Encounter Group #17 New Presidencies

[ArmySGT.]

Name: New Presidencies
Geographical Location: Anywhere
H&M Average:8
H&M Range 6-14
Number found : 1-100
Tech Level: C-E
Power / Resources : Steam, some electricity/mining, farming.
Weapons: Repaired modern weapons.
Special Attributes: Possible heavy pre-war weapons.

Description: After the war new mini governments sprang up all over the country, each claiming to be the official U.S. Government. Most are at best dictatorships while some still follow a democratic style.


This is a far, far under utilized encounter group or should I say Groups. How awesome is it to make a dozen or more Groups whom are claiming to be the legitimate U.S Government? What is their claim? Was one the Vice President, who was aloft in Air Force Two when the war happened? Is another the Speaker of the House, who was at home for the grand babies birthday when D.C. was nuked. Maybe another is the Secretary of the Interior who was on a fact finding tour about some logging or oil drilling program. Any of these can explain why a New Presidency is not just outside D.C. like Weathertop.

Who has legitimate codes for National Command Authority? Who has loyal servants descended from the government bureaucracy? Do they have the children of Soldiers, Federal Agents, or the Secret Service in their service? Do they have a actual federal site as a base, or are they using a university, maybe even a State facility as a base of operations? Do they have any actual real articles of the lost republic of the United States? The Speakers gavel? The robes from the long dead Supreme Court Justices ( and their artifacts such as the Bible used to Swear in the Executive Branch)?

What power do they exert in the Region and how will the Snake Eaters react?

[Matt W]

I would change a few things

The Tech level. Why is it capped at "C"?

Why is the New Confederacy "basically friendly" - but the entity that claims to be the US government is likely to be a "dictatorship"?

[mikeo80]

Who has legitimate codes for National Command Authority? Who has loyal servants descended from the government bureaucracy? Do they have the children of Soldiers, Federal Agents, or the Secret Service in their service? Do they have a actual federal site as a base, or are they using a university, maybe even a State facility as a base of operations? Do they have any actual real articles of the lost republic of the United States? The Speakers gavel? The robes from the long dead Supreme Court Justices ( and their artifacts such as the Bible used to Swear in the Executive Branch)?

What power do they exert in the Region and how will the Snake Eaters react?

You have raised some interesting questions. Let me answer what I think are possibilities.

1) Codes for National Command Authority. THere is nothing really left to command. Outside of Snake Eaters and First Cav in Texas, any direct link to current (1989) govt is non existant.
2)Servants from Bureaucracy. Very possible.
3)Children of Secret service, Army, etc. Again possible.
4)Use of Federal site. Maybe. might be an old military Base, a National Monument of some sort.
5)University as center. Very possible. Last bastion of learning and knowledge. Especially if the claimant is legitimate and compassionate towards those he/she rules.
6)Artifacts. Not very likely IMHO. Washington DC was hit by a 25 MT MONSTER. If you were G.H.W.Bush, and the Secret Service is PUSHING you into the helo to try and escape the incoming death blasts, you are not going to have time to grab much of anything. If GHWB was at his desk and George Washington's bible was RIGHT there, then, maybe....If surviving cabinet being outside of DC, what reason would they have to have any of the national treasures.
7)Power. This is totally up to the GM. This is part of your job. YOU define what the next encounter can and can not do.
8)Reaction of Green Berets. This is a REAL interesting point. NEVER forget the GB motto. De Oppresso Liber. These men take the motto VERY LITTERALLY. And they have the skills to enforce it. If you are a New President, you had BETTER be living up to the constitution. Or ELSE.....

My $0.02

Mike

[ArmySGT.]

You have raised some interesting questions. Let me answer what I think are possibilities. You to bring up some great points.
1) Codes for National Command Authority. THere is nothing really left to command. Outside of Snake Eaters and First Cav in Texas, any direct link to current (1989) govt is non existant. Things do still exist. Either cut off or believing other parts are dead and gone.
Damocles is a fine example. Damocles was meant to be a part of the Strategic Forces. I am sure that Damocles will react wholly differently to the person how speaks or enters the correct codes from National Command Authority. What else is waiting out there? A recon satellite meant for after a nuclear war waiting in a la grange point for a startup command from NCA? A portion of the Defense Telephone Network or DARPA net, a lot of Universities were connected this way, could be there. What about sites all around the U.S. or even abroad, whomever has the NCA has access to more than general knowledge.
2)Servants from Bureaucracy. Very possible. I think it is certain. How much of the Bureaucracy is intact and what form has it taken on in this future? Is it more or less something like it is today? Just ordinary people acting out the roles of their great grand parents or is now some pseudo religious apparatus. “Advance! You will speak to the Secretary! Only through the Secretary will you speak to the President! Have you come from one of our brethren? Do you speak for a Cabinet Member? The Secretary shall consult the Rolodex! Your allegiances will be known!”
[QUOTE=mikeo80;42579]3)Children of Secret service, Army, etc. Again possible. like the Bureaucracy, what has become of them?
4)Use of Federal site. Maybe. might be an old military Base, a National Monument of some sort. It is just background however it goes it will really flavor a game.
5)University as center. Very possible. Last bastion of learning and knowledge. Especially if the claimant is legitimate and compassionate towards those he/she rules. Something that feature prominently in “The Ruins of Chicago”, goes to explain why their tech level is C, or as Matt suggests higher. After all your basic Politician or Bureaucrat is useless for real work. 
6)Artifacts. Not very likely IMHO. Washington DC was hit by a 25 MT MONSTER. If you were G.H.W.Bush, and the Secret Service is PUSHING you into the helo to try and escape the incoming death blasts, you are not going to have time to grab much of anything. If GHWB was at his desk and George Washington's bible was RIGHT there, then, maybe....If surviving cabinet being outside of DC, what reason would they have to have any of the national treasures.
On the contrary I think it is likely. The original timeline for the game says the War happens 18 November 1989. That is a week before Thanksgiving. As we all know Thanksgiving is a big deal here in the U.S. Washington D.C may still be chock full of the minor functionaries, and the staffs, however there is no reason prominent members can’t be out of town. The Continuation of Government plan requires atleast one Cabinet Member in the succession to President be away separated somewhere just so the government can’t be decapitated in one strike. I don’t think it mandates that Cabinet Member is the most junior.

7)Power. This is totally up to the GM. This is part of your job. YOU define what the next encounter can and can not do. Totally agree. The part that is curious , is the plurality. There is more than one Presidency in this future. That is one of the things that makes this one of the more interesting encounter groups, especially as each group is more likely to denounce another, claiming to be the only rightful government. The writers finally got around to stating that one of the goals of the Project is to restore the United States government. Took them until “Prime Base” to write it down, there is the “aid in the reconstruction of the U.S” line in the introduction, which I feel is to vague. Probably the writers trying to be apolitical and just make a game.
8)Reaction of Green Berets. This is a REAL interesting point. NEVER forget the GB motto. De Oppresso Liber. These men take the motto VERY LITTERALLY. And they have the skills to enforce it. If you are a New President, you had BETTER be living up to the constitution. Or ELSE..... Yes , isn’t it. What if it is a despotic government, but one with a legitimate claim? How does Uncle Sugars Girl Scouts turn it around without destroying it utterly? What do they then go on to do now with the Codes that opens, activates, or Commands anything remaining? What do Project Members do? What if rival claimants all have legitimate claims? Then there is freezing technology. If cryotubes are in use by the Dept of Defense, what is available to the other Departments? Imagine if the Secretary of State was frozen because of the war to be awakened after the plagues and radiation sickness, or two of the Supreme Court justices. The Project Members might jump for joy as it seems restoration is that much closer, but what do you do with them in the mean time, or more nefariously what do they intend to do now awakened?
My $0.02
Mike

Well Spent! and I appreciate your inputs!

[ArmySGT.]

Just had another thought.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency. F.E.M.A.

and cryosleep.

A worst case scenario cryosleep cell of FEMA with the same awaken 3-5 years after the war, when the radiation has died down and the plagues have run their course. To be woken by Order of the Chief Executive, the President.

Only the Order never came because the President is dead, along with the few people whom had the clearance to know about the sleeper plan.