#tidewater

Tidewater - Deborah Quinn-Munson

American , b. 1950s

Wendy Saints is now from Tidewater instead of Piedmont

Tidewater - the nation centered on the Virginias and the Chesapeake Bay - has spent its existence being stuck in the mother of all identity crises. The first successful American colony, the home of Founderism's greatest saint-kings, and the former seat of a vast imperial administration, now reduced to one of the smallest and weakest member states of the Usonian Union, straddling the northern 'Yankee' and southern 'Dixie' cultures and embraced by neither. It is a haunting place, with its surviving towns surrounded by a seemingly endless expanse of crumbling suburbs and overgrown lawns - a grim sight to some, but wandering the abandoned neighborhoods as a child gave Wendy valuable experience for her future career as a scavenger.

To really understand Tidewater's current political situation, though, we must first understand their southern neighbor, Piedmont - a coastal breadbasket centered on the urban corridor stretching from Charlotte, NC to Atlanta, GA. In the immediate aftermath of the Polycrisis, the region was dominated by the 'Sheriffs,' a rural class of warrior-aristocrats with the traditionalist and authoritarian ethos one would generally expect from rural warrior-aristocrats. 

Initial resistance to the Sheriffs took the form of local uprisings which were easily contained. It wasn't until 205X, when the government of Tidewater promised to provide military support to the Sheriff-led government in exchange for the annexation of North Carolina, that the populace’s simmering dissatisfaction galvanized into an organized opposition calling themselves ‘Piedmonters’ - ‘Piedmont’ being a French word meaning ‘at the foot of the mountains,’ originally referring to a region of Italy at the base of the Alpine mountains, it was used in the 20th century as an unofficial title for the urban megaregion from Charlotte to Atlanta owing to its proximity to the Appalachian mountains. Piedmont was originally intended as a placeholder name, but it came to represent a symbolic break from the past and the creation of a wholly new polity unaffiliated with the imperial government’s failures to address racial inequality.Years of grueling, brutal small-scale warfare followed. The Sheriffs had money, weapons, foreign support, and control over critical infrastructure, but the tides slowly turned as the Sheriffs’ diplomatic saber-rattling caused the other post-crisis states to flock to the Piedmonters’ cause, providing supplies, organization, and even volunteer fighters. 

The turning point came when the Sheriffs were defeated at the Battle of Augusta. While the losses were not catastrophic in terms of numbers, it was a devastating blow to their morale, breaking the solidarity of the Sheriffs as tactical disagreements turned to wild, paranoid accusations of conspiracy, and the Sheriff’s leadership broke seemingly overnight. By 205X+6, the last Sheriff strongholds had fallen, and the new Piedmont government began the equally grueling work of restoring government administration. Many surviving Sheriff sympathizers fled west into the lawless Appalachian highlands, and many more fled north to Tidewater. 

Southport, North Carolina

Classical Southern

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XPfOL4wUuMU

Hoi Toider (Carolina Brogue)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jgi9wYsR5fo  

Gullah Geechee

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=R0DGijYiGQU

Paw Paw French

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0oy9WZNShBU

Southern Appalachian (Inland South)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=03iwAY4KlIU

Cajun

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Eqfdn8_ftYQ

New Orleans Accents (Yat Accent)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5Da2iw59ErU

Texas German

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vwgwpUcxch4

North Carolina Cherokee

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=saSSlSQwlwg

Tidewater (Old Virginia/Virginia Piedmont)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1RzVKCWXrRA

Classic Texan

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=q27HhJ5vzjc

Tangier Island

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AIZgw09CG9E

You shake your head in dismay when you hear the tourists are going for a swim. The beaches here are nice, but you know to stay out of the water. Something's been in there for centuries and it isn't friendly.

You heard there was a fuel spill at the shipyard earlier, but people keep talking about how the oil didn't look right and it looks like it was moving.

Everyone tries to stay away from the gas stations after sundown. It invites trouble.

You need to go to the gas station anyways. You finished your last bit of food earlier and forgot to go grocery shopping. You try not to look the other customers in the eye. It only invites trouble.

Occasionally weird noises pierce the night air. The locals pay them no mind. Its just the trains they tell themselves. The workers are always busy, but train horns never come only screams.

If you have to go out at night you always stick to the main roads. Red eyes stare when you go through wooded lanes. They are angry, and rightfully so.

The deer here aren't deer. Ignore them, they'll go away soon enough. Leave if you hear a growl.