There are hundreds of small Indian Nations scattered all over America, but most of them aren’t full-fledged States. Statehood requires a big population and a unified government to declare it. And most Indian Nations have never been that big. One village, town, or city just doesn’t have a lot of pull when you are talking to a nation that crosses an entire continent. That is why they formed the Federation of First Nations during the chaos of the Second Great Depression. It gave them a single voice and helped to pool their resources towards reinvigorating all of the Indian Nations following the fall of the federal government.
The last season of Twilight showed us a Muslim faith that was divided by competing loyalties. There was the old Sunni and Shia split of course. And there were those who supported hard-line Sharia Laws and those who wanted the freedoms of Western culture. And some like the Salafis enforced Islamic rule on other peoples. The most fanatical Islamic States burned people of every faith out of their homes, and millions of refugees fled in hopes of finding freedom in the West. And in all of the chaos they did find hope. We saw it in Detroit.
First Fleet defended Earth. Second Fleet defended Alpha Centauri. Third Fleet was our chance to strike back, to take The War to the Chinese, the Russians, and their alien allies. It was the largest and most powerful fleet we had ever assembled. We would use it to end all of the fighting in one swift campaign that would tear a line of destruction across the stars and prove that the Western Alliance still stood strong. Nothing could defeat it. That is what we told ourselves. That is what we believed. The alien Shang were not convinced…
My plan for the Hyades was to use their culture to drag them out of a dark age rather than try to replace it my own. And so I wore a business suit they would recognize. I walked amongst them alone, without any guards. There was far more negotiation in that than most people realize. They could have mugged me in the street, but I showed respect for them. And they offered me respect in return. No matter how downtrodden they are, every people has leaders and I met them on that day. I recognized them in the crowd and then noticed the disagreement begin in front of me. It was a test of course. They had come to measure the man who dared to declare himself their master. It was a greater gamble for all of us than even I recognized at the time.
I traveled to most of the Indian Nations in Minnesota when I was young. They are fairly small in most cases, the size of towns or cities. A few are county-sized, but that’s it. They didn’t prepare me for when I went to California and visited the Indian Nations out there. They were vast deserts the size of States back then. Real States, not postage stamps like Rhode Island. I had never seen that much hot or that much brown. Now they are grasslands that can support countless herds of buffalo and they make good eating if I say so myself. Some of the best. And that right there makes Earth sometimes seem more alien than any world I’ve ever visited. It is hard to see the world that is and not remember the world that was. Or those who I wish still walked atop her.

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