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This article is a warmup article. This means it doesn't nessecarily contain significantly relevant plot information.

Chicago Metropolitan Area (state)

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The Chicago Metropolitan Area, often simply called Chicago or CMA, is the only other 'metrostate' - other than the HMA - in the Unitary American State. The state comprises twelve counties, namely Walworth, Racine, Kenosha, McHenry, Boon, Waukegan, Kane, DuPage, Cook, Kendall, DeKalb, and Gary.

Its most prominent structures are the Willis Sears Tower, Chicago O'Hare Airport, and Chicago Unified Station. It is the home of the Chicago deep dish pizza.

History

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19th century

In the 1840s, Chicago saw a massive increase in slave population as it underwent it's own industrial revolution. Despite being in the slave-free state of Illinois, they let slaves work within the county borders of Cook and deliberately kept it under wraps as much as they could in order to maintain their slave labour. This was sustainably kept up until 1861, when the American Civil War started. Chicagoan slave-bearing companies, slave owners, and other ordinary citizens were initially cross about what they should do. They had three options; join the slave-free North, join the slave-bearing South, or seperate from the USA entirely and become an independent state, much like California and Deseret had done.

They opted with the decision to join the South, and on June 20th 1861, rose up in Chicago, declaring themselves as an independent state, called the State of Chicago. As soon as word got to the CSA that Chicagoans were rebelling on their side, they strategized to formulate a plan and how to get Confederate armies up to Chicago. The final plan that would be accepted would be called the Race Up The Mississippi River. Confederate armies would follow the Mississippi north, on the west side, until they reached the town of Davenport. At Davenport, they would turn east to Chicago.

On August 2nd, 1861, the Race Up The Mississippi River would commence. By the end of the month, on August 28th, they arrived. Chicagoan companies and upper-class white folk welcomed the Confederate armies, though there was some resistance from the slaves and lower-class whites in the area. It would remain owned by Confederates until their victory in the American Civil War. After the war had ended, on April 9th, 1862, the State of Chicago was officially declared in their respective counties, gaining statehood. Even after the Federal Coup of 1866, Chicago remained its own state as the prospect of revoking its statehood was still controversial.

Early 21st century (2000-2005)

In 2002, a plan was proposed to create the Chicago Unified Station by merging the Ogilvie Transportation Center and Chicago Union Station via an underground mall. The plan was accepted in October, and construction began in April of 2003. Construction was slow and careful, as the underground structure would require the total redesign of the foundations of various constructions above the mall. It would continue until May of 2004, when construction was halted due to updates to national construction regulations. As it turns out, the whole area was now technically illegal according to the new construction regulations, and the project has been on a near-stagnant halt ever since.