer Lands, often shortened to the Outer Lands, the A.O.L., and often called the Outlands by some international sources, is an American survivor state which occupies regions in the former US states of Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island. The Outer Lands comprises of five states working together in a loose federation.

Prior to, the term "outer lands" was used to describe an archipelago which comprised of the islands off the coast of New England. Today, the Outer Lands comprises of Long Island (formerly part of New York), Block Island (Rhode Island), Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and Cape Cod (Massachusetts).

History
Doomsday saw the islands cut off from their home states and forced to fend for themselves; Cape Cod and eastern Long Island faced the same situation. Provisional governments were formed in all five regions. Food shortages forced Block Island leaders to order a mass evacuation, via boat, to Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard.

When refugees from Block Island arrived en masse from Martha's Vineyard, its provisional government ordered strict food rationing for the duration of the crisis. Fishermen from Cape Cod discovered a Coast Guard boat sailing from Nantucket, and refugee boats from Block Island sailed into Fort Pond Bay on Long Island, discovering that Montauk had been set up as the center of the Long Island provisional government.

Traveling by boat, the leaders of the five 'boroughs' met at Martha's Vineyard on December 9, 1983 to discuss the present situation and plan for the near-term future of their respective islands and regions. That meeting resulted in the formation of an organiztion that became the Association of the Outer Lands, tasked initially with facilitating trade of food and supplies between the five regions. Surviving Coast Guard and local police vessels were merged into the Outer Lands Coast Guard, which was responsible for defending trade routes from pirates.

Over the years, the association has evolved into a virtual state government, with a governor and a general assembly. The association has limited influence over local affairs, which are governed by their respective boroughs.

As early as 1984 the governments of the Association were aware of survivors in Plymouth County on the "mainland," but despite the nearby presence of Canada, Vermont and Aroostook, contact with other outsiders for many years came in the form of wanderers, survivalists and pirates. Through them it was learned only that some sort of civilization had survived in the Vermont, Maine, Martimes, New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania regions.

Negotiations began in the summer of 1984 with the struggling city-state of Plymouth to take it into the Assosciation, but even though they offered to merge under the name of Plymouth, the young government there rejected all their proposals, insisting instead that the government at New Shoreham be turned over to that of Plymouth. Elsewhere, radioactivity along the coast of New England and the distance to the Maritimes kept Outer Lands from making contact with Vermont, Aroostook, Canada or any other communities in the northeast.

Expeditions did explore Long Island, and even attempted to explore New York City and New Jersey. What they found was discouraging -- bombed out remains of cities and towns, or radioactive lakes where towns (and cities) used to be, and an occasional nomad or savage refugees apparently having resulted to cannibalism.

Other than with Plymouth, no one from the Outer Lands had any official contact with another survivor nation until March of 2007, when a boat from the newly christened Aroostook Coast Guard assisted an Outer Banks Coast Guard exploratory vessel that ran into distress 12 miles off the coast of Gloucester, an abandoned port city claimed by Plymouth.

In June 2010, Outer Lands signed a trade agreement with Aroostook but stopped short of signing a similar trade agreement with Vermont after squabbling in the General Assembly over what the nation should ask of Vermont.

Political divisions
The Outer Lands is a loose federation made up of five regions. Each region governs its own affairs, but sends representatives to the Outer Lands General Assembly, which selects a governor every two years.

¹ Assumes 10 mile radius from center of island. All other areas based on county totals, which include claimed water rights along coasts.