West Virginia Republic

**The West Virginia Republic** (W.V.R.) was a player faction in Fallout 76.

## Background

Not much is known with the origins of the WVR. They were started prior to the release of Fallout 76 and are seemingly based on the in-game faction of the New California Republic. Their government was organized in a fashion were certain upper ranks in the hierarchy were electorally decided upon by members of the Republic, but the president and figurehead, XxFCAxX, was not elected and maintained autocratic control over the government due to his place as the founder of the group.

Their history with the Free States started initially with the Confederate States of Appalachia. Both factions were massive and active and decided to participate with each other to try and maintain an effective and healthy player faction community. This lead to the creation of a united alliance of factions known as the United Coalition of Factions, or UC for short. The UC consolidated factions into a few major factions, allowing for free movement of individuals between these factions, preventing aggression between factions, agreeing to mutual aid and defense, and offering services to start-up factions to help them find their footing. Division began between the Confederacy and the Republic after the Republic was accused of making power grabs by increasing the influence of Republicans in the alliance, and in retaliation the Confederacy was demoted from a place of authority, preserving the WVR as the sole executor over the alliance. In response, the Confederacy pulled out of the alliance agreement, bringing a few smaller factions with them.

The division sparked the Appalachian Cold War between the Confederacy and the Republic, with both groups trying to grow as big as possible. Both groups used similar methods to complete such a task, as the WVR enacted the National Expansion Act. This act permitted the WVR to form "sister factions" which were to be placed directly under the supervision of the republic in exchange for defense, resource sharing, and advice sharing for growing a faction. The result from these interactions often meant that the WVR would scalp and absorb smaller factions and prevent them from forming. The Confederacy responded to such actions by forming a similar system, confederating smaller factions into one, where each faction would continue to function separately under separate leadership but would use the Confederacy as a meeting place to cooperate with other Confederated factions. Allegations between the two groups would often fly wildly about the colonial aspects of each, though no direct combat was ever seen between the two groups. Instead, acts of subterfuge would occur, as numerous spies were found to infiltrate either side for information, and oftentimes the two groups would compete for control with the smaller factions surrounding them, launching wars of influence and trying to upend each other's control over smaller factions.

The war died down for a period with inactivity in the game in general. Moreover, internal conflicts and depletion of potential vassal factions meant that both the WVR and Confederacy turned to internal conflicts over external ones. The WVR continued on as normal, with the only significant action taken at that time being the r/Fallout76Factions Coup, leading to the Confederacy losing influence in the primary recruitment subreddit and the WVR achieving hegemony over the board, oftentimes preventing or brigading Confederate recruitment posts.

The war seemed to be a clear and decisive WVR victory, especially after the Confederacy reformed to the Free States and stepped away completely from subfaction control. This was until the events of the Groomer Crisis, where private messages from the upper leadership of the W.V.R. was leaked to the fallout community, revealing messages that seemed to be in support of pedophiliac actions and the grooming of minors by the upper leadership. Instead of condoning the actions, the president of the WVR tried to cover up the leak and protect the alleged groomer. This resulted from a mass leave from membership and leadership alike, and the collapse of the WVR system. As a result, they switched gears and attempted to move to Elder Scrolls Online, No Mans Sky, and DayZ. However, they failed to capitalize on an already existing faction market, resulting in poor activity overall and falling into insignificance.