The Civil War

The **Civil War**, also referred to as the **English Civil War**, was a power struggle in which the Protectorate waged a campaign against the Federation, almost three years after the Death.

## The Civil War

### Outcome

Federation victory* The fall of the Protectorate
* Meg Pritchard is killed and Robert Malcolm takes his own life
* The Federation is restored
* Exile of Abby and Peter Grant
* Reconnection of air travel with America

### Major battles

Battle of Little Tadlow
Raid on Protectorate Mine
Battle of Market Tuddingham
Raid on Leeds
Raid on Bradford
Raid on Keighley
Raid on Skipton
Raid on Settle
Battle of the Farm

## Commanders

* Jenny Richards
* Craig Watkins

* Brigadier Meg Prichard
* Captain Robert Malcolm

## Combatants

* Retworth
	+ Jenny Richards
* Craig's Militia
	+ Abby Grant
	+ Ruth Anderson
* Little Tadlow
	+ Sonia Meadows

* The Faction
	+ Robert Malcolm
	+ Peter Grant
	+ Abby Grant
	+ Jiao Li
* Proctor's Faction
	+ Proctor
	+ Spencer Friend

## Casualties

* Sonia Meadows
* Robin Bunce
* Craig Watkins

* Jiao Li
* Brigadier Meg Pritchard
* Captain Robert Malcolm

## Prelude

The origins of the Civil War could be traced to the power struggle between the English and Scottish survivors, particularly between Charles Vaughan and the Laird McAlister, when attempting to restore power to England from the Loch Mannoch hydro-electricity plant. He resentfully accepted Vaughan's pleas to allow the repowering of Loch Mannoch, although he was sceptical of using electric power again himself. *(Power)*

After the founding of the Federation, McAlister sent a gang of saboteurs to Derwent Power Station in England to stop Jenny Richards from switching on the hydro-electric plant, as he wished to keep the Federation dependent on Loch Mannoch in order to keep the monopoly on electric power to himself. However, the scheme was foiled and Jenny warned McAlister of retribution should he cross the Federation a second time. *(Reconnection)*

## The Civil War

As the Federation spread its telephone and railway network across the country, Robert Malcolm's Faction began recruiting children into his army, overseen by his mysterious benefactor in Scotland. Utilising subterfuge, Malcolm organised the Outlaws, a group of child bandits, to ambush a steam train near the Peak District, and then drove them off, appearing the saviour to Jenny and Abby Grant. *(Bandit Train)* Soon, they learned that a wider conflict was emerging between the Federation, and an unseen power in Scotland, who was suppyling the Faction with fuel and supplies across the border. After being inducted into the Faction, Craig Watkins discovered the truth about Robert Malcolm's organisation, under the leadership of Peter Grant, and their plans for a coordinated assault on the orphanage at Little Tadlow. *(The Lost Boys)*

Arriving just ahead of the Faction, Abby and Jenny were confronted by Jiao Li, and warned Little Tadlow's new leader, Sonia Meadows, of the impending attack. They fortified the church and Abby attempted to make peace by approaching her son, Peter, for their first reunion in three years. After informing the Federation of the Faction's plans, Ruth Anderson attempted to bring a warning to Abby and Jenny but was attacked by Jiao Li. Despite attempts to fortify the church, the Battle of Little Tadlow was a swift victory for Robert Malcolm's Faction, with the death of Sonia Meadows and the capture of Jenny, while Abby and Ruth remained at large, and were able to warn the Federation of the larger force directed from Scotland which slid the country into full-scale civil war. *(Village of Dust)*

In the following weeks, the newly-established Protectorate seized former settlements within the Federation, including the Belief Foundation and Retworth, driving the surviving forces underground and branding them as terrorists. While Evelyn Piper and Jenny Richards were captured by the Protectorate, Craig and Abby engaged in a bitter guerrilla war against the Protectorate , attacking Protectorate storage depots to sabotage, disrupt and steal munitions, with Ruth acting as an spy within the Protectorate.

When Ruth learned of an accident at a Protectorate coal mine, she allowed Craig's militia to infiltrate the mine, with the help of mine supervisor Robin Bunce, to dynamite the mine and disrupt the Protectorate's supply of fuel for their trains. However, they were betrayed by Spencer Friend, a spy working for Robert Malcolm's Faction, who led Proctor's Faction to foil the sabotage attempt. Despite Bunce's attempt to detonate the mine, he was shot dead by Proctor, allowing Abby, Ruth and Craig to escape the mine, while the remaining Federation prisoners were executed.

Fleeing from the ambush, Abby surrendered herself to Robert Malcolm at Retworth, in a bargain to be reunited with her son, Peter, on the condition that she work for the Protectorate, thereby betraying her friends and the Federation. *(Hearts and Mines)* Outgunned and surrounded by the Faction, Ruth and Craig were rescued by Jenny, near Brynford, after she learned that they had organised a rebellion against the Protectorate. Meanwhile, Abby sought to be an intermediary between the Protectorate and the Federation, in order to be allowed to stay with Peter. With their forces moving in, the Faction drove Jenny, Craig and Ruth to the market town of Market Tuddingham, where they were isolated from the townsfolk and attacked in an old cinema. Despite Jenny and Ruth making their escape before the onset of the battle, Craig was captured and executed by Peter on Robert Malcolm's orders, an act which horrified Abby who witnessed and participated in the attack. *(Fade Out)*

The campaign against the Protectorate intensified over the following six weeks, as Ruth led hit-and-run attacks on the Protectorate's telephone stations across Lancashire, as well as sabotaging railway lines, disrupting supply routes and attacking patrols. With the Protectorate weakened, many settlements overthrew the local armed forces and morale among the Factions continued to fall. In order to combat desertion, Meg Pritchard ordered that deserters were to be executed, but this did little to curb the wave of growing support for the Federation. Plotting their next move, Pritchard anticipated the attack by the Federation to follow a pattern through the Lake District, and so dispatched a large contingent of the Faction led by Robert Malcolm to ambush the rebels at Penrith and take Jenny alive.

As the Faction departed for the south, however, Jenny was on reconnaissance outside the compound of the Farm, and took refuge with local crofter Roddy Lawson, who betrayed Jenny's location to the Faction by means of smoke signals which were picked up by Peter. Upon investigating Roddy's croft, Peter was confronted by Jenny, and Roddy turned his allegiance against the Protectorate, allowing Peter to escape in the confusion. He was pursued by Jenny but Abby interceded to save her son's life, using their long friendship to bargain for Peter. When he returned to the Farm, Peter informed Pritchard that Jenny had been sighted on the perimeter of the Farm, and Pritchard ordered a lockdown of the Protectorate and a withdrawal of Robert Malcolm's Faction, already arriving at Carlisle.

Purporting to have switched allegiances, Roddy surrendered Jenny to the Farm as a prisoner of the Protectorate. As part of the charade, Jenny spat into Abby's face before being taken away for interrogation by Meg Pritchard. During the chaos of Roddy's incarceration and the arrival of supplies from the outlying settlements, the Federation forces infiltrated the food wagons and breached the defences of the Farm. Meg Pritchard and Peter attempted to make an escape, taking Jenny as a hostage, but were confronted by Abby, who attacked Pritchard. Still armed, Pritchard attempted to fight back against Abby, threatening to shoot her, before being shot dead by Peter as he defended his mother. Regardless of his actions, Jenny ordered Peter to be arrested by the Federation, facing trial for his war crimes. As the Farm was liberated, Jenny was reunited with the women who had been incarcerated in the labour camp alongside her upon the onset of the Civil War.

Upon their arrival at the railway depot in the Lake District, Robert Malcolm's Faction learned of the fall of the Protectorate, and the death of Brigadier Pritchard. Losing hope, the entire armed deserted, leaving Robert Malcolm as the last of the remaining Protectorate leadership. However, upon Ruth's arrival, he complimented her strategy in diverting the main bulk of the Protectorate's forces to the south, and criticised the leadership of Meg Pritchard for her failings in anticipating the Federation's campaign. Assuring Ruth that he bore her no ill will, Robert Malcolm drew his revolver and took his own life, rather than be captured as a prisoner of war. *(Conflict)*

## Aftermath

Realising that the Federation would find Peter Grant guilty for Craig Watkins' murder during the Battle of Market Tuddingham, Abby Grant decided to break her son out of imprisonment and evade justice. However, there were confronted by Jenny Richards, who noted Abby's plans and pleaded with her friend not to challenge their law and order. Abby promised to take Peter into exile and begged to spare his life, to which Jenny banished the pair of them from the Federation, allowing Peter to live as a kindness for the years Abby spent searching for her son.

Some time later, Ruth Anderson and Roddy Lawson intercepted a radio transmission from an American survivor. Realising that the signal was coming from close by, Ruth, Roddy and Jenny witnessed the arrival of an US aeroplane flying overhead, bringing supplies and opening up transportation links and trade across the Atlantic between the American survivors and the Federation in Britain. *(Conflict)*

## Appearances

* *Village of Dust*
* *The Farm*
* *Hearts and Mines*
* *Fade Out*
* *Conflict*