For a long time after the fall the drugs cartels controlled large areas of Mexico as week central authority totally collapsed. They ruled through brutality and terror for many years with low key turfs wars often breaking out between them. Occasionally settlements would change hands with the new rulers promising fairer treatment but all too soon they would began to extort, kidnap, murder and rape, leading to a situation of semi slavery. Then in Chihuahua a peasant uprising toppled the local Juárez Cartel with bloody results. It was not the first uprising against the Cartels but they always failed as internal squabbling and poor leadership hampered the peasants. The Chihuahua was led by Manuel Mireles who appealed to the only remaining authority within Mexico; the Catholic Church.
The Church had kept apart from the affairs of men as it readied itself for the 'End of Days' but as time passed after the fall it became apparent to many clergy that they needed to act. José Luis Pacelli was the Deacon of Chihuahua and the real head of the local church as the elderly local Bishop's health failed. The Deacon threw his full support behind Manuel Mireles and his 'Autodefensas ' with his rallying rhetoric and the revolt flourished. An attack by the Sinaloa Cartel was defeated at a high cost but it established 'Libre Chihuahua ' and Manuel Mireles planned for elections in the near future.
Unfortunately a raid by bandits wiped out a scout force led by Mireles in the ruins of Mexico city and 'Libre Chihuahua ' seemed doomed to collapse. It was then that the newly appointed Bishop José Luis Pacelli took firm control declaring a Holy Catholic state and applying his church hierarchy to re-organising Chihuahua . His arguably fair but definitely firm rule transformed the region in to an organised and efficient area. Mass conscription and the creation of large Church factories furnished a sizeable force with which 'Libre Chihuahua ' became the dominant power in Northern Mexico. They still had numerous rivals and enemies but none were strong enough to challenge and so it remained for ten years.
In the spring of 2104 AD (90A.F.) Bishop José Luis Pacelli led a 'Holy Pilgrimage' south to Mexico City covering 900 miles through hostile lands with surprising success. Only one battle was fought, against the Satanists of Zacatecas, who refused passage to the pilgrims. The city was sacked and the inhabitants freed from their godless rulers with more than a little bloodshed. The Bishop arrived at Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Tepeyac, Mexico City in time to celebrate Easter. A conclave of clergy elected him Cardinal and de facto leader of Catholicism in Mexico with the Santo Imperio Catlico (Holy Catholic Empire) founded. The local hereditary warrior caste became his Guardia Del Cardenal and he firmly established his rule over the central Valle de México plateau region.
In the present day (98A.F.) the Santo Imperio Catlico (SIC) controls the Mexico City region and the northern Chihuahua province but has influence far beyond this through its missionaries of the order of the Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (Our Lady of Guadalupe ). Bishop Francisco Javier Pascal rules Chihuahua and swears obedience to Cardinal José Luis Pacelli who rules in Mexico City and is the spiritual shepherd of all of Mexico.
Recently frequent incursions by Texicans in to northern Mexico has led to a high level of tension and many fear war is imminent but then when is it not?
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