Attention Citizens.
The state banner of the Greater Terran Union and that of every other terrestrial commissariat
is now available for purchase.
You’ll find a link in the description.
The world has ended many times.
The fall of the Bronze Age dynasties left desert wanderers in awe of ruined cities slowly
lost beneath the sands.
The collapse of the Roman Empire shaped a legacy that Kings and Emperors would aspire
to for centuries.
The Black Death covered Europe in the choking ash of countless charnel pits.
But as science advanced and progress continued, the end of humanity was reduced from an ever
present reality to the fodder of fantasy and fiction.
When the world ended again on February 17th, 2090, mankind was not prepared.
For the first time in their history, the people of the New World suffered equally with the
Old.
Their greatest cities destroyed, their governments scattered, and their survival uncertain.
Even when the war against the alien Tyrum was finally, miraculously won, citizens of
a once great nation looked upon their ruined works with doubt that such things might ever
be achieved again.
But from the ends of the Earth a new power had risen, and through suffering and hardship,
it mobilized the will of mankind.
Hundreds of millions toiled in anguish but with their sacrifice, irradiated wastelands
were cleansed, knowledge was preserved, and hope was restored.
One by one, the great cities of America were rebuilt and a new flag raised atop their highest
skyscrapers.
For seven centuries these flags have flown, and for seven centuries, the citizens of the
United Americas Commissariat have never feared that their world might end once more.
When the Tyrum arrived in Earth’s orbit, the former nations of North America, the United
States, Canada, and Mexico, had been united for less than 30 years.
The North American Commonwealth was something of an administrative debacle following its
establishment in 2063, but had gradually emerged as the leading world hyperpower.
It was the largest economy, maintained the largest navy and air force, and had the fourth
largest population of any country on Earth.
Debate has raged whether the Tyrum truly understood that the Commonwealth was likely the most
formidable nation-state to resist them.
Research conducted since the war has revealed the possibility that the Tyrum’s strategy
was far less coordinated than originally believed and it is possible they were unable to even
conceptualize the nuances of human civilization.
Regardless, North America suffered a disproportionate number of orbital attacks and landings in
the opening few hours of the conflict.
Before even the first alien creatures and machines set foot on the continent, much of
the East Coast had been burning for weeks and the Commonwealth was paralyzed.
Within the first year of the war, the Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center, the Raven
Rock Mountain Complex, and Commonwealth Aerospace Defense Command had all been destroyed.
Three successive Presidents had been killed and every branch of government completely
devastated.
In his final act of office hours before he too was killed, President Nathan Barlow, the
last to serve the North American Commonwealth, issued an Executive Order granting a series
of emergency powers to the armed forces.
Executive Order 19,407 was a violation of the Commonwealth Constitution and challenged
by competing successor governments established in Columbus, San Antonio, Kitchener, and Monterrey.
The order however, merely reflected the realities across the continent.
As communications broke down and infrastructure wiped off the map, emergency military governments
became the only practical method of governance.
By 2094, these emergency authorities had no civilian structure left to challenge them.
The North American theater of the Tyrum War has been immortalized in human history.
Imagery of the Vancouver Evacuation, the Jalisco Offensive, the Dakota Salient, and the Liberation
of Chicago quickly became iconic the world over.
Less celebrated were the relief camps and “sanctuary territories” created to house
and protect the civilian population.
The total number that perished from disease, starvation, and suicide, has never been made
public, and likely never will.
It was only in the final weeks of the war that the impromptu International Military
Coalition formed to resist the Tyrum made its full presence known in North America.
Commonwealth forces, operating under this new command structure, had routinely fought
overseas, most notably in the Battle of Jeddah, and the sight of Chinese, Russian, Indian,
and Europeon soldiers fighting in the ruins of American cities was a noticeable reversal.
Even in victory, the International Military Coalition was a point of contention across
North America.
As what remained of the Commonwealth was slowly integrated into the developing worldwide government,
marches and demonstrations protested the disintegration of American sovereignty.
The Atlanta Crisis was one of many post-war conflicts fought across the planet, but infamous
for it’s savagery.
In 2153, the Greater Terran Union was ratified in North America by a slim majority, and the
North American Commonwealth dissolved.
The United Americas Commissariat was formed in its place.
It wasn’t until the official declaration of the Greater Terran Union in 2156 that the
UAC’s borders were firmly established.
As part of a worldwide reorganization, the former states of Mexico were transferred to
the Central American Commissariat, while formerly Commonwealth overseas territories dating as
far back to the Spanish American War were likewise transferred to other newly established
Commissariats.
Such territorial exchanges served clear logistical purposes, but were opposed by both the American
population and the first administration of the United Americas itself.
It would take another century before anti-Union sentiment was completely eliminated.
The destruction of the Statue of Liberty in 2164 by a pro-democracy group calling itself
the Minutemen was the most infamous and last major act of terrorism ever to take place
in the UAC.
Being relegated to a sub-national territory within the Greater Terran Union was something
of a cultural shock to the American people.
The appointment in 2176 of Román Loredo Ruiz to High Marshall of the Greater Terran Union,
the first citizen of the UAC to hold the position, marked a turning point in North American integration.
Dormant concepts such as Manifest Destiny and American Exceptionalism were reappropriated
and redefined to serve the needs of both the Commissariat and the Greater Terran Union.
While the United Americas have never achieved the total hegemony exercised by its predecessor,
it has become one of the most powerful Commissariats within the GTU.
It has one of the most technologically powerful economies in the Union, with its research
corporations at or near the forefront of technological advances.
It’s main industries are highly diversified, leading the Union in telecommunications, electronics,
pharmaceuticals, consumer goods, investment and banking, aerospace manufacturing, and
information technology.
While its military-industrial complex does not operate on the same scale as its competitors
on Rodina, Sirius, or the Pan-Asian Commissariat, its level of sophistication is unmatched.
Of the 19 models of aerospace interceptor utilized across Air and Fleet Command, 12
were first developed by United Americas state corporations.
Furthermore, while still officially classified, it is rumored that the targeting array, coolant
circulation chambers, and heatsinks installed onboard the Sword of Terra were all designed
within the UAC.
The United Americas Commissariat’s most widespread contribution to the Greater Terran
Union however, is undoubtedly its culture.
The unique doctrines of the melting pot and multiculturalism developed in the former United
States and Canada proved to be highly amenable to interstellar colonization.
Combined with the large number of colonial charters issued to the UAC, hundreds of colonies
across the Greater Terran Union can be said to possess an American heritage.
Conversely, the United Americas Commissariat has also traditionally been the most open
to social and cultural change.
Many of the first alien citizens to achieve permanent residence on Earth chose to reside
within the UAC and in 2549, the Commissariat appointed a non-human to its highest office.
The government of the United Americas Commissariat is largely identical to that of the other
terrestrial and interstellar Commissariats.
Local laws are predominantly superficial in nature, or have little impact on the life
of an average citizen.
The three branches of the Commissariat Government are likewise modeled on that of the Greater
Terran Union.
Executive, legislative, and judiciary authority is held by the Office of the High Commissar,
Assembly of the UAC, and the High Court of the UAC respectively.
Since 2167, the capital of the United Americas has been the city of Calgary, one of the only
major urban centers to emerge from the Tyrum War relatively unscathed.
While long since surpassed by the traditional centers of economic and industrial power across
the continent, Calgary remains an important political and diplomatic center.
Prior to Galactic unification, it was the site of many interstellar consulates and diplomatic
missions.
The United Americas are unique within the Greater Terran Union as one of the few Commissariats
which operates their own defense forces.
The United Americas Commissariat Guard is a unified institution consisting of sea, land,
air, and space elements.
By Union law, the UAC Guard cannot become a federal entity, while its personnel and
equipment can be federalized during a national emergency.
Multiple times during the wars against the Compact, NEX Uprising, and the War in Heaven,
UAC Guard divisions have been placed under the command of GTU Land Force, Air, and Fleet
Commands and deployed to off-world battlefields.
It has been more than seven centuries since the flag of a sovereign American nation was
raised, but the legacy of America endures.
Each day in the Union Air and Space Museum, citizens from countless alien species stand
in awe over the vast hull of the Ticonderoga, the first cruiser to open fire on the Algan
Republic, children sit in the cockpit of the F-408 Vampire, the fighter that beat the Vol
Hive, but the longest lines are reserved for those artifacts that predate the Greater Terran
Union itself.
They are treated more like holy relics than historical exhibits, with some citizens travelling
across the entire galaxy simply for the privilege of viewing the Unity connecting module and
the Mobile Servicing System from the ancient ISS, the command module of Apollo 11, and
the space suit worn by Neil Armstrong.
It is a practice repeated across the continent with endless pieces of American history given
new context and purpose.
North America was once part of what was called the New World, a place where the ancient cultures
of Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania came together to build something wholly different,
something uniquely American.
In the Greater Terran Union today there are ten thousand new worlds, giving common purpose
to not a single species, but to many.
It is a legacy that has spread across the Union, but its heart remains on Earth.
It is a legacy that the United Americas Commissariat has inherited, and one to which it must forever
strive to be worthy.
If you would like to raise the flag of the United Americas Commissariat, or one of the
other 16 terrestrial commissariats, they are now available for purchase on the newly relaunched
Templin Institute store.
You’ll find a ton of products imported directly from the Greater Terran Union, hats, jackets,
mugs, alongside everything you’d need to outfit yourself as a field agent of the Templin
Institute.
Use offer code THUNDERSHARK for 10% off until November 30th.
Links are in the description.