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Republic of New York
Timeline: 1983: Doomsday

OTL equivalent: Finger Lakes, Southern Tier, and Hudson Valley regions
Flag Coat of Arms
Flag Coat of Arms
Location of New York
RNY in Purple
Motto
Excelsior
Anthem "I Love New York"
Capital New Albany
Largest city Binghamton
Other cities Ithaca, Elmira, Cayuga Heights, Horseheads, Lansing, Vestal, Corning, New Jamestown
Language
  official
 
English
  others Spanish, French, German, Pennsylvanian Dutch
Religion
  main
 
Christianity
  others Judaism, Islam, folk religions, Atheism, Buddhism
Ethnic Groups
  main
 
European American
  others African American, Hispanic, Asian American
Government Federal Presidential Republic
President Svante Myrick
Vice-President Matthew Ryan
Area 4,489 km²
Population 309,458 (2020) 
Established February 7, 2011
Currency New York dollar
Organizations United Communities

Confederation of Pennsylvanian States

The Republic of New York, commonly known as New York is a small republic created after the union of the two city-states of Ithaca and Binghamton in 2011. It is located in the south of what was once the American state of New York. It is bordered by State College and Susquehanna to the south, North Pennsylvania and Niagara Falls to the west, Oswego to the north, as well as the New York Rangers Protection Zone and Poughkeepsie to the east.

History[]

For more information, see the pages on Ithaca and Binghamton

Unification[]

The Republic of New York was formed in February 2011 after negotiations in Ithaca between the survivor states of Binghamton and Ithaca along with the small survivor communities in Tioga County. The negotiations laid the groundwork for elections to be held in 2012 to elect a president and to elect members of the new legislature.

Following the formation of the republic a caretaker government was assembled to lead the government until elections were held. The main duties of the caretaker government was to combine the small governments into the new republic.

On November 6, 2012, elections were held in which former Cornell president Frank H. T. Rhodes and his running mate Carolyn K. Peterson were elected President and Vice President. They were inaugurated on January 20, 2013.

Cornell hostage crisis[]

On May 14 2013, a former faculty member at Cornell who had been recently fired and been diagnosed with depression and antisocial disorder walked onto campus armed with multiple handguns and a rifle. He then ran into a nearby laboratory which at the time was hosting a class of around 28 students he barricaded himself in the lab and held the teacher and the class at gunpoint and forced them to get on the ground. As soon as the man entered the lab, Cornell went into lockdown and the police were called. The police surrounded the building and attempted to get him to release the hostages but he refused and told the police that he had bombs all around Ithaca and that he would soon detonate them. Once the police heard this, they evacuated the president and all other government officials and issued a shelter in place warning. The standoff between the police and the man continued until around 2 AM, when a group of 6 hostages jumped out a window when the man was distracted. The man was extremely frustrated and started killing the hostages, with the police responding by storming the building. The man killed 2 people and seriously injured a third before the police arrived and shot him to death.

Growth and expansion[]

New House

A house being built in Elmira

During late 2013 and early 2014, New York saw major growth in population and development in the economy. During this period, large groups of people from Ithaca and Binghamton started moving into the abandoned city of Elmira and the surrounding areas. The government started sending construction crews, medical staff, and national defense forces to old hospitals and police stations before sending in administrators to manage the new areas. For the rest of 2014 the government continued to expand in Chemung County along with Schuyler county.

Recent history[]

In 2016 presidential and legislative elections were held in which Frank H. T. Rhodes and Carolyn Peterson were re-elected with a majority of votes. In 2017, the construction of New Albany had almost completed, and in 2018, construction was almost complete with people moving in. During 2018, issues with the supply chain created inflation and unemployment which led to a minor slump in the economy. Throughout 2019, President Rhodes passed bills which revived the economy, albeit with effects lingering through 2020.

2020[]

Frank H.T

Image of the 1st president Frank H.T. Rhodes

In the beginning of 2020, the government decided to conduct a census. The year started off with soaring development in the economy and infrastructure. However, on February 3, 2020, President Rhodes died in office. The following day, Vice President Carolyn Peterson was inaugurated as the second president of the republic. The new president continued the programs created in the later part of Rhodes's presidency, including the census.

Elections were held that year, and with the death of Frank H. T. Rhodes and the succession of Carolyn Peterson, people figured Peterson would run for reelection, an opportunity which she turned down. The race between Ithaca mayor Svante Myrick and his running mate Binghamton senator Matthew T. Ryan against Richard C. David and his running mate Broome County executive Jared M. Kraham was highly competitive and saw the people of Ithaca supporting Myrick and the people of Binghamton supporting David. The election was held on November 3, 2020 and saw the largest amount of voter turnout in any of the election. Myrick and Ryan won the election with 51% of the vote.

Present day[]

Fire

Image of the Cayuga Heights fire

Myrick was inaugurated on January 20, 2021 as the third president and Ryan was inaugurated as the second Vice President. On February 7, 2021, New York celebrated a decade since its founding. The day was filled with parades and celebrations across New York, but the largest celebrations were in New Albany, Ithaca, Binghamton, and Elmira. In August 2021, construction on the New Albany business district had finished. The results of the 2020 census were released showing a population of 309,458. Since the beginning of the Myrick presidency, New York has started to emerge as a new regional power and has been in contact with different governments along the east coast. On January 3, 2022, a fire started in a small apartment in Cayuga Heights, spreading to the rest of the neighborhood. Although firefighters were able to put it out, the fire resulted in 18 deaths and dozens of injuries. Reconstruction efforts are underway and are expected to finish soon.

On January 27, 2022, a group of semi-trailer trucks entered New Albany and blocked off the Central Bank building in response to low wages. Although the protest started off small, the drivers were joined by hundreds, some who had nothing to do with the trucking company but simply wanted to join a protest. Eventually on February 10, 2022, the government stepped in and the protestors' demands were met. After the announcement, the crowd erupted in celebration and left New Albany. In early March, Chemung and Steuben counties were rocked by heavy flooding especially in the suburbs of Elmira, which saw around 2 feet of water. The flooding resulted in many services and major roadways being closed. In Elmira, flood waters caused a bridge on the Chemung river to collapse. A man was swept away by the river attempting to free his car from a broken fence, and hours later, the man was confirmed dead by local law enforcement. The floods continued well through March with flooding destroying houses and buildings with a total death toll of two. Eventually, water levels went down, allowing humanitarian efforts to reach the devastated areas.

On October 10, 2022 Svante Myrick announced that he had allocated nearly 5 billion New York dollars to New York armed forces to rebuild the city of Syracuse. Syracuse had been one of the sites that had been hit during Doomsday and as New York continued to expand northward it was inevitable that it would have to deal with Syracuse. Radiation levels in the city itself were surprisingly low however the nearby lake Onondaga was heavily contaminated. Once the army discovered this they started focusing on decontamination of lake Onondaga while also rebuilding the inner city. By February 2023 the radioactive levels in lake Onondaga had decreased by 40% and by August the radioactive levels were down 62%. However the rebuilding of the actual city will still take a while and it is expected to be finished by mid 2024 by the earliest.

Government[]

Svante Myrick

Current president of New York Svante Myrick

The government of New York is modeled after the pre-Doomsday United States government which was a federal presidential republic.

New Capitol City[]

The government had acquired an abandoned town in Tioga County to use as the new capitol of the republic. This was to prevent competition between the cities of Ithaca and Binghamton and to quash any future fears of favoritism. It was named New Albany in honor of the pre-Doomsday state capitol. The government created a layout for the planned community, and the major government buildings (Capitol Building, Presidential Mansion, Supreme Court) were designed before construction started. Construction started in early 2011. By the decennial of its founding, all major construction projects in the city had been completed after the business district was finished and opened to the public.

Legislative branch[]

State Capital

Legislative building in New Albany

The legislative branch of the government is made up of the lower house, the New York House of Representatives, which has 30 representatives and the upper house, the Senate, which is made up of 15 senators. The legislative branch is arguably one of the most important branches of the government and for the most part has the same powers as the legislature in the former federal government. The legislative branch has the ability to declare war and can impeach members of the executive and judicial branches.

Executive branch[]

Presidential residence

The official residence for the president

The executive branch is made up of the President, Vice President, their cabinet, and the executive departments. The President and Vice President are elected in statewide elections. After being elected, they chose their own cabinet to oversee issues and assist the president. The executive departments are tasked with certain issues or projects like the New York Department of Justice which enforces state laws and launches investigations into important criminal matters.

Judicial branch[]

New York State Supreme Court

Supreme Court building in New Albany

The judicial branch is made up of the Supreme Court of New York where the judges are appointed by the president and serve until they resign, removed, or die while in office. The Supreme Court is made up up of a Chief Justice and four Associate Justices, along with a few clerks and assistants who help the Justices during deliberations. When the Supreme Court was founded on August 4, 2013 by then President Rhodes, he modeled it after the pre-Doomsday United States Supreme Court. Rhodes was worried that choosing judges from the same city would divide the people, so he chose an equal amount of judges from Ithaca and Binghamton with the Chief Justice being a judge from Albany who fled to New York after Doomsday. On November 7, 2021 the first justice died in office. The process of choosing a new justice was divisive, taking almost a month for the replacement to be sworn in.

Local governments[]

Government plaza

Binghamton government plaza

Among the cities, towns, and villages, there are small local governments taking care of the various issues in their area. In the city governments of Binghamton and Ithaca, the government is led by the mayor who is elected for a four-year term. Depending on the city, there may also be term limits. The mayor solves local problems that do not require the attention of the federal government. The city government may also have a common council or city council which serves as a small legislature for the city, although the councils do not have nearly as much power as the federal legislature.

Demographics[]

Binghamton

Binghamton the most populous city

The 2020 census reported a population of 309,458, a major increase from the 2010 estimate. The census is centered around the five counties of New York. The census reported four major ethnic groups of the population. 69.8% were white, 13.2% were black, 11% were Asian, and only around 6% identified as other. 84% of the population were a part of the American Diaspora.

The 2020 census also showed that around 56% of the population followed Christianity, around 5% of people followed Judaism, 9% followed Islam, and 30% of the population did not belong to a religion. Ever since Doomsday, atheism has been increasing due to the increasing separation of church and state influenced mostly by Cornell alumni attempting to prevent any social divisions.

62% of the population live in urban and suburban areas and 38% of people live in rural areas. Recent trends favor urban areas as more jobs are created in urban areas. Increased housing and better healthcare have also contributed, along with natural disasters occurring in some parts of the country mostly affecting small rural areas.

New York is also home to a sizable Amish population in the Northern rural areas. In the aftermath of Doomsday the Amish community in Yates county was unaffected but other Amish communities were almost destroyed and the remnants of these communities fled to Yates where they were accepted by the local Amish. In the years after Doomsday, the Amish population nearly doubled and the Amish started moving into the surrounding areas turning the abandoned towns into acres of fresh farmland. Now the Amish are New York's main source of milk and other crops.

Education[]

Cornell University[]

Cornell

Cornell university in the fall

As one of the last surviving "Ivy League" universities, Cornell University is the educational and intellectual lifeblood of not only the Republic but the rest of the region for that matter. After Doomsday Cornell was able to establish a city-state government based in the university and even after the republic was founded Cornell continues to dominate Ithaca and the surrounding areas.

Ithaca College[]

Ithaca College is a private college in Ithaca, Ithaca college is famous mostly for its contributions to the media before and after Doomsday. Ithaca College is arguably the second most important college in Ithaca second only to Cornell and despite Cornell becoming the de facto government of Ithaca after Doomsday, Ithaca College was able to play a small role in the government.

Binghamton University[]

Binghamton University

Binghamton university

One of the only remaining S.U.N.Y universities in New York, Binghamton University is a public research university located in Vestal. At the time of Doomsday Binghamton was a new university and had not yet as large as any nearby colleges however at the time of Doomsday with a influx of refugees emigrating to Binghamton the university became a temporary shelter for the refugees.

Tompkins Cortland Community College (TC3)[]

Tompkins Cortland Community College often abbreviated as TC3 is a public community college in Dryden just outside of Ithaca. Like Binghamton University, TC3 at the time of Doomsday was a relatively young college and was not well known. Since Doomsday TC3 has been the site of economic growth and has also been establishing itself as a major sports college in New York.

Politics[]

The political ruling class is largely made up of individuals from either Cornell University or white collar businessmen and women from Binghampton. This is not to say that political life is off limits to those from outside these circles but rather that individuals are encouraged to take one of these routes to maximize their chances of entering the political elite.

Political ideology[]

In an effort to never revert to the ideological fanaticism and partisanship that shook the world to near total destruction on Doomsday, and in the spirit of the Founding Fathers of the United States of old, partisanship is extremely frowned upon by both the intellectual grouping of faculty, students and alumni at Cornell, the common electorate, and the government itself. It is not outright banned, although politicians are unofficially prohibited from openly declaring a party "ticket" to run on. While it should be noted that there are clearly both very conservative and very liberal individuals in the government, they approach the task of governance from a realpolitik perspective and cater to the solution that works best on a issue by issue basis.

Political organizations[]

Although political parties and organizations are strongly discouraged, this has not stopped a few political organizations founded before Doomsday from growing. A notable example is the Socialist Party, an offshoot of the party of the same name in the Outer Lands established in 2015 by college students from Binghamton.

There was also the short-lived far-right Patriot Army founded in 2017 by people who opposed people of non-American ancestry entering New York. Shortly after its founding, it held a rally in Vestal to protest against what they called a communist government. As they were rallying, a group of counterprotesters arrived and started an argument with the rally-goers in which the counterprotesters compared the ralliers to the pre-Doomsday Ku Klux Klan. Eventually, a fight broke out over the use of a slur between the protestors and counterprotesters. The brawl lasted for a while until police came and broke up the fight. Eventually the crowd dispersed, with the police making arrests over the violence.

With most of its leadership gone, the group was severely weakened but still held a few dozen rallies in a year. Eventually, due to infighting, the group split in two, but both groups did not last long and disbanded in 2019.

Territory[]

The Republic controls the Finger Lakes and Southern Tier regions along with a few towns just across the former state line in Pennsylvania. New York has been also attempting to expand into the Hudson River Valley and has been communicating with Poughkeepsie about possibly joining the Republic.

Culture[]

Much of the culture largely revolves around its two largest cities, with Ithaca boasting a priceless amount of intellectual knowledge. Binghampton presents more of an egalitarian, blue collar approach to life while still being a beacon of reason of its own. Owing from the unparalleled diversity of pre-Doomsday New York, there are also some small cultural groups which continue to celebrate their own holidays and traditions even after Doomsday wiped out the leadership of most religions. There are only a few federal holidays in New York with one of them being Unity Day on February 4, to celebrate the unification of Ithaca and Binghamton and the creation of the Republic of New York. Some other federal holidays include Labor Day (first Monday of September), Independence Day (July 4th), Thanksgiving (fourth Thursday of November), Christmas (December 24-25), and New Year (December 31st)

Military[]

The Republic of New York maintains a somewhat large military, officially named the Armed Forces of New York. The Armed Forces were the result of a merger of the Ithaca militia and the militia of Binghamton. The military has not had any major engagements since its formation but is still very well-prepared and has the ability to draft a large number of civilians in the event of a major war. It currently has 32,000 active service members in total from all of the different branches of the armed forces. The Army is the largest and most supplied. The second is the Air Force, the smallest branch. Formed in 2014, it has amassed a large fleet of aircraft and anti aircraft weapons. The Air Force's current job is patrolling the airspace around New York. However, it is always prepared to launch air campaigns and provide air support. The Air Force frequently runs exercises to prepare for various situations.

Economy[]

Binghamton Business

Businesses in Binghamton

The economy of New York is made up of a combination of local Ithaca and Binghamton companies which are the main centers of economic activities. New Albany, like New York, is dominated by the industrial companies of Binghamton and the agricultural companies of Ithaca. Economic inequality is not a major issue, with only about 13% of the population living under the poverty threshold. The GDP is also relatively high in New York and continues to increase every year, albeit with a minor slowdown caused by the 2018 financial crisis.

Although a large majority of the population lives in the middle class, there are a few who are considered wealthy. The richest person is a Cornell graduate, who in 2021 became the first person to reach a net worth of 25 million in New York Dollars. He became rich off an electronics company he and his roommate started. The company provides electricity and electronic devices for up to 55% of the New York population. The electronics market makes up a large amount of the economy, especially in Ithaca, the headquarters of many technology companies. Other major parts of the economy include the glass market in Corning and the manufacturing industry of Binghamton which became an industrial hub of New York after the government decided to exploit the nearby natural resources.

International relations[]

Embassy

Diplomatic mission in Pottsville, Pennsylvania

Both Ithaca and Binghamton were member-states of the United Communities, and the Republic retained membership when the two city-states unified. The Republic maintains economic ties to other nations in the region, especially State College and North Pennsylvania to the south as well as Oswego. Recently talks have begun about possibly unifying with the former two, although given the Republic itself being a relatively new invention it is still not clear if this will come to fruition.

The New York Republic has both provided and received assistance from the New York Rangers and the settlements under their protection throughout its history, with a formal liaisons office being maintained at Rock Hill. Under the new President, New York has recently approached the Rangers about joining the Republic, with the results of these talks pending final mediation.

Due to the abundance of electronic and communications expertise in the industrial and computer centres in Binghampton, as well as the vast amounts of academic, scientific, and historic knowledge at Cornell University, New York has increased its communications capacities to maintain permanent radio, television, telephone and other telecommunications contact to other, larger nations and states across the Atlantic. For this reason, it has been a crucial partner in the United Communities' efforts to rebuild and reconnect the North American continent to the world at large.

Observer status at the Confederation of Pennsylvanian States[]

Diplomatic talks

New York ambassadors in St. John’s meeting with their Canadian counterparts

New York is a close ally to Canada, boasting positive diplomatic and extremely-beneficial economic trade. Canada has even begun to send a handful of students to Cornell each year. New York is an honorary member of the Confederation of Pennsylvanian States (CPS). On June 19, 2022, Svante Myrick announced that New York had formally applied for an observer position in the CPS.

On July 7, 2022, the Republic of New York was accepted as an observer by the CPS. In a joint session of the Confederation Council and the General Assembly, the confederation voted in favor of accepting the Republic of New York’s application for observer status, requiring a supermajority of the council and a simple majority of the assembly. The organization stated that while the nation was dealing with strong dissident from radical organizations, the nation was democratic in practice and the economic benefit of providing the first step towards honorary membership. The final results were 14:1 in favor on the Confederation Council. The next step will be for New York to seat its delegate and begin the process of applying for honorary member status. This process is anticipated to take up to one and a half to two years, however tensions with the Virginian Republic may expedite the process.

Tensions with Virginia[]

New York has sour relations with Virginia, owing in large part to lack of democracy as well as Virginia's attempts to influence New York's neighbors. When Virginia applied for membership in the United Communities, New York and a group of other members unsuccessfully attempted to block Virginia from joining. In 2022, relations reached an all-time low after New York pulled all diplomatic staff from the country in response to Virginia holding military exercises close to the Pennsylvanian border. Virginia responded by cutting all communications with New York and continued the exercises. On February 17, it was announced that due to the Virginian military exercises, New York would be sending aircraft to patrol the Virginia-Pennsylvania border. On February 20, New York announced that it would be sending aircraft to New Jersey air space near Virginia. New York’s decision was decried by Virginia who accused New York of violating Virginia’s territorial integrity. On February 23, 2022, New York offered to stop flying aircraft near Virginia if Virginia stopped its military exercises. Virginia rejected this but later that day, Virginia made an offer to re-open diplomatic relations with New York, which was rejected this time by New York. On February 25, 2022, New York and Virginia reached a deal with Virginian military exercises ending and New York withdrawing its aircraft. However they have not reestablished diplomatic relations despite offers from New York, which Virginia has refused to comment on.

Outreach efforts[]

Over the past few years, New York has also established relations with the Outer Lands in Long Island. In Massachusetts, they also have diplomatic relations with Plymouth, with the nations work together to trade resources and technology. However, in New Jersey New York has had very little outreach; it only recently established diplomatic relations with the New Jersey Skylands. On March 4, It was officially announced that New York was opening an embassy in the Skylands. This came after increased dialogue between New York, New Jersey, and the Confederation of Pennsylvanian states as the nations work together to provide peace and security to the region.

As of May 2022, New York has reached out to the North American Union and started communicating with its member-states. In late May, Myrick’s Secretary of State had a phone call with U.S. Secretary of State Patrick J. Kennedy. These outreaches to the new US government indicates that New York is interested in allying itself with the growing bloc in the Midwest.

Current situation[]

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