Artesia
The Town of Artesia is located in the south east of the old pre-fall state of New Mexico. It is four miles west of the Pecos River surrounded by plains stretching of to the Sacramento Mountains seventy miles further to the West. To the north, a mere forty miles away, lie the atomic ruins of old Roswell; which was always a site of great historical relevance even before the legends of the End of Days.
The settlement takes its name from the artesian aquifer under the immediate area that supplies water to the town and the surrounding farmlands. Artesia is a prosperous farming community. There are also the ruins of a pre-collapse oil refinery near the town and derelict oil wells further out. Since January 1st 98 A.F. it voluntarily joined the Western Territories of the Texican Republic as a full incorporated community. It has a population of close to 8,000 souls living in or around the town.
The bulk of the populace are followers of the Strangite Faith, a branch of the old pre-apocalypse Mormon Church, which was once led by their ancient martyred prophet James Strang. They are a conservative people with prohibitions against alcohol, gambling, fornication and even cussing. The practice of polygamy is widespread though with most men having two or even more wives. Religious services are sombre affairs apart from the choir and the sacrifice of live animals upon the altar.
History
Before the apocalypse Artesia was said to be a thriving centre of farming, ranching and even oil production with the now derelict Nauvoo Refinery. It had a school for sheriffs and the likes which lawmen travelled from all over to study at, along with a large prison for criminals and trespassers trying to break in to old America. Back in ancient times it had built a large underground bunker school, Saint Abo’s, when the Red Commies tried and failed to conquer Texas and the other Free States.
Matters relating to the Fall are always confused and embellished over the close to a century since matters unfurled. Many believe that when Santa Obama brought about the End of Days the good folks of Artesia went to the shrine bunker of Saint Abo and hunkered down. The lawmen of the Sheriff School drove away the ungodly and other folks they saw as unfit. Then just the blessed two thousand survived safely underground while the horrors swept the lands above. Black Rain from the Roswell bomb fell poisoning the land but most was swept to the west to land on the Sacramento Mountains.
The clean waters of the artesian aquifer allowed the chosen survivors to live on and reclaim their home while the divinely inspired leadership of the Strangites gave them hope and direction. Though the years ahead were not easy they prayed and, when needed, fought hard; Artesia grew in to the thriving farming town it is today.
Today
Artesia is now a member of the Texican Republic who wisely leaves it to its own devices in most nearly everything. There is and always has been the strong Danite Militia who are more than ready to defend their homes, as many a bandit has sadly learnt. The surplus of unmarried sons from the practice of polygamy is a fertile recruiting ground for the Republic’s army and police forces. Sons who travel away are tasked with keeping the faith and to proselytize to the ignorant, though a small minority sadly fall from grace and mix with bad company.
The Mayor of Artesia is Braxton J. Strang, a direct descendent of the great prophet. He is also the Presiding High Priest of the Church, Captain of the Danite Militia and the largest land owner. He allegedly owns the one remaining copy of the divinely dictated ,“Revelations of James J. Strang”, which predicted many of the past events and, importantly, many of the future ones which his loyal flock has and will face. The sixty year old Braxton has thirteen children by his five wives and is keen to have a fourteenth.
A party of oilmen, engineers and tinkers have arrived in Artesia recently to work on rebuilding the old Nauvoo Refinery. They are based to the east of the town centre beyond the derelict plant where a saloon, boarding house and traders have sprung up to cater for their tastes and needs. This has shocked many of the locals who see it as an immoral addition to the community and the area is often referred to as Gomorrah.
Near Gomorrah is a newly constructed airfield, with a large radio mast, at which a relic Cessna 172 light aircraft is based along with two Texican built Grasshopper observation planes. They are used to survey the area and to monitor the activity on the Republic's border.
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