Treated as a backwater on the other side of the Rocky Mountains, the Federation is responsible for holding the country’s economic systems together. 

After the collapse of the Last Stand city of San Francisco, the area West of the Rocky Mountains was under the loose control of the Scifics. An international consortium of mercenaries and radicals, the Scifics were one of the most highly skilled and prepared groups going into the Burnout. After razing San Francisco, they headed North with the intent of further culling the surviving population. Forewarned pockets of survivors began migrating into the mountains and other remote areas. One group stumbled upon the Gemini-Project “Algal-Fuel/S-I”. The Project was one of the oldest: a hastily relocated genetic-engineering startup dedicated to optimizing a strain of algae for producing hydrocarbon fuel. While the Project’s scientists could not make a strain that would actively create fuel (presumably by secretions), they made one that could be easily processed into a substance akin to crude oil. A fire had forced the scientists to evacuate, and those who weren’t killed by exposure were gunned down as they approached nearby survivor’s compounds. 

The refugees, gleaned the significance of the algal strain through the lab’s notes and set up a camp. One of their number, known only as “Graler”, claimed that his girlfriend (Lucy Hardak) had told him that there were other sites like this scattered throughout the country called “Gemini Projects”. He also believed that the Scifics had this information, and that they would use the contents of these Projects to wreak further havoc on other survivors. Thus, the survivors had a humanitarian prerogative to reach the other Projects before the Scifics. With this in mind, the survivors quickly organized into a paramilitary faction known as “The Rangers”. For several years, the Rangers waged a guerilla war against the Scifics. The Scifics realized that their opposition possessed a renewable supply of fuel, making them a significant threat to their control of the region. This led to the Scifics allying with other surviving groups, and a few marauders to systematically hunt down the Rangers. In 2037, Graler organized simultaneous assaults on the major positions of the Scifics and their allies— effectively crippling them and razing most of the Pacific Northwest in the process. 

Knowing that the region would not survive another period of intense fighting, Graler sought a lasting political balance, both on the West coast and in the country as a whole. He allowed the remaining Scifics to occupy the southern part of the region if they granted his Rangers absolute control over everything west of the Rockies. While the other factions were still recovering, Graler went on several expeditions to contact groups in the East. It was during this period that he encountered Tara Endell. They discussed methods to support the country during what would be a long and tumultuous redevelopment period. Both agreed that there had to be consistent factors, either in resources or culture on which people could rely. Over a week, Graler outlined a grand strategy for what would become the West Range Federation. 

He knew that the only way he would be able to control such a large and diverse region would be through military control. Graler realized that he could keep the other factions in a somewhat docile state by having them all invest heavily in ruin-stripping. These factions, which soon became known as “collectives”, would strip urban centers like San Francisco, transport the materials over the Rockies, and trade them with Eastern factions. This system made it so the collectives could meet their resource needs, and become incredibly wealthy, without developing any serious industry that could be repurposed for war. The extraction and trade of strip would be overseen by the Rangers, who would retain exclusive control over fuel production. 

Graler’s vision of a strip-driven civilization paid off. The weary collectives were happy to labor in depopulated settlements and trade their products for manufactured goods in complete peace. The Rangers settled any disputes between collectives and kept the region safe from outside forces. Outside of the Federation, the Great Clan of Hellridge rose to power off of the blossoming strip trade. The massive influx of bulk resources from the Federation allowed factions across the country to rapidly develop their own industries and trade networks.

Compared with the rest of the country, the Federation is by far the most unique. It is the only region that continued large-scale fighting even after the Burnout, the only region that was not visited by the Callers of Verdance (Tara made a deal with Rillerman in 2031 to keep Verdance’s influence out of a large pocket of land (what would become the Federation) in exchange for him not impeding their progress elsewhere), and the only region that does not have an active Formers presence(the Order saw no reason to intervene with the Federation’s politics in 2042, and they pulled almost all of their assets once Lotus arrived). These factors are most strongly reflected in the Federation’s apparent lack of cultural distinction and spiritualism. While the rest of the country used political radicalization, artistic expression, the supernatural, and the occult to cope with the devastation and pain of the Burnout, the people of the Federation used their economic situation to repress any trauma through constant labor. The arrangement with the strip-trade, and an incredibly low population, also kept most groups in the Federation well above material want and desperation. There was simply no reason for any kind of investment in spirituality or cultural indoctrination. The exceptions are the handful of indigenous communities that have largely returned to their pre-Colonial ways of life and the Rangers. And if anyone becomes discontented with the banality of the Federation, they can simply depart for the rest of the country.

While Graler remained in charge until his execution in 2067, his protege was the subject of cult-worship within the organization. As the Federation falls apart, the Rangers view Hephaestus as a sort of messiah who will lead them into the next era.