The tiny state of Rhode Island was hit by numerous nuclear missiles, destroying all the cities and leaving its surviving people to then fend for themselves in the aftermath of that horrific day. 150 years later, the state is down to less than 5,000 people, but, given the local technology level, that is just about the right amount for the food resources.
Providence, SS-N-17
Newport Naval Base, SS-19
Discretionary nuclear target:
Warrick, SS-19
The ruins of Providence: Seven nuclear warheads popped over the Providence area, killing at least a million people in one instant and nearly completely leveling the entire city. Today, Providence is virtually a ghost town with small isolated scavengers sharing the last open areas with literally millions of rats and exponentially multiplied cockroaches.
Woonsocket: While severely damaged by refugees and fires, this city has hosted several settlements of people over the years. The largest of these are now centered on the open fields of the WWII Memorial State Park. The greenways of the park have been cleared and tilled and the edges bounded by a low rubble wall. The old marble tower on top of the park's hill serves as the citadel.
Chepachet: An inland town surviving by farming and trading for fish with coastal communities. A Mailman post office was built here 125 years ago, the first one away from the coast. It has served the local area for all this time.
Coventry Center: Home to a small settlement of people fishing the still-too-polluted Coventry Reservoir and farming the banks.
North Kingstown: About 100 people under a man named Duke have taken over the old nineteenth-century Smith's Castle near this town. They are heavily armed with bows and arrows and are extremely hostile to outsiders, which are few in this area.
Prudence Island: Prudence Island was badly damaged by the blasts across the way in Warrick, the entire northern third of the island was reduced to charred ruins by wildfires started by the heat and flashes. There is no organized government on the island now, and the population consists of just a few fishermen and their families.
Wakefield: A large settlement at the mouth of the Sauguatucket River, Wakefield is now thriving on fishing and trade. The 265 citizens are protected by an active militia. Their leader is named "Barney the Norseman", a self-proclaimed Viking who calls himself "Bjarni" and carries a Viking sword and battle axe, looted from the personal effects of the captain of a shipwrecked Icelandic boat.
The ruins of Newport: The naval base at the southern end of the island and the large city of Newport was pounded by six 200 kiloton warheads, devastating the entire city. Little of value is here. In the cold waters of the anchorage off the Newport Naval Base there was great carnage. The nuclear blasts sank nearly everything afloat, and the bay is clogged with half-sunken flash-melted hulks.
Rhode Island: The southern half of the island was ravaged by fires and refugees, leaving it abandoned for the better part of a century. There is now a population of some 200 people on the island, most all around the town of Island Park on the extreme northern tip where they have farmed the limited soil on the island. An 40-man militia patrols and drills daily, and small sailboats patrol the approaches to the settlement. The village was built on this spot, after the war, because of an interesting find just offshore. 150 years ago, a large South Korean container ship was traveling up the Sakonnet River channel to Fall River, Massachusetts. Damaged by the nukes over that port, the ship drifted south, eventually nudging ashore near Island Park. The tides have slowly pushed the wreck up on the beach, helped by uncounted bad storms over the years, and now the ship is about half out of the water. Sitting upright, she has become a fortress of sorts, a place where the townspeople can go to in times of crisis. Secure behind the thick steel walls of the ship, they have survived at least two marauder attacks in the last 50 years.
Conanicut Island: West of Newport, Conanicut Island was consumed by firestorms as far north as Highway 138. Now home to just some 30 fishermen.
Block Island: This medium-sized island about twenty miles south of Newport has become known as the genesis of the "Mailmen". Block Island's most famous citizen of the last 150 years is surely a man named Peter. Peter was not a native Islander; however, he was from Long Island. Peter was a ten-year veteran of the US Postal Service, working as a branch office supervisor and doing quite well for himself. In 1989, as the Soviets were busy grinding New York City into powder, Peter joined the refugee exodus east along Long Island to escape the firestorms over Brooklyn and Queens. This was pointless; of course, as there was only so far east people could run. Everything that could float was fought over by desperate people, killing each other over space in commandeered ferries and hijacked private yachts. In this orgy of violence, Peter managed to buy passage on a large sailboat owned by a kindly old man from Water Mill. The boat headed out to sea, but didn't make it far before engine failure forced it to look for a place to land. Block Island was the closest landfall and the captain put ashore there. Not sure what to do next, Peter went to what he knew best...the post office. It just so happened that the post office was right next door to the police station. Both buildings were protected by heavily armed cops and civilians. Peter managed to talk his way inside and met the Postmaster. As the years went on, Block Island withdrew into isolation. This was necessary to keep the islanders alive and to avoid contact with the diseases and plagues ravaging the mainland. Peter quickly rose to power in the town, thanks to his organizational skills and charisma. One of his first plans was to keep the US Postal Service active. At first, this was just on the island, as Mailmen delivered letters and packages between the islanders. Often this was just across the street, but the sense of normalcy this brought was welcome. Eight years after the war, it was decided to make contact with the mainland. Supplies of manufactured goods were gone and much vital machinery was breaking down. Contact was made with survivors in the Rhode Island area and a simple trade network was soon established. From the very beginning, with the Traders went the Mailmen. Within twenty years, a basic postal service had been reestablished along the coast of Connecticut and Rhode Island, with some inland routes going as far as Massachusetts. From this beginning, more Mailmen were trained, more routes were opened and a tradition was born. Peter himself continued to oversee the Postal Service until his death in 2008 of fallout-induced lung cancer. For many decades, Mailmen in the region wore patches that bore Peter's name in memory of his deeds. Over the coming decades, his Mailmen ventured further and further out, establishing new offices and routes and employing brave men and women to carry the letters. By today, Mailmen can be found in virtually every state, often acting alone or in teams.
The Spaniards: Block Island is currently hosting a trade mission from Europe. The Spanish Nation grew out of the horrible destruction of Europe during the war. Only on the Iberian Peninsula did survivors retain a semblance of order and government. While no where as advanced as the prosperous Icelandics, they are working their way back up. This is the first organized expedition by them to America since the end of the war. The Spanish mission comprises a newly-built steam torpedo boat and three armed coal-fired merchantmen. There is even talk of the Spaniards buying an island or a chunk of the coastline for a permanent base.
People who have contributed to this entry:
John Raner
Karl Zohler