Coalition: Member States

The Coalition is composed of six member-states. In order of acquisition, they are Chi-Town in Iowa and Illinois, Iron Heart in Ontario, Missouri, Lone Star in old Texas, Arkansas, and Whykin in southern Missouri. The Coalition military controls the majority of the old American state of Minnesota, and the Coalition controls the city of Kingsdale in Missouri as a nominally independent protectorate. Additionally, the Coalition officially claims Quebec, but this claim is best not brought up because of the recent Coalition-Free Quebec alliance. Quebec regards itself as fully independent despite using much of the same military hardware as the Coalition.

Chi-Town
Chi-Town is the heart of the Coalition States. It is ruled from the nation’s capital, the fortified arcology that gives the state its name. From here, the majority of old Illinois and Iowa are ruled more or less peacefully, dotted with towns and villages, interspersed with military garrisons. There has not been a serious incursion into Chi-Town territory since the 60s PA. The city and its surroundings are one of the main manufacturing hubs of the Empire, but produce very few raw materials. Outside the city, the state is primarily agricultural, with large land-owning semi-nobles controlling the social order.

Northeast of Chi-Town arcology, the ruins of old Chicago dominate the state’s security concern. Chi-Town has mined old Chicago for raw materials for years; at this point, very little that can be salvaged safely remains. Old Chicago is used as a military proving ground for new recruits, while its port provides a training and deployment site for the Coalition presence in the Great Lakes.

Iron Heart
The southern half of the former Canadian state of Ontario is nominally claimed by the state of Iron Heart. Iron Heart evolved as a full-blown feudal monarchy between the Cataclysm and its joining the Coalition; as a result, many of the governing members of the state have dual titles, most notable being the Chairman and Grand Duke, Brian Mackenzie, hereditary Chairman of the State of Iron Heart. Iron Heart contains the recently-acquired arms complex at New Kenora, ruled by the Director and Duke, Arthur Marlborough.

Iron Heart is the mineral heart of the Coalition. The Coalition’s uranium, iron, and coal mining facilities are all in Iron Heart, and its forests provide much of the wood consumed by the rest of the Empire. All of this is shipped along the Great Lakes route to Chi-Town, making control of these sea lanes especially important to the Coalition. This need to control the Great Lakes was a key point in the decision to make peace with Quebec; this allowed the movement of heavy warships by canal from the Atlantic to the Lakes.

Iron Heart saw a steep rise in prestige after Quebec seceded, and most of the troops originally slated for the Quebec front stayed in Iron Heart, resulting in it becoming a boom state. Recent expansion in manufacturing, control of much of the Great Lakes trade, and the fact that Quebec’s withdrawal makes Iron Heart the Coalition’s northern border all make the once-neglected state a critical factor in all Coalition strategic decision-making. This means that the Coalition must invest considerable resources into programs which it would have neglected a decade ago, such as containing the monster kingdom of Calgary. Many of the troops originally slated for Quebec and not pulled off to fight at Tolkeen have instead been shifted north to the Calgary front.

Lone Star
Lone Star is the second-most important state in the Coalition, after Chi-Town itself. This is because the Lone Star complex contains the genetic development and testing laboratories that provided the Coalition with its first mutant canines. Lone Star has extensive manufacturing capacity beyond this, and the North Texas oilfields are one of the prime sources of petrochemicals for the Coalition States.

With the acquisition of Arkansas, Lone Star became even more important – the easiest way to supply Arkansas was using the vast resources of Lone Star. The Coalition forced its way to the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, establishing a second major control point in the state, and began to pacify the entire coast from former Brownsville to the Mississippi River in order to make the region more safe and stable. There are several major difficulties facing this plan.

The first of these is the Pecos Empire, which claims between the Rio Grande and the Brazos Rivers, and has several satellite kingdoms even beyond this. The Empire is composed of a number of loosely affiliated bandit groups and tribes, some of which have established settled bases. The strongest of these bands is led by the self-proclaimed Emperor, Sabre Lazar. The lesser warlords of the Empire range from Indian tribes to the Kingdom of Worth, which claims the northeastern corner of old Texas from Texarkana to Waco. This claim is disputed by the Coalition, and the Kingdom of Worth is one of the most likely targets for military operations in the near future.

Second is the Kingdom of Los Alamo, which controls the territory immediately surrounding old Austin. Los Alamo is a technologically inclined kingdom once considered for membership in the Coalition States; in recent years, however, their increasing reliance on the alien technology of the Naruni has led to them becoming targets rather than partners. Los Alamo is technologically on par with much of the Coalition, but as with Tolkeen, the difference in numbers is overwhelming.

The third major threat to Lone Star’s hegemony over all of old Texas is the Free City of Houstown. Houstown, on the ruins of old Houston, is a true free city, ruled by a council whose members are appointed for life or until retirement, with the power to recommend, but not actually choose, their own successors. The Pecos Empire tolerates Houstown because a free-trade zone is to the benefit of all in the region, while the Coalition has been eyeing Houstown ever since establishing the nearby naval base at Fort Pinnacle. Unlike the Pecos or Los Alamo threats, Houstown is a threat not because of military strength or alien infiltration, but because of what it represents – unrestricted decision-making and a generally tolerant attitude.

Puerta Victoria
Puerta Victoria is the southernmost full-time outpost of the Coalition States, located at the confluence of the Guadalupe River and the Gulf of Mexico. The site is unique in that the airfield, constructed on the remains of the old pre-Rifts runway, is capable of accommodating any aircraft the Coalition operates, including the massive bomber projects partially completed in time for the Tolkeen war. The city garrison is comparatively small - a company-strength task force at all times - but the infrastructure is available for rapid expansion. Puerta Victoria is also the leading edge of the Coalition's watch on the Pecos Empire and the vampire threat to the south, and as such sometimes sees some very unusual visitors for a Coalition city.

Missouri
Missouri is the most sparsely settled of the Coalition States; given its agricultural focus, this is hardly surprising. Large portions of Missouri fall into the same near-feudal pattern as Chi-Town, with large agricultural estates tended by refugee serfs seeking citizenship. The only major city in Missouri is New Chillicothe, though there are several military bases along the Mississippi river and a very large military presence containing the Great St. Louis Rift, a permanently open rift in the old St. Louis Gateway Arch. St. Louis, like old Chicago, is used as a graduation exercise by the Coalition States Army.

The Coalition frequently extends settlement colonies in Missouri. Both volunteers and draftees may be sent in a colonial mission, with the goal of establishing a new outpost of civilization and bringing more of Missouri under control. This program has met with mixed results because the frontier is a dangerous place, and will not stabilize in the foreseeable future.

The North Missouri Training Area
The northern half of the old state of Missouri is essentially one huge training area known as "Leavenwood." Leavenwood's borders are deliberately porous so that Coalition troops can engage in live-fire exercises within easy resupply and repair distance for training purposes. The central Leavenwood reservation, around the old United States Fort Leonard Wood, is the home of the 3rd Security Forces Division.

The Protectorate of Kingsdale
Following the disintegration of the city of Kingsdale in late 109, the Coalition extended a protectorate over the city, administered by Undersecretary of Frontier Affairs Reynard Fredericks. Fredericks began a ruthless purge of non-humans and magic-users. While Kingsdale remains under direct military occupation, only rumors of this may reach outside; however, what has been established is that Fredericks succeeded in taking a large number of Juicer prisoners during the occupation and has reportedly been using these as a gladiatorial spectacle.

Arkansas
The heart of the Coalition State of Arkansas is the city of El Dorado, located in southern Arkansas. It was brought into the Coalition in 105 PA after the Juicer Uprising ended; Coalition troops from Missouri remained in the area to insure that the region remained friendly. Because these troops were the only security in the area against the remainder of the Juicer Liberation Army and raids from the Pecos Empire, their presence was generally welcome. Arkansas produces the majority of the petroleum products used in the Empire. Its infrastructure level is poor, but improving, with a planned expansion of the armored rail system found in Lone Star.

Major Coalition Facilities in Arkansas
The Coalition has four major facilities in Arkansas. The first and most important is the city of El Dorado, which controls the official Coalition presence in the state and the surrounding oil-and-gas fields. Second is Fort Jericho, on the site of the old city of Newtown, near the ruins of Fort Smith. Fort Jericho is a purely military presence, save for some military dependents. Third is the Coalition States Activity at Pine Bluff, a euphemism for the Coalition's attempt to salvage the old American Empire's chemical arsenal. Fourth is the Coalition Navy facility on the Mississippi at Greensville.

Fort Clinton
Recent developments include the acquisition of the Little Rock region and the establishment of Fort Clinton on that site, with a widespread archaeological dig and an active Security Forces-Army presence. There are rumors that the Navy will use Little Rock as a staging point for the Arkansas River. Fort Clinton itself is sited on the location of the old Clinton Presidential Library, with a presence at the old Little Rock Air Force Base to the northeast, Camp Joseph T. Robinson to the northwest, and the former Adams airport to the southeast.

Subiaco
Outside Fort Jericho, near old Fort Smith, is the fortress-monastery of the Brothers of Saints Benedict and Francis of the Sword, which survived the Coming of the Rifts by conversion into a military order. The Subiaco monastery's rigid policy of charity and good works in peace, and absolute utter ruthlessness in war, made them into a regional power prior to the rise of Newtown, and preserved their independence through the years where Newtown was a regional power. This was fortunate, in that the Subiaco monks take a rigid interpretation of the sanctity of the body, and therefore found Newtown's Juicer obsession to be abhorrent and immoral. Unfortunately, during the Juicer Uprising, the Subiaco monks were forced to choose between the Coalition, and the rampaging Juicers. The Bishop-Abbot chose to side with the Coalition, and Subiaco has become a kind of medical college-spa resort under Coalition protection.

Whykin
Following the Whykin Accord of October, 109, the Free City of Whykin became the sixth Coalition State, with official control over southern Missouri and Oklahoma. The city anchors the southern half of the region for the Coalition. Whykin is a prime recruiting ground for the Coalition because of its inherent human-supremacist attitudes. Acting under a special dispensation from the Labor Office, the state still practices a limited form of D-bee slavery, with licensure of "punitive laborers" possible. Whykin lacks the heavy-manufacturing capacity of Iron Heart or the genetic labs of Lone Star, instead bringing a strong military tradition with it.

The Territories
Effective Foundation Day, 110 (1 January 110), the Coalition government organized a number of "territories" which are considered to be purely military areas of authority with no civil government. These are in most cases active combat zones. The goal with the Territories is to pacify, then settle them, with the intended goal of eventual statehood and membership in the Coalition, similar to the westward expansion of the United States in pre-Rifts days.

Springfield Territory
Springfield Territory controls the southern half of Illinois and is the current main front in the war with the Federation of Magic. Currently Springfield Territory contains the majority of Coalition troops nominally committed to Chi-Town and Missouri, and some from Arkansas. The border of Springfield runs along the old Interstate 70 at the moment, though it is slowly grinding eastward with the goal of bringing the border to the Ohio River and hiving off large sections to the east into new territories, designated Indiana and Ohio according to Coalition planners.

Michigan Territory
The Michigan Territory is not yet a full-blown conflict zone, but there is evidence that the Coalition plans to move against New Lazlo in the foreseeable future. The problem is that the warm season in Michigan starts even later than that of the "lower" front. Currently the headquarters of Coalition troops in the Michigan Territory is on the site of pre-Rifts Kalamazoo.

Minnesota Territory
Minnesota Territory is composed of the remnants of the kingdom of Tolkeen, and is an active warzone both for Tolkeen pacification and the Xiticix problem. Minnesota is widely considered to be the Coalition's only "good war" by those outside the Coalition; ironically, at the moment it is receiving the fewest resources. The Coalition firmly believes that the situation in the Federation of Magic is far more critical than the situation in Minnesota.