This essay was prepared by c500ca and details Exeter, Devon, in the United Kingdom. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact him directly.

Exeter - Devon, United Kingdom,

Pre-War Population: 100,000.  Plus another 250,000 in outlying areas(Mid and East Devon)

Government:   Multi-party city council under a central government. Exeter is the administrative capital of DevonCounty and has a fully-functional Regional Headquarters bunker underneath the County Council offices in Barrack Road

Local Police: Devon & Cornwall Constabulary HQ and a local station at Heavitree

Local Hospitals:: Royal Devon & Exeter, PeninsulaMedicalSchool, NuffieldHospital (private)

Local Armed Forces: University Officer Training Corps, B Squadron 243 Field Hospital, Rifle Company E (Devon and Dorset Regiment, Territorial Army) Royal Marines Commando Training Centre, Lympstone (a few miles South of Exeter)

Education:  University of Exeter, ExeterCollege, St Luke's College (teacher training), PeninsulaMedicalSchool , BictonAgriculturalCollege

Other: RoyalAlbertMemorialMuseum, Underground Passages, Cathedral, Norman Castle, Roman Walls

Nearby Nuclear Target Sites:

Exeter wasn't really important enough to merit a nuclear attack - and, in any event, was essentially cut off from the rest of the UK by strikes to the North-East

Exeter 5+ Years

Population:  75,000 + 100,000 in outlying areas

Government:    Dual-party local council (Labour and Liberal alliance).  Capital of the "PeninsulaRepublic". Theoretically acknowledges Monarchy (based at Windsor) as legitimate government. Maintains contact with Duchy of Cornwall (now declaring itself an independent nation) and elements of the British Army in Dorset  (clustered around a small onshore oil-field)

Local Police:  Devon Constabulary.  Routinely armed with military weapons

Local Armed Forces: Royal Marine Commandos mostly transferred to Southern England in support of Monarchy.  Field Hospital unit provides assistance to refugees

Local Hospitals:  PeninsulaMediaclSchool, Royal Devon & Exeter (Accident & Emergency).

Education: University of Exeter. Chemistry Department most well-funded as it produces explosives and ammunition.

Other:  Railway Steam Engines obtained from preservation societies and Mid Devon Museum

Main Reason for Population decline: Starvation and disease, fallout from Plymouth attack

Political Status: The city council is largely composed of professional politicians, academics and technocrats (essentially "drafted" for their expertise).  The Chief Constable has a great deal of power as she controls the largest body of armed personnel

Food: Agriculture is surprisingly effective (after 3 bad years). Rationing in effect (local currency is in form of ration entitlements).  Meat, in all forms is scarce.  Some fish is supplied by Duchy of Cornwall in exchange for manufactured chemicals

Buildings & Sanitation: Much of outlying areas abandoned.  Most people now live inside or around the old Roman Walls (exception: the University has its own grounds in the North of the City).  Running water is available in most of the city and South West Water maintain a sewage treatment plant (which also provides some electricity by burning methane). . 

Weapons

Police using Pistols, Rifles & Shotguns.

Locals using crossbows (private ownership of firearms is prohibited) but there are numerous shops that can manufacture crossbows and kukris (Gurkha-style knives) from vehicle leaf springs

Ammunition (for Police) is in reasonable supply

Summary of Problems:  

•     * Power
•     * Food
•     * Communications
•     * Internal Political struggle

Brief Situation for rest of the country.

The South West had a few big military targets but was less densely populated than most of the UK. Political miscalculations by HM Government led to resentment and accusations that the Monarchy was "stealing food" from the agricultural regions.  Attempts to impose central control led to mutiny in some British Army units and conflict between the Royal Marines and the British Army . Eventually, as part of the peace settlement, this led to the withdrawal of Royal Marine

personnel from the South West

Exeter 150+ years

Technology Level: C (in general) - B (firearms, electronics and chemical industries)

Population:  95,000 + 225,000 in outlying areas

Government:    Multi-party local council has some power but is little more than advisory to the Head of State: the "Lord Protector" who also serves as Chief Constable

Local Police: Peninsular Republic Constabulary - acts as an armed Gendarmerie, responsible for internal and external security.

Local Armed Forces: PRC (see above), Peninsular Navy (operates large sailing ships with auxiliary power)

Local Hospitals: Peninsular Hospital (Accident/Emergency/Training).   Excellent reputation for its Midwifery Service

Education:       University of Exeter ­ Specialises in Chemical Engineering.  The Monarchy accuses that it has developed poison gas

Geography:   Exeter is situated on a hill next to a flood plain.  It was selected by the Romans as an ideal defensive location - with good links to agriculture/fishing'.  Little has changed, although the climate has become a little colder as (ironically) global warming leads to the southward diversion of the Gulf Stream and hence the cooling of the British Isles. 

Political Relations:  The Republic continues to maintain good relations with Cornwall (which exports electrical power, produced from wind, geothermal and tidal power) but it does not quite share the Cornish attitude to ecology; it's quite happy to refine and burn oil to operate internal combustion engines.    The Republic controls the entire SouthWestPeninsula, apart from Cornwall and has plans to expand towards Oxford and the South-East.  To achieve this, the

Republic needs to "open a second front" in the North

The Republic's other military problem is the "Irish Raiders".  These are pirates operating from Southern Ireland who attack the Northern Coasts of Devon and Somerset. Suspicions are strong that the Irish and the Monarchy are somehow allied but the Lord Protector has officially downplayed this.

Food:   Meat has become more available but is still rationed.  Many Republicans are "fisharians" by choice and don't eat any animal protein except seafood.   Agriculture is primarily devoted to grain and woodland management. Some local farmers have imported horses and a thriving horse-breeding sector has developed.  

Exports: Chemicals, manufactured goods, food, horses

Other/Miscellaneous: The Republic is not quite a dictatorship. There are traditional limits to the powers of the Lord Protector. For example, University staff and students have their own court and are not subject to the ordinary criminal courts. No member of the PRC may enter a hospital in an official capacity. 

Also, volunteer members of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution(RNLI) are regarded with the highest respect and represent the only organization permitted to retain the "Royal" prefix.  (historical note: a French pirate raid against the SouthCoast killed 3 RNLI crewmen and led to the only known combined operation by the Cornish,Republican and Royal Armed Forces)

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