Four Corners Alliance Writeup

Overall, there's nothing really new here, I've been discussing my ideas for the Navajo group for quite a while with many of you. I'm just putting it in one thread to get formal authorization to start preparing the framework for the group, and also just do a bit of a lore-dump for your consideration. This is all simply preparation for rolling out the Navajo as an actual group. In the next few posts, I'm going to expand on what they actually do, their size and capabilities off-screen, as well as what I would actually need OOC for the group.

LORE POST

The Intertribal Alliance of the Four Corners
Government-in-exile: Independence, California
Population: ~300,000 across E. California, Nevada, and Four Corners Region.
Introduction
The Intertribal Alliance of the Four Corners is a coalition of Native American tribal governments and their allies, centered in the Colorado Plateau. It is named after the intersection of state boundaries between New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado, and is commonly known as the Four Corners Alliance.

The culture of the Four Corners Alliance is predominantly Navajo in nature, so much that many forget the presence of other tribal groups beyond them. Dine bizaad, the Navajo language, is taught and used frequently alongside English by Navajo, other tribes, and younger non-natives alike, particularly in military functions, although English dominates most others.

The Four Corners Alliance was one of the first entities to encounter SkyNET's ground forces in the 2010s, yet their tenacity and unconventional methods have prevented SkyNET from making serious territorial gains in the Colorado Plateau until very recently.

Battered by a successful regional SkyNET offensive, the Four Corners Alliance has evacuated the Colorado Plateau, establishing a redoubt and government-in-exile among remote communities in the Mojave Desert. Its interim leaders hope to establish good relations with the Resistance for the eventual liberation of their homeland, and have detached a unit of guerrillas called Long Rifles to assist Tech-Com in their own ventures.

"The Skin of Our Teeth" 1997-2009
On September 1, 1997 in the city of Window Rock, the president of the Navajo Nation received a phone call from the provisional base commander at Fort Wingate, telling him of a catastrophic nuclear attack on the United States. The shuttered Fort Wingate contained 20 New Mexico National Guardsmen and the 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, who had been at the former Army installation for maneuvers. The battalion commander was worried about the isolation of the fort, and the dwindling rations provided to them.

This news came as a shock to the Navajo president. At the time, the majority of Navajo land was not readily prepared to produce its own food, and relied on foodstuffs stockpiled or brought from elsewhere, places destroyed in the attacks. Still, himself a retired Marine and Vietnam veteran, the Navajo president agreed to shelter his men.

It was several days before the Navajo authorities in Window Rock found out about the full extent of the nuclear attacks. Portions of the Monument Valley would be affected by radioactive fallout from strikes on Tuscon, Arizona, but as a whole, the Navajo Nation and the tribal reservations of the Southwest were spared the direct effects of the bombs.

The sudden demise of the Federal Government, and with it the economy of goods and aid programs for American Indians, presented an immediate, greater emergency for the Navajo Nation government, both for its own citizens, and for the increasing diaspora of bomb survivors that traveled into the Navajo Nation daily.  Many Navajo begrudgingly referred to the refugees as "Buffalo Bills" or "Bills," referring to their cowboy heritage and also the Navajo word biligaana, which meant "white."

Compounding these issues was an unseasonably harsh drought, brought on by the unprecedented El Nino event of 1997-1998, the same event that prevented the Four Corners from receiving radioactive fallout carried by weather currents. As water truck drivers from outside the Navajo Nation predictably never arrived for their deliveries on August 30, 1997, the Navajo government was forced to ration its limited water resources, and rural Navajo and Hopi communities which lacked their own natural aquifers were sometimes left to fend for themselves.

In the winter of 1997 and early 1998, rainfall finally returned in force, inundating communities and killing hundreds in landslides and flash flooding. Over 2000 refugees from the bombing in Tuscon were killed in a mudslide in the Monument Valley, having established a settlement in an arroyo. Thousands more would perish due to starvation, exposure, and preventable diseases such as cholera, typhoid and banditry and general unrest among survivors. The meagre facilities of the Indian Health Service were overwhelmed with patients, and the Navajo Tribal Police could do little to combat crime within the refugee camps.

A militia of both Navajo and bilagaana alike was formed by the Navajo Tribal Police to stem the effects of violence against their people, bolstered by military veterans and Marines that had chosen to remain rather than attempt to return to California.  This paramilitary would eventually be called the Tribal Security Force, and would become a military power in its own right.  The strength of this arrangement would be tested in 1999,  when a strong renegade force of Arizona National Guardsmen called The Guard declared the Navajo Nation as secessionists and invaded the Four Corners, establishing an occupation government in the Hopi Indian Reservation.  Bands of partisans and commandos called Long Rifles ambushed the Guard at every turn, trapping convoys in deserts and allowing them to be killed by the elements. The less-well-equipped Navajo relied on analog, physical methods of communication, and the resurrection of Navajo code-talking meant the Guard was unable to reliably predict their moves across harsh, unfamiliar terrain.  Over the course of 7 years, the Tribal Security Force successfully repelled the invaders.

The Navajo and the liberated Hopi Reservation (whose land is encompassed by the Navajo) formed a joint cooperation agreement shortly after, with the Hopi agreeing to share their dry agriculture methods with Navajo horticulturalists in exchange for military protection by the Tribal Security Force. The introduction of these dry agriculture methods provided employment for refugees and helped to address the food crisis, though it would be years still before starvation was non-existent in the Navajo Nation.

Birth of the Four Corners Alliance: 2009
The web of arrangements and security agreements between the Navajo and other factions eventually culminated in the Intertribal Compact, formally establishing the Intertribal Alliance of the Four Corners. Signed at the Four Corners Monument on July 5, 2009, its signatories included:

The Navajo Nation
The Hopi Reservation
The Zuni Indian Reservation
Southern Ute Indian Reservation
Ute Mountain Ute Reservation
Jicarilla Apache Indian Reservation
1st Battalion, 1st Marines

Originally simply a joint-cooperation agreement, the nature of the Compact began to resemble a federation, particularly as all of the signatories eventually contributed to the Tribal Security Force and several of the tribes reorganized under the Navajo chapter system of government.  Half a million people of many colors and backgrounds now fell under the control of a representative government based in Window Rock, at this time perhaps one of the only surviving democratic institutions of its size on the continent.

The propagation of dry agriculture methods in conjunction with the development of sustainable irrigation would prove to be revolutionary, restoring much of the region's productivity in spite of climate change increasing drought severity. The increasing food security allowed the governments to consider grander projects, and there were secret discussions regarding the re-opening of old uranium mines to construct a nuclear reactor.

Were it not for the arrival of SkyNET, the Four Corners Alliance was on track to become the dominant regional power.

Role in the War Against the Machines.
The Four Corners Alliance is on unofficially friendly terms with the global Resistance movement against SkyNET, and often works in Resistance interests.  The Tribal Security Force maintains a contingent to help defend the I-80 corridor, a critical trade route for caravans heading from the Rocky Mountains towards California.

On the ground, the Tribal Security Force, outgunned and outnumbered, relies on ambush tactics, asymmetric warfare, and a love for explosives to harass SkyNET logistics and infrastructure. The term "Long Rifles" has become associated with bands of Navajo commandos specialized in long-range reconnaissance, infrastructure demolition, and hit-and-run attacks on high-value targets. While success comes at a great cost of human lives, it has repelled SkyNET penetration into the Four Corners since its emergence.

In cooperation with Resistance operations in Nevada, Long Rifles have often acted in reconnaissance roles, forward air controllers, and artillery observers. They also often provide scout-sniper teams, embedded with Resistance units, or acting as an independent unit.

Their biggest contribution to the War Against the Machines is the ferrying of scientists and specialists around the Coltan Line, which takes individuals from the Mississippi River up into Canada, then back down through the Rocky Mountains. The Four Corners is the final and arguably most dangerous stretch for these specialists.

Current State: The Long Walk (2026-)
SkyNET has finally made significant gains against the Four Corners Alliance, achieving critical victories at Gallup and Crownpoint. With news from TC of an even larger offensive from Colorado, the Intertribal Council made the controversial decision to evacuate its military forces and as many civilians as possible to safe settlements in their territory in the Mojave Desert. This had been detailed extensively in an Emergency Plan Turquoise, otherwise known as "Operation Long Walk."

On the night of June 3, 2026, 200,000 civilians were evacuated via truck, bus and car by several allied factions, and the majority of the Tribal Security Force retreated westward.  As much of the Fort Wingate arsenal was removed as possible, and the remainder demolished to prevent SkyNET access. However, many older Navajo refused to abandon their homes, and towards the morning of June 4, SkyNET began attacking evacuation convoys, having finally detected the large-scale movements westward. A SkyNET airstrike targeted Navajo President Robert Nakai's motorcade, as he had promised to not leave Window Rock until the majority had been relocated. The airstrike killed President Nakai and much of the Tribal Government that had been with him, leaving Tribal Security Force commander Colonel Joseph Begaye as the provision leader of the Four Corners Alliance.

SkyNET established an occupation government in Window Rock, with a human puppet leader. Approximately 2,000 TSF soldiers and Long Rifles remained as a stay-behind force, taking refuge in the Western boundaries of the Navajo Nation and training partisans to resist the occupation authority. Current residents of the Four Corners Alliance that are not in hiding with partisans are often interned in labor camps, forbidden from indigenous cultural practices and from speaking Dine bizaad.

Meanwhile, in the Mojave, the Four Corners Alliance has re-established its citizens in camps and in desolate but remote communities, many abandoned before Judgment Day. Hobbled but not broken, the communities have gotten to work developing these towns for long-term settlement as they did in the decades prior, though the goal has now shifted towards smuggling supplies into occupied territory, and also developing trade agreements with Resistance factions in California.

The Tribal Security Force is engaged in frequent combat with remnant forces of the Nothern Republic, and regularly performs sabotage acts against SkyNET when opportunity arises.

In late June, Colonel Joseph Begaye contacted the Cheyenne agent James Lone-Elk, commissioning him as a Tribal Security Force lieutenant and assigning him a small unit of Long Rifles, along with enough supplies to sustain independent operation for a year or more. Their directives are to conduct sabotage operations against SkyNET infrastructure, and to develop a relationship of cooperation between themselves, Tech-Com, and any other friendly factions. It is hoped that this relationship will blossom into a formal alliance that can be called upon to liberate their territory and restore balance to the planet.

OOC notes on the group:

Size: I reckon I'm going to keep it to 5-6 people: 2-3 full time members that can help me maintain a Navajo presence on server, and a few others that can be called on as needed, much like Frente Humanos. Some of my event characters will be cycled through here.

In IC terms, there's probably 3-4 Long Rifle bands of the same size (e.g 5 or so Long Rifles each) operating independently throughout the region. The one you're seeing on server is just the one that the Four Corners Alliance have explicitly assigned to assist Tech-Com.

Activities:

Perform guerrilla actions (sabotage, ambushes) against SkyNET, conduct long-range reconnaissance around the region of SkyNET facilities and activities. In the meantime, also train scavs and novice TC in these tasks by bringing them along. In World War II analogy, if TC is the Western Allies, the Navajo are Free French and Polish commandos.

Perform tasks for TC that achieve shared IC goals, and develop a direct TC-Navajo alliance. Sometimes act as forward air controllers, artillery observers, and reconnaissance directly for TC in joint operations.

Develop diplomacy with other player-based factions similar to above.

Act as a pipeline for my event ideas.

Appearance: The Tribal Security Force does have its own uniform, but the Long Rifles, being an irregular guerrilla unit, do not generally wear them. OOCly, it would be nice to wear one of the unused non-TC uniforms.

Organization: The Long Rifles do have a ranked military structure, but it's generally analogous to TC's and the small size of the unit makes this less important. Still, I expect there to be one Gunnery Sergeant character where he acts exactly as you'd expect.

Firepower: The Long Rifles unit that is deployed to California is designed to be efficient in most settings, so they are all initially armed with 7.62 weaponry with medium optics (DMR variants of FALs and M14s), one person armed with an M240, and have one high-powered sniper rifle like an AWP (For the sake of consistency, we can use the remnants of the previous Long Rifles' arsenal, still locked up in an abandoned building). Long Rifles bridge an unusual gap between marksmen and sappers. They fight defensively, and when they do fight offensively, it's in the form of highly-controlled ambushes. Plasma is not unknown to the Navajo, but they generally don't like the extra weight so it hasn't totally caught on.

Thanks to the Navajo's access to the ammunition depot at Fort Wingate, the Long Rifles likely have a large amount of plastic explosives, which they have developed into an art form in its use against SkyNET.

Vehicles: The Long Rifles would likely have a couple of jeeps or pickup trucks. ICly, they prefer to use motorcycles or ATV's, but these don't exist on server.