The Independent Territory of the Divine Appalachian Nation

More generally referred to as "The Appalachian Nation" or simply "Appalachia" by outsiders, the Independent Territory of the Divine Appalachian Nation formally seceded from the United States of America in 1934. In a country that was beset by the ravages of the Great Depression, the government at the time had few resources to spare and no desire to put them into retaining possession of a small geographical location containing nothing but hills and fundamentalists.

The land that composes the Appalachian Nation is an area carved off from portions of southeastern Kentucky, northeastern Tennessee, and a very small amount of southwestern Virginia. The total area is slightly less than the size of Connecticut, and composed mostly of the Appalachian mountains and foothills. Spaces are open, but the hills make it difficult for large scale agriculture, which matters little to the Appalachian Nation, as most of their agriculture is familial-based and not designed to feed the rest of the world.

It was generally assumed that something would be done about the secession of the Appalachian Nation after the Great Depression was resolved, but the world catapulted into World War Two before the situation could be rectified, and afterwards the Divine Appalachian Nation was more or less accepted as legitimate.

As a compromise with the surrounding government of the United States, the Appalachian Nation accepted a position as a US Territory in 1952, with the understanding that it would maintain its self-governance for internal affairs, but would accept the United States' positions on global doctrines. Citizens theoretically pay taxes to the US government, but as most families are below the financial poverty level, little income is actually made from the territory. Any real financial power in the Appalachian Nation is in the hands of the Seraphic Church of God, the organization that serves as the religious and political head of this theocratic nation. Being a Church, it is politically exempt from any taxation, and law within the Nation itself states that all income is paid first to the Church, and secondly to an individual. The Church tithes thirty percent, and since it is tax-exempt, does not pay taxes on this income. Further, citizens may adjust their income to have the Church take out a larger sum, particularly if this happens to put them below the United States federal poverty level, thus avoiding having to pay any taxes.

The ruling head of the Appalachian Nation is the Seraphic Church of God, founded in 1896. Membership in the Church is a requirement for citizenship. The Church itself is led by The Pastor, titular capitalization being important to distinguish him from a pastor. The Pastor is elected by a council of pastors, and serves until death. The religion itself is a monotheistic Christian religion, with aspects of many fundamentalist and baptist practices incorporated into its fold.

One major component of the Seraphic Church of God that is not necessarily part of other similar religions is its treatment of those commonly known as metahumans - those with alternate abilities not like ordinary human. The Seraphic Church of God regards these individuals to be God-touched, having received a blessing passed down through humanity from the garden of Eden through the seed of Adam. These individuals must join the Church organization directly as soon as their abilities are revealed. If adults, they are found positions within the church structure to best make use of their gifts. If children, they are raised by the Church until adulthood, and then found positions in the church structure to best make use of their gifts. These special individuals are not eligible to become pastors or ministers, as their gifts are needed elsewhere.

As the population of the area is relatively small, this does not account for too many individuals, however, there is one branch of the Church metahuman structure that is of particular note - those known as the Seraphim. These are the Warriors of God, those who are sent to use their gifts to execute the will of God as interpreted by The Pastor. There have been historical times where there have been up to a dozen Seraphim, and also times when there have been none at all. Information on their numbers is difficult to attain even within the Appalachian Nation. It is quietly known within the upper ranks of the ministry that the Seraphim are also responsible for executing the Church's iron doctrine regarding metahumans. Those who are not a part of the Church are heretics, and destroyed as such. Hereticism of any sort is not permitted within the Appalachian Nation. The Seraphic Church controls almost every aspect of the nation's life, from daily endeavors to police actions to financial control to technological development.

Technology itself is, on baseline, relatively behind the rest of the United States, due to a combination of lack of interest in too much technology, especially of the variety that leads to outside connections. The Appalachian Nation has its own variant of the internet that does not connect to any outside sources. Nonetheless, the people who are native to the area have a known tendency towards ingenuity, and it is not uncommon to find the occasional cobbled together equipment of extremely high technological value. Most are markedly unsafe and it is rare that more than one person understands how it works - if that - but miracles do happen.

Family life largely centers around the Church, with large families of many children being encouraged. Matchmaking and arranged marriages are common, especially once citizens reach the age of 22-25, but young people who know who they wish to start a family with are more than welcomed to do so. Same-sex relationships are largely ignored in the Victorian sense of "close companionship" so long as involved individuals are also doing their duty to the Church by marrying a member of the opposite sex and providing children to raise in the faith. The God-touched alone are exempt from marriage and family, as their duty lies elsewhere. Their children are given to other families for adoption, and monitored closely to see if they, too, show signs of the Blessing of Adam.

It is one of the hopes of the Church that, with careful tending, some day all members of the Divine Appalachian Nation will be so touched.