Federation of New Columbia

The Federation of New Columbia is one of the many factions to arise after the collapse of the United States during the Rupture. While it was founded only a few months after the Rupture by surviving government personnel, it would take several years before the entire Northeast was unified under it's banner.
The Federation is notable for being the only known faction to claim itself as the rightful successor to the United States of America

## History

### Pre-Unification

While New England wasn't directly affected by the ash, the climatic effects of the ash turned the already temperate region cold. More pressingly, the region was swarmed by refugees from the west looking for shelter anywhere that wasn't covered in ash. This lead to a situation where there was not enough food nor shelter for the millions of people pouring into the region, especially after the dramatic climate change had ruined much of the region's agricultural output. As a result millions would die to starvation, exposure, and other, desperate survivors during the first few years post-rupture, especially in the large cities of the region.

While there was some remaining government institutions they were barely enough to keep the region falling into more or less total anarchy, especially in the southern states of New England which had absorbed the brunt of the refugees. What little order remained was primarily enforced by surviving military and law enforcement personnel in what amounted to a state of martial law. Nearly a half-decade after the Rupture, the shattered remains of the state governments and surviving military leaders would meet in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and attempt to find a way to restore order their little region. Thankfully there was still a sense of regional identity, and so a coalition of states would be created, a first step in restoring the United States. Finally, a "national" flag would be decided upon, the constitution of the former United States would be adopted wholesale, and Portsmouth became the seat of the new government.

### Post-Unification

Over the next few years the New England government would stabilize the region, occasionally by military force. The strong regional identity, or at least loyalty to the idea of a restored government would serve to unify the often disparate peoples of the region.

As it stands now, while the situation has stabilised, it's far from the life experienced before the Rupture. In addition, much of the forested land of the region has been removed to expand farmland in order to feed the population of the region. While the Federation is now quite possibly the agricultural powerhouse of post-apocalyptic North America, it only produces enough to keep its native population fed, with very little outgoing trade with other regions. While this may change in the future, the first priority of the region is avoiding the hellish conditions much of New England found itself in almost immediately after the ash began falling. As such, the farmland of the region is of incredible strategic importance to the Coalition government.

While New England was lucky enough to avoid the ash and everything that followed, life was not without struggle. While the region has been stabilized from within, bandits from former Canada and the states to the South and West often conduct raids into the fringes of the region for resources they cannot produce. Coastal piracy is also an issue, for similar reasons.

## Government

The political system of the Federation of New Columbia is a carbon copy of the United States government it has replaced. This is entirely intentional.

## Industry

In the post-collapse period New England has seen a resurgence of industry, with factories such as Springfield re-opening in order to supply the needs of the Recon Regiment and the militias. While the products produced are not necessarily as good as those produced before shit hit the fan, they're certainly a step up from the garage guns many in the militia once found themselves equipped with.

## Military

### Militia

While the standing army consists only of a single battalion of reconnaissance troops, every able-bodied man and woman between 18 and 45 is considered a member of the militia, and are expected to be capable of soldiering if called upon to serve. While inefficient for a standing army, it allows the Coalition to quickly draw up a sizable number of decently-equipped and trained soldiers at a moment's notice to defend from incursions into the region.

### 1st Reconnaissance Regiment

More commonly known as First Recon, the 1st Reconnaissance Regiment is the sole special operations unit in the Fedral military. However, the term "regiment" is a bit of misnomer as the unit has never exceeded battalion strenght at any point since it's formation in 5 PA. Originally trained by the Carolina Commonwealth's special forces, the 42nd Canvasbacks for operations against the Republic of New York, the branch would soon expand to regimental strength as the war dragged on. The Regiment would also see service harassing the rear-line units of the RNY during the Battle of Albany.

The Regiment serves a dual purpose, however. While it acts as a normal special operations unit, it is also responsible for sending reconnaissance teams into the Ashlands. Most notable among these was the expedition into the ruins of Washington DC alongside the Canvasbacks. The special operations unit notably recovered a number of important documents from the ruins, along with the original copy of the Constitution.

## Climate

While the Northeast was spared the ash that enveloped most of the former United States, it would soon have problems of its own. The ash thrown into the atmosphere by Yellowstone's eruption lead to a global cooling effect, as the sun's rays had a harder time penetrating through all the ash that had been thrown into the atmosphere. As a direct result, the already temperate region of New England became even colder.
This would have a direct result on agriculture in the Northeast in the years that followed Yellowstone, and would lead to shortages of food in the first few, bitter, years of the Federation's existence. Worse yet, winter now lasts from October to March, with temperatures hitting -30 Fahrenheit during the dead of winter. This would lead to many refugees and native New Englanders freezing to death in the years after Yellowstone.
But hey, at least the weather's more consistent.