THE COALITION | Diplomacy

KEY

STATUS

ALLIED — The firm allies of the Great Lakes Coalition. Coalition forces and this faction cooperate in battle.

FRIENDLY — This faction is a friend of the Great Lakes Coalition. Coalition forces cooperate with this faction, but usually outside of battle.

NEUTRAL — This faction is—at least officially—viewed neither positively nor negatively.

HOSTILE — This faction is hostile to the Great Lakes Coalition and its people. Coalition forces are free to engage these factions at will.

OPEN CONFLICT — The staunch enemies of the Great Lakes Coalition. Coalition forces clash regularly with these factions.

REPUTATION

POPULAR — The members of this faction are loved and greatly supported among the people of Bargetown.

LIKED — The members of this faction are generally liked among the people of Bargetown.

UNKNOWN — The members of this faction are not viewed strongly by most or are largely unknown.

MIXED — The members of this faction are viewed in ways that differ significantly from person to person.

DISLIKED — The members of this faction are generally disliked among the people of Bargetown.

VILIFIED — The members of this faction are notorious and despised among the people of Bargetown.

LORE FACTIONS

(vignette by Mystikalli)

UNITED STATES RECLAMATION FORCE

STATUS: ALLIED

REPUTATION: MIXED

AGREEMENTS: Maritime Exclusion Zone

Based on a mutual hatred for the Midwestern Union, the Great Lakes Coalition has reformed their alliance with the United States Reclamation Force—more specifically, the USRF's Black Navy. Bargetown's previous (unfulfilled) agreements with the Southern Union put a subtle strain on the alliance, but regardless, the Black Navy and Great Lakes Coalition vessels are jointly responsible for keeping up the anti-biomass blockade around the waters of the Sunrise Isles.

A historic cultural bitterness between the Great Lakes Coalition and the Northeastern Union has led to great protest regarding the newly-remade alliance across the Coalition. Many in the Coalition—especially those with first-hand experience, like in Bargetown—view the Northeastern Union as an overly warlike and imperialist nation with obvious designs on the Coalition and its territories, the Sunrise Isles notwithstanding. Despite the protest of the wider Coalition's people—the people of Bargetown among them—the unpopular military alliance between the USRF and the Coalition continues.

(vignette by Mystikalli)

HILLTOP GROUP

USRF SUBGROUP

STATUS: ALLIED

REPUTATION: DISLIKED

AGREEMENTS: Anti-New Model Army Combat Treaty

The Gold Leaf Army has made allies with the Hilltop Group, offering the paramilitaries fire support from the militia's vast arsenal of mortar batteries in exchange for Hilltop Group offering Coalition forces support in battles against the New Model Army.

In Bargetown itself, though, Hilltop Group is immensely unpopular. Their association with the imperialistic Lakeside Division, coupled with their alleged massacre of an entire community of Northeastern—but still human—inhabitants in the North Island leaves them seen as nothing more than greedy marauders and senseless Northeastern imperialists. The Coalition's military alliance with Hilltop PMC is extraordinarily unpopular in Bargetown, even more so than their alliance with the wider United States Reclamation Force.

(vignette by iiLobo)

THE ALUMNI

STATUS: NEUTRAL

REPUTATION: DISLIKED

AGREEMENTS: None

The Great Lakes Coalition's relationship with the Alumni has been nothing less than a constant, two-decade-long diplomatic nightmare. Relations between the two groups began in 2146, when Bargetown laid anchor in the Isles and made first contact with the people of the Sanctum, kicking off with immediate tensions, mostly regarding the Coalition's expansionist ways.

Despite prominent misgivings about one another, relations remained mostly neutral between the two groups up until 2162, when the government of Bargetown sought out the purchase of leaked information—alleged to be advanced, pre-war agricultural techniques—from an Alumni insider. A squadron of well-armed Alumni fighters confronted the Gold Leaf Army during the midst of the sale, proceeding to bloodily repulse them from their positions and capture several militiamen, some of whom have never been returned to Bargetown. Diplomatic forays between the two led to the "repair" of relations and a return to relative neutrality.

Dire conditions between the Sanctum and Bargetown led both to ally economically and militarily in 2164, primarily against the burgeoning threat of Southpoint. Still, this alliance broke down in the winter of 2164 when the newly landed New Model Army regiment was permitted passage through the Sanctum (and closer to Bargetown's gates), followed up by the Sanctum abandoning its trade relations with the Coalition in favor of the Midwest Union some months later, despite attempted diplomatic mediations.

Bargetown has since abandoned most relations with the Alumni, and the Coalition has been barred from entering the Sanctum. Despite the mutual distrust and disdain, Bargetown continues to officially permit Alumni to enter the city's borders.

(vignette by ThePressWarrior)

SOUTHPOINT STATE

STATUS: OPEN CONFLICT

REPUTATION: VILIFIED

AGREEMENTS: None

Southpoint State and the Coalition have an immensely bitter relationship, harkening back into the earlier history of the Sunrise Isles. When Bargetown arrived to the mutant-dominated Sunrise Isles in 2146, Highridge—the predecessor of Southpoint State—fought brutal battles and waged savage wars against Bargetown and her armies under the command of the large mutant-led slave-empire of Darkport. Highridge and an alliance of other mutant settlements ultimately rose up against Darkport, destroying it and all who resided within.

Even after Darkport's bloody collapse, the Gold Leaf Army failed to relent in fighting against the mutant people of the isles—Southpoint included—in revenge for the Attic Betrayal in 2148 and their previous experiences with the empire of Darkport. Contemporaries estimate the Gold Leaf Army's "war" on mutantkind—or, more accurately, blatant genocide of the mutant people of the Sunrise Isles—claimed at least half of the isles' mutant population. Even today, the number of mutants in the Sunrise Isle is still lower than its pre-war number by a sizable margin.

As of late 2164, Southpoint State's declaration of war against humanity has significantly spurred tensions and even more battles between it and the Gold Leaf Army.

(vignette by Riley_yey)

LES VOYAGEURS

STATUS: HOSTILE

REPUTATION: VILIFIED

AGREEMENTS: None

The Coalition has always had a bitter relationship with pirate and bandit groups such as the Voyageurs. When the Coalition was founded in 2092, it was founded on principles of common defense against marauders and pirates, and the new Coalition fought indescribably brutal wars against warlords and marauder crews on the shores of Lake Erie—warlords and marauder crews of which the Voyageurs apparently call back to.

When the Voyageurs warred their way through the Saint Lawrence River and into the Coalition-controlled Lake Ontario before ravaging their way through the Welland Canal in Niagara Falls and then into Lake Erie in 2161, they had fought numerous battles against Coalition-affiliated fleets in the areas they travelled through. Not considering vast lakeside naval duals between Coalition warships and Voyageur vessels, the Voyageurs' landing and subsequent consolidation in the Sunrise Isles has seen them fight numerous bloody battles against Coalition forces, and the pirate fleet has even threatened Bargetown itself.

(vignette by ProsperityOfARandom & Dogewarzzs)

NEW MODEL ARMY

STATUS: OPEN CONFLICT

REPUTATION: VILIFIED

AGREEMENTS: None

The New Model Army and its benefactor—the Midwestern Union—are the sworn and bitter enemies of the Coalition. The Midwestern Union seceded from the wider Coalition to form a federal republic in November of 2163, and since then has conquered non-collaborating Coalition territories in the west, now turning its gaze to conquer what is left of the Eastern Coalition—Bargetown included. A unit of New Model Army soldiers—the 25th Naval Infantry Regiment—have arrived on the shores of the Sunrise Isles to seize or destroy Bargetown for the Midwestern Union.

The people of the Midwestern Union have felt a historical spite against the people of Lake Erie—dubbed the Erie Elite—which has helped fuel the Midwest's bitter war against the Eastern Coalition. What fewer people know, though, is that this (largely mutual) distrust and spite was used by prominent business owners and industrial overlords in the Midwest to drive secession from the Coalition, which saw Bulwark-originate VTOLs sink the floating city of Denton and attempt to repeat the same for Bargetown in a power-play to annex the entirety of the Coalition under their banner.

OFFICIAL FAN FACTIONS

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THE UNIMATA

STATUS: FRIENDLY

REPUTATION: MIXED

AGREEMENTS: Unity Through Cooperation

Historically, the Unimata and Coalition have not interacted, but Bargetown’s extensive anti-droid laws have meant the Unimata, a droid faction, are inherently sceptical of them.

Recently, however, with the introduction of increasingly progressive policies such as the Huron Mandate, the Coalition has decided to establish a trade agreement with the Unimata. The agreement is motivated by several ulterior factors, such as desperation by both parties to find allies on the isles without truly committing to a defensive pact.

(vignette by Mystikalli)

ALMA'S WAY

STATUS: NEUTRAL

REPUTATION: DISLIKED

AGREEMENTS: None

Unlike their Unimata counterparts, ALMA's Way has had no notable interactions with the Coalition. Regardless of their lack of interaction, the prominence of androids and mutants among the ranks of ALMA's Way, coupled with the people of Bargetown's opinions of the order being nothing more than a "droid cult" has led to some poor perceptions of ALMA's Way in Bargetown.

(vignette by Smithingson)

THE ARCHITECTS

STATUS: NEUTRAL

REPUTATION: DISLIKED

AGREEMENTS: None

The Architects are an enigmatic group with mysterious ties to the pre-Flash Freemasons, nowadays inseparable from ARKCorp and constantly meddling with the politics of any factions present in the Great Lakes region. Their goals are shrouded in mystery, and with an ever-present haze of secrecy surrounding their members, nobody knows what they are truly after.

What was once a profitable alliance between the Coalition and Architects has since become a spiteful relationship. As the mainland Biomass crisis continued to expand, Northeasterners from across the union fled to the relative safety of the Sunrise Isles and the settlements housed within. The senate's anti-'American Idealism' response to the influx of refugees into Bargetown is largely attributed as the Architects' primary reason for cutting ties, but what truly broke the camel's back, however, was the Architects' unannounced armed invasion of the Bargetown pantry for the purpose of requisitioning supplies. Since this event, the Architects have been banned from Bargetown and their members are prone to arrests on grounds of terrorism. The relationship between the Architects and Great Lakes Coalition isn't likely to escalate into combat, but may never be repaired again.

(vignette by Chickenbruh1556)

MANY MEN

STATUS: HOSTILE

REPUTATION: UNKNOWN

AGREEMENTS: None

While the thieves' guild of the Many Men has conflicted with Coalition-aligned scraptowns in the past, most on the Sunrise Isles—Bargetown included—have no true conception of who or what the Many Men are, with roving vagrants carrying the guild's resemblance being excused as simple "refugee bands". Some of these supposed refugee bands are rumoured to have carried out attacks and robberies on Gold Leaf Army forces in the North Isle and in Sunrise City. Resultingly, tensions have risen between the inhabitants of Sunrise City—Many Men included—and Gold Leaf Army militants in the last few months.

Robber bands like the Many Men have played an important part in the Coalition's history. The original Coalition city states banded together in 2092 to ward off violent groups of marauders and roaming thieves who carried the Many Men's likeness, and resultingly, the perception of any sort of criminal band to the people and leadership of Bargetown would be treated with antagonisation or outright disgust.

(vignette by mk13143)

SUNRISE KINGS

M2 SUBGROUP

STATUS: ALLIED

REPUTATION: LIKED

AGREEMENTS: The Sunrise Kings Alliance

A stealthy breach of the Coalition's trust which has yet to be uncovered—the illusive Sunrise Kings appear as an organised gang of mercenaries-for-hire native to the Sunrise Isles. In reality, however, the Sunrise Kings are merely the disguise of the wider thieves' guild of the Many Men, taking advantage of their unknown and overlooked nature to swindle the trust of the larger factions across the isles.

As of July of 2165, the mercenary outfit pledged loyalty to Bargetown, swearing to fight alongside the Gold Leaf Army against the Midwestern Union and Southpoint State. The Sunrise Kings have been sanctioned to harass and rob the enemies of the Commonwealth for an indefinite duration, legally hired and empowered as mercenaries. Only time will tell for how long their ruse shall go unnoticed.

(vignette by Aylesiz)

THE CHROMESKULLS

STATUS: NEUTRAL

REPUTATION: VILIFIED

AGREEMENTS: None

The Chromeskulls have had an overwhelmingly negative relationship with Bargetown. The Chromeskulls' counterculture-esque nature, alongside their prominence as a high-profile raider and marauder group on the Sunrise Isles have inspired the discriminatory ire of the people of Bargetown, as well as contemplations of outright armed conflict among the militia's commanders.

Significant tensions with the Government of Bargetown and the Gold Leaf Army have led to the Chromeskulls being legally ousted from Bargetown. In addition to this, those with extensive cybernetics akin to the Chromeskulls are legible for detainment under the Homestead Act of 2164.

(vignette by Powfuse)

SHILOH'S POSSE

STATUS: NEUTRAL

REPUTATION: UNKNOWN

AGREEMENTS: None

Shiloh's Posse is not popular among the people of Bargetown, nor among the higher echelons of the Gold Leaf Army. In Bargetown, Shiloh's Posse is sourly understood as a volatile criminal band and an amoral black market smuggling organization.

Very little in-person contact has been made between the Posse and the Gold Leaf Army, apart from an incident where the Gold Leaf Army allegedly sacked a Shiloh's Posse camp for supplies some months ago.

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