Confederated American States (C.A.S.)

The Confederation of American States, abbrevated as the CAS, and sometimes referred to as the Confederated American States, is a republic in eastern North America, stretching from the Atlantic in the east to the beginning of the Sierra Madre. It shares land borders with UCAS, Pueblo, Aztlan, and South Florida.

The country has 13 states, which have a level of local autonomy according to the system of federalism. A CAS citizen may be referred simply as an American, a Confederationist, or a CASer. Calling a CAS citizen a "Confederate" (referring back to the moniker used in the American Civil War) is often considered an insult (albeit an unintended one).

Geography

List of the States of the Confederation

• Alabama
• Arkansas
• North Carolina
• South Carolina
• Florida
• Georgia
• Louisiana
• Mississipi
• South Missouri
• Oklahoma
• Tenessee
• Texas
• Virginia

 Major CAS Cities

Atlanta
Jacksonville
Tampa
St. Petersburg
Norfolk/Newport News/Portsmouth/Virginia Beach
Charlotte
New Orleans
Birmingham
Memphis
Nashville
Little Rock
Houston
Dallas/Ft. Worth
Oklahoma City
Tulsa
Raleigh/Durham
Winston-Salem
Amarillo
Lubbock
Mobile
Richmond
Greensboro
Orlando

Institutions

Each state elects three senators to the CAS Senate, and one representative per 15,000 inhabitants to the CAS House of Representatives. For the Presidential Election, each state elects to the Electoral College a number of electors equal to the sum of their senators and representatives seats. In turn the Electoral College elects the President of the CAS for four years. Presidents can serve a limit of two terms, senators a limit of four.

In general the CAS government gives most authority to the indvidual states, with the Confederate institutions being largely administrative, possessing little local authority. There are a few exceptions, described below.

ERLA       The Extraterritorial Registry and Liaison Agency is responsible for administering all relations with extraterritorial entities (e.g. megacorps) within the CAS. In theory they are tasked with inspecting and monitoring extraterritorial properties to ensure that they are complying with the terms of their territory leases and relevant CAS law. In practice the system of inspections is widely believed to be broken as ERLA is required to notify corporations well in advance of any inspections; except for cases of "extreme concern". This has resulted in ERLA recruiting significant shadow talent to provide justification for short-notice inspections.

DDI          The Department of Domestic Investigations is responsible for inter-state crime in the CAS. They are organized into forces that focus on specific types of crime (Violent, Corporate, Sex, Vice, etc.), and provide assistance to local police forces - whether they ask for it or not. The largest forces are the Counter-Intelligence Force (CIF) and the Counter-Terrorism Force (CTF) that are responsible for disrupting foreign and corporate operations in the CAS. The CTF is notorious in the shadow community for their brutality when going after terrorist suspects.

DSI          The Department of Strategic Intelligence is the CAS’ intelligence agency. Their primary focus is, unsurprisingly, Aztlan, and most of their efforts are focused on operations in Aztlan - though it is rumored that they go out of their way to disrupt Aztechnology commercial projects as a matter of policy. While they are technically responsible only for operations outside the CAS, the line gets kind of blurry with Aztechnology & Aztlan, leading to legendary turf wars between DDI, ERLA and DSI.

DEP         The Department of Environmental Protection is responsible for controlling and reducing pollution levels. They work closely with ERLA to enforce environmental regulations as much as possible on the megacorporations. At least in theory. The "Deeps" are generally considered to be the most corrupt branch of the Confederate government. The only good thing that is said about them is that at least the bribes are expensive.

Political Parties

The four major political forces in the CAS are:

• Democratic Reform Party
• Republican Party
• Southern Democratic Party
• Southern Conservative Party

In 2024, members of the US Democratic Party walked out of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia and formed the Southern Democratic Party. In 2034, members of the UCAS Republican Party joined the Southern Democratic Party to organize the Secession Convention.

The Southern Democrats had control of the CAS Senate from 2034 to 2040. The Southern Conservative Party broke away from the CAS Republican Party in 2038. The Democratic Reform Party splits off the Southern Democratic Party in 2040, weakening it enough to allow the Southern Conservatives to take control of the Senate until 2060. In 2060, the Republican Party and the Democratic Reform Party, two minority parties by then, united within the True American Coalition, winning the Presidential Election of 2060 and capturing the Senate.

Foreign Relations

• Aztlan
• Britain
• Germany
• UCAS

Military

• The CAS military is overseen by the Bureau of Defense.
• The ground forces are the largest military force on North America:
• Six active Army divisions
  • 16 air combat squadrons
  • Two Marine expeditionary forces
  • 1st Marine Reconnaissance Battalion
  • A Company (known informally as the "Ferrets")
  • In general, CAS military technology lags behind the UCAS, Aztlan and Pueblo; with magical capabilities roughly equal to those of the UCAS.
  • The CAS Navy is primarily focused on the Gulf of Mexico, and Aztlan, with a relatively small surface fleet, but arguably the most powerful submarine service on Earth.

Politics

Government offers bounty on those who animate the dead

Economy

Corporate Presence

• AresSpace headquartered in Houston, Texas and maintaining a major launch site in Cape Canaveral in Florida.
• Saeder-Krupp, whose North American HQ is in Charlotte.
• Renraku Computer Systems
• Cord Insurance
• DocWagon
• Lone Star Security Services
• Hisato Turner Broadcasting
• United Oil Industries, Exxoco
• Sikorsky-Bell
• Most megacorporations
• Ares owns Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral
• Trans-Orbital launches spaceplanes from Matagorda Island, Texas.
• Lyco Systems based in New Orleans

Magic

Laws regarding magic use

• New Orleans is a zone of wild magic

Crime

Shadows

Shadowland nodes in (at least) New Orleans, Dallas and Atlanta

Azziewatch Data Haven physically located in Texas

Smuggling

The End Run and the Throat smuggling routes pass through the CAS.

Underworld

Mafia influence in

A small gang called the Voodoo Posse claims the French Quarter of New Orleans as turf