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I was talking about political polarization with my friend and found this map of the United States. We discussed a bit and a balkanized US would be a pretty interesting setting.
You have a pretty natural balance of power in the West, while the East splits up into a bunch of confederated minors (this is more apparent with regional borders). In the West, no single country would be able to dominate. You have Deseret, Socal, Norcal, Cascadia, and Texas all vying for dominance. New Mexico doesn't have a strong enough economy to stand without depending on a neighboring power, but it has a nuclear bargaining chip to keep autonomy. Because of this, no one will really be able to easily unify the West. In addition, in case of war, the powers are easily able to ally into blocks that check each other. Cascadia would be friendly with Norcal, while Deseret and Texas would buddy up, leaving Socal to stand alone. But Socal has the advantage of currently manufacturing almost a tenth of the world's weapons, allowing it to compensate with pure high-tech firepower. Finally, everyone but Deseret has nukes.
Texas naturally looks eastward to expand its influence, since its Western rivals are strong and the East is weak. It seems that age has given the East the chance to form many more distinct cultures, though they still have regional associations. Given their comparative lack of resources, more distinct cultures, and relative weakness, it seems unlikely that they'd stay freestanding powers like in the West, instead falling into different confederations - one for the North, and one for the South. The politics of the new South would naturally be dominated by its powerful neighbor, Texas. Meanwhile, the North would be dominated by New York.
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>>48398065
The Midwest is sparsely populated and would probably be conquered by Deseret and Texas for its farmland.
I'm sure locals of each place could flesh out what would happen in the event of secession. I feel like California could become autocratic pretty quickly since the state government concentrates power in a few hands pretty well, despite the referendums.
Here's a breakdown of countries in the balkanized US. Countries are marked as nuclear-armed if they possess either a national laboratory or nuclear site. The states included are rough because the color boundaries don't match state boundaries precisely.
Cascadia (WA,OR) - NUCLEAR
Norcal (CA) - NUCLEAR
Socal (CA, NV) - NUCLEAR
Texas (TX) - NUCLEAR
Deseret (UT, ID)
Colorado (CO)
Greater Missouri (MO, KS, IL) - NUCLEAR
Little Scandinavia (MN, IA, WI) - NUCLEAR
Great Lakes (WI, IL) - NUCLEAR
Michigan (MI)
Ohio (OH)
Indiana (IN)
North Appalachia (PA, WV) - NUCLEAR (Literally hillbillies with nukes)
Oklahoma-Arkansas (OK,AK) - SOUTH
Cumberland (TN, KY) - NUCLEAR - SOUTH
Carolina (NC, SC) - NUCLEAR - SOUTH
Florida (FL) - NUCLEAR - SOUTH
West Gulf Coast (MS, LA) - SOUTH
East Gulf Coast (AL, GA) - SOUTH
City of New York (NY) - NORTH - NUCLEAR
State of New York (NY) - NORTH
Northeast (ME, NH, VT, CT, RI, MA) - NORTH
Pennsylvania (PA) - NORTH
Federal District (DC, VA, MD) - NUCLEAR
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>>48398065
>new york is actually split between upstate and downstate.
I'm alright with this.
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>>48398065
So what all is this map supposed to show?
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>>48401247
Culture map of the US as measured by communication. People in a color generally talk to people in the color but not outside.
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>>48398065
>since its Western rivals are strong and the East is weak.
Mate, no one lives in New Mexico.
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>>48398065
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>>48398069
What about Colorado's position as NORAD's and USNORTHCOM HQ, as well as Cheyenne Mountain Complex? In addition Colorado has one of the worlds very few molybdenum Mines which is used for High-tech military grade steel alloys. Not to mention the significant stores of Mine-able resources.
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>>48398065
In terms of climate, culture, and economy western Washington and Oregon have more in common with NorCal and the Bay Area than they do with eastern Washington and Oregon.
Eastern Oregon and Washington would be more likely to link up with a unified Idaho and Montana.
Of course, even the above isn't perfect. You look at political polling and voting and you see that the real breakdown in the US isn't by State, but rather it's between urban and rural populations. Urban cores are blue and rural areas are red. While it seems obvious to point that out, if you look at voting results maps it really shows that the Red State / Blue State thing is a myth.
tl;dr - Balkanization in the US wouldn't break down along neat State borders.
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>>48398065
>>48398069
>>48402230
>>48402462
Could you people FUCKING LABEL YOUR MAPS? What are these maps OF? They have no titles or legends!
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>>48403068
Seconding this.
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>>48403068
They're maps of the united states ya donk.
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>>48398069
>The Midwest is sparsely populated and would probably be conquered by Deseret and Texas for its farmland.
Midwest is more sparse than Utah? I hope this is some sort alternate reality?
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>>48398069
>The Midwest is sparsely populated and would probably be conquered by Deseret and Texas for its farmland.
This was posted by someone living on the coast who has no idea what the middle of the country looks like.
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>>48402230
Man, I loved this game but it's such a pain in the ass to get working now.
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>>48402230
sucky game. but very interesting concept.
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>>48402462
I like this. What's it from originally?
Thread posts: 18
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Thread images: 6