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State of Dakota
Timeline: 1983: Doomsday

OTL equivalent: Eastern North and South Dakota
State of the United States
Flag of Dakota
Flag of Dakota
Location of Dakota
Dakota
Motto
Liberty and Union Under God (English)
Capital Aberdeen
Largest City Fargo
Other Cities Bismarck, Sioux Falls, Watertown
Language English, Sioux
Demonym Dakotan
Legislature Dakota Legislature
Governor Brent Sanford (R)
Lieutenant Governor Dusty Johnson (R)
Area 65,452 sq mi
Population 338,964 (2020 Census)
Admission August 2nd, 2012
Currency Buffalo Dollar
Abbreviations DK

Dakota is a state of the United States formed from the remnants North and South Dakota by the governments of cities and counties east of the Missouri River. Existing as the Dakota Territory from March 2, 1861, the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of North and South Dakota on November 2, 1889.

History[]

1983[]

Western South Dakota was hit extremely hard as it was the home to many American missile silos and Air Force Bases. However the eastern half of the state remained relatively intact. Although South Dakota's capital Pierre was not hit, it would be abandoned in waves over a mass of fallout deaths from the "death cloud" billowing eastward, armed conflicts, fires and other concerns. North Dakota, however, would lose Minot to the Minot AFB strike, Grand Falls, Cooperstown, and many, many other smaller settlements, with almost 200,000 dying or falling ill with radiation-poisoning by year's end. In South Dakota, members of the state legislature who survived voted to reconvene in Sioux Falls.

In South Dakota, the members of the state legislature who survived voted to reconvene in Sioux Falls. By the end of the year, the only contact outside of South Dakota was from the still surviving Fargo and Bismarck, North Dakota. Governor Bill Janklow and Lieutenant Governor Lowell C. Hansen were granted "emergency powers" to nationalize surviving military, National Guard and police units across the state.

In the summer of 1984, local and state leaders from North and South Dakota met "halfway" in the South Dakota town of Aberdeen to decide their future. The delegates voted to form a "temporary" coalition titled the "Provisional Government of The Dakotas", with Governor Janklow being voted by the delegates to be the first President of the new government.

Three Dark Winters and The Lakota War[]

In spite of the egregious amount of strikes inflicted across the western halves of North and South Dakota, and the fallout nearly choking the air for thousands of square miles, life persisted in those pockets which found themselves in lucky winds. Across many of the communities in this hard struck area, from the North of Wiliston, ND to the banks of the Platte River in Nebraska, many communities were outraged that the Cold War had come to this bleak end. There was almost no electricity, gasoline was depleted where it was not hoarded, and thousands upon thousands had left the cities to forage for food, work for scraps, or other desperate measures. Around this same time, many surviving military and National Guards began to throw off their uniforms while keeping their guns. From politically-motivated actors, secessionist movements, cult-types, or simply previously everyday people fed up with the remaining state governments ineptitudes, the roads became an increasingly dangerous place to travel.

One independence movement in particular, the Lakotah Liberation Front, would come to be formed in the now neglected western half of the two states by an alliance of Lakotah Activist Russel Means and various other actors in the region, including defectors from the South Dakotan and Nebraskan state Guard, the Manitoban group "Riel's Army" comprised of both First Nations and Anglo-Canadians attempting to forge their own polity, fledgling mercenaries, and other supporters in Wyoming. The nascent Republic of Lakotah was declared, with its first mantra being to disavow itself of any authorities declaring themselves American, Canadian, NATO of any kind, or any of those who led the continent to destruction.

Initially, the Dakotan Guard treated them with the same indifference as any other armed brigand -- if out past curfew, and refuse to return home detained, shoot on sight. However, when these engagements went unsavory to the Dakotans, patrols stopped coming back entirely, concerns reached both states that something organized was afoot. Everything would change when the Lakotah Forces would issue the South Dakotan government an ultimatum -- surrender everything west of the Missouri River within a fortnight or suffer the consequences east of it.

The ultimatum was refused. The fortnight passed, and nothing came of it. Raids stopped entirely, with the remaining troops being cautious to pursue a hiding enemy. Everything would change when on Halloween of 1986, the Lakotan Front launched a midnight raid of Pierre, setting much of the city ablaze while shooting noisy fireworks in the distance, to confuse the enemy to their location. The State Capitol, Courthouse were set ablaze, with the Police Headquarters being raided (although the paltry reserve of ammo by this time were probably not of much help) and razed to the ground as well, with the governor disappearing during the attack. Specific targets were hit with prescient knowledge and likely insider help as well. Although dozens died in the chaos, it was not an explicit attack on the civilians or even the state militias but rather a statement of authority: the old order has ended, and now is a time of change.

As day broke, it was clear that the rout had been entirely successful. Over half of the city lay ablaze, with smoke filling the air. There was no one in charge of the remaining Dakotans, with the guard officers being killed, injured or arrested. The Lakotah would choose to end the raid, instructing the civilians they had to leave the area, stating that this particular time was chosen as it would be the last time a journey eastward would not result in the winter claiming their lives. With the Lakotah forces now guarding the city, thousands of its residents, survivors of the horrid fallout cloud and now the raid which ended their city, made the frightful journey to what remained of the legislature at Sioux Falls. With one half of the Provisional Government destroyed in one night, the Dakotas fate seemed incredibly dire.

To be added...

Contact and Statehood[]

U-S-Minuteman-Missile-Fields

A map showcasing the fields targeted in red & black on Doomsday.

Over time, the Provisional Government at Aberdeen came into contact with the provisional United States. Following the Lakota War, contact with the North American Union was more frequent. They initially remained distant, but during the event called the Great American Spring the leaders of the government were more open to negotiating entry. They would never join the North American Union, however. Rather, they accepted an offer for statehood in the reformed United States, being the tenth state to rejoin.

Present Day[]

Aberdeen

The capital of Dakota, Aberdeen, today.

Dakota has significantly recovering since statehood, due to aid from the rest of the Union flowing into the state. In the years following the Lakotah War and their later accession in the North American Union, life has returned to the former North Dakota capital of Pierre, which now has open borders with its Lakotan neighbors in Mandan. However, due to the dozens of craters pockmarking the area, many prefer to avoid large swaths of this state entirely, with many a region having been reclaimed by nature entirely, reverting to the Great Plains of old.

Geography[]

Adjacent States and Nations[]

Economy[]

Since joining the new United States, Dakota's mixture between agriculture and industry, particularly processing has helped diversify the national economy. Sioux City, Fargo are rapidly becoming centers of commerce.


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