Alternative History
Chumash Republic
Timeline: 1983: Doomsday

OTL equivalent: Chumash people
Flag Coat of Arms
Flag Coat of Arms
Location of Chumash
Location of Chumash
Motto
Strength through peace, peace through unity.
Capital Shalawa
Largest city Santa Maria
Other cities Santa Barbara, Arroyo Grande, Atascadero
Language
  official
 
Chumash(official)
  others English, Spanish
President John Laird
Prime Minister Sam Blakeslee
Area 3,789 sq mi km²
Population est. 150,000 
Independence Constitution ratified in 2000
Currency Chumash dollar
Organizations Chumash-San Joaquin Alliance

The Chumash Republic (Spanish: República Chumash) is a survivor nation located in the former California counties of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara.

History[]

Before Spanish Contact[]

The Chumash people thrived at a very early period in California prehistory, with some settlements dating to at least 10,000 years before present. Sites of the Millingstone Horizon date from 7000 cal BC to 4500 cal BC; they evidence a subsistence system focused on the processing of seeds with metates and manos. During that time people used bipointed bone objects and line to catch fish and began making beads from shells of the marine olive snail (Olivella biplicata).

Some researchers believe the Chumash may have been visited by Polynesians between AD 400 and 800, nearly 1,000 years before Christopher Columbus reached The Americas. Although the concept is rejected by most archaeologists who work with the Chumash culture, studies published in peer-reviewed journals have given the idea greater plausibility. The Chumash advanced sewn-plank canoe design, which is used throughout the Polynesian Islands but is unknown in North America except by those two tribes, is cited as the chief evidence for contact. Comparative linguistics also may provide evidence as the Chumash word for "sewn-plank canoe," tomolo'o, may have been derived from kumulā'au, the Polynesian word for the redwood logs used in that construction. However, the language comparison is generally considered tentative. Furthermore, the development of the Chumash plank canoe is fairly well represented in the archaeological record and spans a time period of several centuries. This evidence strongly suggests that the Tomol was an indigenous invention.

Spanish Arrival and the Mission Era[]

Chumash people first encountered Europeans in the autumn of 1542, when two sailing vessels under Juan Cabrillo arrived on the coast from Mexico. Cabrillo died and was buried on San Miguel Island, but his men brought back a diary that contained the names and population counts for many Chumash villages, such as Mikiw. Spain claimed what is now California from that time forward, but did not return to settle until 1769, when the first Spanish soldiers and missionaries arrived with the double-purpose of Christianizing the Native Americans and facilitating Spanish colonization. By the end of 1770 missions and military presidios had been founded at San Diego to the south of Chumash lands and Monterey, to their north.

The Chumash people moved from their villages to the Franciscan missions between 1772 and 1817. Mission San Luis Obispo, established in 1772, was the first mission in Chumash-speaking lands, as well as the northernmost of the five missions ever constructed in those lands. Next established, in 1782, was Mission San Buenaventura on the Pacific Coast near the mouth of the Santa Clara River. Mission Santa Barbara, also on the coast, and facing out to the Channel Islands, was established in 1786. Mission La Purisima Concepcion was founded along the inland route from Santa Barbara north to San Luis Obispo in 1789. The final Franciscan mission to be constructed in native Chumash territory was Santa Ynez, founded in 1804 on the Santa Ynez River with a seed population of Chumash people from Missions La Purisima and Santa Barbara. To the southeast, Mission San Fernando, founded in 1798 in the land of Takic Shoshonean speakers, also took in large numbers of Chumash speakers from the middle Santa Clara River valley. While most of the Chumash people joined one mission or another between 1772 and 1806, a significant portion of the native inhabitants of the Channel Islands did not move to the mainland missions until 1816.

Doomsday[]

Atomic cloud over Hiroshima

A bomb dropped on Vandenburg.

On September 26, 1983, a Soviet missile targeted Vandenburg Air Force Base in Santa Barbara. It was a low megaton bomb, meant to destroy just the base. Unfortunately the base's anti-nuclear defense systems failed to activate soon enough, and the base was struck. Fortunately, the wind pattern that day blew almost of all of the radiation east into the desert. An EMP sent the region back to the Dark Ages. Massive riots broke out across the land. Hundreds died in these riots, and many more died at Vandenburg.

The Santa Ynez reservation chose to remain isolated to prevent rioting. The mission's chief occasionally sent out scouting parties to report on how the outside world was doing, and to tell if riots ended. The people had no electricity so they reverted to using fires like their ancestors did. They resumed hunting, and even changed their diet to that of their forefathers. Many say that was how the Chumash survived: by using tribal methods to hunt and gather food.

Contact with the rest of Santa Barbara[]

Around the year 1986 the Chumash people began to run out of supplies to resource the people that lived in the mission, so the people abandoned the Santa Ynez reservation. When the people reached the cities they found that the riots had ended and that the surviving people had resorted to tribal societies like they did, so the Chumash had no problem adapting to the outside world. In fact they even taught some tribes how to hunt and farm.

With in the year 1990 the population of the Santa Barbara area had boomed, this occurred when the counties of San Luis Obispo, Kern, and Monterrey had refugees who flocked southward to find new land to live on, another occurred when survivors of Los Angeles, and Anaheim county's moved northward. The dominant ethnicity to arise where people who where of both Chumash and Caucasian descent, the population rose to about 80,000 with in the year 1993. A call was then made to establish a stable government within the region do to the rising population.

Attempt to establish a government and civil war[]

In the year 1995 the people's call was met and a government was formed, although great shock and controversy came when the head of state announced he would form an absolute monarchy. During his first two months on the throne, King Martin Valen had three assassination attempts on his life, this caused him to declare martial law on the entire country making a speech stating "I will not stand idly by and watch the nation I desperately created descend into anarchy!" King Valen later attempted to create a secret police force to secure international interest, this did not go as planned as many of the officers were spies for a resistance movement who tried to get info on him in order to further rebel. Five months after Valen was crowned civil war broke out and the country descended into anarchy.

Atroops460

ARK soldiers at Santa Maria.

The Chumash civil war began with the formation of the Liberation for a New Chumash, or the LNC which was based out of the Santa Barbara Islands, and the Alliance to Restore the Kingdom, or the ARK, based out of the city of Santa Barbara. The first battle began at Santa Maria many had hoped that it would be short and there would be minimal casualties, those who thought that could not be more wrong, the battle was bloody resulting in the deaths of about 2000 soldiers, and 1000 civilians. The war could not help but escalate resulting in battles, and skirmish's that where not even the country's territory. War would continue until a turning point in 1998 with the LNC Operation Thunder Storm, now called the Battle at Camp Roberts, this was a LNC military operation to capture the ARK's main army base, the battle lasted for six weeks until the LNC was able to fully capture the base, all its weapons and all its vehicles. After the battle the LNC was able to move into Santa Barbara a year later. After storming Valen's palace they found his dead body, with a pistol in his hand, and a bullet hole in his head.

Post civil war to modern Chumash[]

A lot of work was needed to be done after the five-year civil war, which claimed a combined 15,000 lives of soldiers and civilians. The city of Santa Barbara was almost completely destroyed. Infrastructural work was needed, and from the ashes of the city arose Shalawa, the new name for the capital. Next was work to help compensate for those lives lost in war; to this day people are still being compensated for their losses. Next was the growing rise in cancer rates, so cancer research began almost immediately after this issue was brought to hand. With all of these tasks, the nation was left almost out of contact with the rest of the world, until in 2006, the Commonwealth of Australia and New Zealand made contact through a radio broadcast. The ANZC wanted to bring this to the League of Nations as proof of a survivor in southern California, but for an unknown reason this information was never presented. In 2009 a another radio broadcast was picked up again by the ANZC but this time it made to the League of Nations and this was all the proof needed to show a survivor state in California.

John Laird CA Assembly

Newly elected president John Laird

Pak rebuilding home quake05 10 08 06

Volunteer worker rebuilds a home.

Even before contact with the ANZC, Chumash was faced with a wall of problems when it was established. Rising cancer rates caused the nation to build hospitals where people's houses once stood. This caused a major problem, contributing to a rise in the homeless population. Right now it has an edgy economy, trying to keep a "modest" tax rate but due to the rising cost for fuel and other resources, the economy is becoming harder and harder to maintain. The worst problem is Santa Cruz to the north, a nation state built on slavers and raiders, who keep crossing the border and kidnapping innocent people for civilian displacement, forcing them into lives of poverty and slavery. Since the slavers do not discriminate, they will capture anyone they can get. Recently a population boom occurred in the country when about 20,000 refugees from Nevada entered the country, President Armenta responded by extending the nations to borders to San Luis Obispo County.

Invasion of Santa Cruz[]

The Chumash Republic participated in the invasion of Santa Cruz in 2016.

Military[]

Army[]

The modern army of the Chumash contains approximately 10,000 soldiers. They must maintain a larger than normal military in order to counter the constant threats of the slavers to the north as well as raiders from Ventura to the south. There are two divisions the Chumash army the infantry division, and an armored division, the infantry division is typical land soldiers, while as the armored division handles tanks, Humvees and other vehicles, the only tank currently in production is the M3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle, a light tank mainly used for anti-infantry. The army also doubles as a police force, maintaining order in Chumash territory.

Navy[]

The navy is made up of mostly converted civilian craft, but one frigate was salvaged from the ruined California coastline and relaunched as the CRS Santa Barbara. There are currently almost 5,000 sailors enlisted in the Chumash navy.

4-cobra-amphibious

An example of a civilian boat converted to military use.

Economy[]

The highest fuel for the economy is wine, with 67.7% of the worlds wine production destroyed from doomsday the region was left one of the worlds top producers of viticulture. The country exports 10% of what is left from wine grapes, and operates 12 government-run farms that are under constant military watch. Although the country exports much wine, it still has a very rough economy. With homeless rates slowly rising, and property under the ever constant threat of raiders the Chumash Republic is having a hard time maintaining a stable economy.

Government[]

The Chumash Republic's government is officially called a "Democratic Socialist Constitutional Republic", meaning the country has Socialist principles but also has rights (freedom of speech, right to bear arms, etc.). The countries electoral processes are almost exactly like that of the old U.S. government, there is a popular and electoral vote and the country is also comprised of 25 states. There are only two political parties the Liberal Socialist Party, more commonly called the LCP, and the Conservative Socialist Party, more commonly called the CSP.

International Relations[]

The Chumash Republic is a member of the League of Nations. Other than Santa Cruz and Ventura, the country has built up as many strong relationships as possible with the former U.S.; they have found there strongest allies are those residing in the MSP and the Free State of Alaska. They have also maintained a good relationships with the Navajo Nation, and Lakotah, since all three are considered native American survivor states. They have remained virtually out of contact with the east coast.

Following a meeting between the King of San Joaquin and the Chumash ambassador during a party celebrating the anniversary of the King gaining the throne on August 18th, 2011, a series of meetings followed between the two, as well as, in Chumash, the King's ambassador and the Chumash President. On October 1st, joint with King Devin's birthday celebrations, a formal alliance between the two was announced. Joint operations against Ventura are expected sometime in the next year.