DARK VICTORY

The Northeast States

By: redneck@txdirect.net (Redneck Gaijin)

New York City is a huge circular bay with dozens of tiny rocky islands, outcroppings, and half-submerged wrecks of skyscrapers, steel beams and concrete hanging just beneath the surface.

Washington, D. C. is a burnt-out husk of a city, its part of the Symphony ringing still from an intense magical pounding equalled only by the Plain of Megiddo itself.

Pittsburg, Pennsylvania is a walled fortress, the only exit via the Ohio River, cut off from all other routes by hostile Pennsylvania Dutch with a passionate hatred of technology and a justified respect for the old superstitions.

From Buffalo to Providence, Bangor to Worcester, however, a small fraction of the United States has survived the devastating battle of Armageddeon, and with a provisional capitol in Boston, a provisional Constitution written in pencil, and a provisional President who's in reality a Baron of Factions, the Northeast States of America has committed itself to the proposition that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall be avoided at all costs.

The current Northeast States of America government has representatives from Pennsylvania (mostly the Wilkes-Barre area and Erie), Philadelphia still alive with riots and street-to-street fighting), New York state (everything north of White Plains is still above sea level), Connecticut (the eastern half), Rhode Island, Massachussets, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.

The acting President, former Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert Johnston, is in reality a very powerful Servitor of Malphas, having used his inpenetrable Role and his demonic abilities to manipulate the United States government very subtly from within. (He wasn't the only one, from either side of the War, to do this, but in DV he was the most successful.) Having had warning of the battle, he timed a visit 'to his old constituency' in Newport while the battle unfolded. Having set himself up as a hero and as the highest surviving person in the old American line of succession, it was only a short step to claiming emergency powers as Acting President and bringing the USA under martial law.

Aside from Texas (which does not acknowledge Johnston's government or actions as legitimate), the Northeastern States of America is the largest remaining segment of pre-Doomsday America to survive as a political entity. Johnston claims that his government has authority over the whole USA, but much of the remaining city-states and rural government structure either cannot maintain communications with the Northeast, does not believe Johnston's a legitimate leader, or just has too much on their hands surviving to worry about orders from a far-distant capitol.

Life is hard, but better than other places, within the NSA. Food, water, electricitity, fuel, and raw materials are all rationed, most of the surviving loyal men between 16 and 45 have been drafted, and one needs passes and papers to move across county lines. Getting into the NSA involves an arcane bureaucratic process and holding camps which make the Haitian repatriation camps look like a Sunday school camping trip. Getting -out- of the NSA... well, you don't.

Why?

Johnston has his demonic mind on expanding his little puppet government, by force of arms. The eastern Canadian provinces, with the exception of Quebec City, are wide open for conquest. Johnston could march down around New York Bay into Pennsylvania and New Jersey, move up the partly functional St. Lawrence Seaway and land in the Midwest, or use his small remaining wet navy to assault coastal areas all across the Atlantic. The only thing really standing in his way, from a human point of view, is his fuel supply.

He cannot afford to attack Texas, not yet. Conquest over Texas would not only lead to a drawn-out war he cannot fight, it would draw the attention of whoever has that Angelic tether there. Given that, and given that ocean voyages are no longer safe from sea monsters and wild weather conditions, his only option remaining is to reclaim rural Pennsylvania from bandits and Amish and drain the last dregs of the old Pennsylvania oil fields dry. With that extra fuel reserve in hand, he can move on to more ambitious plans...

ROBERT JOHNSTON

aka ROSHTANDARIEL, Balseraph Duke of Factions, Demon of Republican Democracy

FORCES: All forces at 6 or in excess. PCs will need support to attack Johnston directly.

Vessels: 3X Human/4, Charisma + 3 (leadership)

Role: Politician/6 Status 6 (world leader)

Skills: (all at level 6) Emote, Fast Talk, Dodge, Lie, Computer Operation, Escape, Knowledge (American history, American government, American law, American politics, Rhode Island politics, Robert Johnston), Savoir-Faire, Seduction

Songs: (all at level 6) all songs of Charm, all songs of Entropy, all songs of Form, Corporeal Healing, Numinus Corpus: Wings, Claws, Fangs, Tongue, Possession, all songs Projection, all songs Shields, Corporeal Tongues

Attunements: Balseraph of Factions, Habbalite of Factions, Polarize

Special Rite: (+1) Pervert the system of government to do something specifically prohibited by its own laws

The creature which currently poses as Robert Johnston is in reality one of Malphas' immediate subordinates, a mid- to high-level Worded Demon limited by his Word.

Johnston gained his word during the Gilded Age, when he took credit for making evil monopolies, then for breaking them and inflicting short-term evils on the populace. In both cases, Humanity did it on their own, but Johnston's past is filled with enough evil service to Factions that he'd earned a Word long before.

Johnston is chafing under Malphas' orders - split the United States government apart from within, then sieze control and paralyze it at the critical time. Early on in his guise as Representative and later Senator from Rhode Island, he used his abilities and knowledge of the two-party oligarchy to paralyze and polarize the government while at the same time leaving the people apathetic to what their indifferent government actually does. Now that he's got a taste of true power, though, he has his own agenda; enslave Humanity from within, by leading a military and Demonic campaign to conquer the world.

There's a lot in his way, of course, most notably the simple reality that New England is not capable of conquering the rest of the world by itself. He's willing to rise to the challenge, however, and in six months time he'll have a fresh army of a million men ready to march wherever he chooses, and enough food and supplies stockpiled for one good quick push into either Canada or Pennsylvania. From there... the sky's the limit.

(NOTE: Johnston is an example of a high-level Worded Celestial. His power is great enough to where it approaches Superior levels. Knowingly going directly against him is, bluntly, suicidal. (If you're playing a Paranoia-type game, that might work to your advantage. }:-{D ) In any case, be very careful with this powerful an NPC, and if the PCs are determined to reveal him or destroy him, make VERY sure they have EVERY angle covered before letting them get away with it...)

Redneck (I just may have created an NPC Munchkin with this one...)

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