[dragoon500ly]

Here is my on twisted view of the KFS..comments and suggestions are welcome as this is a work in progress. This is based on a variety of sources that I've pooled together to make a better back story.

The Kentucky Free State has its roots in the right-wing, militant organizations which proliferated throughout North America during the 1970s and 1980s. The Free State Movement was an unusual coalition of survivalists, neo-Nazis and ultra-right wing militant religious organizations. The FSM was convinced that it was "their sacred duty before God" to create a society that "would rise from the ashes of a destroyed United States and rebuild a new nation based on traditional American values and principles." But these traditional values and principles would reflect the twisted social and political philosophies of the Free State Movement's founders.

From its inception, the FSM was protected by an almost impenetrable layer of secrecy. It maintained a careful cover as a conservative, respectable political action committee; this low-key, outwardly respectable cover allowed the FSM to avoid the fate of similar organizations such as the Posse Comitatus and the Covenant, Sword and Arm of the Lord, each of which were broken up in various government crackdowns.

Rather than resort to public pronouncements or holding public recruiting drives, the FSM was kept small. Prospective recruits were carefully screened and investigated before being approached. Highly intelligent individuals were preferred, particularly those with industrial, law enforcement, survivalist, military and other essential skills. But the single most important criteria was complete loyalty to the FSM. As the years passed, the Movement membership grew steadily larger and assets were acquired which allowed the necessary preparations for the coming Armageddon: the secret stockpiling of foodstuffs, petroleum products, vehicles, tools, spare parts, medical supplies and weapons and ammunition as well as other critical supplies in secret locations centered around the FSM's headquarters at Mount Sterling, Kentucky.

By the end of the 1980s, the Movement had a membership of over 750,000, scattered across the nation, with the largest concentrations (over 600,000) in the states of Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee and Ohio. Throughout these states, the Movement carefully acquired locations to secure their envisioned border. Rich and influential members would use the cover of their various businesses to target small towns for acquisition. They would buy out the town's key industries, forcing mass lay-offs and forcing the local citizen's to seek work in other areas. Other FSM front companies would move in, buying real estate and small businesses and establishing total control of the town's economy, law enforcement and government. Within a year or two, the entire town would be a Free State enclave.

Each enclave was designed to be independent. Each contained stockpiles of critical supplies, usually carefully stored in underground bunkers.

The leaders of each enclave also maintained secret copies of detailed instructions that were to be placed into operation once the fall of civilization began. Various portions of these secret files were concerned with what actions were to be taken in the event of a massive nuclear exchange; a limited exchange involving only a few cities; a minor exchange targeting military bases; a massive revolution; a military coup; a terrorist biological attack; total crop failures; wide spread epidemics and even invasion from outer space.

No matter what happened, the enclave leaders were to undertake no actions beyond that of insuring the survival of their enclave. The final form of their plan would be decided by the FSM leadership.