Presidentsland

The Merican Peoples Democracy of Presidentsland is a small but bellicose nation made up of settlements who remained independent when Dominus Columbia was founded and have made continuing to resist DeeCee a core part of its identity. It is ruled by a hereditary dynasty of Presidents (usually referred as "Father President") who have surrounded themselves with a cult of personality and administer through a combination of relentless propaganda, total societal militarization, and a brutal secret police force.   Current Leader: "Father President" David IX, May His Term Be Ten Thousand Years   Geographically isolated between the Red Embankment and the Apaloosa Expanse, Presidentsland is difficult to trade with. This is exacerbated by an official embargo on most forms of trade between Presidentsland and the settlements in the Bailey because of Presidentsland's involvement in and support of various criminal enterprises in the Bailey.   Officially, all of the citizens of Presidentsland are Mericans. Unofficially, they are a diverse group of Strains who all dress in the style of Mericans because Hats Are Required By Law.     An accurate history of Presidentsland is difficult to construct because of its deliberate isolation and its highly propagandized self-image. It claims to have been founded by President David I, the Father of All Mericans who was the rightul pre-Fall ruler of the world, but historians generally agree that David I is a significantly embellished figure who's life and exploits are largely to entirely the product of legend. The existence of President David II is attested historically, though that name and title were likely attributed to him after his death by his successor. David II was the leader of an influential Merican clan who ruled a large encampment north of what is now the Bailey. During the expansion of Dominus Columbia the settlements surrounding David II's camp united under his stewardship to resist DeeCee's encroachment. David II would ultimately perish in this conflict, though in so doing secured the continued independence of the settlements under his administration. David III, who in the official hagiographies was David II's adopted son but who may have simply been a lieutenant, did not relinquish the wartime powers of his predecessor and instead consolidated them while establishing the Merican Peoples Democracy under his perpetual guardianship. David III was also responsible for laying the foundations of Presidentsland's cult of personality and establishing its peculiar sect of the Nuclear Family as a state religion.   The current state of the conflict between Presidentsland and the Bailey is a simmering and predominantly one-sided cold war. Presidentsland's military, while encompassing a sizable percentage of its population, isn't an existential threat to the Dominus and is generally more concerned with maintaining the status quo at home. That said, low-intensity border skirmishes over disputed claims do occur. Presidentsland also acts as a convenient haven for criminals and insurgents who can lend their expertise to the regime, though this employment is rarely without strings attached and is usually a last resort for those who seek it.   Fighting also periodically occurs on Presidentsland's western fringe between its forces and the Chrome Blooded Diesel Jocks who maintain winter refuges in the mountains, typically over access to gas wells and roadways, as well as against Unionist Red Star enclaves whose proximity to its territory the regime views as inherently subversive.