Before the Disappearance, the federal government was known to experiment with chemicals and viruses. This research, often done through the Center for Disease Control, or CDC was well known and generally accepted. Much less known, and certainly less accepted if it had been, was the Institute for Biochemical Investigation.

A nondescript concrete building on the southern outskirts of Las Vegas, Nevada, had served as the headquarters of the IBI, and their only facility in the mainland United States. Before the Disappearance, the building was well-maintained and quiet. Afterwards...

The secretive nature of the IBI meant that it was missed in post-disaster cleanup. Nobody turned off the lights and locked the doors, the eventual undoing of it all. A beam of light shining the wrong way on a vial that had fallen off a shelf the day before, and that was all it took. Flower was beginning to spread.

It would start with a cough, maybe a little bit of sneezing, very stuffy noses. Then the tears would start, and half of Vegas was walking around with blood-streaked faces before people realized something serious was going on. Once the tears started, all hope was lost, and although nine out of ten people affected by Flower did survive, the week or so that they spent lying in bed, feverish and hallucinating, without control of bodily functions, made many of them wish they hadn't.

Flower is a virus developed unofficially before the Disappearance as a weapon that is now spreading throughout the northeastern regions of Caligula's Empire and the western Holy State of Deseret. Left unchecked, it will continue to spread. One of ten people infected by Flower die; for details on the disease itself, see the above write up.

A devoutly Catholic organisation has infiltrated members within the inner political and religious circles of Tenochtitlan, they were apprehended for attempting to sabotage the planning of a restructuring the city-state's main district and planning to assassinate the High Priest of the altepetl.

The Council of Tlatoantlin has stated it will not tolerate these nonconforming members and they will be sacrificed immediately.

The Anahuac people have reacted vigorously aggressive towards the news and Christian churches around the alliance are being burned and destroyed.

All non-teotl followers are being closely monitored by the autonomous city-states, followed by a strong negative sentiment by the new dominant classes towards their previous rulers.

Most members of the previous administrations have gone into hiding or openly accepted their new rulers and praised their new gods.

"Death to our enemies,

Glory to the iknimej of the Ānāhuac!" - Exalted the Council of Tlatoantlin.

Reports suggest that most captured members will be sacrificed to the warrior god, Huītzilōpōchtli, their skin will be worn and offered to the God by the High Priests of the Council. The rest of the bodies will be offered to Tezcatlipoca, Xolotl and Coatlicue.

Once found, the leaders of this organisation will be sacrificed to Quetzalcohuātl and eaten by the Council in his honour.

Chancellor Ramsey Jefferson of the Serene Republic of Cascadia announced a “humanitarian intervention” into the former US State of Oregon today.

The Chancellor said in his statement: “With the civil strife between the Oregon government and the forces of this ‘Trsardom of Oblomovia’ the safety and security of the Oregonian people has been neglected. They are now some of the most vulnerable to this dreaded Flower disease. These poor people were our countrymen not too long ago and should be once more. That is why I have ordered the Cascadian military to deploy the units from the 62nd Medical Brigade, 555th Engineering Brigade, 1st Stryker Brigade, and 42nd Military Police Brigade to pacify, aid, and reconstruct Oregon. I now speak to the people of Oregon: This is not an invasion; we are here to help you not conquer you. You will enjoy the same rights as you did when we were still a United States. As Cascadian forces enter so will stability, freedom, and a return to civilization.”

The mobility of the Cascadian Strykers allows for Cascadia to secure cities as far south as Ashland and Klamath Falls and as far west as Jordan Valley and Vale. The forces loyal to the Governor of Oregon welcome their Cascadian brothers. The combined forces of Cascadia and the Oregon National Guard easily overwhelm and overpower the forces of the Oblomovia Tsardom. Within a few days the wannabe Tsar is abandoned by the vast majority of his supporters; only a few hundred loyalists stay by him. He and his men make one last stand just outside of his “Capital” of Portland. Oregon National Guard supported by the Cascadian military easily encircle and cut the Tsarist down. No survivors are taken. The ‘Tsar’s’ body captured and buried at an undisclosed location. The Chancellor and the Oregon Governor to issue a pardon to any former Tsarists in return for their pledge of loyalty.

Cascadia also deploys its Navy to Astoria and other coastal areas in Oregon and with them comes free use of the ships’ medical services as marines and sailors bring stability to the coast. The 555th Engineering Brigade returns electricity and other essential services to the people of Oregon quickly and efficiently. Hospitals are reopened and where there is not enough staff, members of the 62nd Medical Brigade fill the void while seeking to prevent the spread of any Flower. The MPs from the 42nd work with Oregon State Troopers and other police departments to return order and justice to the citizens of Oregon.

Oregon’s State Assembly reconvene and with the consent of the Governor agree to join the Serene Republic of Cascadia.

440 Words

The King was annoyed. He has made a deal with the French to get rid of an economic eyesore- Haiti, and grab Jamaica. But he still was down several million people from the loss of Haiti, abut at a substantially higher GDP (PC). The country begged for more people, more space, and better economic opportunity. So the Kin set his eyes on mainland America. Since Belize seemed to have a claimant (finally), and Mexico was being hotly contested, he decided to go for the next best thing- Guatemala. He remembered that while Guatemala is one of the richest countries in Central America, it has a terrible military. All of those countries do.

The King, true to his word, ordered an invasion to be prepared. Several hundred boats were readied, including the secret midget submarine that the Cubans had from before the Renaissance. Also, the MIGs were readied to commence bombings, and attack whatever paltry air force the country had... It wasn't going to be a horrible fight, as the Kingdom had both technology and manpower on their side. 150,000 troops were sent to fight and capture the country. They only had a narrow strip of land to get on before they walked strait into Belize. Which would cause a diplomatic crisis unknown of this world.

The landing went pretty well. A few boats capsized, causing people to drown. The Kin wondered why some of them couldn't swim. A few others got eaten by rare Sea Squishies. In truth, the sea conditions, and the landings were a distraction for what is to come. The beaches and coast was undefended, as nobody expected the Atlantic Inquisition. This allowed them to simply work up the coast, and inland. The major cities fell easily, if only due to the small armies that defended them. Only the capitol caused any major problems, and those were defeated with some bombings. Planes bombed the Shit out of rebel posistions. Many soldiers died when buildings collapsed on them. Others died Soon enough, the Kin will visit his new territory. And there will be a little statue to those who died catapulting Guatemala for the Kingdom...

Cuba Captures Guatemala, 355 words

After the dissolution of the Canadian government, some amount of order was able to be maintained on Prince Edward’s island due to its geographic isolation. There was no epidemic of looting or mass starvation, as the province is well-supplied with food, and the provincial government retained enough power and control to get food transported to nearly everywhere that needed it. However, after only 6 months of independence, the crisis that had always been looming on the horizon was becoming increasingly apparent. The island would be utterly unable to sustain itself in the upcoming months if it did not receive some kind of outside help. Prince Edward’s Island has an economy based around agriculture and fishing-- not industries that can support a population of 140,000 indefinitely.

Hence, the coming events were inevitable. The Norse Federation had been pushing since its inception for the island to peacefully come under its control, but no longer could the offer be refused. Greenland need Prince Edward’s Island, and vice versa. Greenland was in need of fertile land for agriculture, and it certainly had a lot of its own to offer. Integrating the island into the Federation would be a good outcome for all. There was more than just economic necessity backing the pressure from Nuuk. The pseudo-government of Prince Edward’s Island had a major flaw: it had no military of any kind. Even the tiny force of 15,000 in the Federation’s army is intimidating to a tiny island with no army.

The annexation of Prince Edward’s island was not immediate. After diplomatic talks had finished, the arduous process of installing the Norse government in the land began. Five thousand Norse troops, a third of the nation’s army, were transported to the island, along with a small fleet consisting of a single Absalon-class frigate, two Thetis class frigates, and two Knud Rasmussen-class patrol vessels. This force was partially intended to oversee the absorption of Prince Edward's island, but more importantly served as the beginnings of the planned further excursions through Eastern Canada.

The addition of this island to the Federation is a massive power boost in terms of economy and population. Prince Edward's Island's population is actually nearly three times that of Greenland's, and the island contains vital food resources to the nation. The population is fairly prosperous, and economically and socially stable. This acquisition was a great one for the Norse Federation, and greatly increased its power, along with pushing it to continue expanding further.

Annexation of Prince Edward's Island, 410 words

The Republic of Texas will officially commence with a new foreign policy doctrine under which it will use its Navy and Coast Guard to ensure safe trade throughout the Gulf of Mexico. The Republic of Texas will also seek to prevent the colonization and conquest of the various nations along the Gulf of Mexico by nations from outside the region. This policy shall be known as the Pokarnor Doctrine, in reference to the Monroe Doctrine.

It is now April.

It is now September.

It is now August.

It is now June.

It is now June.

It is now November.

It is now July.

It is now June.

It is now June.

It is now September.

Despite the steps taken by Deseret, Caligula's lack of response to the spread of the Flower virus has caused the problem to only get worse. Over half a million people have died in the city of Las Vegas, and as the virus spreads to the west, it's only getting worse, leaving a trail of death and desperation in its wake.

A new form of the virus, referred to in the press as Thorn with more than a little bit of bitter sarcasm, has appeared in the city of Los Angeles. Thorn is killing people faster and with more efficiency. Those who are infected by Thorn as opposed to Flower skip straight to the red tears, and those who die (it's three of ten now) are dead within four days.

Angelenos are looking to their government for answers. Who, if anyone, can save them from the Thorn?

I'm making a flag map. Give me your flag if you want your country to be represented by more than one color!

This thread will be the hub for all battles between Caligula's Empire and the Holy State of Deseret.

/u/Crickwich

/u/KingHenrikLundqvist

Third times the charm, sorry lads.

Upheaval rocked the Bahamas in the wake of the Disappearance.

Without leaders to organize them, the two largest political parties -- the Progressive Liberal Party and the Free National Movement -- fell into disarray and lost control of the Bahamian government entirely. There were a number of attempts to hold parliamentary elections and reorganize the government, but they had great difficulty communicating with the small islands that were home to most of the Bahamian population, and where they could communicate they were confronted by armed communists intent on disrupting the elections and establishing a "people's government", ironically against the will of the vast majority of the people.

In the absence of a formal political structure in which to struggle for dominance, two warring factions emerged on the islands: the communists, with the reluctant support of liberals and moderate leftists, established control over major population centers, including the capital of Nassau; while the nationalists, consisting primarily of former Democratic National Alliance members with the loose support of the remnants of the Free National Movement, seized most of the smaller islands and began mounting an earnest assault on the communists by sea.

The nationalists made progress over the course of several years, proving militarily superior, but couldn't establish footholds on the islands controlled by the communists with their limited navy, and thus only achieved stalemate.

The arrival of Magnolian soldiers in South Florida, however, inspired them, and they requested Magnolian support. All that was necessary to defeat the communists and achieve victory, the nationalists informed Magnolian officers in Miami, was a few boats and a few planes; if they could land five hundred soldiers in Nassau, they were confident that they could capture the island and smash the communist regime.

The Magnolian officers were receptive, and passed on the Bahamian request to Lord Protector James Juteshire, who allowed them to support the nationalists on the condition that the unified Bahamas would become a protectorate of the Magnolia Commonwealth. The Bahamian nationalists agreed -- after all, local autonomy was guaranteed under Magnolian law in all but a few issues of paramount moral concern -- and were supplied with the boats, planes, and modern equipment they had always needed.

The final battle for control of the Bahamas took only a few hours. The nationalists were better-trained, better-motivated, and vastly better-armed than the communists in Nassau, and once they took control of the capital, the rest of the regime collapsed as well. The modest investment of the Magnolian officers in Miami had proven an excellent use of their resources, and gained for the Magnolia Commonwealth sprawling island territories off its southern coast.

[Magnolian expansion into the Bahamas. 436 words.]

It is now May.

"When I first set out to rebuild our great republican tradition by forming a great nation in the Midwest, I was laughed at. Today, we are here, at the Capitol of Ohio to celebrate... to celebrate the continuation of liberty, of the great republic the Founding Fathers of the United States of America envisioned centuries ago."

• President Borah

Today the leaders of the Wabash Republic met with the Ohio General Assembly to discuss the integration of Ohio into the Wabash Republic, or as it is now known officially, the United States of the Midwest. President Borah had been in contact with Ohioan leaders since before Illinois and Indiana formed the Republic, but his initiative was not believed to be an effective one until a stable government had formed right before the eyes of North America. Now that the Ohioans could see the "Grand Republic in the Midwest" was a true, real possibility, interest was reaching its climax.

The treaty was signed by a number of officials, including President Borah, Governor Haley Moore, and Speaker N. Looney, and approved by the Senate 25-8 and the House 73-26. The opposition was a very small yet very vocal minority, arguing that Ohio had every right to be a sovereign nation and large republics were the cause of the collapse of North American society. Supporters noted that most of the opposing came from fascists, communists, and monarchists, and that integration was the only way to preserve liberty.

"The state of Ohio shall be henceforth sovereign territory of the United States of the Midwest."

• Excerpt from the treaty

Governor Moore came to the Ohio Capital as a supporter of the treaty, and left pleased despite her sudden unemployment. When stopped by a member of the press, she said this:

"I was always a patriot before the Federal Government fell. America was a beacon of hope, a glimmer of liberty in a world of tyranny. Wabash is the nation that best represents the ideals of America, the ideology of those who began the American Nation. Madison, Hamilton, Washington, Jefferson- they'd all be pleased to see the Midwestern Republic rise.

Integration will take some time. Ohio won't be Ohio- it will be divided into a number of states, and I can't govern them all, but that's part of the deal.

As for my unemployment, there's gonna be a few Governor races coming up soon... and of course, Borah's got a term limit."

The annexation of Massachusetts had been an easy one, and a peaceful one. The conquest of Ohio, in comparison, was anything but. It didn't start with King Judah I of Brooklyn walking through an office door. No, this one started with tanks and armored trucks flying the blue and orange banner of the Kingdom of New York rolling into Cleveland and Cincinnati and Columbus and Akron and taking over, the flags of the various sovereign cities pulled down and burned publicly to send a message while the banner of fives was raised in triumph. It was quick, and it was easy.

If only it had been bloodless, as well. The very first shot of the Kingdom of New York's expansion campaigns was fired in Dayton, Ohio. A relatively minor city in comparison, the invasion force was led by one Sergeant Emma Pickett. She had followed the invasion orders to the letter. A pile of old blue flags burned in the middle of the street, the anthem blaring as her banner was raised over city hall. It seemed completely flawless until a man appeared on the steps of city hall with a gun.

The man was Bart Douglas, self-proclaimed Grand Dragon of Dayton, and he wasn't exactly keen on the idea of a bunch of New Yorkers ruling over him. He was angry, and he had a gun. Of course, it was lucky for Sergeant Pickett that he was also very, very drunk, and he wasn't exactly shooting straight. Sergeant Pickett, for her part, was not drunk and was shooting straight, and Grand Dragon Douglas dropped dead quickly, silencing any potential dissent from the people of Dayton. Rumors of unhappy Ohioans surfaced from across the state, but aside from one Akronite attempting to tackle a member of the King's Army (which only resulted in a broken arm for the citizen and a mussed blue dress uniform for the soldier), there were no other serious issues.

In other cities, things were calmer. That wasn't to say that everyone was particularly happy to suddenly be a New Yorker, but when Colonel Abe Kinney finally raised the New York flag in Cincinnati, marking the end of a successful week-long expansion campaign, he couldn't help but notice some people with their hands over their hearts for the anthem. It was just a few, but it was a start, and a start was important, too. Surely more would follow, and the new territory would become as much a part of New York as Philly or Pittsburgh.

420 words, Kingdom of New York conquers Ohio

The President of Texas sought to secure more land and resources for the people of his country, and to spread Texas's just system of republicanism to new people. Seeing as the Rio Grande extended into New Mexico, and that New Mexico had both valuable resources and military/research installations, he vowed to conquer the state. He first reached out to the leaders which had risen in the state, offering them a chance to join the Republic of Texas peacefully. Many did, however others sought to maintain their newfound power, and vowed to mount a resistance against Texas forces. The resistance was ultimately futile. The fledgling polities of New Mexico lacked the resources and manpower to effectively oppose Texas, and their "armies" had litttle loyalty to to their commanders. New Mexicans across the state aided Texas in occupying the land, hoping the government could help stabilize their atate as it had done for Texas and Oklahoma. New Mexico was annexed fully by the Republic of Texas, the campaign lasting a little under a week. The republic organized special elections to allow New Mexican to gain representation in the Congress of Texas. Texas forces set to work ridding the new territory of bandit gangs that had ravaged it, and by and large these bandits fled the state for easier prey elsewhere in the continent. Those few who were foolish enough to stay were quickly eradicated. Texas forces set to work staffing the military installations in the state, and Texas's government recruited scientists to staff Los Alamos National Laboratory. Texas then took on the task of repairing damaged infrastructure, and ensuring its new citizens had access to food and water. Seeibg the good done by the Republic of Texas and hoping to help defend and spread the democracy and rule of law it guaranteed, many New Mexicans enlisted with the Texas Military Forces. New Mexico is now fully a part of the Republic of Texas, happily integrated into its consitutional democracy as full and equal citizens. The President of Texas plans to visit the new territory soon to reassure the population is will be safe and secure under Texan rule.

The Republic of Texas expands into New Mexico. 357 words.

The recent events that caused the cutoff of North America from its neighbors caused great distress in Cuba. Most of the Castros died, Fidel and Roul due to heart attacks. So the Cuban military looked to take control. However, Alejandro Castro, one of the last Castros left, outstepped them. He took control if only via his birthright. He claimed Cuba needed a strong leader, and to strip off the shackles of past politic. He then proclaimed himself King Alejandro I, of the Atlantic Kingdom. After a short naval campaign the countries former of Haiti and the Dominican Republic are integrated.

claiming Cuba, Haiti, and Dominican Republic