PCBaller World/Greater Illinois

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. As of late, both the Militarists and the Industrialists have been granted Command Precedence as a result of widespread international aggression. By this point, Greater Illinois is essentially in the talons of a machine of pure production, churning out endless mechanical legions and improving them in the quest for global dominance.

Pre-Collapse USA (mid 2020s)
With the election of Kamala Harris after the Joe Biden presidency, the USA entered a period of terminal, final decline. Three '08-style economic catastrophes were wrought forth by her overregulation and complete mismanagement of the economy combined with extreme factionalism in the legislature and judiciary shooting down any attempt to save it. Eventually, the USA essentially became a second-world nation, with all incentive for progress completely gone, and Russia and China took advantage of that in the USA's final years. Eventually, states began to separate from Kamala's atrocious governance, and with the secession of the West Coast, the USA was doomed. Plenty of rural states fell victim to ideological radicality with time, while others devolved into anarchy without any central authority to lead them. Some others, however, collected around the once-grand cities and held out. But others, however, saw this coming from miles away, and planned accordingly.

The American Catharsis (late 2020s)
The American corporate landscape and other elites didn't just take this sitting down. They collected all of their power and influence in the most industrially-fertile territory in the nation; the Tri-State Area of Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois. A large and influential remnant of the US government held out there since the beginning of the collapse, but eventually, was completely couped by this new conglomerate near the end of the 2020s. The elites knew that the American system was inherently flawed; they just watched their empires collapse because of it, after all. With the knowledge that they were surrounded on all sides by hostile forces, the new government insitituted an ultra-technocratic managerial state, which was refined over the years to what it is today.

Humble Beginnings (late 2020s-mid 2030s)
Greater Illinois, if it were like any other American splinter state, should have collapsed a long time ago. While both Russia and China were collapsing, Greater Illinois was beginning to rebuild against all odds, importing materials from Quebec and taking whatever we needed from the land. Eventually, the prairie was turned into an industrial colossus, waiting to be activated, while the companies rebuilt their empires over many, many years. However, up until the mid 2030s, the situation was extremely dire. People were expected to work 12 hour days, and the totalitarian regime present in the beginning was very brutal. Eventually, as the industrial core was rebuilt, liberalization happened (and is still happening even to this day), but anyone over XX years of age can tell you just how bad things used to be. Despite everything, there was something inside of the heart of every Greater Illinosian that kept them going; hate. The hope for reclamation was a distant dream, and putting Russia in a casket once and for all was yet further away, but the mere possibility kept us going. People have always said that pre-collapse Americans used to be haughty and proud of their nation, no matter what its flaws were. Now, we actually have something to be proud of, and the whole world will shake because of it.

Reclaiming What Is Ours (mid 2030s-present (20XX))
One thing that Greater Illinois did right was technology. Despite being situated in a total hellhole, market forces and the pursuit of quality led to large-scale scientific advances even in the dark ages. The tables truly began to turn with the advent of the first-generation Standard Robotic Units. Gone were the days of useless menial labor occupying everyone's time. Gone were the 12-hour work days. This breakthrough, combined with the creation of the legendary Laser Matrix and other forms of mass automation, sparked a period of growth that continues even now in 20XX, and shows no signs of stopping. Greater Illinois went from having a 0.68 on the HDI to attaining such a transcendent HDI that it broke the scale. The industrial heartland was finally completed. New technology flows from the state like a riptide. And, above all, our dreams became realistically attainable. New enemies have arisen, and old ones persist, still. And eventually, the dream of American Reuinification became attainable with the merger between the LFA and the Montanan State, as well as the reclamation of New England. We're now in an even better position than the pre-collapse USA, ironically, and it seems that we're unstoppable. Poland will fall. Sequoyah will fall. Imperium will fall. America WILL see reunification, and sanity will be returned to Europe. We can't lose! ...Right? Obstacles still remain to the long-term survival of America. The Indonesian state is quite concerning, and it may seek to threaten our long-term integrity. We may be secure, but the same cannot be said for some of our allies. And Poland appears to be much more connected than anticipated. Sure, we can handle the entire Warsaw Pact in our sleep, but what would be the consequences of such a move? The law of unintended consequences bites hard, our collapse has proven that, and we must still tread carefully. One major screwup, and we'll be back to being a landlocked shithole.

One of Greater Illinois' biggest strengths is absolute social parity and the absolute equality between the citizens. 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.

Greater Illinois has spent a truly exorbitant amount of money, resources and time over the past few years towards extreme technological growth in every aspect. To most nations, Illinosians are known for posessing some of the most advanced technology on the planet, with Greater Illinosians themselves having no rivals in terms of how developed they are in that regard. It would be impossible to list exactly how much new technology has been developed by the regime, since literally thousands of new improvements and inventions are rolled out and/or theorized every day. Despite being extremely stingy with their physical technology, Greater Illinois has revolutionized many academic fields, from Physics to Sociology, in very impactful ways. Perhaps the biggest thing Greater Illinois is known for in general, unspeakable atrocities and trigger-happy, ultra-absolutist foreign policy aside, is bringing the world towards net zero carbon emissions. After Greater Illinois was finished with its initial three year plan for mass development, it immediately sent schematics for practical ecotech to almost every nation on Earth with the capability to produce them. Power generation has advanced, and some nations have used the technology for iffy purposes, but, as President BERNHE put it, "Back then, our main goal with all of that distribution was to solve a serious existential crisis. We may be at a disadvantage today because of that, but it was worth everything that has resulted from it since then." Although some states are more advanced in particular fields (with the biggest example being the LFA's former monopoly on nanotechnology), Greater Illinois still holds dominion over most of them. The only state that can even hold a candle to Illinosian technological prowess are the Quebecois up north. However, access to all of this wondrous technology has caused Illinois to become drunk with power over time. Alliances against them are forming, and soon, no amount of technology or magic hat tricks may be able to save them. For this reason, Illinois has started to genuinely cooperate with their allies a lot more, have joined a few alliances (and even made one of their own) and is becoming less militaristic, with them pulling out of the Baltic Sea due to the request of the European Commonwealth. However, this is not to say that Greater Illinois does not throw its weight around. The state itself is universally feared within the American territories, with even the stalwarts in the Northwestern Imperium and the Liberal Federation of America complying with Illinosian activities. However, they have no time for petty Fascists or Liberals unless there's a use for them. No. They're currently occupied with wiping out the greatest ideological virus that humanity has ever beheld. They intend on fully purging Communism AS A CONCEPT from North America, and there's really little that can be done to stop them. And next up, the world. That will definitely be interesting. Ever since the merger with the LFA and the Montanan Territories, technological progress has sped up even further, with the influx of LFA/Montanan technology, scientists, and information, as well as the export of Greater Illinosian assets to our new countrymen. The cohesive union now accelerates far faster than any other state in existence, despite the dominance of the military and the corporations in Illinois. The closest states to us technologically are light years behind us and will probably forever remain so. Greater Illinois is in a VERY good position in that regard, which is good for them, because their new technologies have amplified their capacities beyond anything the former United States possessed, despite the reduced size of the union. In even better news, it seems that the new Byzantium is beginning to ascend technologically as well, making them what is essentially the dominant power in Europe. Many of their technological advancement was the result of them improving their research base and technology after recieving Greater Illinosian technology. Although they're still behind Greater Illinois for the time being, we're confident that our Byzantine allies will become the technological authority in Europe, and we will support them every step of the way. In other news, Greater Illinois has been the only state to field Liquid Thorium Salt reactors in their infrastructure, which are far easier to build and supply than fusion reactors, although recently, they've begun to export the components to other allied countries. They're essentially a far safer version of a nuclear reactor, although the Illinosian nuclear program is still extremely strong. Fossil fuels have been completely cut out from the power sector, given the incentives offered to energy titans like Exxon Mobile to invest and deploy greener technologies. In other news, the field of AI has been mastered within Greater Illinois, with AIs helping govern things like resource allocation with business, asset management, logistics and maitenance. This has essentially eradicated 99% of all "blue-collar" jobs, allowing the population to enter managerial/artistic/specialized labor/scientific fields. This allows Greater Illinois to have a far, FAR bigger economic output than those states that still rely on human labor. Greater Illinois has also mastered the technology of Quantum Computing to such a point that they're employed on a commercial level and that has bolstered their AI capability to new heights. Standard Robotic Units, the backbone of the Greater Illinosian Military, are capable of acting just like regular humans except without any of the combat drawbacks. The research base has also been experimenting with genetic editing in order to grant the next few generations of Americans a serious leg up compared to the rest of the world. They've also cracked the code to synthesizing food of all kinds, a technology which they begrudgingly share with the free market, which has allowed Greater Illinois to shut down its factory farms and produce meat-based produce THAT way. Despite Illinois being far from post-scarcity, it's technologies like these that make sure that no Illinosian goes hungry UNLESS HE DOESN'T WORK >:(

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. The Industrial Landscape of Greater Illinois is utterly gargantuan. As a result of breakthroughs in hydroponics and factory farming technology, many millions of acres of farmland in Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois itself have been bulldozed, paved over and built upon. Warehouses, farm buildings, factories, factory farms, logistical depots, stores of every kind, living units, and various other buildings now dot the landscape, representing the collaboration and competition between the various megacorporations that exist throughout the land. Every building, from the skyscrapers full of offices to the lowly factory farms providing food to the citizens, is 100% green, although it is safe to say that the "rural" vibe of the prairie states have been permanently reformed to become something far more fitting for our needs and our modern era. The building of this mass complex was a delicate process, and was only truly completed upon the merger with the LFA, which allowed us to increase our importation of raw resources tenfold. This smattering of industry, representative of the might of our new America, is the primary reason why Greater Illinois has such a tremendous GDP; transcending even the USA pre-collapse. Despite this, betwixt corporate statism and industrial megalopoli, 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, increasing yearly? 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) 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.

In recent news, newfound access to various ports via connections with the Bloc of Free Trade, the First Anti-Communist Internationale, and the new port district at the end of the Mississippi River has allowed Greater Illinois to access the global economy once again. Since Greater Illinois does not need pre-manufactured parts and advanced systems, given their already-extreme production capacities, they've purchased massive amounts of raw or simple materials from various states and sent them back to the homeland for processing. Since then, the Industrialists have been having a field day, and the Mass Production Protocol has been enabled again. Greater Illinois mainly produces advanced/rare components like computer parts, synthetic foodstuffs, functional robots (including military models), and components for advanced power generation for export. However, their capabilities are so extreme that they can produce anything. The full industrial power of Greater Illinois has finally been realized, and the markets will bloom because of it.

One side-effect of this mass import of material (which is necessary, even with the neo-mercantilist system) is the possibility of ditching Fiat currency, reverting entirely to crypto and steel coins. However, given the massive scale of the Greater Illinosian economy, this would be expected to take a LONG time to implement, if it even gets anywhere in the legislature.

Now that the merger has been completed, Greater Illinosian companies finally have unfettered access to all sorts of PORTS!!! Despite Greater Illinois bypassing its landlocked status all that time ago, it was mainly through the Mississippi River, foreign ports, and cargo planes. Now, the union finally has ports it can call its own, and the ships are leaving the harbors now. Also, imports will probably decrease in certain areas once the rest of the union is brought up to code. However, nowadays, although the civilian markets are still doing better than ever, much of the industry has been aligned with the military to make an army that can shatter the Earth (especially Poland. Fuck those guys). The main exports of Greater Illinois are advanced components, weapons systems, genetically-engineered foodstuffs, power generation equipment (and power itself), and advanced alloys. Greater Illinois' dominance in all of these fields, as well as the recent lessening of raw material imports due to asteroid mining, have made their dealings extremely lucrative. Plenty of the gains from trade, trillions upon trilions of dollars, are funnelled into the machine of progress, but enough is left over to ensure an extremely high QoL for its citizens. The general abolition of most manual and entry-level positions and the growth of new professional jobs have also mostly sealed the massive wealth gap that existed before the American collapse naturally (despite there being no shortage of magnates, tycoons and oligarchs), with most Greater Illinosians retiring as millionaires.

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 ~400,000, with a few confirmed (yet completely unknowable) special forces detachments. 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%). This system was dubbed the Laser Matrix by the public. For this reason, they have begun to secretly build a sizeable and extremely modern nuclear stockpile (with the final desired amount of 250 ICBMs and 50 SRBMs being reached already in spades, now the total stockpile is around 5,000 ICBMs, 2,000 IRBMs, 1,500 MRBMs, 2,000 SRBMs, and 10,000 TBMs) capable of bypassing essentially every other primitive anti-nuclear system in existence without the threat of nuclear retaliation. It is said that as of right now, 1 of every 100,000 nuclear weapon would pass through the matrix hypothetically. And with the recent EMP/[REDACTED] upgrades, that probability is probably far lower now. Not to mention that Greater Illinois still maintains cruise missiles if the matrix should fail somehow. It's also important to note that in the event of imminent Illinosian destruction, Greater Illinois can and will detonate [REDACTED] bombs all across Europe and Asia 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 1.4 million of them, 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. Most of them are kept at home, scattered all across the territories. Now that the ports are finally open, they will begin the march across the sun, vanquishing any threats to the ascendant American hegemony, wherever they may lie. Design improvements 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 betides 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 on older American models and some new designs, Greater Illinois has 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 received facelifts, with the brand new F-42 jet being released a few months ago. This jet carries three laser cannons and HTMs (Hypersonic Tracking Missiles) that make it the antithesis to the LFA's allegedly "invincible" fighter jets. However, these jets are still 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. 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 can hold their own against most things and have 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. However, in recent port expansion, designs for things like armed merchant ships, submarines, corvettes, patrol boats, and even a new type of ship, called an "Annihilator," that essentially serves as a massive weapons platform. 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. With an imminent war with Poland and its sphere approaching, Greater Illinois has begun to expand its anti-nuclear matrix to aligned European countries, specifically Byzantium, the Beryist Reich, and the Eastern Polish Republic. They're technically under Greater Illinosian dominion, as they are connected to all of the Illinosian military systems, but the application and potential use is decided upon bilaterally. An offer has been extended to the European Commonwealth in secret, but they have not responded yet. The Eastern Polish Republic has been supplied Illinosian AA batteries to form an impenetrable area of denial around their airspace. The first shipments of Gauss weapons are arriving in their airports. With the union fully realized, around a quarter of America is reunified. The first thing that should be done is to remove the BosWash stain from New England, for they have openly declared their intentions to help Poland. However, the military itself is changing. Grandiose plans were always in the making; all sorts of hypothetical scenarios, battle plans, expected numbers, resource tallies, etc. are now coming to fruition. With our new union's might and economic prowess, we will make an army to challenge the world and win. It is unknown how many Standard Robotic Units will be produced, but it has been expected that the final amount is supposed to be in the ten-millions range. The vehicular department expands further, and the air force blots out the sun. In other American nations, especially communist ones, there are plenty of dormant kill teams scattered all over in their unincorporated zones. These exist to decapitate anti-Illinosian assets and agents, should they become too outspoken or influential. They are not there to kill leaders of a country. However, at the time of writing, none have ever been used, since it's either never been worth it to use or there haven't been opportunities to use them. However, with the recent presence of Polish military units on American soil, these death squads have been far more active recently, taking out Polish commanders and officials from many kilometers away, and making it extremely expensive for them to continue maintaining a foothold. Greater Illinois has also revealed to the public that they are in posession of some seriously nasty biological and chemical weapons, and have threatened to use them against multiple countries, including Canada, Poland and the Lovecraftian cult stationed in East Greenland. These weapons could also be used as a sort of leverage, as Greater Illinois also holds cures for its biological weapons.

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.
 * Anti-Spaceship weapons have been brought online across Low-Earth Orbit, effectively barring enemy nations from space.
 * 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. Since then, these weapons have taken out ~95% of the spy satellite fleet of the Warsaw Pact.
 * 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.
 * There are new nanite systems within every Standard Robotic Unit that make them immune to EMP-based weaponry and allow for limited self-repair.
 * New experiments within the realms of quantum harnessing technology have allowed for the teleportation of small objects via. radio waves. However, live animals that were transported this way have all died, and biological material in general does not appear to travel well. Inorganic objects, however...
 * Greater Illinois is also starting to experiment with hypothetical Quark Fusion reactors, slated to be even more powerful than standard hydrogen fusion reactors.
 * Upgrades to the Laser Matrix have reduced the probability of successful nuclear attack even further. Greater Illinois is essentially invulnerable to nuclear attack at this point. Praise be to our magic forcefield!
 * An extremely complicated network of bunkers have been created somewhere deep in the wilderness of Wisconsin, which is where the Greater Illinosian, Montanan and LFA leadership will reside. Chicago is still the capital de-facto, but the decisions are made in this complex. Schematics have shown that this bunker is more akin to a functional underground city than anything else, capable of nigh-unlimited survivability in the event of an apocalyptic scenario.
 * The Department of Post-Reclamation Activities has been created to deal with hypothetical future mega-projects upon the reunification of America and the removal of its enemies.
 * Recent advances in practical neurotechnology have allowed for the application of permanent IQ increases (probably to be rolled out ASAP), memory wipes, 100% efficient interrogation, and "deprogramming," the science of de-radicalizing zealots and other "unbreakables." This'll be very useful on that weird sect of Poles that are completely indoctrinated to the whims of the Social Nationalist occupiers.


 * 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. These "annihilator bombs" 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.
 * FUCK THIS, WE'RE GONNA BUILD ONE OR TWO NOW THAT THE USSR IS BACK AND HAS 1/40th OF THE WORLD'S POPULATION.
 * The first Annihilator Bombs have been created. If we die, we're taking the world with us.
 * 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. Until now...
 * LIBERATION FROM THE CONSTRUCTS OF FLESH ARE IMMINENT. HAIL THE MACHINE.