WW3: Mountain Confederacy
The Mountain Confederacy is a rebirth of the short-lived “Mountain Confederacy” of the 2nd Civil War. This first secession attempt lasted from 2014-2017, and ended with the political crisis of June 2017. After the nuclear exchange in summer 2020 and subsequent collapse of federal authority over the region, the founding elements quickly seized control (with considerable popular support) and reconstituted the government of the Mountain Confederacy. The new state was “recognized” by the RJEB early on, but tacit US recognition was finally granted as part of the “Christmas Truce” of 2020. The nation uses a modified “Gadsden Flag” as the official symbol.
The Mountain Confederacy claims the states of Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. In reality, useful authority is limited to certain regions. These include the agricultural towns of southern Idaho, along I-84, Western Montana between Missoula and Yellowstone Park, and most the Columbia Basin east of the Cascades. Wyoming is technically part of the Mountain Confederacy, but the communities there are too small and scattered to participate in a meaningful way. The region has a total population of about 600,000 people; roughly 1/5 the area’s pre-war population. The capital is Boise, Idaho. The current president is James Hornady, leader of the original secession. Authority is centered on individual member counties (about 50 in all), each one sending two representatives to the Legislature, for about 100 in the Legislature. Politics are solidly right wing, and the government is run on an amended form of the old US Constitution. The main policy efforts of the Mountain Confederacy are expansion to the valuable agricultural regions west of the Cascades, deflecting the growing influence of Deseret, and preventing NERCC from reclaiming any foothold in the region.
The Confederation Military consists of three tiers. The top level of the Mountain Confederacy military comes from Mountain Home AFB, where the MCAF has managed to maintain a number of functioning aircraft, including several attack helicopters and a pair of F-35D strike aircraft. Next is a professional standing army of about 2500 soldiers, nearly all of whom are veterans of the 2nd Civil War or WW3, equipped with mostly modern gear of pre-2020 specification. They are used as a rapid reaction force, and are well supplied with armored vehicles, heavy weapons, and electronics. The second tier is the “county militia”, consisting of about 20% of any county’s population in the event of war, but normally consisting of about 1% on active duty at any given time patrolling roads, assisting law enforcement and emergency services, and other such mundane duties. Militias are equipped with personal arms and equipment, stiffened by a core of heavy weapons maintained by the local sheriff. Militias drill once each month, so they tend to be militarily uncoordinated. Individual members tend to be skilled woodsman and excellent shots however – the “lone rifleman with a scoped .30-06” is a formidable adversary on his home ground. Militiamen generally only serve in their home counties unless a general mobilization is ordered. The exceptions to this are the county militias that are sympathetic to the “Homeland Movement”. These militias are generally old Aryan Front units, equipped and trained to high levels; they are quite willing to travel to a fight, and constantly look for new foes to hone their skills against.
The culture of the Mountain Confederacy is quite conservative, though not monolithic. While there is no official church, the Mountain Confederacy is unapologetically a Christian state. There is little tension between Baptists, Lutherans, and Catholics (for example), but atheists and non-Christians are second-class citizens, Jews being the only exception – the very small Jewish population is treated with strange deference by Evangelicals in the Mountain Confederacy. Local churches are used as community centers, with each one being stocked by the government with a powerful radio. These radios connect the Confederacy along the main highways, and make up a circuit that is often used to pass along official information.
There are two major internal conflicts in the Mountain Confederacy. The first is the tension between members of the LDS who live in large numbers in southern Idaho. While many have chosen to immigrate to Deseret, a substantial minority remain in place, where they are suspected of divided loyalties.
A far more serious conflict exists between the relative moderates currently running the government under President Hornady, and the extremist “Homeland Movement”, the white supremacist faction led by infamous firebrand Franklin Hart. The white supremacist movement remains troublesome loose cannons for the Mountain Confederacy, which cannot control them but cannot do without their substantial economic and military power. Certain counties are known to be more sympathetic to the Homeland Movement than others, especially those to the west.
