[hider=The Federated States of the Atlantic]
[b]Full name:[/b] The Federated States of the Atlantic
[b]Short names:[/b] Bermuda, the FSA

[b]Flag:[/b] [img]http://www.flags.net/images/largeflags/BERM0001.GIF[/img]

[b]Nation Type:[/b] Merchant Republic (think Venice, on an island scale, minus canals)
[b]Claims:[/b] Bermuda, the Azores, Madeira, The Canaries, The Bahamas (basically an Atlantic island empire)
[b]Terrain:[/b] As the islands in question are mostly far from land, generally the same as they are in our world.

[b][b]Government Type:[/b][/b] Initially instituted as a provisional Republic until a surviving heir to the throne could be found, the Most Serene Republic of Bermuda was declared after an expedition to the British Isles revealed that no central authority remained and that the fate of the Royal Family was unknown. Rumours circulated that they had fled to the Falkland Islands when the bombs fell, but there was no way to confirm this. Bereft of a Monarchy, the people of Bermuda gradually came to terms with a Republican government, although it has never been decided either way whether or not the Monarchy could be reinstituted if a heir could be proved beyond doubt - indeed, the two major political parties are called the Royalists and the Republicans, based on the original debate between those in favour of finding a Monarch and those in favour of maintaining an independent, Republican Bermuda.

[b]Capital:[/b] Hamiliton, on Bermuda
[b]Head of State:[/b] Samuel Kipps, Chancellor of the Federated States and Governor of Bermuda
[b]Other Important People:[/b] 
- [b]Christopher Thompson[/b], Chief of the Defence Staff of the Federated States
- [b]Laura Hyaline[/b], Governess of the Bahamas
- [b]James Harrisson[/b], First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff of the Federated States
- [b]Adriano Coelho[/b], Governor of the Azores
- [b]Thomas Cratchet[/b], Archbishop of Hamilton

[b]Population:[/b] ~1'700'000 (population of entire FSA)

[b]Attitude Towards Evols:[/b] Never really turned up in Bermuda itself, although examples of the species have been discovered in the rest of the Federated States. They are generally ignored unless proven dangerous, in which case they may be driven away or hunted down.

[b]Economic System:[/b] The control of the largely capitalist economy is monopolised by the merchant middle class, with the 'working class' generally consigned to more menial labour such as agriculture and, importantly, fishing. Bermudian trade is dominated by several large, privately owned but government subsidised companies modelled on those of the great European Powers of the colonial age.

[b]Resources:[/b] Bermuda produces little itself, other than fish (which have seen a population boom with the end of large-scale commercial fishing). However, a lucrative sugar-trade has been built in the overseas possessions in the Bahamas, and Bermuda intends to expand its monopoly on the resource (as well as branching out into other products, such as spice and tropical fruit). Shipbuilding has also seen a significant increase, some of which are exported. With Bermuda's lack of many deep-water shipyards, vessels are usually build on specially constructed structures out at sea, or inland and then transported to the coast. Bermuda seeks to secure a wood-trade route to ensure supplies will continue to fuel the industry.

[b]Currency:[/b] Bermudian Pound

[b]Technology:[/b] Technologically, Bermuda is divided by its social classes, which, while flexible and easy to cross from one to another (being based on wealth), still maintain differing roles in society. Some electronic navigational equipment remains, and is primarily owned by the Royal Navy (a name retained from its time as a British territory) and the wealthier Merchants. Because of Bermuda's lack of natural resources, advanced industry has largely ground to a halt, making imports (and thus the necessity of achieving monopoly on the sugar trade in the Caribbean) necessary to maintain Bermuda's technological level. The first factories and metal-works are beginning to crop up in some of Bermuda's territories, but industry is nevertheless limited.

[b]Official Religion:[/b] Church of Bermuda - Anglicanism, in essence, with the ecclesiastical centre moved to Hamilton. There are also large populations of Catholics in the Azores, Madeira, and the Canaries, but with the destruction of Rome, many have instead turned to the Archbishop of Hamilton for spiritual guidance.
[b]Religious Information:[/b] Same as Anglicanism. Catholics, bereft of a Pope, generally follow the teachings of the last known Pope to hold the office, and base religious decisions on his ideas.

[b]History:[/b] 

When the bombs fell on London at the twilight of civilisation, Bermuda stood with the British motherland in her hour of need. But, as technology failed, the ships grew few in number, and the shooting stars of falling satellites split the sky asunder, the links with Britain grew weaker and weaker.

With London's authority gone, and no contact with the outside world, the Bermudians fell to fighting among themselves. The First Civil War of Bermuda, as it came to be known, was a bitter struggle between the Royalists, who held onto the hope that contact with the British government and the Crown could be reattained; and the Republicans, who rejected London's authority, and desired to make contact with the United States of America, 'who would not abandon us in our hour of need, as the British did'. Their critics were quick to point out that the Americans had also abandoned their bases on Bermuda, and that contact with them had been lost before it had been with London.

After a decade of strife had elapsed, the two factions met in Hamilton, a shadow of its former self, and came to a compromise. Both groups recognised that, without units, Bermuda would not survive - already thousands of people had died after the imports of staple crops came to an end.

A new Constitution was made, instituting the Royalists and the Republicans as the first two political parties. It was decided that a Provisional Republic would be installed, and that if an heir to the throne could be proven - a big if - a referendum would be held to decide whether or not the Monarchy would be reinstated.

The first ships went over the sea - old luxury liners, left rotting in Bermuda's harbours, mended and patched up. East and west they sailed - to America, where the scale of the destruction and collapse was laid bare; to Europe, where the United Kingdom was found as a shattered union of its own.

And the ships also sailed to the many little harbours of the Azores. It was with this contact, with an island chain as at war with itself as Bermuda had been, that the first seeds of expansion were sown.

Promising aid to first one faction, and then another, Bermuda slowly unified the Azores archipelago, with a government sculpted to the interests of the Bermudians. In time, the island were again as one, the new government installed with a new constitution as well as a currency and economic union with Bermuda, forever binding the island to the will of Hamilton. And few complained, as the Bermudians did not oppress the people, nor did they extort from them - much.  

Across the Atlantic, in Madeira and the Canaries, the process repeated itself, sometimes simultaneously. English became the lingua franca of the islands, but the language was enriched with the vocabulary of the Spanish and Portuguese. The Bermudian Pound, revalued more strongly against the accumulated gold in Hamilton (most of which had been taken from the Azores), grew the economy of Bermuda by 50% in just seven years, while the other island profited by the increase in markets when communications reopened with the outside world via Bermuda.

The commercial interests of Bermuda grew with the fostering of the wealth of its new possessions, and so its interests turned to the rich bounty of the Caribbean, which expeditions had found to be in a perpetual warfare, but rich in the now scare luxury resources such as sugar and spice. The Bahamas, a former British overseas territory themselves, presented the geographically closest opportunity for exploitation, and it took little effort to convince their war-torn people that they were the representatives of the British, come to restore order. 

The Acts of Federation, six years after the unification of the Bahamas under Bermuda, saw the united islands become the Federated States of the Atlantic, still technically a provisional republic, but now firmly a new multinational state with a common bond - that of survival.

Bermuda now dominates Atlantic trade, its large (if diverse) Royal Navy sure to intercept any foreign vessel sighted in 'the FSA's territorial waters' - i.e. all of the Atlantic in the quadrilateral of the four major island chains. The nation now seeks to bring more of the Caribbean under its sway - primarily the Antilles and the Turks and Caicos Islands, with the absorption of Cuba both debatably possible and up for consideration in Hamilton, due to the large number of Hispanics that would populate the nation and overturn the dominance of English-speaking Bermudians.

[b]Culture:[/b] The culture is varied, mainly rooted in the pre-apocalypse foundations. The FSA is a multinational state, embracing all cultures within its borders. English and Hispanic (a merger of Spanish and Portuguese) are the two biggest languages. The Hispanics are the largest ethnic group, but the British Bermudians currently hold more political power. Social change is beginning to question this arrangement.

[b]Military Numbers:[/b] ~8'000 - ~0.5% of the total population, rounded down to the nearest thousand. There is two-year national service for everyone, and families with members in the military are given government financial help in some areas of life.

[b]Military Units:[/b] There is enormous emphasis on the navy in Bermuda. The fleet is a mismatched, combined force composed of modern vessels (refitted to allow some less sophisticated functions to work using contemporary technology - i.e. bad technology), 'new' ironclads made from steel imported from the Appalachian region along with certain metal alloys from recycled naval vessels that could not be adapted, and colonial era-like frigates made mainly of Canadian wood. There are even two 'balloon carriers' - special 'ironclads' with flat decks designed to accommodate hot-air balloons for reconnaissance. 

In each 'fleet group', there are one or two ships with radio. Messages from the central naval authority are transmitted to these 'radio ships' (which are changed each time the fleet sails), and then broadcast to the whole fleet group using semaphore.

The army is primarily a defensive force, equipped with tank traps (not used often these , trench-constructing equipment, and guerilla-style weaponry (such as remote charges and landmines).

Approximately one quarter of the army is an 'interventionist task force', equipped with rudimentary muskets, primitive firearms, and even some makeshift artillery groups, which more resemble cannon rather than modern artillery. The primary function of the ITF is to support pro-Bermudian groups in wars, in order to set up a friendly government in the region involved, rather than to launch all-out invasions. The central government is looking into expanding the offensive capabilities of the army.
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