Paulo Springs

**Paulo Springs** is a ghost county in Washington state that was mostly abandoned after a series of devastating wildfires in 1977 that migrated south from British Columbia. The region is covered in woodland forests and surrounded by mountains, with several major rivers flowing together through the area. In the early 1980s, many pillars of public infrastructure were abandoned including police and fire services which were subsequently turned over to the jurisdiction of state police and nearby counties. Despite the resurgence of wildlife in Paulo Springs, many residents have chosen not to return pending a series of dry seasons since the fire.

## History

### Settlement

In the early 18th century, the British Royal Navy established an inland trade route through the highlands that were occupied by First Nation tribes. The construction of a road and then subsequent settlement on the bank of the main river was tasked to the British Army who built a military garrison as well. By the 1780s, the township had gone from a military establishment to a booming city due to the timber industry. Population steadily increased for the next century.

### World Wars

From 1916 to 1951, Paulo Springs was used by the US Army as a training base for new recruits. The varied terrain height and dense forests provided many different environments for training similar to those that would be experienced in Europe. As such, the city received a population boost from the inpouring of Army personnel and their families, as well as a constant stream of recruits. Over the two decades between World War I and World War II, the training installation received a larger budget, which proved useful as conflict mounted again in the late 1930s.

The military installation was officially closed on March 4th, 1951 following a reform to US military structure in the post-war period. Many military residents remained which did not affect the city's population greatly.

### Wildfires

The most destructive period for Paulo Springs occurred in 1977 when a small bushfire in British Columbia migrated south across the border due to strong winds and eventually spread towards the county. The fire was unexpected which delayed many of the essential firefighting services from arriving into the region on time. This caused an untold amount of damage to the city and townships within the county, killing 68 people and injuring hundreds more. Thousands of people were displaced from the region, which had caused an estimated $7.4B in damage. The fire took 3 weeks to bring under control, but the damage had already been done and most of the county had been destroyed.

Following the wildfires, the county experienced a 77% decline in population with most of the remaining residents already living remotely or in small neighborhoods widely unaffected by the burnings of larger towns. Essential services such as police, fire, and EMT were under the jurisdiction of state departments as well as neighboring counties. This vacuum in public service created an environment for lawlessness to takeover, forcing many neighborhoods to take up arms and instate their own policing bodies.

## Cultism

In the absence of law or authority, several groups arose in attempts to bring some sense of organized society back to the people of Paulo Springs. Many of these groups merely produced policy for their small municipalities, however some existed which brought absolutist views and strange sectist beliefs into play in their form of governance. One of these groups that became the most popular was the Liberty Order (LO), which consisted of individuals who believed their government was not to be trusted and that the people of Paulo Springs were burned on purpose as a message from some higher power.

Most followers of the Liberty Order were finnatic individuals who lost much trust in their government's ability to take care of the nation, following the events of the 1977 wildfires. Over the course of six years, the LO increased its number of members and began acquiring greater amounts of weaponry to enforce their beliefs over the people of Paulo Springs. The movement turned from an attempt to reestablish society into an anarchist authoritarian sect that began conducting illegal and immoral affairs including human sacrifices, prejudicial punishment, and other forms of murder.