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Quad Cities Alliance
Timeline: 1983: Doomsday

OTL equivalent: Quad Cities
Flag Coat of Arms
Flag Coat of Arms
Location of QCA
Location of QCA
Motto
Working Together to Serve You
Capital Davenport
Largest city Davenport
Other cities Moline, Rock Island, Bettendorf, East Moline, Clinton, Iowa City, Kewanee, Sterling
Language
  official
 
English
  others Diestch, German
Chief Executive Julia Norman
Population est. 400,000 inh 
Independence June 21, 1987
Currency Barter, QCA Dollar

The Quad Cities Alliance (QCA) is a federation of survivor communites centered around the "Quad Cities", a region of the Mid-Mississippi Valley along the former U.S. states of Iowa and Illinois.

Spared from destruction on Doomsday, these communities would survive and become stabilizing force in the Upper Mississippi region.

History[]

Pre-Doomsday[]

Quad cities

Map of the Quad Cities Alliance

The “Quad Cities” is located along the Mississippi river approximately half way between the former capital of Iowa, Des Moines and Chicago, Illinois. The name refers to four of the five largest cities in the area:


  • Davenport, Iowa
  • Moline, Illinois
  • East Moline, Illinois
  • Rock Island, Illinois

When the city of Bettendorf, Iowa grew in size, there was talk of renaming the region the “Quint Cities”, but it never caught on.

Moline is notable for being the global HQ of John Deere, a major player in agricultural equipment. The city was also where the modern plough was invented, courtesy of John Deere.

Rockisland

Arsenal Island, home of the Rock Island Arsenal

Situated between Davenport and Rock Island is Arsenal Island, home of the Rock Island Arsenal. Before Doomsday, it was one of the largest weapons manufacturing facilities in the former United States. The weapons produced at the Arsenal included artillery, gun mounts, grenade launchers, and small arms. There were 250 U.S. Army personal and about 6,000 civilian employees at the site. Arsenal Island would become very important in the crises to come.

Doomsday[]

The first people to be alerted to the coming holocaust were the Army garrison at the Rock Island Arsenal. The commander ordered the island closed and sent the garrison to shelter. The alert of imminent nuclear attack soon reached the newsrooms of the Quad-City Times in Davenport. The staff of the Times dismissed the dispatch as a practical joke, until subsequent reports confirmed the worst.

By 8:00 PM Central Daylight Time, the entire Quad Cities region was in a state of total panic. Families did one of three things: 1) rush to their cars and try to flee the cities, 2) rush to their basements or nearest fallout shelter, or 3) realizing that options 1) and 2) would be futile if the Quads were a target, stayed at home or went to the local church.

At approximately 8:35 PM, numerous flashes appeared in the northeast, south and west of the region, followed by the appearance of mushroom clouds. It was presumed (and later confirmed) that nuclear warheads were detonated over the Iowa cities of Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, the Illinois cities of Chicago, Springfield and Peoria.

Many residents of the Quads resigned to their fate and waited for the nuclear bomb with their own names on it.

The detonation, however, would never come.

Aftermath[]

More to come...

Arrival of the Plains People[]

More to come...

Establishment of the QCA[]

More to come...

Liberation of Iowa City[]

Survivors in Iowa City, Iowa declared the Republic of Iowa shortly after Doomsday. Despite claiming all of the former state of Iowa, the state controlled only the immediate territory around Iowa City, making the survivor state a de facto city-state. Its alliance with various brigands in the 1990s soon threatened even the QCA as the western farming communities were raided. A QCA punitive expedition captured and occupied Iowa City. The new government installed by the expedition surprised the QCA by asking to join them. Though there was some support for creating a "Quintuple Cities Alliance", it was eventually decided that the current framework of the Alliance would remain.

Instead, Iowa City was reorganized into a protectorate. Iowa City would remain an autonomous territory that is protected diplomatically and militarily against third parties by the QCA. In exchange for this, Iowa City accepts specified obligations, including enforcing certain laws, provide soldiers in times of emergency, etc. However, Iowa City retains sufficient measure of sovereignty within the Alliance.

Exploration and Expansion[]

Following the defeat of the Republic of Iowa, the QCA began to expand their sphere-of-influence in the Tri-State Area. Dubuque became a promissing candidate for expansion since it was still relatively intact and its small population was not a threat to the QCA. In 1998, QCA soldiers occupied the town proper and declared it a "Protectorate of the Quad Cities Alliance", similar to Iowa City. The population of Dubuque began to grow again as immigration from the QCA and local farming communities rebuilt and resettled the town.

Contact with Superior[]

In February 2004, an outpost in Dubuque picked up radio signals from the interior of the former state of Wisconsin. In April, an expedition, led by Major Robert McAllistan, was sent to investigate the signals. The expedition reached the outskirts of the survivor community called Mineral Point where they were confronted by an armed patrol who claimed to be from the Republic of Wisconsin. After a few tense moments, the Wisconsinites were convinced of the QCA expedition's peaceful intentions.

The expediton were escorted to the capital city of Madison, which survived Doomsday. Thought parts of the city were still in ruins, there were signs of a thriving community. The expedition met with Wisconsin President Timothy Lemms and Elizabeth Rochur, an emissary from another survivor nation: the Republic of Superior, which controls most of the upper peninsula of former Michigan.

It didn't take long for Major McAllistan to figure out that Wisconsin was little more than a client state of Superior. It was through Ms. Rochur that he learned that other survivors existed in New England, Virginia, Canada, and in numerous other parts of the world. After a few days, McAllistan's group returned to Dubuque with several Wisconsin and Superior citizens, and more importantly, news of the outside world.

Following contact with Superior, the QCA sent out more expeditions to surrounding areas looking for more organized survivor states. One in 2005 traveled down I-74 and ran into the Chinks based out of Eureka, IL. Though the well armed QCA force easily brushed aside Chink resistance, they turned around when they reached the radiated ruins of Peoria. Further expeditions into the area have been less successful as the Chinks are more cautious when fighting with QCA explorers.

Boom Economy[]

Contact with other American survivor states revolutionized the Alliance. The economy grew at an amazing rate and towns like Dubuque transformed them into major trade hubs. By 2006, there was regular trade between QCA and Wisonsin/Superior. In 2008, a railway between Davenport and Dubuque and Madison was completed. Trade also came from Vandalia in the former American state of Illinois. The QCA governments, businesses, non-profits and residents have worked hard to repair the damage done to region by Doomsday and it's aftermath. Representatives of the League of Nations who visited the region were impressed by what the small country had managed to accomplish in such a short time.

Current Situation[]

Territory[]

As of 2010, the Quad Cities Alliance controls an area of eastern Iowa and northwestern Illinois bordered by the protectorate communities of Burlington, Sterling, Dubuque, and Iowa City. There are plans to explore the area around the destroyed cities of Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, and Peoria to search for salvagable materials and evaluate the potential for future inhabitation.

Demographics[]

As of January 1, 2010. the population of the QCA is estimated to be about 400,000, with most of the population in the QCA proper. The Alliance is predominantly white, but the city of Davenport has a significant African-American population which makes up 10% of it's population.

Government[]

More to come...

Economy[]

The QCA retains a rather agricultural economy, as much of its territory in Iowa is extremely fertile land. However, manufacturing is starting to return to the state, mainly the production of agricultural machinery. John Deere was reopened in 2004, and is now the largest tractor company in the former US. Engineers have also refounded the Caterpillar Company in the QCA(their pre-DD headquarters were Peoria, IL, which took a 1MT blast), using drawings scavenged from the ruins of Peoria by Kentucky scouts. As for the Rock Island Arsenal, some of the site still produces guns, but the rest of the complex is now a museum dedicated to the history of the Quad Cities, and Iowa and Illinois as a whole.

Education[]

The QCA is served by several institutions of higher education:

  • Quad Cities University (formerly Western Illinois University)
  • Saint Ambrose University
  • Black Hawk College
  • Augustana College
  • Iowa City University (formerly University of Iowa)

Energy[]

More to come...

Media and Communications[]

The Alliance is served by over 10 radio stations, 6 of which are government funded and operated. There are also 3 TV stations with more planned as TV service is returned to the region. Finally, 8 daily newspapers operate among the member cities and the protectorates.

Sports[]

Though lacking professional leagues, the Alliance cities and their protectorates have several semi-professional leagues. Baseball, ice hockey, american football, basketball and golf all remain popular.

Foreign Relations[]

The QCA is a member of the United Communities.

The QCA has formal relations with Vandalia, Wisconsin, North Star and Superior. Recent contact has been established with the Republic of Lincoln, International Falls and the member states of the North American Union. Further explorations and diplomatic exchanges have introduced the QCA to more North American survivor states.

Other small survivor communities in Iowa have contact with the QCA and are candidates for future expansion of the Alliance. These include Fort Dodge, Mason City, Ames and Perry.

There is some contact with the Commonwealth of Kentucky, but relations with them have not been as warm as with other states. QCA leaders are concerned with how quickly Kentucky has been expanding north into Illinois. While the QCA has never officially claimed the territory of the former state, the Department of Interstate Affairs (a relatively new branch of the QCA government) has a policy of planning to "shake hands with Kentucky" as far south as possible.


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