The Government

The Rise

After the Second Civil War of 2093, the states that had once been united regrouped based on a combination of geography and shared political views. Alliances were built and, at the time, it seemed most wise if the individual towns and cities governed themselves, and to maintain the sovereignty of their new, larger regions, one person would serve as the go-between to communicate and negotiate with the other superstates. These six representatives would serve less as governing bodies and more as messengers, allowing the lower levels of government to run mostly uninhibited.

The Fall

Over the course of the next 50 years or so, the model twisted. In order to make sure that interactions between superstates went smoothly, the representatives said, they'd need to be able to allocate resources accordingly. They'd need to have some influence over rules and regulations. They'd need a little more control. It eventually came to be that the representatives were less like negotiators and more like governors. When the six representatives started to meet more frequently, it was suggested that a governing body of six for an entire nation was likely too few, and they implemented a congressional system a little more similar to the one that had been in place before, finding that there were only so many ways to efficiently govern a population that large.

Representatives were nominated and voted on from the lower level governments, and the semi-annual Continental Convention had its first session in 2148, with the six governors leading the procession. What was originally devised as a solution only served to worsen the problem. As representatives were moved further from the people they were meant to serve, they became more susceptible to corruption and less willing to lose their seats on the board (and the perks that came with them).

Present Day

Since the beginning of the Continental Convention, as it becomes more difficult for the public to remove someone from office once they get to a certain level, most superstates are watching their government officials make choices that benefit only a select few, and the situation has only continued to spiral out of control. The Council of Six, its members replaced by approved Convention Representatives when any of their number gets too old to serve their purpose, makes most of the choices that affect the country as a whole, including control of the military police. Part of maintaining the system they've established means squashing anything that looks like rebellion as it pops up, something the state-level law enforcement is often too underfunded and short-handed to do themselves. Politicians who favor the people struggle to climb the ladder, as does any person who doesn't either come from money or have enough wealth of their own to sustain a campaign.

One squabble the Council of Six has, as of yet, failed to solve, is the Colorado Conflict. Cascadia serves as a major agricultural hub, and as such, The Mojave Territories are consistently trying to edge their territory North to get access to some of those resources. The most contested piece of land thus far has been what used to be Colorado, which The Mojave Territories insist should be theirs geographically, and which Cascadia insists should be theirs politically. Because of this, what used to be Denver serves as something of a military hub, the second most populated area in the superstate, which they use to defend their territory.