What Outsiders Know
North of Lake Erie, and west of Pittsburgh, this nation is almost unknown. On the east coast of the United States, it's known as a source of technological items -- especially weapons.
The Reality
The mountainous parts of EBT slowly recovered after the Atomic War as a coal-powered industrial zone. Contact with nations to the south and east has led to manufactured goods going out, while funds and immigrants come in. The northwestern half of the country has been settled within the last 30 years.
Population
About 140,000 persons live within the borders by 2140. Of those, about 50,000 were born outside the borders, or are the children of people born outside the borders. The immigrants are about equally from tribal areas to the north, west or south, and from Pittsburgh.
77% of the population are involved in agriculture, or are the family members of a "breadwinner" in agriculture.
Territory and Locations
red lines indicate railway routes; stars indicate major towns
The border is about 700 kilometers long, encompassing about 27,000 square kilometers of area. The northern and western border is the Allegheny River, down to near Pittsburgh.
The major towns are:
Altoona
Population 15,000. This town is the center of steam engine and railway equipment construction in the state. The town, shops and railway yard have a lot of pre-1950 buildings, some of 5 stories height or more. There are three "nice" hotels: the Penn Alto (150 rooms), Blair House (30 rooms), and the Anderson (14 rooms).
The town is smokey and smoggy; the rivers are heavily polluted. A couple of thousand horses work in the town, contributing to the messy streets.
Johnstown
Population 14,000, of which 5,000 are employed in heavy industry, 2,500 were retired or disabled, and 2,800 were 18 years of age or younger. More than 2,000 horses are also present, including 60 owned by the street trolley company.
It had been a declining "Rust Belt" steel town before the Atomic War (pop. 35,500 in mid-1989), which may explain why it was spared from a strike. The town has returned to its industrial roots; armaments production is concentrated here. A dense set of brick buildings, about 100 meters wide and 800 meters long, forms the heart of industry here.
the mills at Johnstown
Five horse-drawn trolley cars bring the workers to the factories, and back home. Coal mines in the adjacent hills power the factories. The air and river are being heavily polluted; the factories operate night and day, with steam whistles announcing shift changes.
Mount Union
Population 1,500, with 300 horses. A rail yard and brick factory.
Rock Hill
Population 3,000, with 600 horses. The capitol of the state (including the "Council House"), and the operating headquarters of the railway network -- there is also a brickworks; often called "The Shops". Banks and other non-industrial companies tend to be headquartered here; there's also an "opera house". Before the Atomic War, there were less than 500 people living here.
State College
Population 7,000. The center for higher education in the state -- about 900 students are attending the college. A large theater, called the "opera house", is used for all manner of performances, events and ceremonies.
Organization
Government, National and Local
Technically, the "nation" is the Great State of Huntingdon, but nobody calls it that.
National policy and executive power are managed by the State Council, mostly composed of the owners or executive officers of a number of local companies and businesses. The number of council members has varied over the years, but as of 2140 there are twelve. Ten are chosen based on the valuation of businesses, one is the "public advocate", and the twelfth is currently chosen by the eleven other members of the council.
Payment for votes is expected and legal; council members are also paying to the general fund on some basis the Morrow teams haven't quite figured out yet.
Eligibility to vote is determined by several different standards; people can have more than one vote. Voters must have been residents of EBT for at least a year, along at least one of these qualifications:
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mothers (one vote per surviving child; these votes become permanent when the child reaches age 13)
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craftsmen who've passed various tests to the apprentice level, roughly (say, 40% skill level)
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having paid $250
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a college degree
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placing in the upper categories of some regular contests or tests (these votes can lapse if someone else wins the contest the next season)
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a few other socially useful skills or abilities
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creating a notable invention
Military Forces
Actual military troops are rare -- only 230 men and women can claim to be in the active Forces. Of those, only 160 could be called "front line forces"; the rest are technical services and training cadre for the reserves.
About 4,000 people have agreed to serve in time of war, in exchange for a bit of training and regular "reservist" payments. The government is proud to show off warehouses full of armaments; the actual military effectiveness of their military might be surprisingly poor.
Justice, Social Control, Punishment
Fines are the preferred punishment for crimes. If you cannot or do not wish to pay, "public labor" nominally rated at $1 per day is available to pay off your fines. A few very serious crimes (murder, rape, kidnapping, piracy, counterfeiting American or EBT currency, corruption by sheriffs or judges, etc.) are punishable with death by hanging.
Law enforcement is carried out by the Sheriff's Department, one of the few occupations for which bribery is illegal. There's a reward of $250 or one-quarter of the bribe for reporting (provable) corruption by sheriffs or judges -- there's no penalty for offering a bribe to an official. A couple hundred sheriffs are paid and armed by the government.
Rewards are a very common method of bringing in suspects - the reward is only paid if the person is brought in alive and still capable of work (after some recovery or treatment, the cost of which is deducted from the reward paid -- usually $1 per day and the medical costs).
Political Factions, Dissent
Blah blah ...
Famous/Infamous Persons
The current members of the State Council:
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the public advocate
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the council leader
Almost a century ago, a utopian group departed East Broad Top and disappeared into the west. The were inspired by their leader, Felix Ultraviolet, who is still a common figure of fun -- "As crazy as Felix Ultraviolet" etc.
Carl Sterling was a prolific machinery and firearms designer, born 2084 -- he died in 2027. His only child, Veronica headed out to the Great Lakes a decade ago, after a dispute with Erwin Waterman.
Relationships with Other Groups
The "wild and savage people" to the north and west are seen as ... well, wild and savage.
The Federal Zone, in Virginia, is the main trading partner of EBT, and the source of most immigrants.
Useful trade with the area around Princeton, New Jersey has made good money for a few traders -- but travel down the Susquehanna River and then east past New Philly is difficult. The University at Princeton has many, many books, and can also offer a good education; knowledge is most of what comes back to EBT (and is easier to carry over the Appalachians).
A dangerous dictatorship between the Delaware River and the Atlantic coast of New Jersey, the Empire of the East, troubles the Federals, but is seen as a possible commercial client by the merchants of EBT. However, the poorly-understood menace of addiction has made EBT leery of easy travel and trade with the Empire.
Culture
Ethnic Groups, Immigration and Emigration
At the time of the Atomic War, the rural population was generally well-established Caucasians. In the urban areas, especially Johnstown, older populations of Irish, Germans. Czechs, Poles etc. were being slowly supplanted by African-Americans. A large number of African-American men were freed from the prisons at Huntingdon and Smithfield.
The immigrants from the Federal Zone have been a mix of Caucasian or African-American groups, depending on the particular community they come from. Quite a lot of the rural and urban laboring population were born outside the borders of East Broad Top, in the Federal Zone or at Pittsburgh.
Social Divisions and Castes
Blah blah ...
Slavery is illegal within East Broad Top, but some merchants are suspected of making deals "out of state" that involve the slave trade.
Religion, Beliefs and Superstition
Pennsylvania has a long history of religious tolerance, which led (before the Atomic War) to a wide variety of Christian sects settling there.
The industrial cities held a lot of Catholics; in the countryside, Protestant denominations were more common, with a few small groups of extremists (such as Anabaptists, Quakers, the Amish, etc.). The Jehovah's Wittnesses were well-represented in Pittsburgh.
By the 22nd Century, Catholic churches still exist in the large towns, but most rural churches describe themselves as Lutheran, Methodist, or Presbyterian.
The Catholic Church
There are two Catholic cathedrals, St. John Gaulbert's, at Johnstown; and the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, at Altoona (where the bishop sits). Both are part of the diocese of Altoona-Johnstown; there are forty ordained Catholic priests in the diocese (which technically covers all of Pennsylvania, plus some adjacent areas). The diocese is led by a bishop, the Most Reverend Albert Kintwell. The bishop is chosen by the deacons of the two cathedrals. The church operates a half-dozen schools in the towns, plus Saint Francis College (between Altoona and Johnstown); there's a Carmelite convent, and a couple of Benedictine monasteries. The larger monastery is the St. Vincent Archabbey, at Latrobe; it also houses the only Catholic seminary in the eastern U.S..
Bishop Kintwell in turn reports to the Archbishop of Philadelphia, who lives in exile at Lancaster -- the Empire of the East has been attempting to kill the archbishop for many years.
The Archabbey at Latrobe has a couple of basic radios; they keep in touch with various groups on the Eastern Seaboard, including the Knights of Columbus.
Morality and Values
Being skilled with your hands is well-regarded. A master machinist or noted inventor has a lot of social standing.
The urban middle and upper class are sort of libertarian-capitalists, though they don't call it that. They certainly feel that private property and minimal government intervention are the best way to regulate society. They consider wealth a sign of success and social worth.
Progress and Failure
Invention, engineering and machinist skills, and success at business are the most highly-regarded goals. The lives of famous inventors are taught in schools; Thomas Edison is the only one mentioned from before the Atomic War.
Note that there is no patent law or protection in EBT. The government does provide payments to inventors several times a year, via various contests, outright grants, public votes, etc.
Family, Age, Sexuality and Gender
Blah blah ...
Education and Language
The established locals speak a dialect of English; they just call it "English", but for game purposes we'll call it Appalachian English. It's entirely understandable to a 20th Century person, but some 20th Century terms -- hovercraft, helicopter, television, submarine, Soviet, Utah, etc. -- will only be known by a local if they make their EDU x 5 roll on 1d100.
Most of the Pennsylvania Dutch were east of the mountains before the Atomic War; while there are a very few people with some knowledge of German, nobody is a "native speaker" of German.
There are government-funded primary schools in all the towns, and a college at College Town with 900 students. Secondary education ("high school") available in the five major towns includes classes in smithing, foundry work, machine shop tool use, and other industrial skills.
Book printing takes place at Rock Hill and State College. Bibles and school books are the majority of printed texts.
College studies mostly cover teaching or medicine.
Large libraries, including warehouses filled with poorly-sorted books, preserve the information available before the Atomic War.
Environment and Agriculture
Cold winters, and warm summers with thunderstorms. Precipitation is spread fairly evenly throughout the year. Snow falls between mid-November and mid-March, with most of it coming down in December and Januarty. Floods can happen in any month, but most often in March or April.
A few tornadoes touch down every year -- not in the mountains.
The rich farmland west of the mountains now produces the majority of foodstuffs. Corn, wheat and buckwheat, squash, peas and beans, tomatoes, onions, leaf vegetables, hay, potatoes, tobacco, maple syrup, fruit and berries are harvested; horses, sheep and goats are raised for milk, meat, wool, etc.; rabbits are raised for meat (and caught wild, too).
Brook trout, white tailed deer, and ruffled grouse are caught for meat, also.
Industry in EBT produces threshers, binders, harvesters and other large farm machinery -- mostly horse-drawn, but some powered by steam engines, or even diesel. Smaller gadgets, such as apple peelers, milk separators, churns, conveyor belts, etc. make work easier, and increase food production.
Canning, both in glass jars and in galvanized steel cans, has been used increasingly in the last two decades.
Food
Horse, goat and sheep milk, cheese, and other dairy products are common. You can't make butter from goat milk, though; ice cream is usually made from horse milk, rarely from goat milk. Sheep milk is too rich to drink, and is mostly used in cheese-making.
A factory in Rock Hill makes marshmallows, marketed as a substitute for whipped cream.
Eggs are available, but not common -- ducks and geese aren't kept in poultry sheds.
Beers, ales, ciders, birch beer, root beer, some indifferent wines, and distilled liquor are readily available.
"Coffee" has caffeine, but no coffee beans are involved. The local tea actually comes from proper tea plants.
Serving, both for families and at restaurants, is "buffet" style, from a sideboard. Items you might find on the sideboard: meat pies, egg noodle and other stews, egg noodle soup (of course not with chicken eggs), corn and other soups, potato salad, meat loaf, corn muffins, rolls, butter, shoofly (molasses) pie, fruit pie, sweet potato pie, sweet potato custard, sugar (and other) cookies, gingerbread, pound cake (called a "sally lunn"), pumpkin pie (in season), cheese cake (very odd with the non-bovine dairy products), ice cream, cider, milk, tea, fruit punch, terrapin, pepperpot soup. Some breakfast favorites: scrapple (but not made with pork -- more often mutton, duck, or game animal meats), quiche (very odd without chickens or cows), potato pancakes, baked apple or apple fritters or apple dumplings, johnnycake (especially to take with lunch), corn fritters (very odd with no chickens or cows) ...
Hasenpfeffer takes a couple of days to make ... funnel cakes are mostly a fairground or concession stand item.
Lots of food is dried, salted, or smoked for long-term preservation; deer jerky is traditionally the "long term travel" meat. "Brick tea" is compressed into blocks anywhere from 300 grams to 10 kilograms in weight.
Art and Entertainment, Music, Literature, Recreation
There are half-a-dozen daily or weekly newspapers, none very large; they carry a lot of political advertising.
The five major towns have music halls and a few theaters. Rock Hill and College Town each have an "opera house" (really a concert hall and communi8ty stage).
Folk songs, and polkas, are the most popular musics. Fiddles, zithers and accordions are common instruments; the towns have brass bands.
Fashion and Appearance
Rural folk have a sort of "Little House on the Prairie" appearance -- sturdy pants or bib overalls for men, along with slouch hat or wide straw. Dresses and caps for unmarried women, hats for married women, etc.
In the cities, laboring men wear striped overalls when working; various cloth caps are worn. More formal clothing resemble 19th Century "sack coats", with felt hats like those worn by European hunters.
Urban and Rural Areas, Architecture
Urban areas are sturdy, with lots of brick and stone masonry (not much mass concrete, though). Streets are rarely paved (though they are oiled), since the steam tractors are hard on asphalt or block paving. Overhead lines for DC electrical systems, telephones and telegraph systems clutter up the sky. There's a lot of smog and grime from coal smoke.
Narrow-gauge trains, conveyor belts, hoist towers, steam cranes and smokestacks are often seen in the industrial areas.
The rural areas northwest of the mountains have mostly log cabins, and small towns surrounded by log palisades.
Equipment and Resources
Economy
EBT is Technology Level D (late steam age), and rated as Rich, Industrial, Non-Agricultural for trade. The Gross National Product is about $4.2 million dollars in 2140.
See the list of available items here.
The locals still accept old American currency, but have begun production of their own copper-nickel coinage. Most places do NOT accept casino tokens, subway tokens, prison currency, or non-bullion foreign coins -- if they do, they'll discount them by 33%.
Science, Medicine and Technology
Local industry is very good with machinery, but poor with electrical devices. In the towns, the electrical distribution is usually at 32 volts DC. Carbon arc lamps (for industrial and outdoors lighting) and carbon filament lamps (only good for 1200 hours) are used, but there have been calls for the standard voltage to be increased ...
Chemical industries are expanding (but not at the level of Styx). Local plants now produce "early smokeless powder" equivalent to cordite. 1,500 tons (820,000 liters) of sulfuric acid up to 78% purity is produced each year. Higher concentrations are much more expensive -- their production employs catalysts such as platinum or vanadium pentoxide.
A number of oil wells are in production (all in the west); the refineries are very simple, and most of the products are used for lubrication and lighting.
Weapons and Military Equipment
Annual military spending is $85,300 as of 2140.
40 years ago, some gifted mechanical geniuses were active in Johnstown. The production of stamped sheet steel, semi-automatic and full-automatic weapons, and reliable cased ammunition became possible.
.30-06 rifles, and .45 ACP pistols and machine carbines, equip the best military units.
In the last five years or so a number of armored fighting vehicles have been brought to "the shops" for possible repair or rehabilitation. The most common have been M41 Walker Bulldog light tanks, so far. Several have been restored to mostly-running condition, but ammunition is still being developed -- only canister is available as of 2140.
So-called "scrap tanks" are produced at various shops.
Communications
Telegraphs connect the towns along the railway; there are telephone systems within the five main towns. Mail delivery is fast and cheap - one-day service between any towns on the rail lines. There are no radios.
Books, and a few newspapers, are distributed.
Vehicles
There are a dozen or so express railway locomotives for passenger service. Almost a hundred freight locomotives haul freight; dozens of tank engines move freight in the towns, yards, and coal mines.
Empty freight cars weigh an average of 20 tons; they're usually about 15 meters long, with a cargo capacity of 50 tons. A freight locomotive can easily handle a train of 40 loaded freight cars (= 2800 tons behind the tender).
Rail Transport Rates in EBT
passengers: $0.04 per mile per person
first class freight (fragile, dangerous, special handling, valuable, etc.): $0.02 per mile per ton;
second class freight (boxes and crates): $0.01 per mile per ton;
third class freight (bulk goods like coal, lumber, gravel, bricks): $0.005 per mile per ton;
loading and unloading total $1 per ton at most (less if you can "drive it off")
Fifty or so steam-powered highway tractors are in service, typically seen hauling lumber from the forests, or heavy supplies from railway freight stations. One or two armored steam tractors have been built, but not used in combat yet.
Normal personal transport is on horseback, or in carriages. There are some stagecoaches connecting towns with no rail link, and horse-drawn trolleys in the bigger towns.
Heavy horse-drawn freight wagons are a common sight on the roads, also.
Aircraft
None.
Watercraft
The Juniata River runs down to the Susquehanna River near Harrisburg (a heavily contaminated and destroyed city). The river is only navigable to small craft from the town of Huntingdon, near Rock Hill; the old Western Division Canal has not been usable since the early 20th Century. Some seasonal trade down-river was common in the recent past, but it is risky and only possible in the spring when the river is in full flood. The boats used are called "arks", but are identical to the flatboats used on the Great Lakes.
A determined trader can take a small keelboat up and down the Juniata River, but competition from easier routes has made keelboats rare on the Juniata nowadays.
The northwestern end of the railway is at Lock Haven, on the West Branch of the Susquehanna River. This has become the main port for sending goods down to the Federal territories. Unfortunately, from Harrisburg down to the upper reaches of Chesapeake Bay there is still radioactive contamination in the water.
The Allegheny, Mon and Yough rivers join together to form the Ohio River at Pittsburgh. The Ohio is navigable for shallow-draft vessels, but the tributaries are not (there are various gravel bars, white-water rapids, minor falls, etc. on them). The Ohio River between Pittsburgh and Louisville varies from 1 to 5 meters in depth; steamboats from Louisville visit Pittsburgh from time to time. Arks are sent down the Allegheny River in the spring.
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