KEY

SAFETY

WASTELAND — The city experiences extremely high levels of crime and has no effective law enforcement body. The area surrounding the city is incredibly dangerous and 'unclaimed', meaning no rule of law has been established at all. The city essentially exists in the wasteland. The city is sometimes attacked by outside forces. A person living in this city would be accustomed to self-defence measures, and would probably make a living doing very rough-and-tumble work.

LOW — The city experiences very high levels of crime, but has some form of law enforcement. The areas outside of the city are patrolled and 'claimed', meaning a general rule of law has been established. These areas are still unsafe to travel alone, however, as bandit and Eldritch attacks are still a very present threat. Individuals in these cities exist in a perpetual state of fear, and rarely have a quiet night.

MEDIUM — The city experiences high levels of crime, but has an semi-effective law enforcement body. The areas outside of the city are frequently patrolled and are sometimes safe to travel alone in. A consistent rule of law has been established, but enforcement is often to be desired. Eldritch or bandit attacks are rare. A person could reasonably get by on their own and live a decent, quiet life in one of these communities.

HIGH — The city experiences some crime, but has a very effective law enforcement body. The areas outside of the city are incredibly safe. Anyone living in this area can expect a peaceful life.

INDUSTRIALISATION

WASTELAND — The city experiences no form of industry whatsoever. Any goods produced are likely made in a home workshop or some other form of DIY-production. Waged labor is rare in these communities. Most people work dangerous wasteland jobs like mercenary work, scavenging, tinkering, or even raiding. Service-based jobs are rare and usually performed by business owners. Social classes are nonexistent in these communities.

LOW — The city has some form of industry, usually consisting of small agricultural or resource extraction businesses. Waged labor exists in some areas. These communities do not have any factories, and instead produce goods in small workshops. Most people are still wasteland types, working as mercenaries, scavengers, explorers, and other dangerous professions. Social classes are very blurred in these communities.

MEDIUM — The city has a wider range of industry, including some small factories. Companies and waged laborers exist in these communities and employ a significant portion of the population. Most people work on farms, in mines or logging camps, or in a small factory. Others work in company offices or service-based jobs for a local business owner. Mercenaries, scavengers, and others also find a living in these communities, though they are a minority. Social classes have begun to emerge in these communities, separating the haves from have-nots.

HIGH — The city has fully industrialised, boasting large factories. Social classes have begun to appear, birthing a working class, the managerial elite, and the wealthy. The vast majority of people (the working class) work in some form of a factory or logistics center, while a smaller portion of the population may work in a low-level management position, a service-based job, or other form of waged employment that pays better.

CITY TYPE

WASTELAND TOWN — Unincorporated communities existing within the primitive barriers of the influences of the Coalition. These are commonplace amongst colonial lands that were recently incorporated. Wasteland towns can have a variety of structures ranging from nomadic to sedentary enclaves. These towns typically provide a grain tax in exchange for Coalition protection.

FRONTIER OUTPOST — The border between the plains and Coalition territory is infinitely vast and to protect border settlements from marauding midwestern droves, frontier outposts exist to allow for quick response strikes from a local garrison. These settlements also function as trade nodes which then funnel goods inwards, thus frontier outposts are commonplace along tributaries of the Mississippi.

SETTLEMENT — Developed land typical of the interior of the Coalition, although still small enough to be considered “rural”, usually founded by ambitious entrepreneurs or reclaimers hoping to resuscitate pre-Flash ghost towns. These towns typically produce basic electricity and are constructed of decent material, comparisons can be drawn to the frontier towns of the 19th century.

CITY — A settlement of a greater make, composed of high quality material and can possess running water and electricity. A city classification is awarded to most barge societies and each is essential for establishing Coalition trade authority over the Great Lakes.

LARGE CITY — Constructed cities of major importance, population centers forged with sweat and blood. These cities are constructed usually from a mainland structure out of brick and concrete, then accompanied by a barge attachment typically. These larger cities have the economic capacity to support basic modern amenities and are typically found coalesced on major maritime routes.

URBAN CENTRE — Urban centres are reclaimed cities from the ash and the exclaves of survivors that sheltered under its rubble, now restored. These cities are large enough to support boroughs and hold the vast majority of the industrial capacity within the Coalition itself and exist as apex centres of administrative control for the entire government.

SPECIAL — Settlement with conditions unique compared to others, elaborated on within the settlement itself.

GREAT LAKES COALITION

Cities that have remained loyal to the Great Lakes Coalition as led by the influence of Hamilton.

New Kitchener

(by AiniDalleo)

POPULATION: Large

SAFETY: MEDIUM

INDUSTRIALISATION: MEDIUM

CITY TYPE: LARGE CITY

GOVERNMENT: Technocracy

In the aftermath of the Flash, Kitchener emerged as a beacon of technological innovation within the Great Lakes Coalition. Prior to the Flash, along with its twin city Waterloo, it was renowned for its educational institutions, most notably the University of Waterloo. The university and its emphasis on engineering and technology played a key role in laying a robust foundation for the city's post-Flash resurgence, as what remained of the faculty, students, and engineers rallied to preserve and rebuild their technological heritage. 

Though the remnants of the University were at first skeptical of wastelanders and scavengers roaming through the interior of Ontario, they realised that they could mutually benefit each other—for their service in ridding the University's surrounding campus of Eldritch, these wastelanders would be acknowledged as helpful fellows and given the opportunity to live out the rest of their days within the comfortable confines of the campus. Upon declaring the University and its campus Eldritch-free in the early 2090s, the remnants of the University of Waterloo rebranded into the "Kitchener Institute of Technology" (KIT), dedicated to salvaging and advancing pre-Flash technology. As well as that, they also had a new goal in mind — to repopulate the lost city of Kitchener, and reclaim it for humanity's sake. 

In its preparations for reclaiming Kitchener, KIT became a rarely-seen hub for innovation, focusing on producing renewable energy from sources they could salvage and rebuild, water purification, and communication systems to establish a connection with the rest of Ontario—or perhaps, the world. The Institute's commitment to technological advancement attracted skilled individuals from across the Ontario wastes—those who previously held skills of high value in the pre-Flash world, though now reduced to scavenging wastelanders, were given a second chance to reignite their life's work. Fostering a newly established culture of innovation and collaboration, Kitchener's engineers developed a number of efficient wind turbines and solar panels, providing sustainable energy solutions that could power not their entire future research ambitions, but the city of Kitchener as well, once the time for its reclamation came to be.

The Institute's prosperity, however,  also made it a target. In the year of 2124, numerous marauder clans and bandits sought to seize the Institute's technological assets for themselves. Tragically, the Institute's main building and its campus were besieged for months by the barbarian wastelanders—though luckily enough, a Coalition envoy and his militia escort had reached the Institute just in time to relieve the siege. Everything seemed as if it was over for the hard-working researchers of the Institute—their dream of rebuilding Kitchener from the ground up was surely never to be achieved now. Fortunately, though, the envoy proposed a deal to the researchers: in exchange for supplying the Coalition with its technological goods, the Institute would be supplied with materials needed to resettle Kitchener and rebuild what was lost in the marauder siege. 

Since then, Kitchener has remained committed to the Coalition's vision of unity and progress, even through its most shaky moments. The city has shared its technological advancements with settlements across the entirety of the peninsula, supplying them with technological solutions ranging from agriculture to defence. It is common to see most, if not nearly all technological goods in Coalition cities marked as arriving from Kitchener. Besides dealing with technology, Kitchener also houses a Traders' Guild, the Breithaupt Guild. The guild has taken advantage of the city's strategic position in between the lakes Huron and Ontario, tolling all caravans and passengers heading to and from cities situated nearby each lake.

Kitchener's ruling class, in the post-Flash era, has evolved into a technocracy—a system of governance where scientists, engineers, and skilled technologists hold power. Known as the Consortium of Progress, this elite council composed of leading minds from all cornerstones of innovation rules over the city. Their authority is derived not from primogeniture or wealth but from expertise and their contributions to the city's survival and growth. Though it is difficult to become naturalised as an official resident of Kitchener, this does not mean that those foreign to the city are outcasts and classed as inferior. In fact, quite the opposite is present—the council encourages those emigrating to the city to offer their full capabilities to be accepted into society, be it as an engineer, or a simple janitor. A special emphasis is placed upon populist values, and the motto that it is only indolence that makes people undesirable, and that dedication to contributing to the common good is what defines a person's spirit. This does not necessarily mean that Kitchener's society is perfect, however—working in the city is taxing and heavily demanding, and those unable to keep up with the pace of their workplaces are shunned and left behind in the dust.

In essence, Kitchener's post-Flash identity is forged by its resilience and technological heritage, and its undying commitment to innovation. Throughout the years, the city has not only survived the challenges of the post-Flash era but has also become an impressive cornerstone of progress and hope within the Great Lakes Coalition.

Baie de Poré

(by Revacholiere)

POPULATION: Medium

SAFETY: MEDIUM

INDUSTRIALISATION: LOW

CITY TYPE: CITY

GOVERNMENT: Worker Commune

STATUS: Partially occupied (Midwest Union)

Despite its reliance on maritime trade and transportation of goods across the two halves of the former Coalition, Baie de Poré is an entirely grounded city based on the eastern shore of the Ontario peninsula. Established in the mid 2100s, much of its prosperity is owed to the needs of the early and later the Golden Age Coalition. Responsible for shipping all sorts of supplies across Lake Huron and to the cities on the Michigan Peninsula, then back, the city had minimal involvement in the conflicts surrounding it. Even during the infamous Huron War, its population was deemed exempt from deployment in return for day and night logistics work for the Unified Expeditionary Force.

Even then, the city was no slice of heaven. Much of its ruling class openly behaved in slothful and antagonistic ways towards the workers that filled their pockets—namely the men and women who worked on the waters. In wake of the Panic, the Fisherman’s Union was formed, consisting of all those involved in bringing Baie de Poré its bread and butter. The cargo haulers, the fishermen, the ship drivers and many others found themselves under an umbrella. Despite the aristocracy’s attempts to subdue the faction’s radical efforts, they soon found themselves at the guns of an equally discontent army.

Overthrown due to the lack of decisive action during the Midwestern Crisis, the ruling class and the mayoral institutions it hid behind dissipated in a day. Economically handicapped by the secession of the new force across the pond and equally afraid of an invasion on their doorstep, the army and union formed a pact—the union will govern in a communal manner, while the army will act as the vanguard of the city and be awarded additional rations.  

Many call Baie de Poré the most nationalistic city in the Coalition. Its dedication to absorbing the Midwest back into the fold is unmatched, so much so that a strain of paranoia had infected much of its society. Driven hungry by an ever worsening economy and furious by the bloodshed of their fellow countrymen, the residents of this city often publicly execute perceived sympathisers to the Midwest. On the streets, it is the fisherman that polices his community and punishes lawbreakers.

The only thing that keeps the city from declaring bankruptcy is extensive funding from Hamilton, both due to a propaganda campaign that had captured the hearts and minds of many and its status as a fortress on the frontlines. Much of its outer buildings had been covered by overarching walls of steel and scrap, its population stands extensively educated in the techniques of urban guerilla warfare and its army is wholly energised to even bring the fight to the New Model Army.

Niagara Falls

(by vrw0we & PoweringTaxEvasion)

POPULATION: Medium

SAFETY: MEDIUM

INDUSTRIALISATION: MEDIUM

CITY TYPE: CITY

GOVERNMENT: Mercantile

Niagara Falls serves as the beating heart of commerce between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. Its modern identity was forged in the Flash, when survivors from crews of the ships of the St. Lawrence Seaway Corporation, Lake Erie Shipping Corporation, along with several other native and non-native cargo freighter crews were stranded on the banks of the Welland Canal after devastating ballistic missile attacks cut the electric flow to the canal, rendering it impassible by ships and leaving the sailors unable to return to their homelands. These sailors, a great multitude of which were not native to the land around Niagara Falls, had no other option than to band together and defend the homes that were their beached ships and barges. 

For the next forty years, two generations worth of sailors made their homes in the ships they had marred to the shores of the Welland Canal in 2071, turning away scavengers, refugees, and looters away by the barrels of their flare guns and the points of their knives. The sailors were contacted by the Great Lakes Coalition in 2119, who offered military aid against marauders and looters that had plagued the sailors since the dawn of the Flash in exchange for passage into Lake Ontario. The crews convened, and eventually decided to accept the Coalition’s proposal, ridding Niagara Falls of marauder gangs with Coalition aid by 2122. The Coalition gained access to Lake Ontario and expanded its alliance into the coastal settlements there, and the crews of the Welland Canal settled Niagara Falls and the cities around it. Isolationist sentiments among the crews faded by the 2130’s, which saw the mass-entry of out-of-region Coalition and wasteland settlers and the eventual clearance and reopening of the Welland Canal in 2136, which facilitated naval trade between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, and even saw the refurbishment of some of the mostly-seaworthy ships that the original inhabitants had beached on the banks of the canal in 2071.

Today, the city’s infrastructure is built upon this inter-lake trade. Warehouses and docks unscathed by the Flash now serve as trade hubs and administrative centers for the powerful trading guilds that govern the city. Niagara Falls remains a critical junction point for goods flowing from the Northeastern Union, Quebec, Canada, Newfoundland and even the Atlantic and into the heart of the Coalition’s territories. The Welland Canal, now fully and efficiently operational after extensive retrofitting, continues to dictate the goods that enter Erie from Ontario and vice versa.

Niagara Falls is governed by numerous squabbling Trader's Guilds—each wishing to maintain the monopoly the city has delicately preserved on trade among the Great Lakes even after the Flash. These Guilds organised into a diet, dividing the Falls into separate zones of influences. So far, the domineering house serving as representative of the Welland Canal are the Malbaie Traders’ Guild, who claim direct descent from those sailors stranded in the canal. While the rule of the Trading Guilds has ensured stability and prosperity for those living near the canal’s locks, such cannot be said for those on the outskirts. Workers in the outlying scrap hovels and shanties surrounding the locks are given meager wages, with most working in maritime trades, scavenging, or the dismantling of decades-old pre-Flash ships, while the merchants and their Guilds remain skimming cuts off travellers and ships passing into the Lakes.

Niagara Falls' proximity to the Northeastern Union has allowed its growth through the network of illegal and legal shipping vessels which ferry goods from the Coalition and into the NEU, and vice versa. Motivated by their vested economic interest, the Trader Guilds, despite protest from the Northeasterners, never seem to clamp down on the prominence of smugglers in the canal. Not many can sneak past the Welland without paying the Trader Guilds a toll, and those who do usually find themselves on the other side of a Niagara Falls patrol-boat or even the Black Navy of the NEU. The junction between the Coalition and the NEU has also seen numerous Northeastern expatriates fleeing to Niagara Falls, perhaps to escape prosecution, debts, or the repression inherent to the Northeastern system. Niagara stands as a city of great contrasts—between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, the merchants and the laborers, and Coalition and Northeast Union—but as long as the Welland remains, Niagara will continue to serve as that vital corridor it always has been, post and pre-Flash.

De Gaulle

(by AiniDalleo)

POPULATION: Medium

SAFETY: MEDIUM

INDUSTRIALISATION: MEDIUM

CITY TYPE: CITY

GOVERNMENT: Merchant Oligarchy

De Gaulle is a mercantile powerhouse situated on the southern banks of the Welland Canal, serving as the aorta of the inter-lake trade between Lake Erie and Ontario. Like the city of Niagara Falls, it was forged in the trying times of the Flash, after remnants of a total of five ship crews from the freighting company Canadian Steamship Lines, as well as other companies native to the Great Lakes found themselves stranded in the harbor of Port Colborne. With the Welland Canal rendered impassable due to its bombardment during the Flash, the unfortunate crews were left with no choice but to hunker down in their moored ships.

For the next thirty-odd years, the remaining sailors transformed the immobilised ships into their homes, though not undertaking an isolationist sentiment—the sailors were open to wastelanders and scavengers stopping by, so long as they followed the rules set. Taking in more and more outsiders as the years went by, one ship had come to grow to a notable size than its moored sisters—the bulk carrier CSL Welland's Indulgence. Though it could still be rendered mobile, the sailors occupying it had chosen to retire to their now humble lives, and a settlement began to sprawl in the ship's cargo holds and its deck. The Great Lakes Coalition approached the sailors of the five ships in the year of 2110, presenting them with an offer in which the Coalition would assist in refurbishing the abandoned town of Port Colborne, though the sailors would have to pay a certain price — to begin utilising their ships once more to set sail across the Great Lakes in search of trade.

The captain and the crew of the Welland's Indulgence denied the offer from the Coalition, citing that they were satisfied with their current way of life, however, this would not be to the distaste of the crews of the rest of the ships still moored in the harbor. Now living in the shadow of the Welland's Indulgence, the other ship crews had grown envious of its status as a symbol of power and wealth. On the night following the Coalition's offer, sailors from the other four ships, most notably the ATL Charles de Gaulle, snuck aboard the Welland's Indulgence—killing the captain and the majority of the crew in an event that would become known as "The Silent Capsize". Following the bloody event, the captain of the Charles de Gaulle, Rémi Fournier, proclaimed the remaining crew of the Welland's Indulgence and the wastelanders living inside it as subservient to his will.  With the harbor under the control of his mighty fist, Fournier would now finally accept the Coalition's offer—sending, of course, the Welland's Indulgence as the the first ship to embark on trade runs, and renaming the to-be refurbished city of Port Colborne after his ship—De Gaulle.

With five freighters in its fleet, the city of De Gaulle was sure to have a headstart compared to other newly joined Coalition settlements. The city itself went on to become a patchwork of hastily built warehouses, towering cranes, and sprawling dockyards. With its five core ships and their crews traveling all around Lake Erie at nearly all times, De Gaulle's actual workforce would come to be made up of desperate refugees, former pirates, and displaced peoples from the wastelands, all lured in by promises of opportunity but bound by harsh contracts. Until the reopening of the Welland Canal thanks to the efforts of the sailors on the northern banks who would come to re-establish Niagara Falls, it would strive as the major mercantile powerhouse on the western side of Lake Erie.

Once the canal was reopened in 2136, however, the rivalry between Niagara Falls and De Gaulle truly began. Niagara Falls, led primarily in its mercantile interests by the Malbaie Traders’ Guild, sought to assert its dominance over the Welland, capitalising on their access to the canal's northern locks. De Gaulle and its Traders' Guilds, driven by a cutthroat ethos and a history of brutal ambition, countered with aggressive mercantile expansion and deals with smugglers and privateers to undercut Niagara Falls’ share of the market. Tensions between the two cities culminated with economic sabotage and proxy skirmishes along the canal. De Gaulle’s captains and Fournier himself accused those of Malbaie Traders' Guild of underhanded tactics, such as bribing Coalition officials to impose stricter regulations on its merchants, while Malbaie pointed fingers at De Gaulle's expansionism and vye for power. Tensions between the two would only be resolved after an intervention by observers from other Coalition cities—defusing the conflict between the two into a simple "cold war" that has continued into today.

Today, De Gaulle is controlled by a mercantile oligarchy known as the Council of Twelve, which consists of members of venerable merchant families, descendants of the captains of the five original ships, former smugglers and privateers who have carved out enough power through their cutthroat dealings, as well as representatives of various Traders' Guilds. It traces its roots back to those who boarded the Welland’s Indulgence, with the Council at first being made up of Fournier's closest confidants and overseen by him personally until his death. The Council, now spearheaded by a Chairman elected by the other councilors, exercises an iron grip over port operations, customs, and contract labor. Other Traders' Guilds exist within the sphere of De Gaulle's notorious trade industry, though they are all kept under the boot of the Council—being unconsciously used like puppets by the Council to ensure that De Gaulle operates with ruthless efficiency at all times.

Haleegan

(by Kejensia)

POPULATION: Small

SAFETY: HIGH

INDUSTRIALISATION: LOW

CITY TYPE: SETTLEMENT

GOVERNMENT: Oligarchy

The town of Haleegan sits atop the corner of the landmass paralleling the Niagara Falls. Its’ economy and industry is heavily reliant on fishing, small-scale agriculture, and trade with larger city-states to sustain itself. Haleegan entered into the Coalition in 2150 and right after its founding in 2146 due to Haleegan’s lack of a proper army or any means of trade, leading its economy to stagnate in the years prior to entry. Haleegan is described by many to be a peaceful town, though on occasion it finds itself to be the victim of countless privateer bands sailing down Lake Ontario from the nearby Canadian waters. Although smaller and more susceptible to attack than any other town on Lake Ontario, Haleegan’s position allowed it to act as a strategic chokepoint into Lake Erie, leading to a small garrison of Coalition troopers inducted into Haleegan’s township to protect the interests of Coalition trade and to combat piracy on the waters. Residents of the town have come to bash and protest Haleegan’s industry oligarchs who have a reputation for electing their own candidates into office without election or public say-so, although the town is said to be a democratic township. The current mayor of the town is Gary Flincher, who has been serving the town of Haleegan for four years.

Sainte-Paix

(by Miscreantagent & Un_xty)

POPULATION: High

SAFETY: MEDIUM

INDUSTRIALISATION: HIGH

CITY TYPE: LARGE CITY

GOVERNMENT: Parliamentary Oligarchy

A bustling city, Sainte-Paix thrives as one of the Great Lakes Coalition’s leading industrial producers of militaria, though it has invented little of note. Many of its inhabitants are overworked, yet the city’s character is strikingly uncharacteristic for such a heavily industrialized hub. Despite its vast working-class population, Sainte-Paix is renowned for cultural tastes more often associated with the nation’s elite: opera houses, avant-garde clubs, and a magnificent symphony hall stand proudly in its vibrant, crowded center.

The city began as a utopian project in the 2130s, spearheaded by wealthy oligarchs from the Great Lakes’ eastern territories. Conceived as their “ideal” city, Sainte-Paix was envisioned as a modern paradise free of the lower classes and brimming with fine dining, exquisite entertainment, and spaces designed to maximize high-society pleasures. The name “Sainte-Paix” was chosen to symbolize a shining beacon in an otherwise cruel world—though in time, the city became enmeshed in that same world’s cycle.

Despite immense funding, the city required far more labor than anticipated. Workers from across the Ontario Peninsula were brought in with the promise of building a paradise before the oligarchs’ own lifetimes expired. Yet these very workers became Sainte-Paix’s core citizenry, reshaping the city in unexpected ways. Industrial districts soon rose along the western edges, producing goods to fuel the luxury and ambitions of its wealthier residents.

As any would expect, a utopia for the wealthy could not exist without enforcers. Thus, the Chevaliers de la Paix were created—Sainte-Paix’s militia, under direct control of the oligarchs. In its early days, the Chevaliers were staffed by once-revered commanders of the Coalition, coaxed out of retirement for various personal reasons. Over time, however, the militia fell into corruption and mediocrity, serving less to protect the people and more to maintain the oligarchs’ dominance. They kept order, but only by deepening the divide between rich and poor. Even so, peace was preserved for decades, the citizenry kept busy with constant expansion and the oligarchs’ insatiable demands.

During the Panic of ’57, Sainte-Paix—like many cities—struggled. Yet its industrial might unexpectedly positioned it as a lifeline for surrounding cities in desperate need of resources. The oligarchs, by sheer chance, had struck gold decades earlier. Their excess wealth now trickled down to the working class in ways unprecedented for the Coalition. To stabilize the economy, higher wages and new factories with safer facilities were introduced. The welfare of ordinary men and women soared. This trend only accelerated during the Huron Wars, when factories shifted to producing rations, weapons, and militia equipment. The Chevaliers themselves swelled with volunteers eager for glory, as industry boomed and the city’s population surged. For the first time, even a humble warehouse worker could afford an evening at the symphony or a fine meal in a restaurant once reserved for the elite.

With this rising appreciation for the working class—and under the growing liberal wave sweeping the Coalition—the oligarchs eventually allowed districts of Sainte-Paix to elect local representatives. These figureheads wielded little actual power but served as advisors, voicing the concerns of their communities directly to the ruling class. Though limited, the system proved effective and remains in place to this day. Many citizens view it positively, even if grudgingly, as governance under the oligarchs has—perhaps surprisingly—been handled competently, if only to secure continued profits.

The Chevaliers de la Paix have long been at the forefront of new military technologies, a privilege of Sainte-Paix’s role as a leading manufacturer. Following Hamilton’s rulings in 2164, they became one of the most prominent militias to adopt camouflage, inspired by the Huron Wars. Even their formal dress reflects practicality: muted olive blazers paired with dark brown slacks. This ethos of “utility above all” remains ingrained in their culture. Veterans prefer reliable, refined weaponry over makeshift rifles or ostentatious, impractical arms. The brutal legacy of the Huron Wars shaped this pragmatism, altering the Coalition’s approach to war forever.

In the modern era, Sainte-Paix endures as a giant of the military-industrial complex. Its exports—uniforms, small arms, and daisy gas—fuel the Coalition’s might. Still ruled by the same oligarchic families of decades past, yet with ever-changing district advisors, the city embodies a paradoxical balance. Sainte-Paix is, at once, necessity and luxury—a rare lightning in a bottle.

London

(by Bockqses)

POPULATION: Medium

SAFETY: HIGH

INDUSTRIALISATION: MEDIUM

CITY TYPE: CITY

GOVERNMENT: Parliamentary System

The capital city of the Norfolk province, London stands among the pre-Flash ruins of the same name. Though often overshadowed by Cargo City’s industrial landscape, London is responsible for numerous inventions post-Flash, most notably the London Babelfish and the Hook Mapping PDA. Originally inducted into the Coalition in the 2090s, London has built itself back to the status of a post-industrialism town with three districts. Notably, electricity has spread through the entirety of the town; powerlines go along the sidewalks and connect into many of the well-known businesses and establishments. The buildings themselves have advanced beyond the basic settlements seen elsewhere, with brick walls and large glass windows seen in the district around the Hook Institute of Science and London Centre of Technology. And, much like many other aspects of London, the streets are clean and stone-brick. 

Many believe London to be one of the smartest towns in the Coalition, and as such, where the town shines is not in its architecture or military, but instead in its technology and research. The town possesses three universities which serve as their own districts, most of which are dedicated to engineering or technology. Driven by a desire to uphold the town’s traditional economy and reputation, many teens slave away studying books to try to develop the next big breakthrough—to which many fail. As time has gone on and the town has grown beyond the fledgling settlements nearby, there has been a more intense strive for power among the colleges. Specifically, the Fanshawe College of Engineering, inventor of the London Babelfish, has been making extreme strides for power, notably being allegedly involved in the murder of two parliamentarians.

Presently, the town is governed by a parliament of fifty who all hail from one of the three universities—causing strict divisions among them. There is intense squabbles over which sector of town should receive the most money, with aggravated arguments and sometimes fistfights breaking out on the parliament’s floor. The corruption from the universities isn’t entirely localised in the government, either; the town’s militia of nearly four-hundred has reported cases of corruption among two of their five generals and 253 cases of corruption among its standard troops. In spite of the cases of corruption and failed technology, London, even into 2165, upholds its reputation to the other towns under the Coalition’s banner.

Cargo City

(by vrw0we)

POPULATION: Medium

SAFETY: MEDIUM

INDUSTRIALISATION: MEDIUM

CITY TYPE: CITY

GOVERNMENT: Indefinite Regency

Cargo City is often said to be a diamond amidst a sea of coal, as well as being reputed as Bargetown's sister city. After decades of being a bastion of democracy, it recently has fallen into an indefinite regency after elections were withheld by their Mayor-turned-Despot, Constance Kincade, following the November 1st attacks. Once one of the few captains of industry in the Great Lakes, Cargo City has since slipped into its current despotic and infamous state after the Midwestern secession. The insidious evolution of Cargo City gave rise to an industrial titan, its military surplus exported to the rest of the Lakes, though wholly sustained through gross exploitation and forced labor until the disruption of this scheme by the Capitale. Cargo City found its reputation in providing textiles and military equipment to the rest of the Coalition, with it not being an open secret that prison labor’s commonly used in the hull of the freighter—those condemned to toil being named the Bilge Rats, a replacement for the cheap labor Cargo City’s dictators no longer possesses.

Founded at the outset of the Flash, Cargo City began as a lake freighter traversing across the Great Lakes to avoid the horrid conditions of the irradiated and lawless wastes, but due to a large storm nearly sinking the city, it has remained static since. They became a bastion of seafaring, living off of frequent trade with other independent townships. The first generation of those aboard Cargo City could claim direct descent to the Lake Erie Shipping Corporation—and over time, this perception skewed, warped, and mutated into the gross caste system found in Cargo City today. Rather than the axis of native versus transient, society in the grounded state Cargo City has a sort of informal caste system, depending on where one hailed—at the top of the hierarchy are the Upper Deckers, born within the well-maintained innards of the ship, the Freighters, those coming from the freight containers and the buildings built out of them, and Landrats, who live in the mortar-and-scrap shanties dotting the land Cargo City’s docked itself on. In the rungs around the freighter, it’s not uncommon to hear Quebecois, with many of the Landrats being refugees fleeing Canada or the NEU. While no formal gates bar entry to the rest of the city, each of the other classes—from Decker, Freighter, and Rat—found themselves sneering at each other until the sudden intervention of the Mob.

Among the aristocratic and nepotistic offices of Cargo City, the Upper Deckers suddenly found their opposition in the Capitale, an underground formed by an influx of displaced Ontarian refugees. The Cargo City Capitale leveraged the anger of the lower castes, pandering to the Landrats. Under them, the Capitale claimed, they’d see a Cargo City where every man could prove he’s sewn together by himself and not his mere heritage. With the immigration to Cargo City never quite stopping, the Upper Deckers found their corrupt institutions twisted the other way, bribes sent to the working-class men who staffed their lower rungs—and while the caste system still exists, most who respect it remain on the higher end of the food chain. The Capitale acts as a sort of labor-union and a racket—ensuring the Landrats’re represented in the sewing mills and loomerys of Cargo City. For all intents and purposes, the Mob and the industries of Cargo City, who’ve been controlled by generations of Upper Decker textile and arms barons, are highly interconnected—the former providing labor and the latter ensuring said labor’s treated humanely. This parasitism, while relieving many of Cargo City’s poorly, draws ire from the Upper Decker magnates and their installed Mayor, but they begrudgingly allow it in the face of a Midwestern civil war.

With the emergency powers invested in the Regency, Cargo City's Marines—a standing force with only few patrol craft and whatever fishing vessels they can still maintain without the industry of the Midwest—have been granted further authority along the riverrun. Perhaps to satiate many of the wasters who've been employed by the Marines, these soldiers find themselves searching vessels and seizing contents should they be trading with the Midwest. While not officially allowed to act as privateers, supplies are nicked every so-often from these vessels by Cargo's marines as a sort of traitor's tax. Alongside that, inland, they find themselves augmenting the traditional Brig Watch, the constabulary force of Cargo City. An uneasy status quo permeates most interactions—with neither the Capitale, the entrenched Upper Deckers running the factories, and the Regent-Mayor wishing for any insurrection. While freedom has turned to a stagnant and continuous repression, it’s also guaranteed the continuation of industry and production in the bowels of the anchored freighter.

Lakewood

(by esperToYou — full document here)

POPULATION: Middling

SAFETY: MEDIUM

INDUSTRIALISATION: MEDIUM

CITY TYPE: CITY

GOVERNMENT: Military Dictatorship

Lakewood is a dilapidated trading post turned city off the coast of Lake Erie and located within the bounds of the modern day Lakewood RV Resort in Ontario, from which it draws its official name. In lieu of this official name, Lakewood is also referred to as ‘The Stacks’ by locals due to its construction consisting mostly of winding towers of RV camper homes as both a defence measure and way to pack more people into the small city. These towers are prone to collapse, being held together with whatever materials were available at the time of their construction, causing some to mockingly refer to the town as ‘The Falls’ due to the abundance of deaths from the resulting collapses. The current military regime of Lakewood has actually censored discussion about these tower collapses, though it’s done little to actually stop people from talking about it.

The town of Lakewood was initially settled in 2104 by a group of scavengers who wanted to capitalise on the area’s abundant scavenging potential, at first establishing a representative democracy. As word spread about the glorified trading post of a town, various merchants, in particular those from settlements apart of the Coalition, flocked to Lakewood, leading to a massive spike in both the wealth and population of the town. By 2132, the population of Lakewood had skyrocketed from just a few dozen people to just over 1,000. Although Lakewood would initially enjoy the wealth that came from these merchants settling down, the small town would begin to suffer raids from eastern mutant settlements seeking to siphon off wealth from the town as well as an easy target to carry out their frustrations against the Great Lakes Coalition. These infamous raids would leave a lasting impact on the citizens of Lakewood, creating generational trauma even for those who weren’t even alive at the times of these attacks, as well as a growing resentment for mutants within the town. As an additional consequence, Lakewood would officially draft up terms to join the Great Lakes Coalition in 2136, and with the assistance of other Coalition settlements Lakewood would rapidly industrialise. Just 1 year after Lakewood officially joined the Great Lakes Coalition, the Lakewood Military Force (LMF) was established, allowing for the town to rely upon a standardised military rather than an unorganised town militia, at its head being an aspiring young general named Dean Lawrence.

Despite initial prosperity from their formal induction into the Great Lakes Coalition, as the 2150s rolled around and Lakewood was pulled into the Huron Conflict things quickly took a turn for the worse. With the LMF out fighting a war in Huron, Lakewood increasingly began relying on private mercenaries to enforce its laws, who were ultimately under the control of the legislators who began utilising them for voter intimidation. Not only this, but due to the perceived distance between Lakewood and the actual Huron Conflict, many Huroni Refugees began flocking to Lakewood, creating tension between the human and mutant populations of the town. Even up to present day, Huroni populations within Lakewood are much higher than other Coalition settlements. Tensions boiled to a head after a well-known citizen within Lakewood was killed in self-defence by a Huroni refugee, and the government took the side of the Huroni. Riots and counter riots began roiling throughout the city, and with nowhere else to really turn, Lakewood called back the LMF from Huron to deal with the civil discontent. However, instead of helping the government regain control of the situation, the now battle hardened LMF under the command of General Dean Lawrence performed a military coup, instating him as a dictator.

Although the shift was sudden, Lakewood citizens accepted the new autocratic government with cautious optimism over the old corrupt one. After the regime change, propaganda and censorship began spreading like wildfire throughout the town, with people who publicly spoke out against the government mysteriously being ‘kidnapped’ by ‘mutant savages’ from the east. More anti-mutant laws were established, and all previous civilian industry the town once had has been appropriated by the new government and utilised to produce goods specifically for the military. A mandatory conscription law was also established, with people as young as 17 being conscripted and ultimately indoctrinated into the military. Despite rising tensions from the populace, brutal crackdowns on the part of the military have kept things from escalating out of control. Although criticised by democracies within the Great Lakes Coalition East, with the breakaway of the MWU in 2163, Lakewood remains as a necessary trading partner to many of these democracies.