NationStates

Cornelius Vanderbilt - (1794 - 1877)

Account Name: Vienna Eliot
Occupation: Emperor of the South
Motives: Surviving pneumonia
Background: Cornelius Vanderbilt was born in a little house on Staten Island to two Dutch people. At first he worked on his father's boat, but being the entrepreneur he was he borrowed a hundred dollars from his mother and bought a boat of his own, ferrying people between Staten Island and Brooklyn. The other sailors found this endearing, since he was about 11, so they nicknamed him the Commodore. He married his cousin and hit it big on railroads and the rest is history.

Or, not quite. Awful muffed when the Union wouldn't let him lend them his biggest steamship, the Commodore swore to get back at them someday. When the South officially "won" the Civil War, Vanderbilt took one look at the place and saw they didn't stand a chance on their own. So he moved down to North Carolina, where his grandson Georgie had built a big mansion, and started writing checks to people across the South to buy land and do whatever he said.

Cornelius Vanderbilt never styled himself "Emperor" of the South, but everyone else sure did. And when, in January of 1877, his grandson asked him if he'd like them to put "Emperor of Dixie" on his tombstone, he is reported to have scoffed. "Have them put Yankee," he said.

Titles/Positions: His Majesty, by the Grace of God, Emperor of Maryland, Virginia, Tennessee, the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, and Florida.
Holdings: Biltmore Estate
Politics: Notoriously pro-Union, the carpetbagger bastard
Faith: Moravian, despite his family begging him to just cave and convert to Episcopalianism

George Washington Vanderbilt III - (1860 - Present)

Account Name: Vienna Eliot
Occupation: Heir to the South
Motives: Partying, drinking, and wooing the ladies
Background: While the Commodore's son got the railroads, he never moved down south, so it was the grandson — Georgie Vandy (the third) — who got to keep the empire. But he wasn't especially cut out for it. He was his father's favorite, which is why he shipped Georgie off to live with his grandfather in Asheville, where they built him a mansion and gave him some horses.

He was supposed to be raised to be king, but by 15 it looked like he was mostly interested in drinking late into the night and waking up with a headache and a woman he'd never seen before, so the Vanderbilts started surveying their options. Still, Georgie had Biltmore named to him in the will, and since the Commodore insisted the Georgie's father couldn't rule the South from New York, Georgie remained heir to the throne until his grandfather's untimely demise.

Titles/Positions: Prince of North Carolina, Duke of Charlotte
Holdings: Biltmore Estate
Politics: Prefers to throw a party rather than join a party
Faith: Episcopalian

Jefferson Davis Jr. - (1857 - Present)

Account Name: Archism
Occupation: Grand Persuivant of Arms of the Mississippi
Motives: Build a new Confederacy
Background: Born to Jefferson and Varina Davis on January 16th, 1857, Jefferson Davis Jr. entered life as an heir to a brewing political dynasty, his father having served as Franklin Pierce's Secretary of War and being elected into the Senate around the same time he was born. This potential life was interrupted by the unfortunate election of President Abraham Lincoln, followed by the further unfortunate response tendered by the state of South Carolina, soon followed by its Southern kin.

When Jefferson Davis Sr. accepted the mantle of President of the Confederacy, he committed to years of motion between Montgomery, Richmond, and the many other places of power he must kowtow to, and Jeff Jr, being only five at his father's election, was not brought along. Instead, he was stationed at Brierfield in Davis Bend (which would become Davis Island after the 1867 Mississippi realignment), under the watchful eye of his uncle, Joseph E Davis. Uncle Joseph was a much more successful plantation owner than Jefferson Sr, and was also noted for his attempted construction of a paternalistic "utopian" plantation in the vein of Robert Owen's ideals.

The success of the secession and victory in the War of Northern Aggression (perhaps more attributable to foreign factors than the Confederacy itself) made President Davis a nominal hero, though his exceptionally unpopular administration which oversaw explosive inflation, confederal interventionism, nepotism, and lack of appeal to common people, made him politically untenable. While many contended that he was certainly one of the greatest men in the Confederacy, his thrashing by Robert E. Lee in the 1868 Election was an indication that few wanted this hero to keep leading them. (And they'd stop bothering to hold elections soon enough in any case...)

In 1870, Uncle Joseph died aged 85, and left his grand Hurricane Plantation to his nephew who he had grown to care for. This move infuriated Jefferson Sr., even more so because Joseph had made Ben Montgomery (a black freedman) the executor of his will, and the effective guardian of Jefferson Jr. who moved into the plantation house. The stress must have gotten to him, because Jefferson Davis Sr. died of unknown causes in 1871, leaving his land to his son. This unified the landholdings on Davis Island, though Jefferson Jr. was still too young to make much use of them.

With the great realignment of the South into its new system, Jefferson Davis Jr. was confirmed as the Count of Davis Island, recognizing the family's ownership of that land. This was a fairly low stature, though the new Count was made answerable directly to the Prince of Mississippi rather than a feudal underling, so as to not impugn on the dignity of the Davises. Jefferson Jr. had the support of his father's political allies, as well as many in the South who saw the Davis family as a symbol of the Confederacy, though in his youth he remained of little consequence.

He survived Yellow Fever in 1876, though it exposed several other health issues in the young Count. Wracked by acute cases of malaria, bronchitis, pneumonia, and all manner of other illnesses, Jefferson Davis Jr. has surprised the South by his continued survival. Having now turned twenty, the Count has assumed full control of his properties, so far showing support for the paternalistic utopianism established by his uncle, supporting some degree of self-management in the slaves.

Just a month ago, Jefferson Davis Jr. was made the Grand Persuivant of Arms under his prince. The title carries little influence, but it gives him an official role in Jackson while his plantations afford him a meager income. Jefferson Davis Jr. is an eligible bachelor, carrying a valuable name if little in the way of lands and titles. Few know what might come of the heir to the first President.

Titles/Positions: Count of Davis Island, Grand Persuivant of Arms of the Mississippi
Update: Marquess of Vicksburg
Holdings: Davis Island
Politics: Owensian Utopianism. While the Confederacy was and is nominally non-partisan, Jefferson Davis Jr. has sat in at several meetings with the New Whigs Club.
Faith: Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America

Joel Carter Brewster - (1844 - Present)

Account Name: Rodez
Occupation: Outlaw, bank-robber, revolutionary
Motives: Money, glory, upending feudal structure of the South
Background: J.C. Brewster's people are dirt-poor Ulster Scots farmers from Gibson and Dyer counties in Western Tennessee. Having never owned slaves, and with barely enough arable land to feed themselves let alone make a prosperous life, the Brewsters were far from enthusiastic about their state's 1861 secession. Preston Brewster, J.C's father, resisted social pressure to join the Confederate Army until conscription officers came calling in January 1863, at which point he was compelled into service. Joel's older brother Henry followed their father voluntarily. At eighteen, Joel was technically old enough to serve but, being the man of the house, was ordered by his father to remain on the farm.

Henry was killed at the costly Confederate victory at Gettysburg in July of 1863. Not long after, Joel's father was reported as a deserter. In 1864 the authorities conscripted J.C. as a replacement; he was thereafter thrust into action in the grinding Virginia campaigns, where he saw much action in the sieges around Richmond. Joel's regiment, the 27th Tennessee, took such heavy casualties in these engagements that he found himself with the rank of Corporal after four months, and a sergeant after nine. Men seemed to appreciate his reluctant leadership and levelheadedness under fire for a man so young, so he was an easy choice for promotion in the casualty-ravaged unit.

The 27th saw its final action in the decisive Spring of '66 push into Maryland, where they participated in the penultimate battles of Frederick and Westminster, after which the war in large part came to an end. Joel however was cursed by his talents as a soldier and plucked from the decommissioned 27th to be deposited in a unit of Confederate partisans sent to West Virginia to try to wrest it back. Over the next four months, Joel witnessed (and participated in) a host of atrocities leveled against his comrades, the Yankee enemy and the civilian population in general, acts which disillusioned him completely of his faith in the war effort and the cause behind it, which had never been strong in any case. In August of 1866 he deserted the partisans and made his way back home to Trenton, Tennessee, where he discovered that his father had drunken himself to death in the interim. His heartbroken mother had withdrawn to live with cousins in Nashville, leaving the family farm in Joel's hands.

Joel found himself disinterested in the idea of farming and livid with the victorious Confederacy, which he felt strongly did not give a damn about poverty-stricken families like the Brewsters of Trenton. He concluded that the war had been fought on behalf of the aristocratic landholders and slave-owners, and was not particularly interested in living under such a system any longer. On impulse he rode to neighboring Dyersburg, robbed the town bank of $600, and was almost immediately captured. As a result he was sentenced to hang, and was held in a Memphis jail in the interim. While awaiting his execution he met inmates both black and white, some of whom further radicalized him and convinced him of the need for drastic change.

A week before his scheduled hanging a December thunderstorm caused the Mississippi to burst its banks, inundating parts of Memphis. Joel, ever the improviser, used the resulting chaos to break free, along with a handful of his fellow inmates. They stole horses and guns and disappeared into the Dixie wilderness as fast as they could, generally heading west. After spending a year in Indian Territory, J.C. and his gang unleashed a wave of bank robberies, kidnappings, slave freeings and horse thefts upon the South. Joel is not a murderer by inclination and has tried to temper the more violent members of his gang, but even so sometimes jobs have gone sideways and the Brewster Gang has ended up killing people, whether they intended to or not. J.C. has become famous Dixie-wide less so for the bank robberies, which are common enough, and more so for redistributing much of his earnings to the masses of rural poor, black and white alike. As of 1877 this 'Southern Robin Hood' is wanted in nine of eleven Confederate states for twenty-six bank robberies, eleven break-ins, the freeing of ninety-two slaves, seven horse thefts and the premeditated murders of Arkansas plantation owner Elias V. Turner and Georgia banker George G. McNeil. Other crimes have been attributed to J.C. and his gangmembers, but authorities are sometimes lax about pursuing the lesser charges against Joel for fear of stirring up more support for him among the poor rural folk.

Titles/Positions: Sergeant, CSA Army (former) 1864-1866
Holdings: Ryall Springs Farm, Trenton, Tennessee
Politics: Not especially well-defined at this point, but certainly radical and vaguely revolutionary
Faith: lapsed Presbyterian

Vincent Duchamp - (1853-Present)

Account Name: Lux Pulchrae
Occupation: Lord of Baton Rouge,
Motives: Uphold the family's integrity and wealth. Expanding Baton Rouge's influence and territory.
Background: Born to the wealthy Duchamp family of French origin, Vincent was the 3rd child and first son of the family. Living a relatively normal life, Vincent spent much of his time with his father Andre, learning about and managing the plantation. By the time the Civil War came around to his area, Vincent was 9 and not wanting to lose his then only son, Andre used his power to have Vincent stay with the Diocese of Baton Rouge as a "seminarian". Eventually the war progressed, so on and so forth, and the South had won by either cleverness and tactics or a straight miracle.

With the war over, Andre retrieved Vincent from the seminary to help him with the taking of Baton Rouge. With their connections and wealth, Duchamp became a premier name in the city and eventually led to them taking control. With Baton Rouge, the Ancrage township, and their section of the Mississppi in their pockets, the decaying Confederacy was as visible as a full moon. The Duchamps sought to make an even bigger names for themselves by recruiting more men and establishing the Milice Rouge(Red Militia) as the public defense force of all the Duchamps could call theirs. And if it wasn't theirs, the Red Militia would make it so.

With his father stepping down in lat '76, Vincent took the seat of governing power as Lord of Baton Rouge, while maintaining his style of "Prince" as well as Lord of Ancrage. With the death of Vanderbilt, who knows what will become of the South.

Titles/Positions: Prince of Baton Rouge, Lord of Ancrage(Anchorage)
Holdings: Ancrage estate, Ancrage Plantation, Baton Rouge, Carleville
Politics: Whatever lets him keep his things/aristocracy
Faith: Catholic

James Hardy Dillard - (1856 - Present)

Account Name: The Baton Rouge Free State
Occupation: Viscount of Norfolk and Suffolk
Motives: Strengthening Confederacy, Improving Living Conditions and Economy
Background: James Hardy Dillard was born on October 24, 1856 in Nansemond County, on a farm just south of Suffolk. His parents ran a plantation and owned slaves. When the war started, Dillard's parents sent him to a boarding school in the United Kingdom, here he learned a lot about the ideas of abolitionism and industrialism and became very acquainted with many of the luxuries in Europe. He decided he wanted to bring such things back to his homeland. Meanwhile, Dillard's father became a confederate officer and quickly rose the ranks, he became relatively well acquainted with many in the Army of Virginia including Robert E Lee and Stonewall Jackson. When the war ended in a confederate victory, he was elected to the confederate house of representatives for his district, which constituted the Virginia Beach - Norfolk - Suffolk Area. As the Confederacy quickly descended into a feudal society he ended up taking ownership over the three counties, and became a Viscount.

Dillard would graduate from his boarding school in 1875. He wanted to attend university in England as well, but received word that his father had become ill with Typhoid Fever, he immediately got on a ship back to Norfolk, his father died two days after he returned. In the September of 1875 he buried his father and assumed his old titles, becoming the Viscount of Suffolk and Norfolk.

Titles/Positions: Viscount of Norfolk, Count of Suffolk, Lord of Virginia Beach and Hickory Land
Holdings: Cities of Suffolk, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, and Chesapeake Virginia; and the country area to the south (essentially all Virginian land south of the James River and east of the Nansemond River)
Politics: Industrialism, Progressiveness, Civic Nationalism
Faith: Southern Baptist

Ernestine-Louise Charlotte de France - (1861 - Present)

Account Name: Khasinkonia
Occupation: Queen of Louisiana, Princess of New Orleans, Duchess of Angoulême(Pretender)
Motives: Staving off regents & being taken seriously, industrialisation of the Mississippi, continued Gallicisation of Louisiana & Arkansas, and her own amusement
Background: Although the life of a queen is certainly one of interest, the queen has spent most of her life as a Fille de Louisiane, and so of more immediate importance is her heritage. Her grandparents were none other than Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême, and Marie-Thérèse Charlotte of House Bourbon, only surviving child of King Louis XVI. Although they themselves did not live to see the Civil War in the United States, their only child, Anne-Clotilde, did.

Although there were numerous attempts to restore the monarchy, Anne-Clotilde remained out of the fray. That was, until the rise of monarchism in the American South. The francophones of Louisiana had not forgotten their Bourbon roots. As perhaps one of the best claims to a Bourbon lineage that had not already attempted to gain the throne of France itself, Anne-Clotilde was the perfect candidate. However, all attempts to coax her to come rule were met with mixed responses, especially given the ambivalence of taking the woman with the claim. A solution fortunately arose: P.G.T. Beauregard, a beloved (and currently single) general with noble roots, was offered to facilitate a royal marriage. And so, the Louisiana Bourbon branch was founded.

With Beauregard at the helm, legitimised by his marriage to Anne-Clotilde, the state was made into perhaps one of the most revolutionary of the confederacy. From the seat of power in New Orleans, Beauregard worked to inject his own ideals into the psyche, producing a slave code that, compared to most others, was extremely gentle. With the combination of a reputation for moderation developed from Beauregard’s race liberalisation, and the state’s position at the mouth of the Mississippi, the state endeavoured to position itself as a lynchpin in North American affairs, serving to control trade via the Mississippi and help maintain control over the Caribbean.

However, these successes have not been without their hardships. The aims of liberalisation, education, and so on have been accompanied by strong pushes from the state’s monarchy to promote French to the detriment of English, which, especially in the early days, sparked tensions from the Anglo farmers who felt ill-represented by the official doctrine. However, as time has passed, the costs have been matched by the benefits of a bilingual society, as an innate knowledge of the language of diplomacy combined with a population of native English speakers make New Orleans one of the windows into the continent.

Like much of the Confederacy, Louisiana’s prospects at a bright future are dampened by uncertainty and infighting. Thus comes in Queen Ernestine I. With Beauregard’s death of a stroke in 1873, the question of a 12 year old ascending to the throne was posed. The precedent set by previous instances under Bourbon rule stated that there must always be a monarch. Despite protests from more liberal elements, the traditionalists won with respect to maintaining succession law. However, this victory has proven pyrrhic. Although the good graces of many of the old and great European families have continued to provide the young Queen with unmatched educational opportunities in French, Austrian German, English, Italian, and even Portuguese, there can be no accounting for age and personality.

The young queen has long proven herself to have a temper second to none, which has been known to cause many a private issue. Although she tends to follow her father’s doctrines, on occasion her declarations may strike as arbitrary, which has led to questions as to whether her authority ought to be curtailed for a period of time. Indeed, it has occurred before that her decrees on an issue have been ignored by subordinates, for better or for worse. This, in fact, is a symptom of a wider issue. The traditionalists undervalued the political capital Beauregard brought to the table. With his daughter, no less, at the helm in his place, many are far more comfortable disregarding her stance in favour of one they find more agreeable. While her rule is by divine right, not everyone believes in a god.

Titles/Positions: Reine de Louisiane, Princesse de Nouvelle-Orléans, Duchesse d’Angoulême
Holdings: La Domaine Royale(The territory between Esplanade Avenue, N. Rampart St., and Elysian Fields Ave, which holds the principal palace and grounds), the summer palace outside of Monroe, & the royal grounds in Alexandrie
Politics: Opportunist, but very much in line with Enlightened Absolutism
Faith: Catholic

Charles Lucas Maximillian Hurst - (1838 - Present)

Account Name: GCCS
Occupation: Lord-Commander in the Order of the White Knights of Christ, Colonel of the Imperial Lifeguard Cavalry
Motives: Maintain a Christian empire under God, and the superiority of the White Race above their African-American slaves, to keep safe the Emperor
Background: From birth, Charles was a member of the landed pseudo-aristocracy of the American South. His family had owned plantations in the region since halfway through the 17th century, and the Hurst family prided themselves in being one of Georgia’s oldest families. Charles’ grandfather had been in Georgia’s state assembly during the Revolutionary War, and had supplied the continental army since Bunker Hill. His brother died fighting the British at New York, and ever since the family had aligned themselves strongly with the anti-British cause.

However, Charles’ father was far less inclined to believe in a pan-American ideal, and his travels around the world had shown him two things: that big cities would lead to rapid industrialisation, and that the rural economy was therefore much more suited for pious living, and that Godless republicanism would eventually lead to the fall of Christianity. Charles' father was in Hungary in 1848, and witnessing the revolutionaries tear down their emperor chosen by God made him sick to the stomach. When he returned to the US, therefore, he became an ardent supporter of southern independence. The Yankees were trying to create a state like industrial Britain, and that was an evil he would not wish on his own homeland. The raised his children as proper christians, too, and instilled in them a respect for the white race and a love of the legal institution of slavery.

When the civil war eventually came, Charles was 23. He and his two older brothers were given horses by their father and enlisted in the cavalry. Charles himself fought in the Army of Mississippi, where he showed both particular valour, an agressive bravado, and a pious Christian faith. When he gained his first commission, as lieutenant, he performed some daring actions, which eventually made him mentioned in dispatches. His father's political connections helped here as well. However, Charles really earned a name for himself only after the war. The southern victory over the US caused immense pride in the South, but it led to incredible violence as well. Many slaves, who had formerly hoped a Union victory would set them free, now saw no hope for their own freedom. Instead, their owners were even harsher than before, in the knowledge that their government had enshrined slavery in the constitution. This led to many a slave uprising, and while the confederate army had been mostly disbanded due to lack of funds, many private mercenary forces rose in its place. One of these was a band called the White Knights, a deeply racist fraternity of Confederate veterans who retaliated against slave uprisings with incredible violence. Whenever such a revolt was put down, the ring leaders were hanged, houses were burned and families were sold separately to the most vicious plantations the South had to offer. Before long, the White Knight, mainly paid for by land owners and one Yankee railroad tycoon, were the most effective military force in the American South.

When the aforementioned railroad tycoon, by the name of Vanderbilt, rose to the unofficial position of emperor, the White Knights were adopted as his own private army. Unlike the rest of the army, which served under the Minister for War, the White Knights rebranded as a Christian martial order under the direct command of the emperor. The members of this Order would not inherit any land on their own, but would always be recruited from the second or third line of rich southern landowners. Every single individual in the Order would have a vested interest in the institution of slavery, with personal loyalty to His Imperial Majesty. Charles, by now, had risen to become a colonel of the Imperial Lifeguard Cavalry, noted for their white uniforms, white plumes on their caps and confederate flags draped over their right shoulder. Stationed near the capital, they would both defend the emperor at all cost, and follow his every command, whether that meant taking his political opponents prisoner or putting down slave rebellions.
Titles/Positions: Lord-Commander in the Order of the White Kmights of Christ, lord of Beauregard Castle, Master Imperial of the Horse
Holdings: Castle Beauregard, outside Richmond, Virginia
Politics: Charles is vehemently Christian, a devout follower of the Confederate Church. His politics are chiefly governed by his membership of this church, which preaches that the South is God’s chosen land, and her people destined for greatness. It also preaches the superiority of the white man, and most importantly, that God favours the bold. The church leans heavily into symbolism and recognised various Confederate saints.
Faith: Confederate Church Christian

Benedict Church - 1835 - Present

Account Name: No.
Occupation: Commander, Appalachian Partisan Rifles.
Motives: For Church, and perhaps the Partisan Rifles as a whole, seek the emancipation of the former "Watauga Association" - namely portions of Western North Carolina and Virginia, as well as Eastern Tennessee - from the greater South. While considered by the plantation class to be a "Unionist Bushwacker," Church considers his greatest desire to be for the men and women of his region to return to their homesteads, and not to concern themselves with what happens in the lowlands.
Background: "To talk about myself. Where am I from? North Carolina, specifically in Watauga County. My family's lived out there for generations, back when the Cherokee owned these hills and white man called this the 'Frontier.' Don't let Manifest Destiny fool you; the East isn't completely tamed, and under this so-called 'Imperial' noose that's strangling us all, you'll find that the East remains particularly hot."

"I grew up in the wilds, specifically in the Linville Gorge. Takes days to get anywhere, be it Asheville or Salem or Salisbury. People live out there, but it's hard to find anyone. Part of the reason my band and I sequester here. I took to the nature here, as a kid. Hiked the land with nothing but a day's snack and a walking stick; I hiked on my own to Asheville at fourteen. If I wasn't exploring, I was keeping the homestead intact. Eight of us lived in a single house that wasn't quite big enough, but we made it work."

"Making it work. That's what people do out here; in harsh winter or blistering summers. We tend the crops and we make it work. It gets old, especially when you're young. Being young, the monotony makes you lose sight of what's good in honest work. Me? I took off from home at a young age, and instead of traveling west like I'd intended when I bolted from the farm, I ended up working odd job after odd job all the way east, to Wilmington. From there, it was the Navy."

"Mind you, I'd never seen the sea at this point. I had absolutely no business joining the goddamn Navy, but lo and behold, here I was a Gunner's Mate on the USS John Adams. They gave me my training and after I'd puked up my guts enough on the open sea, I settled into a begrudging tolerance of my newfound lot. Being a sailor is hard work, not the least bit glamorous. Don't let the Blockade Runner image fool you; the best seamen don't dance in fancy halls. I saw far-away lands and things I'd never contemplated. Engaged in more debauchery than I care to admit, but after three years of serving on old non-steam hulks for shit pay, I gave up."

"Following the Navy, I got dropped off on the West Coast, after the deck officer had told me they'd be dropping me off in Norfolk. So, here I am, over a thousand miles from my home, in damn San Francisco. Had to make the most of it, so for the next two years or so, I made a living on the frontier while drifting East. Far harder than living on a nice, stable homestead with a gentle snow. The West is a wild place with wild weather, and I roughed it with the best of them. I don't whag name I'd bestow upon my 'profession' at this time. I broke horses for people, transported goods - but if people knew me for anything, it was as an Indian-killer."

"Someone once told me that it was barbaric, to make twenty bucks per scalp from the Red Men. When you're in your twenties and far from home, twenty bucks is twenty bucks. It's not easy cash, mind you. Fellas die all the time fighting Indians, and by all rights I should be dead. But I learned quick, how to fight them. Got good with guns, with tracking horses and men alike over the ground. Learned a lot about team work, because you don't kill Indians alone. We operated as our own band, hired by local settlers who had money, independent of the Army. That meant we could do things they couldn't, like set up decent ambushes. We made our cut, and then some."

"Then, the War decided to happen. North and South couldn't rectify the divide, so war had to happen. By the time of the First Battle at Manassas, I reckon I was back in North Carolina for a time. I made good money, but I had to pay my loyalty back home. Made amends with my folks; thank God they were still alive, and I helped 'em out enough to survive the rationing. The mindset of most of us, was that this was Richmond and Charleston's war, not a war for Boone or Wilkesboro or wherever in the mountains. Lots of the folks in town, myself included, spoke up against the war. We spat on the Confederate recruiters when they came to our chapel, told them we had fields to tend. In the end, they started rounding people up. The Home Guard - vicious bastards - pulled me out of a tavern one November night, and sent me off to fight for Dixie."

"Problem was, I didn't want to fight for Dixie. I stood in the battle lines, but I hardly fired my gun when people weren't paying attention. I fought under Beauregard at Fredricksburg, and deserted shortly after that. I made it back home, and discovered that my two brothers had died at Gettysburg. For a time, I laid low. I minded my business, and avoided the public."

"My war truly began in 1864. The Home Guard was impressing men and boys, even, now in a much harsher fashion than they had been. Homesteads were getting torched when draft quotas weren't met, and those bastards could murder whomever and rob whenever. A few of us men grew tired of it all, and took matters into our own hands. We began it simple; we shot 'em.from behind rocks in the mountains as they passed below us on narrow trails. We lived rough, lived off the fruits of Lady Appalachia, and whatever the locals would bring us. We always lived under that constant threat of betrayal, of discovery by forces that would annihilate us in an all-out engagement. We kept fighting and moving, despite the increased patrols by the Home Guard. By the opening snowfall of 1865, we had made contact with the Federals."

"Up until the end of the war, we wore the blue and held ranks in the Federal Army. By the time I met Stoneman and took a Captain's promotion, I had ninety men - a combination of mountain folk, deserters, some Cherokee, escaped slaves, and any ruffian that chose to take up arms with us against the Confederacy. We joined his raid up through the mountains, burning Confederate camps and slashing down telegraph wires. We stayed behind and kept fighting when the Federals left, and they gave us what they could before the war was decided."

"With the end of hostilities, the Confederates began their change into Imperials, farther removed from the democratic trappings that our forefathers prided themselves upon. By 1867, Imperial troops began their first punitive campaign against us. Braxton Bragg took two divisions-worth of infantry and artillery and cavalry into the Appalachians, and occupied Boone. They terrorized the civilians on suspicion of supporting Unionist activity, so we decided to up the ante. Any Imperial patrol that attempted to penetrate the Linville Gorge was shot and strung up where we knew Bragg would see. Eventually, by the end of summer that year, Bragg took his men and marched into the Gorge for seven days. We put men all along the ridges overlooking the main trails, and positioned our few cannon along chokepoints, where we knew the grapeshot could kill the most men. We hardly let the Imperials stay still that entire week. They killed maybe forty of our number. That was forty men that I am blessed to have replenished quickly. One of our sharpshooters even managed to punch old Brax's ticket, and we came out of the ordeal with more equipment than we had started with."

"The Gorge. It's where the Partisan Rifles began. It was 1870, that we formed the unit with a single company of ninety men. Learning lessons from the first punitive campaign, we set up camps throughout the region, well-hidden and fortified. These are camps that can move if necessary. We grow what crops we can, and hunt what's plentiful. Ain't hard to elude folks out here, and those that could find us usually wanted to join up. By 1874, we were sheltering escaped Negroes on behalf of the Railroad, and established contacts with their rich benefactors in Salisbury. From those contacts, I was able to gain some support from benefactors in the North. This support comes in the way of clandestine deliveries of food and blankets and other non-suspicious goods that the authorities would simply gloss over."

"About a year or two ago, I was approached, through a back-channel with my contacts in the North, with the proposition of establishing a secessionist state in opposition to the feudal aristocrats. You know, I decided to oblige them. I drew up lines for a break-away state; Appalachia. We'd reach from the skirting edges of Iredell County on our east, and stretch all the way east into Northeastern Tennessee, branching southward at Catawba County and Gaston and some others to seal up the border with South Carolina. My ancestors, back when Cherokee were scalping Patriots on behalf of the British, drew up something similar upon Independence from the British. The context was all the same; a domineering foreign power is oppressing simple folk who want nothing more than to make their own lot on this green earth, and in response we have to fight for our freedom."

"Nothing is built in an instant, thus we have had to alter our tactics in order to meet the challenge. In fact, we've had to up the ante, and take on more political targets. Helping local folk, was the other way. So, by day we'd toil in the Gorge with whatever tasks people needed. We had cobblers, blacksmiths, tradesmen of all makes, so we would regularly offer our services to every town and village and isolated homestead. A good way to make friends."

"Terrorism. That's what I call 'political violence.' That's what it takes to liberate your land from an oppressor. Hitting payrolls and shooting soldiers when they hunt after you is one thing; killing feudal lords on their plantations and blowing up track? That's the way. With three battalions-worth of tried-and-true bushwhackers, we could do so much. In the summer of '76, we rode upon Gastonia and destroyed a munitions factory, taking with us batches of ammunition and new-fangled Winchester knock-offs. The following month, we severed the rail between Salem and Virginia, and blew up a locomotive and a hundred tons of cotton. That was just some of what we did."

"Now, I'm hearing Vanderbilt's dead. His son, little privileged shit, is about to take the reigns. This empire is unstable, and lots of us in the Carolinas want to see it fall. Our revolution is gonna begin here."


Titles/Positions: Able Seaman, US Navy (1855-1858); Indian-Fighter/Frontiersman/Gambler(1858-1861); Private, CSA (1861-1862); Unionist Irregular Fighter (1864-1870); Commander of the Appalachian Partisan Rifles (1870-1877).
Holdings: At the present, the APR is rumored to be camping in the wilderness expanse of the Linville Gorge region of North Carolina, and maintaining a mobile presence in order to avoid the Home Guard. Numerous supporters of the APR, mostly affluent pre-war Unionists, maintain secretive chapters in Boone and Asheville, as well as Charlotte and Wilmington.
Politics: Church wants nothing more than a return to the older, more stable days of federal control. He strongly objects to the feudal system of the Southern aristocracy, and in turn sees slavery as an enabling factor of the system.
Faith: Non-denominational Christian.

The Baton Rouge Free State wrote:

James Hardy Dillard - (1856 - Present)

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Account Name: The Baton Rouge Free State
Occupation: Viscount of Norfolk and Suffolk
Motives: Strengthening Confederacy, Improving Living Conditions and Economy
Background: James Hardy Dillard was born on October 24, 1856 in Nansemond County, on a farm just south of Suffolk. His parents ran a plantation and owned slaves. When the war started, Dillard's parents sent him to a boarding school in the United Kingdom, here he learned a lot about the ideas of abolitionism and industrialism and became very acquainted with many of the luxuries in Europe. He decided he wanted to bring such things back to his homeland. Meanwhile, Dillard's father became a confederate officer and quickly rose the ranks, he became relatively well acquainted with many in the Army of Virginia including Robert E Lee and Stonewall Jackson. When the war ended in a confederate victory, he was elected to the confederate house of representatives for his district, which constituted the Virginia Beach - Norfolk - Suffolk Area. As the Confederacy quickly descended into a feudal society he ended up taking ownership over the three counties, and became a Viscount.

Dillard would graduate from his boarding school in 1875. He wanted to attend university in England as well, but received word that his father had become ill with Typhoid Fever, he immediately got on a ship back to Norfolk, his father died two days after he returned. In the September of 1875 he buried his father and assumed his old titles, becoming the Viscount of Suffolk and Norfolk.

Titles/Positions: Viscount of Norfolk, Count of Suffolk, Lord of Virginia Beach and Hickory Land
Holdings: Cities of Suffolk, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, and Chesapeake Virginia; and the country area to the south (essentially all Virginian land south of the James River and east of the Nansemond River)
Politics: Industrialism, Progressiveness, Civic Nationalism
Faith: Southern Baptist

Bernard Kelsey - (1844 - Present)

Account Name: The United Empire of Exucular
Occupation: Railroad and Shipping Baron
Motives: Expansion of railroad operations, establishing connections, achieve comfortable position in the new south, and own a pleasant island to retire once he's old and frail.
Background:

Bernard Kelsey was born in 1844 to humble shop owners in South Carolina. Not rich by any measure, Bernard soon enough learned and even began to enjoy the world of business. As this mindset grew so did his want to expand his own horizons. As a child and adolescent he would travel into Charleston with his family on business meeting all kinds of individuals. Charleston status as an important port and trade hub for the south brought people from across the world to young Kelsey, exposing him to new ideas and ways of thinking.

His teen years would see him working in a couple of gentlemen clubs in nearby Charleston. It was these establishments that allowed for Bernard to make enough friends and garner enough support to break from his current social standing into the world of the grand industrialists of the time period.

Bernard saw the work of the Emperor himself and thought that one day he would want to stand with those types of titans. Bernard would choose to enter into the railroad and shipping industry where over the span of a decade would build a sizable railway empire. His network wasn't as expansive as his northern counterparts or that of the Emperors, but with work it soon would be. Kelsey connected the far west, deep south, and coastal regions to one another in a way that wasn't possible before the end of the Civil War. He even had business dealing with the North bringing, with the Confederacy's blessing of course, approved goods across the Mason-Dixon line in both directions.

Bernard Kelsey, unknown to nearly everyone, had another more clandestine reason for his railroad. Under the pseudonym of the "Ferryman" Bernard Kelsey operated a smuggling network of sorts bringing people and items up and down the continent. The "Ferryman" would take nearly anyone or anything up across the northern border into the Union states. Escaped slaves, unionists, confederate deserters, aristocrats not wanted to be seen heading into the free states and even some fugitives of the law have been his passengers. Surprisingly "Ferryman" has provided safe passage for Northern folks discreetly heading south as well. Some wanting to see family separated from them after the war or those looking to spend some time with a secret southern sweetheart for a weekend.

In more recent news Bernard Kelsey has graduated to the position of Duke of Charleston following the death of the previous duke of old age. At least, that was the reason being reported in the city newspapers anyway. Now, from his base of operations in Fort Sumter, Bernard Kelsey watches over his city, railways, and dedicated workers waiting for the next event that would shake up the region and world at large.

Titles/Positions: "Regent of the Railroad", "Ferryman" and Duke of Charleston.
Holdings: Miles of railroad tracks across the south, several train stations and depots, Charleston, and Fort Sumter.
Politics: He's a more humble and eccentric tycoon thanks to his upbringing and exposure to global thoughts, as much as he can be anyway considering his field of work that is.
Faith:Roman Catholic

Lux Pulchrae wrote:An extremely interesting concept. This is open to everyone right? And is there a certain canon to this history beyond what's written in the OP or can I make a character and say he's like the Duke of Birmingham or something.

The Imperial Warglorian Empire wrote:Tag, would West Virginia have been reunited with Virginia-Virginia in this timeline?

Alaroma wrote:Id like to reserve duke/prince/leader of Texas

Alaroma wrote:Id like to reserve duke/prince/leader of Texas

Gerald Tennure Florinnaude - (1842 - 1920)

Account Name: Free Ward Marchers
Occupation:CEO and founder of Tennure Arms Manufacturing
Motives:Abolition of Slavery, Relocation, and Extermination of "undesirables", Bringing down the autocratic establishment, and unite the south under a strong capable leader (preferably himself)
Background: Born In southern Georgia in January, 5th 1842 to wealthy Prussian Immigrants, Gerald Florinnaude grew up getting a decent education and witness firsthand the works of slavery, and grew to hate it not for the fact that he cared for the Negro, but because he couldn't even stand there presence in the country. Gerald thinks of non-white races to be so inferior that their presence in America should be shunned, and they should be relocated to Africa, or maybe even executed. His absolute disgust at their presence made him unable to pick a side in the civil war, but when he saw that the south won he knew he needed to take his chance, He started a business Tennure Arms Manufacturing, he makes weapons to which he gives to slaves all over the south for them to rebel, and paint them as fearless monsters that need to be expunged
Titles/Positions:N/A
Holdings:N/A
Politics: Nationalism, Proto-Fascism
Faith:Unallined Protestantism (secretly athiest)

Free Ward Marchers wrote:

Gerald Tennure Florinnaude - (1842 - 1920)

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Account Name: Free Ward Marchers
Occupation:CEO and founder of Tennure Arms Manufacturing
Motives:Abolition of Slavery, Relocation, and Extermination of "undesirables", Bringing down the autocratic establishment, and unite the south under a strong capable leader (preferably himself)
Background: Born In southern Georgia in January, 5th 1842 to wealthy Prussian Immigrants, Gerald Florinnaude grew up getting a decent education and witness firsthand the works of slavery, and grew to hate it not for the fact that he cared for the Negro, but because he couldn't even stand there presence in the country. Gerald thinks of non-white races to be so inferior that their presence in America should be shunned, and they should be relocated to Africa, or maybe even executed. His absolute disgust at their presence made him unable to pick a side in the civil war, but when he saw that the south won he knew he needed to take his chance, He started a business Tennure Arms Manufacturing, he makes weapons to which he gives to slaves all over the south for them to rebel, and paint them as fearless monsters that need to be expunged
Titles/Positions:N/A
Holdings:N/A
Politics: Nationalism, Proto-Fascism
Faith:Unallined Protestantism (secretly athiest)

Benjamin Ethan Boykin - (1836 - Present)

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Account Name: Alaroma
Occupation: King of the Kingdom of Texas, Mining/Railroad Barron
Motives: Industrilization, Texan interests, and gradual abolition.
Background:
Born in the aftermath of the Revolution to dispose the tyrant in Mexico, Billy was born a citizen of the Republic of Texas. That honor did not last long, due to the annexation of the Republic at the ripe age of 5. His new citizenship belonging to the United States of America. Soon, the Republic became a state. And his fathers various business ventures began in earnest.

While many people surrounding in the family were engaged in agriculture in the rural areas, and various trades in the small cities, Benjamin’s father dedicated himself to the endeavor of mining. With cooperation from cooperation in the East, multiple ventures were launched into Coal and Iron mining. Under the “Boykin Mining Conpany”, it gradually became one of the more profitable non cotton related ventures in the south. However that’s not where Boykin’s father made the bulk of his influence. No, it was his impact on railroad in the State. Realizing the importance of Railway, Boykin was the owner of the first railway in Texas, the Harrisburg line. Proving profitable, especially for transporting of Cotton funnily enough, he expanded his business model to have more Plantation owners reliant on his railways.

Boykin for his part during this period was groomed by his father to take over the Empire he was building. He even thought he may find himself an attendant of a fine university in the North. Truth was, he actually found a place in Yale University. By the time he had returned home from University, and educated, the difference between his home and the North East was astounding. Sure, his father built railroads and mines, but the factories of the North Had no equal. At first Benjamin dismissed it as difference in economics, but his view changed during the war.

In the late 1855, Benjamin married a woman named Martha White. It was a romantic affair, and one could hardly call it not true love. The marriage bore two children. A son in 1858, and a daughter in 1861. The year the war began. And to the sadness of Boykin, it was the year his beloved wife died in child birth. Israel and Iris, the two children of Benjamin, had to wait the war out with Ben’s parents. Benjamin himself fought in the war, and it was there that the economics of the south ceased making sense to him.

During the war, due to his standing within his community, and the need for smart young men, Benjamin was commissioned as a Captain in the Confederate Army. Serving with Texan forces during the war in an eastern regiment. The battles slogged on, and while they kept winning, their supplies could not keep up. Andrew noticed how his troops increasingly pilfered Unions supplies. A boot here, socks there, stocks of food and drink. They weren’t being fed by the Confederacy, but by the North’s bounty.

In the years following the war, that question haunted him. What if Union generals had been less incompetent? What if Confederal generals had been more incompetent. The down payment in blood was already not something Benjamin liked to contemplate or remember.

After the war, Boykin took a greater role in his family business. Railroads expanded across Texas, to server the needs of the cotton and cattle industries. Corpus Christi became the go to port domestically when it could handle what was being carried, though Houston was also a contender. However when the Confederacy descended into Monarchism, his father did something that surprised him. He aimed for a position of power. And considering how much sway he held, controlling the Railroads, he was able to coerce the local elite into crowning him King of the Kingdom of Texas, vassal to the Emperor of the Confederacy in 1868.

Out of nowhere, Benjamin was heir to a Kingdom, and as in business, his father proved to be prudent. Schools were built, railroad laid out, ports improved, and ‘Boykin University’ established in Fort Worth. His rule was also sufficiently democratic in theory under the new constitution, though for the moment, Texas is practically a one party state with multiple factions inside it. He ruled until 1874, when he died from disease. It was a good 6 years, so good they ended up renaming Fort Worth into Boykin city.

With Benjamin arriving on the scene, his objectives expanded. For one, he began setting up advertising in Europe for immigrants to come to Texas. There was still plenty of land to move into, and considering it was all bought up in Europe, a poor Pole or Italian looking for land, or an adventurous Englishman or German, might find what they’re looking for in Texas. So far, the policy has born some results, but nothing to write home about quite yet.

Besides that, his industrialization agenda was of importance. This accompanied his agenda on Education, and Entrepreneurial spirit. Meanwhile he began attracting manufacturers to Texas, explicitly gun and weapons manufacturers. Remembering the war, it was better to have some companies the Kingdom could trust to meet Texan needs. Beyond that was infrastructure concerns, which he began setting up standards for to make railways among other things more concise in the Kingdom.

Beyond that, was the organization of memorials for the dead of the war, and a slew of monument building. His father wasn’t a vain man, but it would be good to remember him by. Though more importantly, to the Texan state. To remember the Republic, and give honor to the new regime. Texas was its own little world it felt like at times, and frankly the Affairs of other internal divisions of the Confederacy felt like a branch of foreign affairs as well.

As such, foreign policy and internal alliances were necessary. While he himself hasn’t married since his wife died out of grief, he wasn’t above trying to figure out how to get Iris and Israel married, and what youngsters in the Confederacy would be worthy of his children. Truth be told, Benjamin imagined he would have had more children, and if he doesn’t have more, he’d have to value these two all the more.

Beyond that, and admittedly it was more of a pet project, but Benjamin wanted a western coast for the Kingdom. Presumably as a purchase from Mexico. He was aware their Northern States there were sparsely populated, and could prove even more valuable land for trade and possible settlements depending. This all in mind, Benjamin was a youngish King within a greater union. He had his goals, his motivations, now he just needed to make them happen.

Titles/Positions: King of the Kingdom of Texas
Holdings: Cities of Boykin, Dallas (most of Tarrant county), Houston and most of Harris county, Corpus Christi and Nueces County, Austin and Travis county, Navarro county, the railroads (as in a Monopoly), Boykin Mines and Holdings(Anderson, Blanco,Bumet, Caldwell,Cass, Cherokee, Goliad, Harrison, Hays, Henderson, Houston, Leon, Marion, Morris, Nacogdoches, Navarro, Refugio, San Patricio, Smith, Upshur, Van Zandt, Victoria, Jack, McCulloch, Montague, Palo Pinto, Parker, Throckmorton, Wise, and Young (wood, Erath, Eastland and Coleman just as Mining) and a Rural Mansion outside of Austin.
Politics: The Politics of Boykin are very forward looking. Boykin is fearful of the Confederacy being left behind. Having gone over what very well could have been a disaster during the war of succession, it was quite frankly a wake up call. The North had more bodies, more industry, more..........legitimacy. Strong states, unified states, industrial states, were what succeeded. And here the Confederacy was, embracing a form of government long abandoned. Monarchism of the shameless elite in the south. What did it say about him that he came out on top in Texas? Good genes he supposed.
Faith: The Methodist Church

Principal Chief Dr. Samuel Youngdeer - (1849 - Present)

Account Name: St George Territory
Occupation: Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation in the Indian Territory
Motives: Preservation of the Cherokee Nation, greater independence for the Indian Territory, Abolitionism
Background:

Born in the Indian Territory, to a moderately wealthy family (as wealthy as one could be in the Indian Territory) Youngdeer has fought just about everything that one could living in the territory, small pox, starvation, settlers, rival nations, and the Civil War, which took from him several members of his family and had left the Cherokee Nation in a state of desperation as volunteers returning from the battles brought back the diseases that took so many in the war. The Nation suffered not only with disease, but with vast amounts of debt and internal strife, as members of the Eastern Cherokee Nation led the politics of the tribe. Seeking to improve the quality of life in the Indian Territory, in 1868, at the age of nineteen Youngdeer petitioned and was accepted to the Tulane University School of Medicine, where he found moderate success despite his status as an Indian, once he completed university he returned to the Indian Territory to hold a practice in the Cherokee Outlet, suffering under lack of supplies he would find that the only way to survive was by working with the Confederate Indian Authority, an unsustainable way of conducting his practice.

It was in 1873 that Youngdeer was approached by a medicine man by the name of Whitepath who invited the young Doctor to a meeting of several Cherokee elders, and Chief Salonitah, where they discussed the state of the Cherokee nations and held a vision quest, which is where Youngdeer saw the destruction of the Southern Monarchy by the Cherokee, however true it might be is debatable, but it was decided Youngdeer was to be voted on for position of Principal Chief, and that of a secret warrior band of the Keetowah Nighthawk Society. As Salonitah left in 1875, Youngdeer ascended with near unanimous approval by the national council.

Titles/Positions: Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation
Holdings: Cherokee holdings in the Indian Territory
Politics: Nativism, Cherokee Independence, Abolitionism
Faith: (Public) Episcopalian (Private) Peyotism

Endem wrote:Hm, I wonder would ( I be permitted to app here? ) could I app as the ultimate underdog I.e a slave

Alaroma wrote:

Endem wrote:Hm, I wonder would ( I be permitted to app here? ) could I app as the ultimate underdog I.e a slave

Be a slave in Texas bro, trust me, it’ll be epic.

Danceria wrote:

Alaroma wrote:Be a slave in Texas bro, trust me, it’ll be epic.

You'll get your own holiday.

Anyone who isn't Mexican can make it in Texas!*