Confederation of American States

In addition to a weaker AAA presence, the government is also weaker in the CAS. Decentralization means that the average person runs into the government more often, but they aren’t nearly as monolithic or all-powerful as they are elsewhere. When the CAS split from the UCAS, much of the federal power of the old USA stayed in the north and was never replaced. The authority most nations hold at the national level is left to each individual state in the CAS. As a result, each state has its own localized identity and version of realpolitik, and they are often in conflict with one another over corporate favor, imports, exports, and culture.

Don’t think just because the Confederation of American States is in North America, they’re like their neighbors. The CAS may border the UCAS, but even hundreds of years ago, they weren’t the same. Most people stereotype those differences as slavery, racism, and conservatism, but while those exist, they’re symptoms of larger cultural mores, not the heart of the people themselves. Further, changes in demographics have swept away any accuracy those old generalizations might have had. First, racism still exists. And it is bad. But where isn’t that true? In the UCAS, orks and trolls are routinely manipulated out of wealthy neighborhoods, targeted by police, and underrepresented in elected office and media. No one needs to be reminded Tír Tairngire, Tír na nÓg, and the Zulu Nation have all been fascist-level elf supremacies. Corporations are no better. Among AAAs, non-humans in top positions are so rare as to make news when and if they happen. So, are there racists among the CAS? Absolutely. Just like everywhere else. But while the rich, old, racist humans still exert an unbalanced amount of influence here, they’re now the minority. CAS citizens have a pragmatic acceptance of all metahumans. They exist, they are neighbors, and they aren’t going anywhere. Shop owners, farmers, and neighbors have either gotten over themselves or moved in favor of a functional society. Non-intuitively, the CAS also differs in their acceptance of magic. In much the same way race has been handled, the CAS initially resisted it, but have since learned to accept it in a much more integrated way than most other places.

The southern states now routinely use mages and shamans, not just for corporate or government security, although that still happens, but more often to help crops grow, keep livestock healthy, and generally maintain status quo, freeing up other resources to play catch-up to Aztlan and the UCAS—to great effect, I might add. While the UCAS struggles to remain relevant, the CAS is on a sustained economic upswing. For better or worse, shamans are more abundant in the CAS than most other forms of magicians. While more research could definitely shed light on the particulars, the CAS’s easy integration of faith, legend, and tradition with normal life allows the fantastic to exist alongside the mundane with an odd ease that even the most outwardly tolerant societies have yet to achieve. While the CAS has been slow to mature as a Sixth World nation, their growth has not been forced, nor has it been prescribed by well-to-do leaders, which has allowed a more organic balance to arise. It took them decades to recover from the first Matrix Crash, and their pride (and economy) are still wounded from Aztlan’s invasion of Texas. And yet the CAS boasts certain boons not present elsewhere. Stronger food production means lower lifestyles eat more real food than poor in other places. The Confederated States produce and consume the largest amount of rice, pork, and chicken on the continent. Sweetheart deals on distribution from CAS-based corps like Kong Wal-Mart, coupled with government-subsidized long-term leases, give Confederation agricorps the equivalent of extraterritoriality without ERLA oversight. With the exception of the DFW megasprawl and Atlanta, sprawls in the CAS spread out, rather than up, in concentric rings of money and poverty. Exactly opposite of Seattle, cities in the South take up much more land, but are generally less than three stories high.

While every AAA megacorp has a presence here, their North American headquarters tended to be either north, south, or west of the CAS, leaving A- and AA-rated corps to gain much more of a foothold as the largest corps spent money and political capital wedging themselves into other nations. Some of the strongest AA corps, such as Lone Star, DocWagon, and Kong Wal-Mart have their HQs in the CAS, and those corps have spent billions lobbying CAS senators and representatives to keep AAA corps from muscling their way in and ruining their abnormally favorable contractual arrangements.

The recent presidential election indeed proved to be a referendum on outgoing President Ramsay McMulkin’s Technocrat Party. After McMulkin wrapped up his second term, CAS citizens were clearly disappointed with the lack of concrete results. McMulkin promised to get back parts of Texas lost to Aztlan and bring jobs and megacorps to the South. Instead, parts of Texas were lost to the PCC, and McMulkin was unable to convince any AAA corps to base in the CAS, despite Spinrad Global and Ares suggesting plans for expansions. As a result Estelle Patterson, Senator from Arkansas who ran on the New Nationalist platform, won the vote and is leaning into a new direction for the CAS. Former President Aaron Franklin made outreach efforts to minority groups, which at the time were seen as weakness and resulted in McMulkin’s rise. But the winds of change have been blowing strong since the CAS hired Horizon to craft a new media branding strategy. Focusing on the CAS as a place of honor and southern hospitality, the plan seems to have worked, perhaps too well for President McMulkin’s legacy. CASians were emboldened by this new voice, and the New Nationalists organized to capitalize on it. Honor, tradition, and hospitality have always been sacred here, but McMulkin overplayed his hand by speaking according to the marketing campaign, but acting according to the script defined by his corporate masters. The result was the people remembered their best selves and turned their ire toward corporations that haven’t represented their interests. Patterson, continuing former President Franklin’s turn with the New Nationalists, chose an inclusive way forward, but don’t think for a minute that because she spouts inclusion that she isn’t dirty as a drek shovel. But, especially with the inclusion of an ork VP in Trayvon Grey, she represents an important symbol if the CAS truly wants to paint itself with brushes of tradition and honor rather than the comfortable and historical brushes of racism and intolerance. Of course, McMulkin wasn’t letting his legacy be defined by loss, so the lame-duck president made sure to deliver what can only be promises he made to his handlers when he moved the CAS army into Miami and declared Florida once again unified under the CAS. This followed months of sanctions leveled at the Caribbean League for harboring and aiding pirates, and the threat that if the League can’t police its waters, it will be done for them. The Corporate Court has been strangely silent about the affair, simply saying it was a national matter, not a corporate one. That the Caribbean League is virtually powerless to strike back likely means this is the new normal. Meanwhile, CAS-based corporations have wasted no time in buying up South Florida property and bringing along their corporate security as well. Miami-based corps seem unfazed by the developments, leading most to conclude they knew it was coming. They welcomed the backing of the far more stable CAS government. As of November 2080, the CAS consists of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Missouri, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.