United Federation of North America

## Map

The **United Federation of North America** (**UFNA**), commonly known as the **United Federation** (**UF**) or **America**, is the primary political entity of North America following the Auton Wars. It was formed when the United States military, with corporate backing, mutinied against the civilian government and invaded Canada and Mexico.

As of 2101, the UFNA clings to power through ruthless observation and control of its people, both citizens and non-citizens alike. Built on a foundation of fear and paranoia, the UFNA marches forward under the sway of megacorporation money, jingoistic racism, religious fervor, and government control.

## History

The glory days of the United States of America are long past, replaced with the UFNA's paranoid suspicions. When the Auton legions began their assault on the world, America was home to some of the first and largest battlegrounds, and suffered more than most, as its oversized military posed a major threat to Auton forces. By 2061, the country’s agricultural belt had been destroyed, sending famine sweeping across the nation. The rich stockpiled what they could and left the poor to starve. The already wide class divisions within the nation grew starker; a vast gulf separated the “haves” from the “have-nots.”

### Military Saviors

Starvation wasn’t the only peril faced by the United States, as the Auton legions attacked every urban center without remorse or hesitation. Millions were killed; the country was destabilized and exhausted. The only thing between American ideals and cultural extinction was the US military, supported by well-paid private security forces and the corporate controlled military industrial complex. The armed forces were depleted, but canny officers understood the consequences of the famine and ordered their soldiers to seize munitions and rations. The military had structure, discipline, and weapons to keep them and their families safe from the chaos surrounding them.

With the civilian government in disarray and the people desperate for leadership, the military declared independence from political bodies and assumed full control of America’s remaining defense network. It commandeered whatever it required to fight the enemies of freedom. Opportunistic politicians quickly engaged with the new power structures, calling in favors and using their political skills to secure field commissions within the new military government. They sold the new junta to the people and delighted in power without the irritations of elections and public scrutiny. Opponents to the new regime were arrested or murdered.

As the military government stabilized its authority, it greedily eyed the resources of its northern and southern neighbors. America’s stockpiled goods wouldn’t last forever and the global Auton Wars had collapsed trade. Devastating earthquakes across Mexico killed millions and destabilized the government. Under the guise of securing its borders, America annexed Mexico and crushed the depleted opposition.

With Mexico secured — and South Americans nervous about what was next — America launched surprise attacks into Canada. Canadian forces were ill-prepared for the unexpected aggression. They mounted a well-organized and effective defense that might have repelled the invaders had Quebec not turned on its own. American spies had worked hard to win Québécois support and promised the region independence as its reward. Canada fought hard for nearly five years before having to surrender and accept American control.

### Rise of the Military-Corporate Complex

Canada’s submission came just in time. American resources were almost depleted and the military had diverted civilian provisions to its soldiers; public support waned and violent revolts erupted. To counter the threat of destabilization, the government turned to a mixture of God and an aggressive sense of national superiority to keep the population placated. Christian faith was an important motivator for the military. Religion soothed soldiers’ consciences when they fought rampaging Autons rather than saving civilians. Faith in God’s plan comforted troops as they followed the junta’s orders. The generals favored doctrines that all humans were filled with sin, and could only achieve salvation through fulfilling God’s wishes, which primarily involved punishing the unrighteous and the unclean. The military encouraged civilians to join militant churches that supported the junta; the faithful filled their bellies while apostates starved. The priests proselytized that God’s love came through faithful obedience to the government. Unsurprisingly, church services quickly filled to capacity.

With the country nearly stable, but government resources exhausted, the private corporations that had profited from war seized the chance for greater power. They proposed an alliance with the military that blurred the lines between corporate and government. Corporations gained the authority to enact their own laws within their holdings, and in return guaranteed financial and manufacturing supply to the military government. The rise of this “military-corporate complex” was the death of the old USA. From its ashes rose the grim phoenix of the United Federation of North America, supported by the powerful United Federation Military.

## Citizenship

UFNA citizenship isn’t complicated. Everyone with at least one parent who is an UFNA citizen gains second-class citizenship, affording some rights and protections to the individual. Second-class citizens are protected from unauthorized searches and seizures of property, can attend public meetings and if charged with a crime can request to have it heard in a court; for a fee.

First-class citizens buy their way into privilege. Every $80 paid in taxes earns an individual one vote, and those with three or more votes are first-class citizens. First-class citizens enjoy full protection of their property and rights, have procedural justice applied by default, are legally able to own and carry firearms, and can question UFNA decisions.

Purchasing votes through taxation means that corporations and other rich enterprises count as citizens under UFNA law and enjoy the legal protections and influence this entails.

### Class Wars and Alienation

The government benefits from keeping the population divided. UFNA propaganda teaches Americans to despise the ‘others’ in society and beyond its borders. Synthetics are obvious targets for this hatred, but the government encourages fear and loathing of all foreigners — any of them could secretly be synthetics. The UFNA especially promotes discrimination against nations with technology or resources it wants to acquire, such as Japan and Sudamérica.

First-class citizens despise the second-class for being lazy and lacking ambition. If second-class citizens worked harder, they would surely earn enough wealth to join the first-class. Of course, the first-class places as many obstacles as possible in their path, and privately despairs of the second-class ever elevating itself.

Both classes despise the non-citizens who perform the menial, dangerous, and disgusting tasks no one else wants to do. Many are refugees who fled Europe after the Esperanza Crash; the UFNA uses them as scapegoats for all of society’s problems. However, even these non-citizens can purchase first-class citizenship, though such success stories are vanishingly rare. The second-class harbors a lingering mistrust and paranoia that non-citizens hoard wealth so they can join the first-class and take revenge on the people who used to make their lives miserable. Many second-class citizens channel this paranoia by further degrading people who mostly just want to live their lives in peace, and the most violent Second Class citizens known that if they want to vent their frustration by smashing the shop windows or defacing the homes of non-citizens, the police are unlikely to ever take action. Non-citizens are common villains in UFNA entertainment, with many portrayed as devious agents of hostile foreign powers or synthetics.

## The Surveillance State

Watch what you say and do in the UFNA; the unspoken government message is that someone is always watching, and the walls have ears. The truth is more complicated. In the richer, first-class areas, UFNA cameras and drones mostly look outwards. In these areas, police respond to those who look like they don’t belong faster than a biomorph changes her shape. Sometimes, they’ll give the offender a chance to explain before the beating starts.

The cops have had to be more careful of late. The rich progeny of politicians and corporate executives have recently decided that their best source of fun is to ‘dress down’ and mix with the lower classes. Several unwary cops have been reassigned, or even lost their jobs entirely, after accosting the wrong “slummer” heading home. In a clear example of social evolution, police working in rich areas quickly learned to identify the privileged mannerisms of the elite, regardless of what they wear or how they appear.

In the poorest areas, security agencies would like to know what non-citizens are doing at all times, but working surveillance equipment is rare. Street techs, vendors, and other ‘entrepreneurs’ quickly salvage anything of value, stripping the locator chips and tracking software from devices as their first priority. Zappers are another popular way to temporarily disable security, and are relatively cheap and easily accessible on the black market.

The people with the least freedom and the most government oversight of their activities are the wage slave second-class citizens. They are the backbone of the UFNA, but the government works to ensure they never realize it. Though the American dream is to make enough money to buy first-class citizenship, many workers don’t realize that it’s not profitable to allow them to succeed. A few token individuals climb the ladder and encourage others to work harder. These ‘success stories’ must never forget their place or to whom they owe their allegiance.

## Corporate Espionage

UFNA political culture encourages financial Darwinism. A corporation’s influence depends entirely on how much money it pays in taxes to the government. The government ruthlessly enforces this policy, as it discourages tax evasion and fills UFNA coffers.

Every corporation dedicates resources to predicting which issues it needs to exert influence on, and calculating the votes required to enforce its will. If a corporation has fewer votes, and can’t build alliances to reach the target, it can either overpay taxes to make up the shortfall, or sabotage rivals to reduce their voting power. For profit-driven corporate directors, the latter course is seen as the more fiscally sensible.

A thriving black market of deniable mercenaries and black-bag jobs grew from this financial ecology. Megacorporations dedicate sections to undertake criminal tasks that can’t be traced back to the company. When a research lab explodes days before its parent corporation announces a new product, or the lead strategists disappear overnight, everyone knows what happened, but nothing can be proved. Beyond these corporate teams is an illegal criminal workforce of noncitizens, foreigners, or down-on-their-luck citizens, all willing to do anything for cash. The corporations (and the government) use these people when they need services that can’t be conducted in the neon light of corporate towers. Specialist employees skilled in negotiating with these criminals demand high salaries, knowing how to pay for services rendered while hiding it all in the official ledgers.

The government approves of these rivalries, as long as they don’t cause national damage. Several corporations were compulsorily acquired and their assets divided among rivals after they pushed too far and destroyed something that would have given the UFNA an advantage over other nations. Theft of intellectual property, reverse engineering, or kidnapping personnel are acceptable; loss of UFNA power is not. The government periodically reminds the megacorporations of their symbiotic national arrangement by using military resources and overwhelming firepower to counter-attack some of the more borderline shadow jobs.

## Allies and Enemies

Unofficially, every non-UFNA citizen is seen as an enemy of the state. The UFNA covets the assets and advantages of every other nation, and would love to conquer and take what it wanted from them. Officially, the UFNA has ongoing tensions with Sudamérica, which hasn’t forgotten the long American history of flexing muscles and ignoring Sudamérican sovereign borders. Sudamérica subtly provokes the UFNA by interfering with its interests whenever possible. Sudamérican mercenaries find steady work in the UFNA's corporate shadow wars, but have a tendency to inflict more collateral damage than required, bringing the government’s ire onto unwary corporations.

The UFNA is also vocally opposed to the United African Nations. No matter what ideas the African nation advances or developments it implements, the UFNA spreads propaganda and misinformation linking the modern nation to archaic racist stereotypes and caricatures of Africa. When words fail, the UFNA sponsors insurgents and terrorists to spread mayhem and weaken the UAN’s political capital.

## Organization

The UFNA is divided into eight districts: North, West, Midwest, Mideast, East, Southeast, South, and Southwest. Each is functionally controlled by a board. The Federal Board holds national executive authority, but in practice the districts operate nearly autonomously. The United UFNA Military, a single command with power over both law enforcement and national defense, has far more authority to control district and local governments. The UFM's rivalry with the Central Security Agency, the UFNA's spy masters, is a constant issue for coherent national policy.

Quebec is not legally part of the UFNA, but it made considerable concessions to its neighbor in exchange for nominal autonomy.

## Threats

While most of the UFNA is a relatively peaceful, if brutally unjust and unequal nation, many troubles are waiting for a chance to break free.

### Revolution

Though government propaganda claims otherwise, the Canadian resistance was never fully eradicated. Acts of terror and sabotage against military targets persisted for years and were violently quashed by the UFNA. The military arrested and executed hundreds of suspected insurgents and their families, to set an example for others. It didn’t have the intended impact, instead generating more hatred and resentment. The resistance evolved into a smarter, more clandestine force, structured in a loose network of cells where each knows as little about the others as possible.

Mexican resistance grows in the southern districts, emboldened by Canadian success and covert Sudamérican backing. Sudamérica and at least a few Norça provide weapons and training to Mexican resistance fighters to destabilize the UFNA and possibly reclaim Mexico to Sudamérican control. The geographic division and cell structure prevents easy cooperation between the two rebel forces, but limited local alliances sometimes arise. Charismatic and influential leaders are emerging from both movements, who consider how to coordinate their efforts without opening themselves to UFNA annihilation.

The frequency of attacks has increased in the last three years, as both resistances target corporate holdings and government services. The UFNA ruthlessly pursues those it suspects to be resistance fighters or sympathizers, but must be careful. Too much overt effort brings publicity and gives credence to the Canadian and Mexican loyalists.