State of Michigan

## In-round history

The Democratic Republic of West Michigan was formed after a coup by the ordinary citizens in a *Le Miserables* like situation where the people were singing and chanting in a mob about removing the previous leader, Chairman Mason from power. He had lead the nation down a path of ruin and disrepair, and as a result, the nation was a highly unstable fortress-state that the Chairman looked over from relative safety, and as a result, he did not care for the health of the nation. When he was removed, the scars of The War in the Grove, a massive war against Tinker's Grove by the Great Lakes Defense Initiative, at the time comprised of the Federal Republic of Ontario, Columbia and the Democratic Communes of Grand Rapids. This changed after the war to include the nations of the United Clans of Niflheim, the Hawkeye Industrial Technate, the Grand City of Saint Louis and the NMC Reconstruction Authority.

Work on a common university for the Great Lakes Defense initiative, called *Great Lakes University*, commenced after the war finished on the ruins of Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan, once a respected univerity in the wasteland, on par with Notre Dame, which is one of the few Pre-War universities that survived the war. As of now, the university has not been finished, but it is the hope of the people that it will be finished in their lifetimes.

## After-Round History

**The State of Michigan, 2400.**

The war in Quebec had finished, Columbia and her spherelings had been made into the State of Ohio and parts of the State of Indiana, Michigan is now better off than before and all is well. The state had finished building Great Lakes University, now renamed the Second University of Michigan, in the 2330s and was poised to enter a period of prosperity and peace as a result. The main things that had happened in the intervening years were the unification of Michigan and joining the US. This had had the consequence of ensuring that Motor City would be rebuilt for industrial capacity, along with Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, mostly being rebuilt to help get the college running at full capacity. The people would be able to once again receive knowledge that had thought been lost to time, and then apply it to the real world. Over time, the nation would begin to see the benefits of this new university, and the cooperation with Notre Dame, formerly of South Bend, now part of the State of Indiana.

The nation would see the most benefit when it came to the infrastructure and the ending of the policies implemented under the disastrous reign of the Communists, as well as getting rid of all of the forts. The land would start to be relieved from the scars that Communism had brought to bear while fighting The War in the Grove, the most devastating war for Michigan in recorded history. It would become, in decades after, mandatory teaching, mostly about why one person should not have that much power. All of the robots that were left would be relocated to industrial and domestic work, and the ones that were leftover were sent to other states within the new union to help with their needs. The roads would get repaired, as cars came back into fashion once again, and the supports for said infrastructure were put into place. This helped the nation get back on their feet, seeing as they now had a way to get the goods and services they needed back and forth from place to place without fear of being robbed and/or killed.

This would also see agricultural hubs such as Traverse City and the southwest of the state come back online, with help from the agricultural preserves of the State of Ohio's domes, which would go on to become a stable source of food for many in the Great lakes once more, thanks to the help of the Federal Government and agricultural specialists from other states. The former reactor for those domes would become the heart of new Motor City's power grid, and the Renaissance Center would become a reminder of what had happened before the state was unified again. All of the pain and suffering, the cities, gone in what felt like an instant as The Tinker took them for resources. It would never be conclusively proven what had happened to the people in the former DMZ between the former People's Socialist Republic of Detroit and the Communes, but that too would be lost to time, like so many other events.

Niflheim, on the other hand, would go on to become a vital part of the revitalized Robotics industry in Michigan. The soldiers of the state would be reformed into a feared and respected special infantry unit as they had the culture and the knowhow to make combat-ready and civilian cybernetics after years of study and testing on many people who bravely gave their lives in the pursuit of this science. They also had access to the Lesser Barrows of The Tinker, and had acquired the knowledge and resources to make robots on a level that would fill the needs of the people who needed them, such as those who needed workers who would not get damaged just by being near the places they would work. Cybernetics would also become a right of passage for new adults, as well as military service in the Niflheim Corps of the Michigander Army.

 When taken as a whole, Michigan is now a prosperous state, and by far one of the most uniquely cultured states in the new US.