PCBaller World/Greater Illinois

Greater Illinois is a totalitarian, semi-federalist state formed when a clique of industrialists, military leaders and academics supplanted the incumbent leadership of the states of Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin during the American collapse, turning the national guard against them soon after. Gradually, after years of social engineering, researching and developing industrial capacities, the state has become a perfect technocratic managerial state, with the individual being free to live their own lives, but having little to no power outside of the realm of the free market, while experts and executives work behind the scenes. Despite massive corporate paternalism and overbearing authority, the state is still one of the very few in existence that has a HDI of over 1.0. Due to the anti-traditionalist, secular and anti-identity politics stances taken by the new regime, Greater Illinois embodies the eternal march forward. Given that a large portion of the American industrial elite fled to this state, they dragged their resources with them, making Greater Illinois extremely rich in both material and capital in exchange for corporations being granted a large say in how the state is governed. As the years passed, it has developed many revolutionary technologies such as [more] mobile nuclear reactors, solid anti-nuke defenses, practical laser technologies and multiple new metallic alloys for various different purposes. The economy is ~70% automated, which grants Greater Illinois a massive economic advantage over their neighbors as well. On the national and world stages, Greater Illinois uses their unique access to American spy satellites in orbit to serve as a sort of "little brother" figure; seeing everything, but sitting on the sidelines and planning their moves in advance instead of actively exerting influence (for they have much more local problems to deal with, first). He views the North German/Polish clique as a direct threat to the existence of a unified America and potential future American hegemony and as such, they actively fund and supply the Neo-Banderaists and the Anti-Democratic Party of the North with arms (and even Geneva-breakers [though the Geneva Convention is difficult to enforce when its original signatories no longer exist] like chemical and biological weapons once access to the ports are re-gained). They don't seem to mind the Sorbian state and even trades food with them sometimes. However, given their current lack of access to ports of their own, they can only give their allies abroad so much. To compensate for this, they have begun to dabble in the trade of technology and information, spurring the technological development of the Eurosphere and elsewhere, but at what cost to them? However, not all is well. The leadership of Greater Illinois plays a dangerous game on all fronts, balancing the wellness of the populace, the economy, the state, foreign contacts and the military, all at once. One major screwup could spell collapse. Even worse is the growing sect of disenfranchised traditionalists and evangelicals who are beginning to actively resist the will of the state. Of course, the army could crush them like insects, but doing so would violate the whole "America NUMBAR ONE" mentality that Greater Illinois was built upon. Finally, Greater Illinois has very little ability to import goods from the outside world, with the only feasible trade partner at the moment being ████████ in Quebec. For this reason, he is supplying and facilitating the destruction of communist holdouts with ████████ in Canada in order to gain access to some ports and to help ████████ achieve greater control over Quebec. Drastic action must be taken or concessions must be made, but who is to say that the state will survive? Perhaps even more disturbing are their long-term plans and general lack of anything resembling traditional morality. Despite having allies in some sections of the world, Greater Illinois has hardened into a highly-indoctrinated state of American chauvinists and Ultra-Atlanticists who USED TO generally view those outside of their sphere of influence as completely expendable. Now, not so much, for there's only so much diplomatic suicide one state, even the "invincible" Greater Illinois, can endure. Despite being landlocked and surrounded by hostile states, they are more than capable of using friendly Quebecois airspace in order to execute export-based trading. There are even a few rumors that some dormant CIA blacksites have been brought back online in the Beryist Reich, as well as close Thai cooperation with Greater Illinosian officials. This tendency has made them many, many enemies around the globe, from lowly anarchist crackpots to former superpowers. Greater Illinois has the potential to beat them all handily...but for now, it's the ultimate balancing act. However, as of late, the foreign policy has been under moderate reform ever since Greater Illinois almost started a war over nothing but a perceived threat. Perhaps thinking of outsiders as "completely expendable" isn't really a good idea. They're still American Ultranationalists who seek a revival of the old days of total American hegemony, but they're not as diplomatically suicidal as they once were in terms of actually putting that sentiment into practice. Will Greater Illinois fully realize its ambition? Or will it be crushed within its own mechanism? Information:
 * Fun Fact: Greater Illinois has re-purposed the inferior "block" organization system within its cities in order to host a highly-efficient system of trams, as well as reforming the blocks to serve as interlocking fire zones, should the need arise. They're also the only American state to go Metric.


 * [[File:Nattrans2.png]]
 * Interest Groups


 * [[File:Christy.png]]

For the sake of preventing needless over-complication, the old functions of the Senate and the House of Representatives are retained in order to not overstrain older bureaucratic systems. However, they are now essentially just an extension of a greater technocratic system, with senators and representatives appointed directly by the state and/or elected in "totalitarian" elections (with the state selecting candidates for the population in order to simulate the illusion of control). As such, the only "legal" party (and literally the ONLY party) is the AFP. Despite the unified nature of being under a single party, various official "cliques" have formed from each of the three major sectors (military, industrial and academic, respectively). Despite this, the cliques are only there for organizational purposes, and do not view each other as direct competition, since they all have the same goal in the end, which is to preserve the state and reunify the Mainland. BERNHE0504 and Tiberius live in this territory (although Tiberius moved from somewhere else) and were chosen to be the president and vice-president, respectively, for 8-year-long terms. However, the both of them have rather little executive power, mainly being there to coordinate the technocrats and sign bills. Recent shifts within the party (especially after the Arimexican Debacle) have drastically weakened the Ultramilitarist Clique, which has allowed the declining Industrial Clique to stabilize and the ultra-technophiliac Accelerationist Clique to dominate the political scheme of Greater Illinois, with them holding over 50% of the senate. However, support for the Canadian War has not faltered, and both the Industrialists and Accelerationists have pledged their support to the Militarists in that endeavor. The ACL, being a partisan movement, has a clearly-defined leader who calls most of the shots. That man is Patrick. He just wants to praise God, for Christ's sake!


 * [[File:Nattrans2.png]] American Forward Party 59/59 (Senate), 118/118 (House)
 * [[File:Ultramil-Antifurry.png]] Militarist Clique (8/59, 22/118, [[File:DownArrow.png]])
 * [[File:Corp.png]] Industrial Clique (21/59, 41/118,  -   )
 * [[File:POSTHUMANISMICON.png]] Accelerationist Clique (30/59, 55/118), [[File:UpArrow.png]])
 * [[File:BERNHEflash.gif]] BERNHE0504 (President)
 * [[File:Vamp.png]] Tiberius (Vice President)


 * [[File:Christy.png]] (Partisan Movement)
 * Reports of a small [[File:Fundamentalism2.png]] Christian Fundamentalist sect within the movement are growing. This sect makes it harder for the ACL to negotiate with Greater Illinois.
 * [[File:MonPatconSun.png]] Patrick (Leader)

Social Issues
One of Greater Illinois' biggest strengths is absolute social parity and the absolute equality of the citizen. The early days of Greater Illinois were quite hard on both the elite and the commoner, and from that fire, prejudice of all kinds simply disappeared. LGBT rights aren't an issue because LGBT rights aren't talked about. There are bigger things to worry about. The constructs that have facilitated awful race relations for so long were dismantled by the new government. Social issues do not exist in Illinois because, my friend, there are far, FAR bigger fish to fry at the moment.

WIP

Greater Illinois has often been described as "a market with a state" due to the corporate paternalism and ultra-capitalistic endeavors that happen regularly there. Greater Illinois was formed when many of the American megacorporations from the old order teamed up with the academic base and militarists, after all. As such, the state is inseparably connected to the concept of a free market. Despite massive megacorporations having extreme precedence in government policy, local small businesses, the ones that are able to thrive and even expand, are allowed to exist and enter/exit the markets whenever they want. The banks are nationalized for the sake of retaining a stable currency, but they function primarily like the ones from the old order, and many familiar names such as Morgan-Chase and Rothschild still dot the banking leadership of Greater Illinois. For what is the point of continuing to serve the economy if you aren't entitled to the fruits of your labor? Perhaps the most powerful corporation in Greater Illinois (and perhaps the world) is the reformed remnants of the BlackRock corporation. The previous CEO and founder of BlackRock, Lawrence Fink, has actually ascended to Economic Minister of Greater Illinois. Plenty of assets from the previous order are still retained within BlackRock, and the fortunes of many enemy nations now ironically sit within the grasp of Greater Illinois. In that sense, the very existence of BlackRock itself is a direct threat to the economies of many countries, and it takes absolute loyalty, one way or another, for BlackRock to release you. BlackRock, now married to the ultranationalistic ideology of Greater Illinois, now serves as the key device for global economic imperialism by them. Nevertheless, hundreds of megacorporations, united under ideology and with three of the most resource-rich states on the planet under their control, now treat Greater Illinois as a playground. Over the years, mergers and the like have caused some megacorps to fail and others to merge with another, until essentially, the markets equalized to form pseudo-monopolies, with a clique of megacorps lording over each individual industry. Despite this, due to ideological and economic reasons, the Quality of Life for the average Joe has never been better. Nationalistic sentiment and gradual incentive programs from the Government have caused most student debt to be forgiven, and the colleges eventually sold themselves to the state, therefore ensuring quality education for all those who were capable of surviving in the sacred institutions. Mass Automation, implemented almost immediately after the foundation of Greater Illinois, gave the professional, specialized worker far more bargaining power on who to do business with and what the terms of employment were. Sure, there are hundreds of billionaires and a few people below the poverty line, but it isn't fucking Cyberpunk by any means. It's easy to succeed in Greater Illinois. Both the state and your local megacorp WANT you to succeed in Greater Illinois, for that means one more executive, one more scientist or one more engineer in the ranks. They will HELP you succeed in Greater Illinois. The only factor that inhibits you by this point is essentially yourself. Did you know that the average salary in Greater Illinois is around $80,000/yr and increasing every year? Greater Illinois possesses a Fiat Currency for the time being, however, they have also created a state-sponsored Cryptocurrency (with a similar rate to USD) in order to serve as a baseline for online transactions. However, models such as Thermoeconomics have been discussed before, but the Industrial Clique is reluctant to change the entire monetary system entirely for now.

Greater Illinois is a very interventionist state that is surrounded on all sides by hostile powers. As such, they have spent exorbitant amounts of resources on making a rather small, yet extremely potent and advanced army. Troop count is around ~75,000, with a few confirmed (yet completely unknowable) special forces detachments. However, there have been reports of androids in deployment abroad. Artillery systems are the main backbone of the new USArmy, and while the troops can definitely hold their own against any adversary, the entire point is to delete enemy infantry and vehicle before they have a chance to cross the border and/or evacuate cities. In fact, given the extremely advanced nature of their artillery and cities, the Greater Illinois homeland is extremely hard to invade. On war maps, the cities of Chicago (the new capital), Springfield, Gary, Indianapolis, Lafayette, Madison and Milwaukee are considered "black zones" because of how heavily-defended they are. Also, they have extremely advanced AA systems, which scare the living shit out of literally everyone because they're so accurate & efficient that they can shoot individual bombs in freefall out of the sky if the need arises. And then, finally, for real this time, there's the fact that they are the only state in existence that has access to actually-reliable anti-nuclear countermeasures (with others tending to have a fail rate of over 50%). For this reason, they have begun to secretly build a sizeable and extremely modern nuclear stockpile (with a final desired amount of 250 ICBMs and 50 SRBMs) capable of bypassing essentially every other primitive anti-nuclear system in existence without the threat of nuclear retaliation. The vehicular portion of the Greater Illinosian military is the truly scary part and the real muscle of Greater Illinois. This is because the Robotic Division of the Army (RDA) are classified as vehicles. Since its inception, Greater Illinois has sought autonomous, producable soldiers to make up for its relatively low population. Around three years into the reign, they brought forth exactly this. With almost infinite customization features, all manner of different personality/combat presets, the intelligence and adaptability of the AI (as well as the capacity for remote control), as well as a rugged physical form consisting of Illinois-exclusive Supersteel, the average Standard Robotic Unit is the pinnacle of Greater Illinosian technology. There are currently 1.4 million of them in existence, excluding the ~500,000 domestic units used at home as police officers, firemen, construction workers and other dangerous occupations. Each one is 2 meters in height, capable of running up to ~45 KM/H, strong enough to lift 500 kg all by itself, and has an inherent mastery of Illinosian weapons and systems, as well as that of their various enemies. For now, most of them are kept at home, scattered all across the territories, but now that the ports are finally open, they will begin the march across the sun, vanquishing any and all threats to the ascendant American hegemony, wherever they may lie. Improvements on the designs are commonplace, and the machines are already in their fifth generation, becoming smarter and more deadly with every iteration. These machines are bound to become a great economic and military asset to allies of Greater Illinois, but woe betide any who stand in their way. Other than that, the tank brigades of Greater Illinois are some of the most advanced in the world, while the air force is a potent rival to the LFA in the east. Based off of older American models and some new designs entirely, Greater Illinois have reliable examples of almost every class of tank in existence (including being one of the only states to field practical Superheavy Tanks, due to the lighter and very durable nature of Supersteel). Their Air Force is nothing to scoff at, either, with the A-10 Thunderbolt being made susceptible to many, many upgrades, allowing it to use its 30mm cannon in far more versatile ways, as well as allowing it to carry additional weapons systems, like autonomous 20mm guns on the sides and a heavier bomb load. The F series of fighter jets have also recieved facelifts, with the brand new F-42 jet being released a few months ago. This jet carries three laser cannons on it and HTMs (Hypersonic Tracking Missiles) that make it the antithesis to the alledgedly "invincible" fighter jets of the LFA. However, these jets are still quite rare, so Greater Illinois primarily fields heavily upgraded F-35s. Bombing capability is also immense, with Greater Illinois seeing very little point in going past the B-2 Spirit design. Obviously, upgrades have been made, but the B-2 remains one of the most effective bombing aircraft in the world. And then, there are the drones. So. Many. DRONES. Greater Illinois, being a landlocked country, doesn't have much of a navy, with designs consisting of an aircraft carrier and a destroyer model. However, these ships are capable of holding their own against most things and have bvery, very long range, so they're quite powerful in that regard, too. Their navy is mainly used to protect their port district at the bottom of the Mississippi river and Lake Michigan (and other lakes), but other than that, it doesn't do much for the time being. The Militarist Clique is the military's representative in the Greater Illinosian legislature. They work in tandem with both the Industrialists and the Accelerationists in order to maintain a steady balance of economic, militarial and technological management. Greater Illinois' access to this kind of technology, although they actually barely talk about it (since they don't want other states getting ideas), is the cause of mass jealousy around the globe. More humanistic and moral countries complain that they could "LITERALLY SOLVE WORLD HUNGER," while enemies attempt to poke fun at the technology they ARE proud of, specifically their Anti-Aircraft systems and their nuclear countermeasures. Oh, if only they knew about the technology that they keep secret.

Despite the technologically advanced nature of the Greater Illinosian image, their government employs certain technologies that are far beyond what the civilian body and other states are allowed to know about. However, most of these are still very experimental, so they'll be split into two categories:


 * Perhaps the biggest piece of secret military technology is the active nuclear weapon stockpile that Greater Illinois possesses. Each nuke is fully modern, with a complicated system of EMP and flares within each rocket to override any nuclear defense system, and each has a yield around two times higher than the Castle Bravo test (with a 35 Megaton yield).
 * Despite not necessarily being known for space exploration, Greater Illinois still has many, many assets in space.
 * As an alternative to nuclear weapons, there are plenty of satellites in orbit, launched from Illinois, that are capable of kinetic bombardment from orbit (using tungsten-based rods). Each rod would have the yield of a small tactical nuke. These satellites are currently all offline and resemble space debris in order to prevent their accidental discovery, but if they're ever activated, every city on the planet can be a potential target.
 * Of course, there is the God's Eye system, a network of retrofitted spy satellites in geocentric orbit that serve as a global security camera. As long as they have the initial location of a target, they can track anyone or anything on the planet and act accordingly.
 * Word is that they managed to bring a fusion reactor online that actually works.
 * They've also been dabbling in gene editing, even more so now that the accelerationists are in power.
 * With the revelation of the LFA's highly-impractical space laser, anti-satellite weapons have begun to be be built.
 * With the technocrats becoming more and more annoyed at Occupied Poland's antics, they've begun to manufacture nasty strains of anti-agriculture/foliage diseases. Given the nature of said diseases, they're kept hundreds of feet underground with multiple containment features in place. If unleashed, it could defoliate a large chunk of a country entirely, causing local ecological catastrophes and mass famine. However, these will serve as a fallback and last resort, as Greater Illinois does not want these diseases to spread over to allied nations.


 * One massive proposal, only spoken of among the highest circles of both the military and the department of theoretical physics, is investigating the potential development of a nuclear weapon capable of unleashing the power of 10 GIGATONS of TNT, based on Edward Teller's theories and designs. This bomb would have the potential to erase the very notion of a functional anti-American Europe or Asia, but would also set extremely dire precedents, so even the Greater Illinosians table this idea for now.
 * Greater Illinois has been toying with the idea of a fully-automated colony on the moon for some time now, with the express purpose of mining and shipping Helium-3 back to earth as fuel for fusion reactors. However, given the absolutely insane cost of such an endeavor, it is only found within notebooks in top-secret archives.
 * To solve the question of heavy metals, Greater Illinosian officials have designed many very practical ways to embark on asteroid mining. However, for the same reason presented in the moon base question (ridiculous cost), this project is just a goal for the distant future.
 * LIBERATION FROM THE CONSTRUCTS OF FLESH ARE IMMINENT.

The News
Greater Illinosian News Network presents:
 * In response to the recent threats made by the Regime in Occupied Poland, Greater Illinois has signed a deal with Polish Hispaniola to build and manage a few Anti-Air batteries around major cities like Port Au Prince.
 * Lockheed Martin has fully developed and has begun to implement the third generation of its Gauss Weaponization Program, with a functional Gauss pistol being deployed to Greater Illinosian troops and allies as we speak. Further details have not been released publicly by Lockheed Martin executives.
 * The Supreme Leader of Korea has caused hilarity here once again after comparing President BERNHE to the character "Big Jack Horner" (origins obscure) in a televised interview.
 * A video of a Sorbian man having a mental breakdown once exposed to a portrait of the North German leader JonahF2014 has gone viral. 10 million views in the local cyberspace and counting!
 * In the filler section that nobody cares about, we bring news that the Arimexican Commune that currently occupies the Southwestern Deserts is starting to militarize for some reason. The government has yet to give further details.
 * BREAKING NEWS: Apparently, the communists down yonder are now attempting to FORCE TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT without the presence of a free market. Silly commies! Technology doesn't just appear out of thin air! Nevertheless, they're like 30 years behind us and we Just™ Keep™ Growing™... so we're not that concerned.
 * In an attempt to regain an international port, a fleet of cargo ships and planes, escorted by Greater Illinosian destroyer ships, as well as environmental removal teams, have begun to transverse down the Mississipi River in the hopes of occupying the currently-unclaimed bottom of the Mississipi River, which grants access to the Gulf of Mexico. The implications of a permanent Illinosian port district that is so far away from their homeland is unknown, yet fiercly debated by Illinosian academics.
 * Recent information from the United Academic Conglomerate has confirmed the existence of the world's first stable room-temperature superconductors. This technology will have massive implications for the realm of computing, artificial intelligence and industrial capacity.
 * Apparently, the Arimexicans didn't know that the only thing we wanted them to do was to not allow the Poles or Krauts to take over. "This is definitely a moment," President BERNHE said. Talks between the Arimexicans are being discussed, and people are beginning to question the overly-interventionist foreign policy here in Greater Illinois.
 * In a shocking move, the LFA has begun to export their new Century Bombers across the globe. Whereas they are in cautious support of arming the European Commonwealth and other anti-Occupied Polish states with such technology, they consider the offer to give these bombers to the Arimexicans to be an act of aggression, considering it a surefire way to re-activate the arms race. President BERNHE has since told the LFA leadership to back down or "face serious economic and militaristic consequences". President BERNHE has also called out the LFA President Tony Glencoe during a State of the Union address for "stirring up shit for no reason" and "placing obstacles in the path of a strong, unified United States."