The Republic

The Appalachian Republic is a huge chunk of land that stretches across North Appalachiad from the Imperial border in the east to the Wasteland in the west. The Great Northern Mountains form a northern boundary, and Serape claims the dry land to the south. Both the Wasteland and the Northern Mountains have seen folks attempt to colonize them, but it hasn't worked out for them. Now, most sane people pretty much leave both spots to themselves and focus on all the good land in between.  There's plenty of space to go around, and if you find yourself in need of elbow room, you can always head out further west.

    What you got out here is space, and lots of it.  Whatever type of land suits your fancy, you can find it here.  There are lots of big forests, with trees bigger around than five men could stretch, and that provides a lot of work.  But then again, there are huge stretches of meadows and prairie good for farming and herding. If you go south, there are deserts with nothing growing but rock it seems; and there are rolling hills and mountains to the east.  Nothing like what's north, of course, but real pretty to look at.  Most folks is farmers or ranchers, but there are lots who work for some of the rich folk that have businesses out here like.  Of course, plenty of enterprising men are mining; looking for gold, iron, and coal to use themselves and sell to the Empire. 

    There are plenty of lakes and some big rivers, and beaches in the steamy south. Since north and west aren't fit to walk in, and the south and east got other claims to 'em, the Republic can only ship through these ports.  Except if they go through the Empire or Serape. The beaches are a far bit away from most folks in the Republic, and though there’s a railroad running down around there and the river of course, it’s no easy thing to get goods in and out.  Since only a fool deals with the Serape, you'll still see a good bit of trade going through the Empire. And you can bet they take a pretty penny off that, too.  Plenty of goods go in and out through the south, enough to get by and a bit more, but nothing to get greedy over. Still, it allows folk to live free and keeps the factories to the east where they belong. 

    Now, this all sounds like the Republic is just a bunch of backwoods folk grubbing in the dirt, but that's not true. People out here know how to have a good time, that's for sure. They may not have fancy parties or know about the latest news and inventions, but they can dance all night to a good fiddle tune and drink any Imperial under the table!  Of course, the rich folk have their style too. I can say that they're not as elegant as the easterners, but they certainly know about good things. And they're not too uptight to enjoy them. In my opinion, I'd rather go to a warm Republican hunting lodge smelling of good wood than one of them steel and glass Imperial manors smelling of oil. Not that I'd have the choice either way, really. A man is a man, on either side of the border, and the rich out here tend to spend their time keeping other folks poor so that they can get richer; just as much as the eastern elite do.  Well, at least in the Republic you have the chance to make your own way a lot more than you would in the Empire.

Republican Government

    I don't think there's a man alive who can remember the Appalachian Revolution, when we Appalachians threw off the Brits and got our own country.  I know I don't remember it, but I do remember when the Appalachian Republic was recognized by them Imperials, fifty years later.  It's been almost fifty years since that time, in '02, and a lot's changed since then.  'Course, a lot's stayed the same, too. 

    Let me give you some history about the Republic. 

    Even before the Revolution, folks was coming out here to get away from the smog and darkness of the factories in the east.  People was all holed up in them tenement buildings like rats in cages; forced to work all day until the day they dropped. Why, a man would hardly see the sun in his lifetime that way, and some men didn't like it.  So they came west, and brought their families too. And if you look around, you'll see folks whose fathers came from other places, too, and got around the Empire to settle out here on their own. The Empire was bent on making things and building things, but they didn't have much left to make them with.  They let the people come out and dig it all up for 'em, then bought it off 'em.

    It didn't take a real smart man to see that them Imperials was just using the westerners. The Empire didn't ask anyone out here about laws and such, and never helped out with the problems we had. Sure, they sent out guns, but it was mostly to make sure their iron and timber got to 'em safe and sound.  Westerners would have more luck on their own, as their own country. I remember all the shouting that went on then, about being free and earning your way on your own land. Mostly they were looking for support from the workers in the Empire, trying to stir things up.  Lots of folk thought this sounded pretty good, and there was a real hornet's nest buzzing all over west and east.  So by 1797 there was enough solid support so that the landowners met with the Imperials to talk and give their demands.

    The real year to remember is 1802, since that's when the Appalachian Republic was made official in the Treaty of 1802.  Or, the Territories of the Republic, as you might see it called on more formal occasions.   The border was set along the lines of where the Empire had factories and land at the time, and the Republic got everything west of that that they could handle. The Empire had 'em sign some trade deals and sent 'em on their way to figure out how to make their own government and such. It seems to me that the Republic got the better end of the deal, but I guess both sides got what they wanted. 

    Pretty soon, folk in the west saw there was money to be made, and started setting up trade and buying up land.  What we got out here are some men who own a lot, and others who do the work, farming and herding and such.  Just like anywhere else, it was the rich people that made the rules, but we didn't see that back then. People like me who had come west to get away from the factories really saw this as our chance to live free. For a while, it seemed like it was a dream come true.  

    East of the Great River, the land was separated into 12 territories. Mostly they were decided by the land holdings. These territories sent representatives to the Constitutional Assembly, which decided about the government and wrote it all down in the Republican Constitution. 

    Each Territory could write up their own laws, pretty much, but they all had to follow the rules of the Republic.  There was a Governor in the Territories, then an Assembly which was made up of "concerned citizens" or some such. This became known as where the rich folk went, but we kind of accepted that, because there was also Delegates that went up to the National Assembly. Each Territory got to send Delegates to the National Assembly according to how many people were in that Territory.  That's where we got to have someone stand up for us, we figured.  Now, each territory elects their Governor, Assemblymen and Delegates differently, but usually at least the Assemblymen or the Delegates are done by the people.

    Now, you may be asking, what happened to all that land west of the Great River?  Well, since there weren't too much out there, it was considered property of the Republican government.  Rich people could buy big chunks of it, though.  And they did, and now there are five Proprietary Territories out west.  Why are they called "proprietary"?  It's a fancy word, but it means that these Territories are different from the Constitutional Territories because the Constitutional Territories have their own constitutions and these others don't.  Instead, they're governed by a Charter that the national government hands out.  They're all different, but you still have a Governer, Assembly and Delegates to the National Assembly in each one.  These representatives are decided based on population in the territory and the Governor gets to pick 'em.  As you can bet, the Governor usually runs the whole ship pretty much how he wants.

     Higher up than that, you got the President that gets elected every 8 years by the people, providing the National Assembly approves.  I can remember the first president, Abraham Johnson.  He got re-elected until he died.  Not a lot of candidates out here, really, but it's been a Johnson family affair ever since, which seems a little strange to me.  Well, there was one term in 1822 that went to another man, but that's another story.  Other than that, it's been a Johnson every time. Right now we got President Ambrose Johnson.  Now, the government may not seem to do a lot, but they did just print up some green money for us to use. Even President Johnson did something - he put his face right on it!  That's so we don't forget, I guess.

     Talking about the national government again, there are two other big parts: You've got the National Assembly and it has two parts: one which has the Delegates and one that has one representative from the Assembly of each Territory;  and there's also the National Court, where you can go if you got a dispute that can't get settled any other way, or you got the money and connections to take it there. Most folk don't know anything about what happens in the Assembly or the Court. I guess it doesn't matter much to us.  Now that I think about it, we don't see much come out of Johnston (that's the capital).  They do control the Republican Army, which is pretty powerful, though they did just get into the Serape War.  And of course the Nationals have National Marshals, and they're the law anywhere they go in the Republic.  Some of them are okay, but a lot aren't, though I wouldn't want to cross any of them, that's for sure.