Order of Battle of Contested States
On the Twentieth November, Two-Thousand and Twentieth Year of Our Lord
I, Procopius of Caesarea lay out the day’s history as follows:
All seems lost for the emperor whose agents even now claw at the courts to suppress the People’s apparent votes for the next High Praeses of the United Estates of America. It is the People’s votes in each district which will determine which candidate will receive all votes from the College of Electors for each province. Below I have laid out the general state of each contested region.
Wisconsinia
Known as America’s dairy land, Wisconsinia is a mostly German colony. It is frozen half the year to suit the barbaric temperament. But it’s an industrious province known for paper mills, dairy farms, meat packing and beer brewing. The gladiatorial sport team in the city of Green Bay serves as a local religion of sorts. Every home is decorated with its iconography, complete with green and gold livery colors and hats made to resemble the hard cheeses they eat.
At the emperor’s request, an Electoral Commission of three Reds and three Blues are overseeing a recount of all votes in two districts where the emperor lost the People’s vote by only 20,000. After arguing for half the evening, the count was allowed to proceed though everyone expects further conflict.
Arizona
On the southern frontier of the empire, walled against the Hispania-Roman colony to the south, is this large desert province. It serves none other than silver and copper mining, and military purposes. The Bedouin peoples populating it are said to be angry with the emperor over his public insults to their local hero, a now-gone Hibernian senator named McCain. McCain was a military commander who years ago was defeated in battle, captured and tortured by the southeast Cathayans. After he was ransomed, he divorced his wife and then married a desert princess with more political influence. He became a senator soon. After pointing this out and degrading the old senator, the emperor was lambasted by the public. In AD 2,008 McCain was a Red candidate for high praeses against Obama the Moor. He lost of course.
The Arizona courts (all of which the emperor does not control in America) denied a petition from the local Reds to audit all of the People’s votes cast in the caravan city of Phoenix. The emperor’s margin of loss is only 10,000 votes in a province that is traditionally controlled by the Reds. While the emperor’s agents are railing against the court’s decision, no further plans have been announced. As of today it would seem the Electors for Arizona will have to vote for the former Praeses Vicarus.
Georgia
Named long ago for George II, king of the Angles, this is a forested province with a humid and tropical climate. The population is made up entirely of Angles, Scotii and Black-African freedmen. The latter dominate its famous capital city of (New) Atlantis. There is also a substantial military presence in the province; no doubt in place since its past rebellions.
In this case, one of the emperor’s own courts refused the petition from an Elector who wanted to block the certification of the People’s votes due to fraud in Atlantis. The court didn’t give much of a reason for this denial other than timing. “Why did they wait take so long?”, the judge asked. Like Arizona, it seems Georgia will fall to the Blues.
Nevada
Here is another desert province even more remote than Arizona. There are three principal cities in Nevada while the rest of the countryside is a wasteland used for mining the empire’s gold. The largest city is ironically called “Las Vegas” — a Celtic word I’m told that means “Meadows”. It’s America’s Sodom and Gomora. On my visiting the place (I stayed at Caesar’s Palace), I found it rather tame compared to Antioch of my own time. The gambling is very low-brow for sure, while one is obliged to travel miles out to a wilderness encampment for a licensed brothel. The city is a wonder though, powered as it is by a massive dam which uses turbines to generate lightning-static power.
The emperor’s agents have filed a petition to the provincial court alleging that the Blues tampered with the votes and committed fraud. It still remains to be seen how the court will respond. Meanwhile the Reds are demanding, not a recount or audit, but an actual re-vote.
Pennsylvania
One of the oldest and most important provinces in the empire, it has become populated by many different tribes of Germanic immigrants over the centuries. The western portion of the province (headquartered in Pittsburgh) bears no resemblance to the eastern (New Philadelphia). Pittsburgh is as clean and kind as (New) Philadelphia is both dirty and angry. Both cities have gladiatorial deities worshipped perhaps as fervently as those of Wisconsinia. The further east one travels across the estate, the more mixed the races become. Philadelphia for instance has more Hibernians, Africans, Italo-Romans, Slavs and various exotic peoples in it than Germans. The place is too fascinating and complicated to cover here and will require a deeper description at a later date.
Another provincial court among several in the region has denied the emperor’s petition to throw away 3,000 or so ballots with clerical flaws on them. However, another court has agreed that 2,300 in a different district would be thrown away. This sets a precedent in my mind. The fight seems to continue in Pennsylvania.
Michigania
This curious province guards a seashore frontier from the cold Anglo-Frankish lands to the north. The sea is in fact three giant lakes (connected with two others to the east) that connect to the ocean-sea many miles eastward by river. The lands are split into two parts. The western rural district is adjacent to Wisconsinia. The eastern district, being the larger of the two, holds the famous city of Detroit. It is Detroit where the great manufactories reside that produce all of the empire’s horseless carriages and chariots. Once a thriving metropolis, it’s now a ruin of a city. It serves as one of two penal colonies where the imperial government sends its Persian and Saracen captives. The land is bitterly cold and near-frozen this time of year. Outside Detroit, the countryside is full of German barbarians and Hibernian colonists.
I saved this province for last, because I don’t really know what is happening there yet. The emperor summoned leaders of the Reds of that province to his palace today. I had assumed that they were to be executed. But instead they devised some sort of strategy on how to petition further. It appears that Michigania is indeed a place where they will make some sort of stand.
One thing is clear in all of this. The guilds, the exchanges and the daily heralds are all united with the Blues against the emperor. Much of the Bureaucracies have taken sides as well. The Bureau of Investigators have wisely stayed out of this fiasco after their mess four years ago. The most notable stand is by the illustrious count who oversees the civil public buildings. This imperial companion has openly refused to acknowledge the imminent ascendancy of Josefus Bidenus. The army and frontier guards, however, have not come out in favor of either side. But I believe the soldiers support the emperor.
