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| Capital | Placerville | ||||||
| Largest city | Placerville | ||||||
| Other cities | Grass Valley, Auburn, Truckee | ||||||
| Language official |
English, Spanish, Native American Languages | ||||||
| others | French, Portuguese, Chinese | ||||||
| Religion | Roman Catholicism, Protestant Christianity, Atheism, Judaism, Islam, Other religions | ||||||
| Government | Constitutional Republic | ||||||
| President | Patricia “Patty” Borelli | ||||||
| Vice President | Michael Weber | ||||||
| Area | 29,395 km² | ||||||
| Population | 556,000 (2011 est.) | ||||||
| Established | 1997 | ||||||
California, officially the California Republic is a survivor nation located in the eastern and central regions of the former US state of California. Having collapsed twice during its reformation after Doomsday, it was revived around the same time the Municipal States were created with help from New Zealand.
History
Pre-Doomsday
Prior to Columbus discovering North America, this region was home to more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans. However, during the 18th century, the Spaniards colonized it and added it to the first Spanish empire. After years of colonial rule, Mexico was eventually granted independence. Shortly after, Americans in the region declared it a free California Republic. After the Mexican-American War, it was ceded to the United States, later to be added to the Union as the 31st state. In the 20th century, it was the most populous state in the United States, as well as the second most populous entity in the Western Hemisphere.
Doomsday
On Doomsday, several strikes near or within the region were San Francisco, Sacramento, and Fresno, among others within Nevada. The area received massive fallout in the southern half of the region, but the areas of Auburn, Placerville, and Sonora were spared the worst of the nuclear attack. Governor George Deukmejian, who had heard of the attacks from Hawaii via radio, managed to evacuate from Sacramento with the Lieutenant Governor and a small amount of the staff.
After several months, with no word from the federal or state government, politicians from the Placer, El Dorado, Alpine, and Tuolumne Counties met in Placerville to discuss the forming of a provisional government to help distribute needed supplies to the surrounding areas and to stabilize growing problems such as starvation, cannibalism, suicide, radiation and radiation-related sickness. They were soon joined by representatves of several neighboring counties. After nearly a week of nonstop debate, the committee at Placerville agreed in a landslide vote to create the "Provisional State of California" centered in Placerville. The Provisional State claimed all of California, as well as the known nuclear strike zones of Los Angeles, San Diego, San Fransico, and Sacramento. The state government of California soon began the rationing of food, redirection of food from farms to surviving towns, placement of martial law, rationing of medical supplies, and relocation of refugees.
By 1989, the Provisional State government had stretched too far out, and was teetering on the verge of collapse. Reluctantly the government disbanded giving all powers to the county seats and was replaced with the loosest confederation possible, the Pacific Association of California. Several counties by then had been annexed by the State of Nevada, now known as "Sierra Nevada". But still, the counties teetered in and out of chaos and others were resembled to those of Northern California and Southern Oregon, where the county rule became restricted to only the most nearby areas of the county seat.
Post-Doomsday
After nearly 13 years with no word from the federal government, the PAC were beginning to see it fit to secede, seeing that its current status was only that of a placeholder for the American government. After rumors spread within the final months of the provisional administration that an American Provisional Administration had visited the future area of the MSP, many hoped that the APA could take control of the area, as the PAC could only do so much as a confederation of counties. However, many of these rumors were soon crushed when word came in that the American government had been disbanded, albeit received several years after. Eventually, a second committee was held to discuss the possibility of forming a new nation, being one of the first committees in years. After another episode of intense discussion, a verdict of 7 - 1 resulted in the creation of the California Republic.
Still, forming a new government did not solve all problems. Starvation and famines still regularly occurred, and by 1999 the government had already collapsed again due to several earthquakes which had killed thousands and damaged large amounts of infrastructure. Finding it impossible to govern the state, and with the borders shrinking every day from attacks by outsiders, the remaining towns decided to go their separate ways. In a formal address to the California people, the President of the CR during 1999, Micheal Churchill stated, "It is with great sorrow that I announce that the California Republic is no longer an active union. We have faced hardships, and we have gotten back up but there comes a time when we eventually have to give up. May God help us all." This was the last speech given by the president, and two weeks after delivering this address he committed suicide.
During this time the area descended into the anarchy not uncommon on the West Coast at that time. The only town that managed to remain intact was the former capital at Placerville, which had devolved into a largely abandoned town with pockets of self-sufficient communities much like Constantinople during the waning years of the Byzantine Empire. Many made their way towards Sierra Nevada, while others attempted to find passage to Mexico and Costa Rica, which had already been home to substantially large American communities pre-Doomsday.
Reformation
In 2003, false reports had spread that the Soviet Union had launched a mass invasion on North America, which caused a major panic amongst several of the towns within the former Republic, leading the local towns to band together and prepare for war. However, such war never came, but the end result was a rapid organization of what had been a slum of villages into a cooperating unit which created relative stability as many of the towns that had been hostile towards each other quickly forgot their differences to prepare for war. This event would prove to be significant as in the weeks preparing for the "War" the towns had effectively rebounded their economies into functioning wartime ones, paving the groundwork for the reconstitution of the Republic.
Around 2006 the California Republic was reformed around the same time of the Municipal Contract with much help from the Federated State of New Zealand, now part of the CANZ, along with the free states of Alaska and Hawaii, even though that went against the wishes of Australia, who wanted to enter the city-states into the Municipal States in order to keep the Pacific Coast from diversifying into multiple nations.
Present Day
In December 2006, California formally absorbed the abandoned ruins of Yuba County. The National Guard has since moved back there, and has managed to salvage most of the supplies left behind when they deserted. A few months later, in April 2007, California began to reclaim Sacramento County. What they found was what was paradoxically dubbed "Lake Sacramento Forest", which was essentially an irradiated crater in what used to be the city of Sacramento in the middle of the American River and the flora that had flourished as a result of both the radiation and the expanded area of the river.
In June 2008, the city of Vallejo was reclaimed. While it was still a somewhat cohesive settlement, the area still lacked basic commodities such as clean water and medical supplies. The city was formally annexed on January 2009. Later that year California established a port outpost on the Tiburon Peninsula with hopes to expand trade opportunities with the rest of the Pacific.
On July 12, 2010, President Micheal Weber toured Crescent City, the capital of the Municipal States of the Pacific, and Torrington of the United States as part of the "Mainland Report". The Report ended in a decision that "Union with the Municipal States, To Whom Our Regards Go To, Is Inevitable", while that a "Union with the United States Will Have To Wait". The idea of a "Union" implied that they intended to merge with the MSP, but it was later disregarded as such and was seen as a reference to the creation of a "Pacific Union", a defense union planned by several citizens from all over the Pacific seen as a way to combat Santa Cruz and lesser known raider state Ventura.
Napa, the small community west of the Republic, has been in negotiations regarding annexation since the American Spring as the Napan leaders feel they could benefit from such union.
Government
The government of the Commonwealth of the California Republic is closely similar to that of the United States. It consists of an executive branch, a legislative branch, and a judicial branch. However, California remains largely decentralized as due most nations due to a lack of many transportation and information conveniences.
Legislative Branch
The simplified Senate has one representative per county, at a total of 9 representatives, including the recently, as of January 1st 2011, organized Yuba County.
The House of Representatives represents each county with ten representatives. West Alpine County is not represented, since it is only home to 140 people, but instead is counted as part of West El Dorado.
Executive Branch
The executive branch is made up of a president and a governor. The president is largely ceremonial, as she is only responsible for seeing through to the passing of laws, foreign affairs, and the military. The governor, however, functions exactly like the pre-Doomsday Governor of California. He is responsible for state affairs, the legislative branch, passing of laws, the national guard, the counties, and other things.
Judicial Branch
The Judicial Branch is an exact replica of the pre-Doomsday Judicial Branch. The Supreme Court has 9 members, who each serve life sentences, and are responsible to see whether a law is constitutional or not. It should be noted, though, that as most criminals are usually dealt with in their regional communities, the branch is effectively responsible for additional duties the other branches may not fulfill.
Religion
The religion of the area is a mirror image to that of Pre-Doomsday California. However, it has been noted that there has been an increase of atheism.
| Religious Body | Estimated Percentage of Population |
|---|---|
| Protestanism | 25.0% |
| Catholic & Orthodox | 36.0% |
| Atheist | 20.0% |
| Mormonism | 5.0% |
| Judiasm | 2.0% |
| Buddhist | 2.5% |
| Other | 3.0% |
| Hinduism | > 0.5% |
| Islam | 2.0% |
Military
While the region has no true army, it is home to the Californian National Guard, which is composed of approximately 10,000 members and another 10,000 in reserve, acts as a placeholder for the Army. Most of the troops that were stationed there are National Guardsmen that fled from Yuba County or other counties. Since the absorption of Yuba, the National Guard has since been moved back.
While it acts as a military presence in the area, and has succeeded in stopping countless slave raids on towns from Santa Cruz, and also helped establish order in areas which received minor to moderate amounts of nuclear damage, it has no official ties to the Commonwealth government, and is still officially the National Guard of the State of California.
Other notable organizations are the Commonwealth Air Search & Rescue, whose name implies its functions, as well as a Commonwealth Coastal Service Guard, which was created to "patrol the American River", and is headed up by Commander John M. Toomer.
Air Force
The Air Force division is made out of recently recovered aircraft from the Moffett Federal Airfield. It is at the moment only made up of:
5 F-15's
8 HC - 130's
4 Lockheed Martin C130J's.
It is commanded by Colonel Steven J. Schultze of Placerville.
Army
The Army division is made out of these surviving bases, HQ's and garrisons:
Detachment 1, 270th MP Company - Placerville
49th MP Brigade - Fairfield
It is commanded by General Mark G. Wheeldon of Placerville.
Culture
Media
The main media presence in California consists of two radio stations, CRLT 93.9 FM - News and Government Broadcasts for Alpine, Sierra, Placer, and Nevada Counties and, 92.1 FM - Exclusively Music. Multiple other stations are received from the MSP and Sierra Nevada, with several stations coming as far as Mexico on a good day. 93.9 is a government-owned station, while 92.1 represents "Freedom", donning its nickname "The Freedom Network".
The main newspaper is the Commonwealth of California Mountain Democrat (formerly the Placerville Mountain Democrat). Other media presences include several local newspapers, such as the Sacramento Bee in Marysburg.
In light of the return of electricity, a new site for the future of media has developed in Grass Valley. The Grass Valley Media Group has been revived, most known for helping with the creation of the 1977 film Star Wars and has recently has become researching movie-making and exploring other varieties of mass media such as television stations, one of which is already on the air as Channel 2 CRTV, which broadcasts to public television stations throughout every single settlement on a weekly basis.
Sports
California participates in the MSP-Sponsored Pacific Baseball League, and participates in the Pan-American Games. Baseball is California's most popular sport, and high school football games are attended often. Football, however, is the most popular sport for those over 25, mostly those who grew up in the American Football atmosphere. The PCAA, or Pacific Collegiate Athletic Association is the governing body of all college-level sports of the MSP and California.
Crime
Unlike many other Post-Doomsday nations, the roads of the Californian Commonwealth are relatively safe. This is mainly due to the presence of the fully armed Californian National Guard, which takes many functions of policemen, since a "permanent" martial law has been in effect for over 20 years. Traveling outside of the controlled areas, and into the areas south of the Commonwealth, however, are dangerous due to the mostly undisturbed reign of local warlords and thieves that terrorize small communities and villages. Since gasoline is relatively scarce in the region, most people prefer to travel by horse, or in cities, bicycles and the well-appraised public transportation system, largely a result of much of Amtrak California's railways surviving and allowing quick transportation between California and Sierra Nevada in less than an hour.
Placerville Airport is the only functional airport in the nation, and have recently tied flights to the Municipal States, Chumash, Utah and Victoria. Businessmen from several nations have planned North American Airways, an airline which would expand throughout the West Coast and eventually the whole continent.
Economy
Like most post-Doomsday countries, one of California's main priorities is agriculture. However, as much of its land is rocky, more of California's wealth is earned by mining than by farming. California possesses many old gold mines which have been reopened and brought enormous wealth to California in the past few years.
Several thousand people are employed by Cali Hydro and Petro, which primarily exports to the Municipal States of the Pacific. Another source of income is the timber industry, of which California has vast resources of forests and will continue to thanks to a "Sapling after Chopping" Law. Tourism is now also becoming slightly more popular, mostly from the ANZC, Chumash, the MSP, and Oregon although this remains a slow process.
Shipping internationally, however, has yet to develop, although occasionally trade ships set sail from the American River into Lake Sacramento and from there into the San Fransisco Bay, where California maintains a small trading exclave and port area in Tiburon, where ships set out to mainly the Municipal States or Chumash. The main concern is that the "Lake" Site has left much of the river and surrounding farmlands with traces of radiation.
Education
The area is home to multiple schools, so said lack of basic education is not a major problem. Schooling is mandatory for all children in the California Republic from the ages of eix to 16.
After Doomsday, Sierra College was the only college left in California, which meant that the citizens who could not afford to send their children to the crowded and expensive school had to improvise. Apprenticeship, a long forgotten way of studying has resurfaced as the way most people learned to do their jobs during what would be their "college years". Over two-thirds of the Californian youth since 1987 have learned a craft, such as mining, toolmaking, printing, wine-making, or farming through an apprenticeship program. In return for taking an apprentice, the master receives a tuition. The art of apprenticeship led to the opening of the new Apprentice Collegiate Institution of California in Auburn.
Foreign Relations
Other than the Municipal States of the Pacific, a problematic encounter from Santa Cruz, the provisional United States,and a visit by the ANZC, California has not had direct contact from any other nation. Since they are their main allies of business, many have been in support of joining the Municipal States of the Pacific. California has opted out of joining the League of Nations until 2011 or 2012 to, in the words of Micheal Weber, "fix ourselves up a little before we present ourselves to all of the world".
In May of 2010, the nation made contact with several nations on the East Coast, particularly Delmarva, the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and South Florida.
Since shortly after Doomsday, they have disagreed with the Sierra Nevada Union which had annexed the Californian land around Lake Tahoe during the early formation of the California Republic. However, recent negotiations have resolved the disagreement to the satisfaction of both parties.
Their close relationship with the ANZC, New Zealand in particular has earned them the nickname the "Commonwealth of California".
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