Natchez is a survivor community of 27,000 people located in southwestern former Mississippi. Founded in 1716, the city is located on the Mississippi River. Natchez has become a critical economic and social hub in its region, which encompasses its area of the former state of Mississippi and nearby towns in the provisional state of Louisiana. There are an estimated 61,000 people in this region, including Natchez proper.
Natchez has become the economic and social hub for a 40-km-wide stretch of territory encompassing adjacent towns in both former Mississippi and the State of Louisiana, with small settlements as far as Catahoula Lake, Louisiana and Pickneyville, a short distance north of the Mississippi-Louisiana border.
History[]
In the first three weeks after Doomsday, Natchez became the center of relief efforts for the southwest Mississippi region, taking in some survivors from the Alexandria and Baton Rouge blasts in Louisiana.
In January 1984, Natchez city leaders decided to form a provisional state government, in part to fill the void left by the destruction of the former state government on Doomsday, and also to better organize the region.
Natchez's state government claimed the entire state nominally and "practically" the entire southern part of the former state west to Interstate 55 and as far north as Interstate 20. Its influence was often limited to towns within a 25-mi radius of the city center, and often included towns in neighboring Louisiana. In fact, Natchez was approached to become part of the newly re-established state of Louisiana (the new capital in Lafayette). Many on the Natchez side of the Mississippi River, though, still strongly considered themselves as Mississippians; Doomsday had taken so much of their former ways of life, and while people were interested in and eager to trade with and travel to Louisiana, they also wanted to hold on to their state identity. So, Natchez's Mississippi government signed a series of trade and cultural agreements with Lafayette.
Scouts investigated the abandoned town of Vicksburg and the outskirts of bombed Jackson in 1985; their inability to give real aid to survivors in central Mississippi clarified for the fledgling Natchez government that it did not have the means to govern nor defend the entire state.
On February 8, 1986, the provisional Mississippi state government of Natchez merged itself with the Natchez town government.
Natchez scouts met scouts from Hattiesburg while investigating the abandoned town of Jennings in 1986; a misunderstanding led to a fight amongst members of both expeditions that left three men injured. Cooler heads prevailed amongst the leaders of both teams, and they took news of the meeting to their respective leaders.
Natchez and Hattiesburg leaders eventually met in November 1986, establishing relations between the two cities.
Natchez established relations with the state government of Louisiana in 1987, and was the site of the Natchez Accords, a trade and defense agreement that had its origins in Louisiana's invitation to annex Natchez a few years back. The accords were formally signed by Natchez, Hattiesburg and Louisiana leaders on May 19, 1989.
Relations were established with West Texas, Rio Grande Valley and eastern Texas by 1997.
In recent years, Natchez has advocated broadening the Natchez Accords to include the Texas nation-states along with nations in former Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Mississippi. Natchez also advocates that such an association should make alliances with the North American Union, the American Alliance and other groups in the former southern U.S.
Natchez reaffirmed its commitment to such an alliance in July 2010, while acknowledging that the successor to the various Texas republics would likely become the primary leader in the region. Natchez also would like to form some type of partnership with the North American Union, as it feels it and neighboring republics have more in common with the NAU and Mexico than with similar survivor states in the rest of the former United States.
Natchez leaders were also interested in tying the Natchez dollar to the West Texas dollar, or adopting the Texas dollar (that would come with the expected unification of the various Texas survivor republics) as the region's official currency. Natchez's financial and business community convinced the politicians to follow Louisiana and Hattiesburg's preference to tie the currency to the Mexican peso, as to better allow for trade and business with the outside world.
Culture[]
Natchez is the hub of a burgeoning "rockabilly" music scene - many performers drawing inspiration from Mississippi rock legend Elvis Presley - as well as a smaller but enthusiastic country music scene.
Christianity is the professed religion of 94 percent of residents polled by the League of Nations in 2010, and it influences significant parts of Natchez life, from the prohibition laws passed in 1991 (that were repealed ten months later) to non-essential businesses banned by law from operating on Sundays, and including what music programmers play on Natchez radio stations.
Natchez National Historical Park, commemorating the history of the city, and Natchez On Top Of The Hill Historic District have been designated as League of Nations World Heritage Sites.
Sports[]
The team sports most popular in Natchez are American football and baseball. Natchez High School games are very popular amongst the public; the school competes against other schools from Louisiana and Hattiesburg.
A sport perhaps unique to Natchez in its practice and popularity is ultimate wrestling, modeled in style after pre-Doomsday professional wrestling with one important distinction: it is performed legitimately, without the scripted fighting and story lines that distinguished pro wrestling before Doomsday. Ultimate wrestling has not really caught on outside Natchez, perhaps due in part to laws passed in Louisiana and Hattiesburg putting limitations on competitive matches. Observers have noticed some similarities to the jiu jitsu fighting sport established in Brazil.
Two of the biggest sporting events in Natchez are the Mississippi-Louisiana American football game (with rosters drawn from high school teams from both regions), and the annual "SuperCard" wrestling event promoted by the Natchez Wrestling Alliance.
Fishing and hunting are also popular pastimes in Natchez.
Government[]
Alma Campbell Brown, the daughter of former Louisiana state senator and secretary of state James H. Brown, is the town's mayor and one of the few known female heads of state of any nation in post-Doomsday North America.
As mayor, Brown is the head of state and chief executive of the Natchez region. The Board of Aldermen acts as an unicameral legislature. It currently has 45 aldermen, each representing wards consisting of six sections of Natchez proper and the 39 towns and villages aligned with the city.
Media[]
The Natchez Democrat newspaper operates four days a week. Five radio stations and three transmitters relaying signals from Hattiesburg-area stations (including League of Nations Radio) operate in the city. One television station, channel 11, broadcasts from downtown Natchez and operates in the evenings.
Education[]
Natchez High School, along with three middle schools and four elementary schools, are operated by the city government's school board. Trinity Episcopal Day School and Cathedral High School are privately operated K-12 schools. Natchez University - formerly the Natchez campus of Alcorn State University - opened for business in 2005 and has 1400 students.
International relations[]
Natchez has been allied with Hattiesburg and Louisiana since 1989 and also has trade agreements with the various Texas republics and Mexico. The League of Nations has an envoy stationed in the mayor's office downtown.