Confederate Texas
From ThreadsWiki
| Confederate Texas | |
|---|---|
| Passports TBD Gate TBD | |
 |  |
| Geographical Boundries | |
| Boundary Type | TBD |
| Physics Flags | |
| Tech Level | 3 |
| Supernatural | Medium |
| Hypertech | Medium |
| Temporal Data | |
| Diverged | 1865 |
| Time Since Div | 20 years |
| Cultural and Economic | |
| Currency | Confederate Dollar (C$) |
| Exchange Rate | TBD |
| Leaders | President Thomas Hindman Secretary of War Hamilton P. Bee |
| Major Religions | Protestant (Baptist, Methodist) Catholic Assorted native beliefs |
| Metadata | |
| Contact Person | Eric S., Gordon O-D |
| SPEM | SPEM 3/4 |
| Genre/Flavor | Alternate history Haunted "Deadlands" feel |
| Created | Season 2 |
Patrons/Writers
Confederate Texas Writers Notes POTENTIAL MINOR SPOILERS
Recent Events
Texas was been invaded by the armies of Apophis but they have since retreated.
Texas Announces Naval Campaign
Napoleonic France sends military to Texas
Confederate texas awards citizenship to New Orleans citizens
Thread Physics Data
Tech Level - 3
Magic Level - Medium (In flux since the events of Reunification) NO EFFECT TO SIGMA RATING
Hypertech - Medium (Appears to have been changed by Reunification)
Historical Data
The Union captured Galveston Texas in Oct-Dec, 1862. The Confederates under Cook recaptured Galveston on Jan 1, 1863, and it remained in Confederate hands for the remainder of the war.
The current year is 1887.
"Confederate Texas" is a misnomer. The thread embraces parts of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississipi, however its capital and largest city is Galveston.
The Confederate Texas thread was severed in May 1865, shortly after the Battle of Palmito Ranch, Brownsville. Union and Confederate forces engaged in two days of skirmishes. At Palmito Ranch forces commanded by Colonel Theodore Barrett first prevailed but were later beaten back by the Confederate counter-attacks by forces commanded by Colonel John S Ford. In the ENY-Penn State Timeline this was the "last significant land battle of the War" followed by the surrender of the Confederate Department of the Trans-Missisippi in June 1865.
Following the severing, Union forces faced Confederate troops without supply lines, and without the main body of their force. The Union forces in the thread surrendered by December 1865.
Gates and Contact
The thread has a gate to Lincoln County, a Gate to Pre Columbian America B "Buckmania" and sporadic contacts with Loveless Washington. Sea gates allow indirect contact with New Orleans, Jamaica, and Tortuga, a larger Confederate Thread that is believed to be in severe danger of collapse (contact is very intermittent, believed to be source of the privateer CSS Wilmington) as well as the Haunted Sea.
The Hive maintains a time table of Direct Gates from The Hive and Penn State in support of the war against Apophis. These are used primarily for supply and medical support. Hearst News pays for couriers to Cost Gate to and from Galveston and does let them carry official government and military traffic as part of an agreement with the Texas government.
Cherokee and other Indians
As Stand Watie led Indian cavalry as part of the Army of the Trans-Missisippi, the Cherokee as well as the Muskogee and Seminole tribes have full rights as citizens within Texas. Southern Cherokees owned black slaves prior to the war and supported the Confederacy.
Slavery
Black slaves are still kept in Confederate Texas and are part of trade with other threads as well as a point of pride due to Texas' victory against the Union. German immigrants, former Union soldiers, certain religious groups and those affected by the political actions of the Mid-Western States recently to confront the issue tend to take a dim view of slavery.
Reform Movements
After Manhattan was taken over by the ENY, a large number of people fled the thread. A fair portion of them found refuge in Confederate Texas. Texas is similar enough culturally and socially that the immigrants have adjusted fairly well to the change. However, Texas did not have the progressive reformist institutions that were present in turn of the century Manhattan, and that persist there today. Members of some of these organizations were among the refugees, and once they adjusted to Texas life, they swiftly took back up their causes and adopted some new ones.
Women's Christian Temperance Union
The WCTU is technically a Temperance organization, dedicated to protecting families from the evils of drink. It is affiliated with its sister organization in Manhattan. It was brought to Texas by Caldonia Wilson, a formidable society matron who makes more money for her charities than most men do for their businesses. Although it is primarily dedicated to Temperance, the WCTU also officially supports women's rights and suffrage. Some branches are more active in this regard than others, but that variance is an accepted part of the group's framework. Although the WCTU has diplomatically steered clear of endorsing it as an organization, a number of its member branches are also actively involved in (largely fruitless) efforts to push for the abolition of slavery.
Seafaring Capability, Weapons and Trade
Texas tends to run sidewheeler steamships that often have sails and rigging as well. Ships are generally armed with 1860's period smoothbore cannon and the occasional rifled gun. Texans tend to favor guns over hand to hand and are generally good shots who do not flee from a fight.
Common guns are the Sharps percussion breechloader and the Colt revolving rifle and are further explained here: Standard Weapons
Galveston has built a lot of low tech steamships and iron-hulled clippers, exported plans and builds has a lot of TL 3 "know-how" compared to smaller threads (partially due to a strongly educated German immigrant population), being a leading TL3 vendor. Confederate Texas has some privateer vessels, but is not generally a major "pirate" port.
Common trade goods are: slaves, guns, cotton and other agricultural products.
Other technology
Texas maintains several steam rail lines as well as telegraph lines for communication. Newspapers are the common media.
Communications
Telegraph - While telegraph is a functioning technology in Texas, Apophis' forces tend to cut lines. Practically this means that the only reliable telegraph is between Galveston and Houston although there is work progressing towards San Antonio.
Mail - Mail by rail is common between Galveston and Houston but other mail must go by coach or rider and raiding and attacks are common.
Newspaper - Cities and towns all publish their own papers as they can. Galveston actually publishes a daily but most others are weekly.
Messenger - A good rider can make good money delivering messengers but the job is hazardous.
Sea - Texas is a sea power and does most communication outside via letters sent by ship.
Intra-thread/shard - Hearst News and the Hive will carry messages from Galveston but this is expensive and monitored by the Texas government.
Cities
Galveston - The most heavily defended city in Texas. It has massive wards with a strange polyglot flavor, huge defense works with heavy artillery, a comprehensive watch, military patrols and a massive moat half filled with brick dust. Leading north, along the rail line, are a series of small forts all the way to Houston. It also has a constant naval presence.
Houston - The second most heavily defended city in Texas. It has some wards but most supernatural protection comes from The Hive and Boston Witch Finder patrols, large defense works with heavy artillery, a comprehensive watch, military patrols and a massive moat half filled with brick dust.
San Antonio - Now relieved, there are efforts underway to build defenses and forts between San Antonio and Houston. In time, it will be at least as well defended as Houston. A rail line is under construction and there is a regular telegraph line. Long supply lines and issues in resupply and communication are almost a thing of the past.
Diplomacy
JET - Ambassador, Maj. Celsus Price (rumored to be in bad health)
JET - Hostess, Mrs. Celeste Price (generally perceived to be the 'actual' Ambassador)
Confederate Texas operates Embassies in the Core threads and are assumed to get reasonable intelligence briefs. It's worth noting that Confederate Texas is fairly Econ Poor and also has a very small Governmental Budget proportionate to it's GDP, so does not have a lot of money to pay for gating Ambassadors back and forth. The closure of the Port of Manhattan was a hardship for Texas as most of their travel to Core threads is via steamship or other shipping.
Texas is strongly concerned about piracy and Apophis' control of New Orleans as their ships have been attacked multiple times. Of course, the invasion since the time of the Salem deployment is a primary concern. As they are a sea power, any issues with free navigation and trade affect them significantly.
Confederate Secret Service
Texas is in the process of founding a secret service and intelligence arm to oppose Apophis' forces inside and outside of Texas. Any foreign national offering to work for them will receive dual citizenship and other rewards. Their methods will primarily be time honored ones that work in TL3 but they will work with technical consultants as needed. Currently, this falls under the Secretary of War.
The effort is loosely based on previous efforts: Confederate Secret Service
Primary intelligence interests are:
- Any political intelligence regarding the Sovereign State of New Orleans and Apophis
- Military intelligence pertaining to Texas operations
- Military intelligence pertaining to naval operations
- Supporting privateers and harrassment operations against the naval forces of Apophis, arranging Letters of Marque
- Sabotage operations
- Rescuing Texans being sent back to the Sovereign State of New Orleans
Known Characters
