Warlords

 Something that has been on mind about the Atlas of Medieval America is the way the table of contents is presented. First you have a section about the Great Plains, the most thorough look into the world. This is actually a great introduction to Medieval America, it establishes this isn't a copypasta of the Middle Ages, it's not Lord of the Rings just plopped into Nebraska. And you can't get much more American than the Cowboy. The second sub-section covers the United States (as the smaller, thalassocratic republic), and the Non-Denominational Church. Both remnants of the Federal government, but thematically, the two are linked as well. As much as those in the Heartland protest, the urban corridor of the East coast as is as quintessentially American.. It's the America of FDR, Barack Obama, Martin Scorsese, in the same way the New Israelites are the America of Andrew Jackson and John Wayne.

For a while I've reasoned how this can be presented in something like a TV miniseries or coffee table book. The Plains, the U.S., what are other "episodes" that can be looked at? And as I looked at White's section for "styles of government", it hit me that the Secretarial States and Hydraulic Empires are both largely in America's "Sun Belt".  And I believe a fourth "episode" could focus on the vast and esoteric religious pluralism which includes the Hydraulic Empires, but also the Pacific Northwest. So I wondered what another section could be. Then it hit me. The Warlords.

Of the pages White has created, he has largely tried to focus on things that 1) Are quintessentially American, 2) Rather alien to what we think of when we hear "Middle Ages", 3) Completely fictional to this world. And I think looking at the pages and maps, we do have a very, very good idea on what Medieval America looks like (Though I'll always wonder about Boston and Providence.) We know what knights and castles look like, and the variations from the standard are probably not vast. But there are variations, and 

First, I think it's very important to really examine the signifance of the word "Warlord". It's not an immediately strange one, it's a word often used to describe historical and fantasy settings. It's used in the opening titles for Xena: Warrior Princess. But the first recorded instance of the term was Ralph Waldo Emerson, more than ten years after the invention of the telegraph. It really caught on in the 1920's, to describe the breakdown of post-Imperial China, and usually to described failed states, but often applied retroactively, with very little resitance, to feudal or barbarian type societies. It may have been a very deliberate choice on White's part to use a word that post-dates more modern or mundane sounding terms like "President", "Secretary" and "District Supervisor" but seamlessly evokes something medieval.

So I think it's generally important in the context of the project to avoid using it "generically", and should be stricly for the warrior class that dominates the Eastern half of America. (Note: It's kind of sort of indirectly applied to the rulers of the Desert region, but it can maybe be shrugged off) Generally speaking, the armored, warriors of the Feudal Core and surrounding areas. The United States, even its chivalric cass, are not ruled by Warlords, strictly speaking. Quebec probably isn't (They're not super concerned with claining the throne of Michigan, they just want Quebec to remain Quebec). New Jersey...maybe. 

Ultimately, the the sort of "niche" of the Walords is, on one hand, the most quintessentially and conventionally medieval of the Atlas. But, themtically, evoking the Americana there's a few elements to consider

-If the U.S. and the Church are Blue State-coded: Education, unity, civility, and the Cowboys are Red State-coded: Rugged individualism, fundementalist Christianity, the Warlords are sort of the "swing state" voters. Think of them as Union or teasmter types who are generationally Democrat but some might like the cut of Trump's gib.

- Of course, there's what you might cal a  G.I. Joe vibe as well, and one can presume (especially as "Colonel" is a high ranking title in this world) that many of these Warlords arose from the kind of militias that usually arise in survivalist fiction.

- I think another very American thing to draw from would be the overall sports culture. A few helmets, shoulder pads, and hockey masks might have been implimented by soldiers, and migh have gone on to the foundation for future arms. I've acually established tournmants are following the American football season. Also, white's own illustrations show that some heraldly is inspired by sports teams, and American heraldly might be more succint and bold, sort of like the bannermen from A Song of Ice & Fire. New Jersey born author George R.R. Martin is also a major fan of comic books. This migh also be a slight but very distinct way the American feuda overlords present themselves.