(the return of the old United States)
A new kingdom has risen up from the ashes of the old world. One that is most definitely new, yet has the ring of something from the old world. The one that was once our earth. The one that is supposedly lost to us forever. From almost nowhere, the American Empire has returned to us. With it has come the values of liberty, truth, and justice for every man, woman, and child of every race and species. The high aspirations of it’s people truly make it a home of the free.
The New United States is built on and around what was once the city of Pittsburgh in the state of Pennsylvania. Several other cities are also included in the make up of the New United States. Most of them small villages or communities that popped up around Pittsburgh sometime during or after the Dark Ages.
Much as the New German Republic is supported by Triax, so the New American Empire finds itself assisted by the technological might of Ameritech Industries. As with Triax, Ameritech Industries was pre-Rifts technological research and development company. Then the Rifts came.
Before they came, Ameritech Industries was a small R & D firm located outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Like many of the other companies of it's time, AI worked on advancements in robotics, cybernetics, and weapon technologies. Good as they were, they weren't nearly as good enough as companies like Triax or Cyberworks. Lucky for them, mundane technology wasn't their only venue of research. Ameritech also had their hands in the Juicer and M.O.M. augmentation technologies. Founded by idealistic people hoping to give their part to the American dream, Ameritech hoped to find ways of augmenting people and making their lives better without having to revert so totally to things like weapons, armor, and full bionic conversion. Unfortunately, the people of AI spent more time on the research of both types of conversion than their competitors did. After a while, they began to perfect the processes. The most important thing being to find a way to augment the people using them without the serious side-effects. And given the type of research, they excelled in it by leaps and bounds over their competitors. In some cases, even succeeded in creating the near-perfect super-solider without the devastating and deadly side-effects of the usual processes.
One of the other areas of development in AI was the study and devlopment of psychic abilities. The study had gone back as far as the early twenty-first century when people were first openly studying examples of psychic phenomena and when the recipients of M.O.M implants exhibited signs of minor psionic abilities, AI spent a good deal of it's resources trying to discover the source of the powers and explored the idea of creating technological devices that would either enhance or uncover the psionic potential of the people who used them. Combined with their other research, AI was fairly well spread out and was becoming a major contender in the makret, and with Mindwerks apparent bankruptcy, Ameritech Industries was poised to become the forerunner in the area of non-cybernetic human augmentation. Then a little nuclear exchange in South America changed all that.
Death reigned the world over, first from the bombs, then came the natural disasters like the floods, and the quakes. Then the clincher hit, the ley lines erupted and with them, the Rifts. It was literally hell on earth. Ameritech Industries took a major hit, during the eruptions, a line erupted right through the middle of their main complex, killing nearly a hundred people when the line ripped through the building. More died when the line flared because of the death caused during the initial flaring. It drove the survivors underground.
Though ley lines had gone through the whole of the earth, the underground area had not been as devastated as the land above. Before the Rifts came, each AI building had had a small complex built underground specifically for the purposes of testing and research. It was a marked difference for them. Where their cpompetitors built up, hoping to top each other with skyscarpers hundred of levels high, AI built underground, wanting to utilize the space below ground, while everyone else was busy choking themselves in the sky. An effort to make the company appear humble. While it worked to that extent, it also saved a lot of lives. Those who weren't killed during the eruptions went underground, hoping to find solace in the subway tunnels, or in the Ameritech complexes belowground. For a while, it worked. They'd even had food enough to last them for a few years, thanks to Ameritech's small expansion into cloning and agriculture.
The next hundred years, the survivors did their damndest to do what they could to survive. And it was hard. Every few days, some new menace came along, trying to rule, enslave, or destroy. Be it human or inhuman, the people who lived under Pittsburgh did their best to live on. Of the three thousand who had managed to go underground, a little more than a thousand died during the first five years. Another couple hundred over the next decade. More left for the surface, hoping to carve out a new life for them up on the surface, not wanting to live out the rest of their lives like moles. Still, the people did what they could to survive. And they lived liked that for generations.
While they lived underground, a settlement popped up above ground. Nothing too big, it was a small town some 11200 people strong. Hoping they weren't making a tremendous mistake, the people in the underground city made contact with the settlement. They were a little surprised at what they'd found. The town was a little over five miles from the ley line that ripped through the main complex, and nearly half the buildings were constructed of the metal from Pittsburgh. They had named their little town "Steel City." They'd even had a small militia led by a strange magic using mechanic. He was an experienced Techno-wizard who had organized a small force to protect his new home from slavers and other menaces.
His grandfather was one of the people who'd left the underground complex and had heard rumors of the below ground Ameritech city. Though he'd never really believed his grandfather until now. So a deal was struck, and the two cities began working together. More came to and settled in Steel City over the next couple decades. The population growing over leaps and bounds, becoming a whopping thirty-one thousand people, including D-Bees and other types of beings with the humans. It was around 60 P.A. when contact was made with another country, they were calling themselves the Coalition States. Before now, they'd only had limited contact with the rest of the former United States because of the Magic Zone and other problems.
Their first contact was indeed a memorable one. The CS tried to kill every last one of the delegates from Steel City. That set them off on the wrong foot. Thinking they attacked because a metamorphosed Dragon hatchling walked among the group, they tried again. This time sending only human-looking delegates, flanked by power armored and cyborg escorts. This time, the envoy was captured and interrogated, those who did not escape later were executed for being subversives and traitors to the human race. Needless to say, Steel City wasn't too happy. The only thing that kept them from declaring war was the knowledge they'd gained from the survivors about the size and forces of the CS.
The people of Steel City, and by extension, Ameritech City, weren't too eager to extend open arms to anyone who came across the small communities. Not with the way they'd been treated by the Coalition. So when an envoy from Lazlo entered Steel City, none of the people were too open or forthcoming about welcoming them. It took the envoy four weeks just to meet with someone on the council. Even then, negotiations were a little tough. But eventually, an agreement was drawn up. In exchange for some of the tech the people had been selling on the open market, Lazlo would freely offer up all the knowledge they had on the Coalition, magic, and the area around them. At least knowledge that wouldn't get the people of the Steel and Ameritech cities to work against them.
The cities grew a great deal over the next few years. Though few were eager to live underground, Steel City expanded the most. Growing from a thirty-one thousand population to a sixty-three thousand person population by the year 85 P.A., and doubling that by 101 P.A., and still growing, even to this day. Steel City had gained a reputation for being a safe area that was accepting of all types of beings, magic, psionic, supernatural, humanoid, inhuman. As long as you weren't a threat, and you were able to do something for the city in some way, you were allowed to live there. A group of Splugorth slavers attacked the city in 92 P.A., there were four of the large barge-mounted creatures, and nearly a full squadron of blind warrior women.
During the attack, a human wearing American flag patterned attire led a small squad of beings against the slavers. Together, they killed the slavers and some of the warrior women. The rest were then imprisoned, though some of the women later joined the group, citing that they'd been slaves themselves to the slavers. From them, they learned of Atlantis and of the minions and the being known to them as Splynn, as well as the Kittani, the Atlanteans, and other beings of that type. As much as they learned, they found enough to keep most of it to themselves. With no evidence save that of several slave turned traitor, they had nothing to substantiate the stories, and had no wish to add to the pile of rumors and lies. But they were not the focus of the celebrity from then on. The birghtly costumed defender was. Garbed in an outfit reminiscent of an old twentieth century hero, the human was calling himself the American Warrior and was reciting all the old values of the former American Empire, life, liberty, , and justice. The American way he kept referring to it as.
Eventually, American Warrior became one of the members of the newly reformed Marine Corps. Even attaining a rank as high as Captain, not wanting to go any higher, thereby mimicking the moniker of his old childhood idol. His team he named simply, Recon. The name of the Mainre Corps special forces team from the twentieth century, and these beings were definitely classifiable as "special forces." ((See decription))
Because of the fame of American Warrior and Recon, and of Steel City and Ameritech City in general, a few other kingdoms and communities petitioned to join the growing city. By 103 P.A, Steel City had gained seven other villages and kingdoms and a new name. Following the lead of Ameritech Industries and their hometown hero American Warrior, they gave the new alliance of states a name. Together they called themselves the New United States of America. They refused to call themselves an Empire, as it would be too presumptuous and too tyrannical sounding. The coucil was deadly anxious not to connect themselves to the Coalition States in any way, and were stewing just a little. Since the envoy, and the growing of their new country, the Coalition had actually attacked the small country several times over the next few years. All the attacks did was harden their resolve to become better than their tyrannical counter parts to the west of them.
They had mixed reactions when Emperor Prosek announced his new war machine and his campaign of unity in 105 P.A. On one hand, they were terriffied of the prospect of coming under the blows of a new and more powerful Coalition army, one more dedicated to eradicating all non-allied nations than before. Then there was another thought. That Free Quebec had been rousted from the fold, publicly no less. And the votes from FQ in three separate elections al had the same results. Every vote was to stay out of the CS. Now this kind of disunity opened a wide path for anyone who might've wanted to simply waltz in and destroy everything as we knew it. But that kind of opened up hope for the newly reformed US of A. They felt that given time Free Quebec could join or support the new nation. At least to the point of where they would truly be one people, one nation once again.
Unfortunately, though the new United States was formidable against almost anyone else, against the full brunt of the CS, they were incredibly vulnerable, and mostly ineffective. Much like Tolkeen was going to be, and had always been. As such, the US tried to keep out of the fight until the time was right. Or at least until such time as they could actually be a serious threat to the Coalition.
That time came a couple years after the Campaign of Unity began. The New American Empire allied itself, through Lazlo, with Free Quebec after the Caretown massacre. The rest, as they say, is history.
Since then, the New US has grown exponentially. The population of the new country has grown over the last three decades to a total of over three hundred thousand in Steel City alone. With nearly 200,000 more in the communities around them. The reborn Ameritech Industries has since built two other factories. One in Steel City, and one in Harrisburg. The main factory is still in Ameritech City, who now has a portion of the city built above ground. Still serving as captain of the Recon team is American Warrior who has not apparently aged in the years he's been serving in the US Marine Corps.
The New US holds fast to the values of it's namesake. Even going so far as to have a Constitution and a Bill of Rights mirroring many of those found in the original US Constitution. Unfortunately, it is not a word for word copy, having only the words of American Warrior, various scholars, and some sketchy historical reference books to go on to create a new constitution. Still, it is indeed equal to all who come within their borders. And those who threaten that fall under the auspices of one of three teams. The Marine Corps, Recon, or the Street Cops.
The US uses a form of currency similar to that of the Coalition, preferring to use the universal credits as a form of transfer. The credits are definitely universal in that they are on a one to one transfer basis in Lazlo, the Manistique Imperium, Ishpeming, and Free Quebec. In the CS, black marketeers accept the credits ona three to one trade basis, and two to one in areas south of the CS like Ciudad Juarez and cities that know of the reformed United States.
Recently, the US has entered alliance negotiations with the city of Magestar. The primary reason being to promote the idea of unity. Another being to expand the country's knowledge of magic, other worlds, and to gain knowledge they hadn't had before basically.
The United States does have a ruling council that acts much like the senate and has a judicial branch. As always, there is a president, though he's usually more of a mayor than a president. Because of the time and people, many of the people on the various ruling bodies aren't politicians. The idea was that they couldn't be. Not and still be able to make the decisions necessarry to keep the country going.
Only time will tell if this new incarnation of the United States will be successful enough to become a true world power. Or, if not a world power, than at least the uniting force on the continent. Many see the Coalition States as predestined to failure, but they said that over a hundred years ago. Some say the same of the United States. Yet the ideals have managed to survive for more than four hundred years. Perhaps there's more hope there than they thought. Perhaps…
In case you weren't paying attention to the new history, you can always go back to where you came from, or...
This stuff i wrote here is all,
© 1997 philodox19@aol.com
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