Editing Setting:The Post-Apocalyptic Roadmap (section)

==Timeline==

'''X''': NATO expansion in Eastern Europe leads to a tense standoff with the Russian Federation which, complicated with a missile detection error, triggers a global nuclear exchange.

'''X+3 months''': National guard units and surviving military and reservist units have mostly departed their surviving bases, headquarters, and armories under radio orders from the revived civilian government under President Aberdine, the former Attorney General or under orders of USSTRATCOM at Cheyenne Mountain and/or Northern Command at Raven Rock. This allows what vestigial remnants of state governments that survived to largely collapse without such support units. 

'''X+18 months''': The civil war in the United States between the New Pentagon (military) and Pegasus (civilian) governments becomes official. 

'''X+3 years''': Now.


'''Modified Background/Timeline Idea''': [[The Post-Apocalyptic Roadmap/Modified Background Idea| Modified Background Idea]] Please check it out and weigh in on it's discussion page. 

===The Military Government of the United States (The New Pentagon, MGUS)===
In the continental United States two Unified Combat Commands remained operational despite being struck with strategic weapons - the alternate USSTRATCOM command center at the NORAD base in Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado, and the alternate Pentagon site and home to Northern Command at the Raven Rock Underground Pentagon in Pennsylvania. These commands quickly reestablished communications following the attack, sorted out their chain of command, and called upon all of the few military bases left to mobilize regular military and reserve units. Using this smattering of surviving units they have established control areas in some parts of some states, and can also be assumed to control the regions of Colorado and Pennsylvania surrounding their main command centers. If any nuclear missile bases are still operational, they control them, but it can be assumed for now that they would not use nuclear weapons on U.S. soil. In those areas under military control there may be a military governor over the central community in the area of control, the military presence may be the guests of a functional civilian government of some kind, or they may be maintaining a military base independently with some local support and supply lines with other military controlled areas. The New Pentagon government has different recruitment policies in different areas: some controlled communities may have a draft, others may be accepting volunteers, and still others may be authorizing the creation of local militia (that aren't to be transferred elsewhere) under the New Pentagon aegis.

MGUS: [[The Post-Apocalyptic Roadmap/MGUS|MGUS]]



===The 66th Militia===

Route 66 is one of the most important roads in the nation and it runs through two of the most heavily radiated places in the world, Chicago and L.A.  A few months before the Civil War officially started the 66th Militia formed. The 66th Militia formed due to continual stress from Pegasus New Pentagon, and the Texan Empire. It's sole desire is to keep Route 66 in their control, because they believe whoever controls 66 controls the Southwest. None the less over 1,000 groups of MC gangs, bandit tribes, and outlaw factions patrol the route and surrounding areas.

They have defended against the Texan Empire, Pegasus, and New Pentagon attacks.  Amarillo, the former capitol fell and with it the Eastern Branches. The Texan Empire cut the 66th Militia in half, the Eastern Branches patrolling anything east of Amarillo and then Oklahoma City, then there are the Western Branches patrolling the west of Amarillo and the Santa Fe.

It is ruled by two Route Lords, the first ruling over the west who goes by the name of Dragon. He rules out of Needles, California and has an Eastern counter-part called Tacor who rules out of Joplin, Missouri. Dragon and Tacor are brothers and due to their father being the last Route lord( who died during the Siege of Amarillo) they had to split the Militia their father had spent months putting together.

In summary, the 66th Militia is the biggest threat to New Pentagon, Pegasus, or the Texan Empire.

===The Civilian Government of the United States (Pegasus, CGUS)===
With D.C. and Camp David wiped off the map and Congress either dead or unaccounted for, the shadow government of the National Program Office quickly took effect. A new president was sworn in, Attorney General John Aberdine, according to the line of succession and a massive federal camp was opened in Virginia. This was all according to the contingency plans laid by the cabal of the Pegasus Committee consisting of the Attorney General, key Cabinet members, the heads of the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, and retired three-star Army general Bertram Wayne to name a few. Before the President's legitimacy was challenged by the military, he used his executive privilege to call upon National Guard units from all across the United States and reassigned them to regional projects, in effect allowing the last vestiges of those state governments that survived having their capitals destroyed to fall apart. In addition the Pegasus government has a good chance of controlling any surviving and operational federal outpost belonging to the FBI or under the broad aegis of Homeland Security (which controls Immigration and FEMA for starters); and, more disturbingly, Project: Pegasus involved the cooperation of certain lead captains of industry and private paramilitary facilities manned by contracted personnel, mainly former military men and civilian specialists, scattered all across the nation; all of which are now active. Their stronghold is the state of Virginia, where they control the undamaged Mount Pony facility (and thus the Federal Reserves and Treasury stockpiles for the entire nation East of the Mississippi), the FEMA bunker on Mount Weather, and use the few Congressmen that made their way to the secret alternate Congress site of the Greenbrier Hotel in nearby West Virginia (and were then extracted and brought back to Mount Pony) as propaganda tools to show that President Aberdine is not a dictator.

CGUS: [[The Post-Apocalyptic Roadmap/CGUS|CGUS]]

The civil war began officially 18 months after the nuclear exchange and as of now, three years after the exchange, their war is still primarily a cold one as they each try to reestablish control over areas in order to reform interstate supply lines and commerce. It should also be noted that in most cases both sides use the American flag and federal uniforms, so telling the difference between forces of the two on sight may be difficult. Both sides would be quick to try to order or recruit any loose military or National Guard units they encounter and to turn elements of State Defense Forces (which can't be controlled on the federal level legally and thus wouldn't have been called out by one of the two governments initially) in areas they are attempting to spread into to their side. In many cases what few military bases and National Guard headquarters left standing have been occupied since the departure of those units by State Defense Force units, local militias, or independent fighting forces such as marauders and petty warlords.