November 11th, Proclamation Day. The 51st Proclamation Day, as a matter of fact. The 51st for the Corporate Empire as whole, and the 26th under the reign of the Empress Hippolyta. It's often said that while her father, the Emperor Ignacio, put the pieces of the Empire together, it was Hippolyta's reign that welded it all together. That, and the Cordon Rebellion that took up the first five years of her reign. Things have yet to really calm down inside the Corporate Empire, as its leadership began the generations-long plan to reorganize the Empire from merely an alliance of warlords to a true brotherhood of peoples all under the platinum eagle.
The Delimitation Zones, territories that were conquered by the warlords' alliance before the formation of the Empire were the ground zeroes for the Rotthey patriarchās āImperializationā program. Gone were the nation-states of the Pre-War world, in their stead, the Empire divided its territory into Corporate Republics. Denizens of these newly created Corporate Republics were organized into several corporate groups based on common vocation and heritage to govern their home Republic. The Empire also began the formalization of its Great Class (caste) system, that classified the many corporate groups based on their function. What was originally an incentive program early into the post-WWIII societal collapse for parents to pass down their skills to children would consolidate into a system that enforced hereditary careers.
The five-year long Cordon Rebellion and the years of āpolice actionā following the Rebellion (not counting the many other skirmishes that occurred during the Pax Texanica) have allowed for the Imperial Armed Forces to fully come into their own. Gone are the days of the IAF being a mere gaggle of warlordsā militias (collectively referred to as āAylluā) scattered across the globe. The Cordon Rebellion, and subsequent unleashing of Operation JANISSARYās Bandon-Tumens were the catalysts necessary to bring about reform. Greater cohesion and esprit de corps were created through the integration of the old Ayllu militias into the newer Bandon-Tumens; it was also hoped this would allow a greater āImperialā identity to emerge among the armed forces that would slowly disseminate among the civilian populations they garrisoned. The IAF inherited a myriad of combat vehicles and equipment from the pre-war militaries of the world, and the Rebellion was the perfect crucible to test what would serve as the progenitors for CorpEmpās own models and variants.
Holding the peace conference that would end the Cordon Rebellion in Las Vegas was a diplomatic coup for what would become the United Markets, more importantly, it was a diplomatic coup for one of the many sub-factions that make up the United Markets. An alliance of anarcho-capitalist organizations in the Americas, wealthy nightwatchman city-states in Africa, India, and China, and several businesses across the globe that survived WWIII and the Warlordsā Wars, the founding groups of the United Markets all sought the position as first among equals. With the Nevada Free Staters holding the peace conference that ended the Cordon Rebellion, for the time being, that role would belong to them.
Unlike their CorpEmp or WCOF neighbors, using the declared peace to begin (or continue, in CorpEmpās case) their grand plans to bring about their visions for society, the āleadershipā of the UM had no such designs. To varying degrees (depending on where you lived), the Non-Aggression Principle was the rule of law. The megacorps of Washington-Vancouver, Bremen, and Hong Kong may chafe and grumble that they lost to Nevada to be the face of the United Markets, but Nevada will leave these āFree and Voluntary Mercantile Enterprises (FVMEs)ā alone to pursue their own agendas. The people of Nevada responsible for hosting the peace talks never really saw themselves as leaders of the United Markets as a whole. The established the precedent of the āright person at the right timeā style of ad-hoc charismacracy that would define UM leadership.
Militarily, the United Markets preferred to pursue a policy of āWealthy Armed Neutralityā; theyād pay belligerents off the first threat of incursion, then theyād use however much the invaders wanted a second time to hire mercs and wipe them out. As technically a collection on Nonstates, the UM didnāt prohibit individual members or organizations from offering their services for either side during the Cordon Rebellion. From among these advisors, contractors, and āgentlemen adventurersā that would later establish the UMās mercenary commands, a few were agents from Nevada tasked by the Free Stateās leadership to perform some āinvestigative workā. There was plenty of military equipment produced in the early years of World War III, and there were some that bet their bottom dollar that there were caches of equipment hidden, and yet to be found by the Corporate Empire or rebel Cordons. A few would be found and used to bolster the strength of what would become the Free Market Militias, and others were reverse engineered to kick start domestic defense industries.
The Treaty of Las Vegas caused two great sighs to come from the nascent World Congress of Freedom. From the idealists of the rebellious Cordons that were annexed into the World Congress, a sigh of frustration. āWe couldāve taken more from CorpEmp!ā From the realists of the founding pre-Imperial members of the World Congress, a sigh of relief. āWe couldāve lost so much more from CorpEmp!ā While all the Cordons Sanitaires revolted against the Corporate Empire (with plausibly deniable assistance from the WCOF), not all were allowed to join the WCOF at the end of the Rebellion. San Fransisco, Rio de Janeiro, the greater Cape, Kaliningrad, and the south Atlantic and Indian islands were all ceded to the WCOF, with the remainder forced to resume their role as Cordons. The ones that retained independence, and those that helped them, now must work together in the face of the still-strong CorpEmp, and the rising UM.
Incorporation of the breakaway Cordons was difficult, but not impossible. The governments of the new members of the WCOF were reforged to resemble what the pre-Imperial founding states became in the years between their joining and the Cordon Rebellion. A form of tiered digital democracy was implemented in Iceland (aided by the resources of Riot Control Productions) during WWIII that was slowly disseminated to its surviving peers. Infrastructure was developed to allow citizens to have a voice in affairs from the local neighborhood council all the way to the World Congress as a whole. Residents of the annexed Cordons, and the myriad number of people that made their way into the WCOF (as part of a series of population transfers) would have to work for their citizenship, paying for their admission into the WCOF by building their means of participation themselves. Each member of the World Congress, a Congressional Republic, is free to conduct domestic affairs, if it doesnāt harm the welfare of the World Congress and its citizens. Ā
The rebel militias that had fought CorpEmpās Bandon-Tumens tooth and nail were readily absorbed into the Congressional Armed Forces, later renamed Congressional Armed Freedom Fighters. The greater WCOFās defense industries had limited access to resources. They couldnāt afford to see whatever worked like CorpEmp or could afford the best equipment and vehicles like the UM. The WCOF has what they had, and they had to make do. Continuous recycling and repurposing of equipment made the future CAFF experts at modular weapons systems. The great number of displaced persons from the post-war relocations were also a source of manpower, as many would enlist in the WCOFās āforeign legionā as a path to citizenship and party membership.
Originally one of the rebellious Cordons Sanitaires, the Long Island-Marthaās Vineyard Cordon jockeyed for leadership of the North American front of the Rebellion with the SanFran Cordon. As it was the designated dumping ground for many of the worldās environmentalist groups, militants from Long Island-Marthaās Vinyard were more focused on environmental concerns than the rest of the Cordons liked. Eventually, the Long Islanders would break away from the remaining Cordons, establish their own āGreen Consensusā contacting like minded cells operating in CorpEmpās oft-porous interior. They were dismissed as a nuisance during the Cordon Rebellion, seizing control of sparsely populated Caribbean and Pacific islands. Their greatest success was the de facto seizure of the Amazon rain forest near the end of the Rebellion. Rather than wage another war for the region after ending the Rebellion, CorpEmp begrudgingly ceded it to the Consensus. On the international stage, Green Consensus has been quiet since the Treaty of Las Vegas, only reminding the other powers that they exist when something they do is a perceived threat to the environment. For now, all they can really do is complain and launch minor raids. Domestically, not much information passes outside of their territories, other than the Green Consensusā radical restructuring of their society to one that is more beneficial to the environment.
Not all polities are part of the Big Three (CorpEmp, UM, WCOF, respectively). There were some communities that werenāt actively hostile to the expansion of the pre-CorpEmp warlords. In turn, the warlords left them alone. By the time of CorpEmpās organization, these territories were declared āReservedā for peaceful anti-Imperial communities. Pacifist, survivalist, and religious millenarian groups would form small to moderate-sized Reserves. The American and Russian Pacific, the Australian Outback, and the Sinai and Negev Desert are home to some of the largest concentrations of Reserves. There are two Reserves of note. The Republic of San Marino and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea are two pre-Imperial states that fall under the category of Reserve. The formerās independence was guaranteed by CorpEmp so long as it remained a neutral polity, and the latter had a falling out from the founding members of the WCOF and decided to continue the Juche experiment alone. So long as they donāt ever threaten CorpEmp, they are free to continue as they see fit.
And there were those that were actively anti-Imperial. While a lucky few Cordons Sanitaires were able to join the WCOF, the remainder were subjected to the Corporate Empireās victorās justice. Their rebellious leadership was removed, militants disarmed, and both were made members of the Empireās Servile caste. Those Cordons that remained Cordons would continue to serve as dumping grounds for those that didnāt want to be a part of CorpEmp (and too much of a threat to be able to join a Reserve). Post-rebellion, however, would be subject to greater Imperial surveillance.
