Northern California

The Free State of Northern California, also known as North California or more commonly  NorCal, is a semi-autonomous Free State within the New United States of America. It is located in the northern half of California, bordering SoCal to the south.

1990s - 2020s
California became a Free State in 2002, after the economic collapse of the original United States. In 2012, North California separated itself from California, the counties of Northern California voted to secede from the state when they grew tired of the increasing power of the Los Angeles Metroplex, and its forceful control on the rest of the state. It later became the newest state of the union, officially recognized by the US government in 2016.

Northern California is comprised of Monterey, Fresno, and Mono counties and points due north. With the split of the state, Northern California had become an affluent state. Anyone and everyone who could afford to leave the Metroplex in the South, came to the North. The cost-of-living increase brought about by these affluent people in turn drove thousands of Northern Californians out of their homes, and were forced to live on the streets or move to the worse sections of LA. Not many people were willing to go to Southern California, which is why Northern California became one of the worst in the country for rampant homelessness.

The San Francisco Bay Area had become a busy port for Northern California, as it was more economical for them to do their own international trade than to work through the US government. The state had also hoped to be able to act as intermediary for the US's Pacific shipping, though the port of Seattle took that job on quite effectively.

2060s - 2070s
In 2069, the Unification War began between the New United States and an alliance of the Free States. President Rosalind Myers had presented a unification program to extend federal rule over the rogue Free States under the pretense of strengthening the nation. Northern California allied with the Free States while the South allied with the NUSA. The NUSA, backed by the Militech Corporation, declared war on the Free States. Night City had avoided the fight, but tensions were high in the face of the NUSA/Militech invasion. In early 2070, Night City was saved from the impending invasion due to the efforts of councilman Lucius Rhyne. Rhyne had used his decade worth of contacts on the city council and begged the long-shunned Arasaka Corporation for protection. Within days, an Arasaka supercarrier showed up in Coronado Bay, resulting in the the NUSA/Militech army to retreat hours later. The NUSA and the Free States signed a peace treaty known as the Treaty of Unification, ending the war.

Night City emerged as an fully autonomus free city outside the laws of NorCal and the NUSA. It paid for this liberty with an increase in megacorporation influence, the corpos pumped money into the revitalization of the city so they could have a foothold in the West Coast of the NUSA.

A concrete border wall was built between South and North California after the war by the NUSA. Even though Night City had gained its independence from the North, the NUSA still treated them as NorCal citizens, thus the border was extended through the Badlands south of the city.

Known settlements

 * Atascadero (reclaimed as of 2045)
 * Berkeley-Oakland Metroplex
 * Berkeley
 * Oakland
 * Cambria (reclaimed as of 2045)
 * Eureka
 * Fresno
 * Gilroy
 * Monterey
 * Paso Robles (reclaimed as of 2045)
 * Sacramento
 * Salinas (ghost town as of 2020)
 * San Francisco
 * San Jose
 * San Simeon (reclaimed as of 2045)
 * Santa Cruz
 * Santa Rosa (ghost town as of 2020)
 * Stateline
 * Stockton
 * Tahoe

Former settlements

 * Night City (formerly Morro Bay & Los Osos)

Other

 * Lake Tahoe
 * Redwood
 * Shasta
 * Yosemite