Okay, I hope i'm not too late with this.
Faction Name: Alisonia
Leader Name: Queen Artemisia II Jackson
Leader Trait: Enigmatic
Starting Location: Nashville, Tennessee
Leader Background: The "scholar-queen" Artemisia II, daughter of Artemisia I, came to power at the age of seventeen, five years ago, after her mother's death.
Origins: Survivors
Traits: Religious
Capital Type: Urban Ruin
Background: Alisonia is named after its patron goddess, Alison (Alison the Swift and Alison the Tailor), the goddess of love, beauty, and music. Alison's priesthood forms an integral part of Alisonian society, through the ulema known as the "Court of 22" (named after the 22 elder priests and priestesses who sit on it at any one time). At shrines across the city-state, initiates, both male and female, attempt to emulate her multitude of dresses, and pay tribute to her by publicly singing the music attributed to her. Worship of all other deities, such as - divines forbid! - the Kanye of the West, is forbidden and actively stamped out through the efforts of the Court of 22, though mystery cults devoted to those do exist on the fringes of Alisonian society.
Alisonia's exact origins are disputed and somewhat shrouded in mist, but it is known the settlement was founded sometime in the mid-22nd century, by survivors from pre-war Vanderbilt University, who raised a flag from the top of the Parthenon, which, by Alison's divine intervention (after all, her statue is inside) seemed to have survived the War entirely unscathed, and indeed even many decades afterwards still shone as if it had just been built. Initially, it was a direct democracy of sorts based on the model of ancient Athens, but the idealistic hopes of its founders had faded, and within several generations the city-state had become dominated by an entrenched, slave-holding aristocracy, dominated by a half dozen or so families, and democratic in name only.
This ultimately culminated in 2235, when, a plague swept through the settlement. When it was clear the aristocrats would do little to help, supported by the Alisonian priesthood and the slaves, one of their own by the name of Artemisia Jackson, led a coup which overthrew the last mayor. Artemisia had herself crowned as queen, abolished slavery, distributed the old aristocrats' possessions to the slaves, and dramatically increased the priesthood's power, thus bringing in the current system of government.
(I blame thomas)
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